Eberhardt_vol1_D 16-04-2007 14:15 Page 1

Rock Mechanics
Ore extraction through surface and

VOLUME 1: FUNDAMENTALS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES & NEW IDEAS

Meeting Society's Challenges and Demands

Rock Mechanics
underground mining continues to
involve deeper excavations in more
complex rock mass conditions.
Communities and infrastructure are
Meeting Society's Challenges and Demands
increasingly exposed to rock slope
hazards as they expand further into
rugged mountainous terrains. Energy
VOLUME 1: FUNDAMENTALS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES & NEW IDEAS
needs are accelerating the develop-
ment of new hydroelectric dams and
exploitation of more complex hydro-
carbon deposits, such as oil sands. Scientists and engineers Editors
are seeking to improve their understanding and management
of our planet and its environment through the development Erik Eberhardt
of deep, underground laboratories and storage facilities. Doug Stead
Tom Morrison
These two volumes serve as a comprehensive reference work,
summarizing the current state-of-the-art in rock mechanics
and rock engineering in Canada, the U.S. and beyond. The first
volume presents papers describing new technologies, ideas
and insights into fundamental rock mechanics. The second
volume presents a collection of rock engineering case histories
relevant to the major themes of the symposium: rock slope
hazards, geotechnical infrastructure, surface and underground
mining, and petroleum exploitation.

Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society's Challenges and

Demands comprises the Proceedings of the 1st Canada-U.S.
Rock Mechanics Symposium, held in Vancouver, Canada, from
May 27 to 31, 2007, as jointly organized by the Canadian
Rock Mechanics Association (CARMA) and the American Rock
Mechanics Association (ARMA).
Editors

Eberhardt
Stead
Morrison

an informa business
ROCK MECHANICS: MEETING SOCIETY’S CHALLENGES AND DEMANDS
BALKEMA – Proceedings and Monographs
in Engineering, Water and Earth Sciences
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1ST CANADA–US ROCK MECHANICS SYMPOSIUM, VANCOUVER,
CANADA, 27–31 MAY 2007

Rock Mechanics
Meeting Society’s Challenges and
Demands

VOLUME 1: Fundamentals, New Technologies & New Ideas

Editors
Erik Eberhardt
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Doug Stead
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

Tom Morrison
Greater Vancouver Regional District, Canada

LONDON / LEIDEN / NEW YORK / PHILADELPHIA / SINGAPORE

CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2007 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Version Date: 20150129

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4398-5657-4 (eBook - PDF)

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been
made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the
validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the
copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to
publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let
us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.

Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or
utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including pho-
tocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permis-
sion from the publishers.

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.com (http://
www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA
01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of
users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has
been arranged.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Table of contents

Preface XIX

VOLUME 1 – Fundamentals, New Technologies & New Ideas

New Trends in Data Collection & 3-D Ground/Deformation Characterization

Geology, technology and site characterisation 3
C.D. Martin

Four dimensional considerations in forensic and predictive simulation of hazardous slope movement 11
D.J. Hutchinson, M.S. Diederichs, C. Carranza-Torres, R. Harrap, S. Rozic & P. Graniero

Integrated, real-time, 3D GIS-based geotechnical hazard assessment 21

J. McGaughey, R. McLeod & G. Pears

Application and limitations of ground-based laser scanning in rock slope characterization 29

M. Sturzenegger, M. Yan, D. Stead & D. Elmo

Comparison of terrestrial-based, high resolution, LiDAR and digital photogrammetry surveys

of a rock slope 37
C.D. Martin, D.D. Tannant & H. Lan

A digital approach for integrating geotechnical data and stability analyses 45

H. Lan & C.D. Martin

The use of Slope Stability Radar (SSR) in managing slope instability hazards 53
N.J. Harries & H. Roberts

New insight techniques to analyze rock-slope relief using DEM and 3D-imaging
cloud points: COLTOP-3D software 61
M. Jaboyedoff, R. Metzger, T. Oppikofer, R. Couture, M.-H. Derron, J. Locat & D. Turmel

High resolution 3D imaging for site characterisation of a nuclear waste repository 69

A. Gaich, M. Pötsch & W. Schubert

The application of metric 3D images for the mechanical analysis of keyblocks 77

M. Pötsch, W. Schubert & A. Gaich

Assessment of laser-based displacement mapping in an underground opening 85

F. Lemy, S. Yong & T. Schulz

Use of a 3-D scanning laser to quantify drift geometry and overbreak due to blast
damage in underground manned entries 93
J. Warneke, J.G. Dwyer & T. Orr

Directional roughness profiles from three-dimensional photogrammetric or laser scanner

point clouds 101
W.C. Haneberg

V
Joint set definition using topology based structure mapping 107
G.V. Poropat, M.K. Elmouttie & D. Walford

The surface expression of strain accumulation in failing rock masses 113

N.J. Rosser, D.N. Petley, S.A. Dunning, M. Lim & S. Ball

Predicting inter-well rock mechanics parameters using geophysical logs and 3-D seismic data 121
Y.G. Zhang, H.X. Han, M.B. Dusseault, X.J. Wang, Z.X. Zhang, K.M. Fan & Y.M. Yu

Geotechnical data management using acQuire workflows and data integrity 129
M.J. Murphy & B.A. Murphy

Characterising the in situ fragmentation of a fractured rock mass using a discrete fracture
network approach 137
S.F. Rogers, D.K. Kennard, W.S. Dershowitz & A. Van As

3D simulation and aggregation of fracture network 145

M. Cravero, F. Piana, S. Ponti, S. Tallone & G. Balestro

Discrete fracture network modeling for carbonate rock 153

W.S. Dershowitz & P.R. La Pointe

Analysis of block removability in rock excavation by probabilistic approach 159

G. Chen, H. Li & W. Zhou

Accounting for local roughness in geostatistical simulation of fracture surface topography 167
H. Saito, G. Grasselli & A.M. Ferrero

Rock Mass Classification, Characterization & Behaviour

Future directions for rock mass classification and characterization – Towards
a cross-disciplinary approach 179
N. Barton

Rock mass classification challenges 191

D. Milne

Automatic drilling process monitoring (DPM) for in-situ characterization of weak rock
mass strength with depth 199
Z.Q. Yue, J. Chen & W. Gao

RDi - A new method for evaluating of rock mass drillability 207

S.H. Hoseinie, M. Ataie, H. Aghababaei & Y. Pourrahimian

Rock slope design using slope stability rating (SSR) – Application and field verifications 215
A. Taheri & K. Tani

A new geomechanical evaluation system for slopes: SFi system 223

U. Jeong, W.S. Yoon, J. Park, B.H. Han, H-J. Park & J.W. Choi

Establishing a site specific mining geotechnical logging atlas 231

B.A. Murphy & J.R. Campbell

Rock mass strength with non-persistent joints 241

B.H. Kim, M. Cai & P.K. Kaiser

VI
A modified approach for prediction of strength and post yield behaviour for high
GSI rockmasses in strong, brittle ground 249
M.S. Diederichs, J.L. Carvalho & T.G. Carter

Peak and residual strengths of jointed rock masses and their determination for engineering design 259
M. Cai, P.K. Kaiser, Y. Tasaka & M. Minami

Characteristics and classification of New Zealand greywackes 269

S.A.L. Read & L. Richards

An approach for prediction of strength and post yield behaviour for rock masses of low intact strength 277
J.L. Carvalho, T.G. Carter & M.S. Diederichs

Deformation moduli of soft rocks in Japan through Geological Strength Index (GSI) 287
T. Yamamoto, K. Tsusaka & C. Tanimoto

Estimation of rock mass deformation modulus using the rock mass classifications and
seismic measurements 297
H.R. Zarei, A. Uromeihy & S. Khalesi

Analysis of permeability using BPF, ANFIS & SOM 303

K. Shahriar & H. Owladeghaffari

Numerical Modelling – Continuum & Discontinuum

Limit equilibrium, strength summation and strength reduction methods for assessing slope stability 311
J. Krahn

Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) approach for slope stability analyses 319
M.S. Diederichs, M. Lato, R. Hammah & P. Quinn

Analysis of blocky rock slopes with finite element shear strength reduction analysis 329
R.E. Hammah, T. Yacoub, B. Corkum, F. Wibowo & J.H. Curran

Three-dimensional kinematic conditions for toppling 335

M.R. Yeung & K.L. Wong

A synthetic rock mass model for jointed rock 341

M. Pierce, P. Cundall, D. Potyondy & D. Mas Ivars

Investigating raise stability using fracture system and particle flow tools 351
J. Hadjigeorgiou, K. Esmaieli & M. Grenon

Quantification of energy absorption capacity of trees against rockfall using finite element analysis 359
M.J. Jonsson, A. Volkwein & W.J. Ammann

Validation of a synthetic rock mass model using excavation induced microseismicity 365
J.M. Reyes-Montes, W.S. Pettitt & R.P. Young

Effect of dilation angle on failure process and mechanical behavior for a rock specimen
with initial random material imperfections 371
X.B. Wang

Boundary conditions effects on the formation of kink bands in fractured rock masses 379
J.-F. Noël & G. Archambault

VII
DEM boundary conditions for modeling uniaxial and biaxial tests 385
D.D. Tannant & C. Wang

Compaction behavior of unbonded granular media: Discrete particle vs. experimental vs.
analytical modeling 393
R.M. Holt, L. Li & J.F. Stenebråten

Effect of characteristic length in the finite element solution of elastic deformation of layered materials 403
A. Riahi & J.H. Curran

An equivalent continuum approach to coalmine water simulation 411

D.P. Adhikary & H. Guo

Long term tunnel stability in soft rock considering the influence of permeability using
a coupled analysis 419
K. Kishida, T. Sakata, T. Hosoda, A. Tomita & T. Adachi

Three dimensional modelling of spiling bolts for tunnelling in a weakness zone 427
Q.N. Trinh, E. Broch & M. Lu

A finite element model for the stability analysis and optimum design of pressure tunnels 433
H. Ahmadi, A. Soltani & A. Fahimifar

Hydromechanical analysis of the effect of fracture properties on tunnel inflow 441

M. Sharifzadeh & S. Karegar

A model for coupled micro and macro-scale swelling processes in clay shales 447
M. Deriszadeh & R.C.K. Wong

Numerical Modelling – Brittle Fracture & Damage

Simulation of multi-fracturing rock media including fluid/structure coupling 457
D.R.J. Owen, Y.T. Feng, M. Labao, C.R. Leonardi, S.Y. Zhao & J. Yu

Combined finite-discrete element modelling of surface subsidence associated with

block caving mining 467
A. Vyazmensky, D. Elmo, D. Stead & J.R. Rance

Computational modeling of multiple fragmentation in rock masses with application to

block caving 477
J.M. Rance, A. van As, D.R.J. Owen, Y.T. Feng & R.J. Pine

Methodology for estimation of excavation damaged zone around tunnels in hard rock 485
S.W. Shin, C.D. Martin, E.S. Park & R. Christiansson

Characterization of step-path failure mechanisms: A combined field based-numerical

modeling study 493
M. Yan, D. Elmo & D. Stead

A discrete element damage model for rock slopes 503

A. Alzo’ubi, C.D. Martin & D.M. Cruden

PFC modeling of rock cutting under high pressure conditions 511

L.W. Ledgerwood III

Numerical modeling of rock ridge breakage in rotary cutting 519

B. Yu & A.W. Khair

VIII
Fracture pattern of anisotropic rock by drilling or cutting using the PFC 527
N. Schormair & K. Thuro

A hydraulic fracture model with filtration for biosolids injection 535

G.W. Xia, M.B. Dusseault & E. Marika

Brittle Fracture & Damage Mechanics

Effects of alteration on the engineering behaviour and intact rock fracture characteristics of granite
under uniaxial compression 547
J.S. Coggan, J.L. Chilton, D. Stead, J.H. Howe & R. Collins

Crack initiation and propagation from frictional fractures 557

C.H. Park & A. Bobet

Crack growth study of a 3-D surface fracture under compression using strain and acoustic
emission measurements 565
R.H.C. Wong, T.C. Li, K.T. Chau, S.C. Li & W.S. Zhu

Sliding crack model for the uniaxial compression of rock 575

E. David & R.W. Zimmerman

Coalescence behavior in Carrara marble and molded gypsum containing artificial flaw
pairs under uniaxial compression 581
L.N.Y. Wong & H.H. Einstein

A fracture mechanics code for modelling sub-critical crack growth and time dependency 591
B. Shen & M. Rinne

Experimental study of subcritical crack growth in brittle materials 599

Y. Nara, M. Takada, K. Kaneko, H. Owada & T. Hiraishi

Subcritical crack growth of rocks using the double torsion method with consideration of the
crack length 607
K.W. Kwok, R.H.C. Wong, K.T. Chau & T.-f. Wong

Experimental relationship between fracture toughness and fracture roughness in anisotropic

granitic rocks 617
M.H.B. Nasseri, G. Grasselli, B. Mohanty, J. Wirth & M. Braun

Effect of confining stress and loading rate on fracture toughness of rocks 625
T.Y. Ko & J. Kemeny

The evolution of fracture toughness and permeability in thermally cracked Westerly granite
from elastic wave velocities 631
M.H.B. Nasseri, R.P. Young & A. Schubnel

Fracture processes of rocks in dynamic tensile-splitting test 639

S.H. Cho, B. Mohanty, Y. Nakamura, Y. Ogata, H. Kitayama & K. Kaneko

Advanced characterization and numerical simulation of indentation induced damage in

hard sandstone 647
H.J. Jun, N.V. Bangaru, G.I. Block & V. Gupta

Homogenization of hydromechanical behavior of fractured rocks 655

L. Jeannin, R. Marmier & J.F. Barthélémy

IX
Computerized Tomographic (CT) study of brittle material with internal flaw under
hydraulic pressure and triaxial compression 661
W. Zhu, Y.S.H. Guo, S.C. Li, S.B. Li, N. Lee & H. Jian

Closure of hydraulic fractures visualized by X-ray CT technique in sand 665

Y. Dong & C.J. de Pater

In Situ Stress & Stress Measurement

Is there a relation between the in situ principal stress magnitudes in rock masses? 675
J.P. Harrison, J.A. Hudson & J.N. Carter

In-situ stress estimation using crack closure energy in crystalline rock 683
S.S Lim, C.D. Martin & R. Christiansson

A novel method for in situ stress measurement – concept, theory and numerical simulation 691
J.P. Loui, C-H. Ryu & D-W. Ryu

Interpretation of stressmeter data in variable temperature conditions 699

T. Smith, D. Milne & Z. Szczepanik

The contemporary stress field of the offshore Carnarvon Basin, North West Shelf, Western Australia 705
M.C. Neubauer, R.R. Hillis, R.C. King & S.D. Reynolds

Measurement of the regional and local stress field along a 10 km strike of the Zuleika Shear Zone
in the Kundana gold mining province of Western Australia 713
C.R. Windsor, E. Villaescusa, T. Funatsu & R. Lachenicht

The measurement and interpretation of in-situ stress using an overcoring technique from surface 721
I. Gray & L. See

Evaluation of initial rock stress state by hydraulic fracturing test in Korea: Overall
characteristics and a case study 729
S.H. Bae, J.M. Kim, J.S. Kim, E.S. Park & S.W. Jeon

Laboratory Testing & Coupled Behaviour

Determination of aperture distribution and DNAPL migration in a rough-walled rock fracture 739
W.M.S.B. Weerakone & R.C.K. Wong

A laboratory study of grout flow and settlement in open fractures 747

B. Shen & H. Guo

Investigations on the swelling behavior of pure anhydrites 755

F. Rauh & K. Thuro

Shear testing of a model dam monolith under varying lateral constraint conditions 763
D. Galic, S.D. Glaser & R.E. Goodman

Time-dependant behavior of rock foundation by laboratory and numerical modeling in Gotvand Dam 771
M. Ahmadi, H.M.D. Niasar & M.R. Bidgoli

Shear failure and shear fracturing in shales 777

R. Nygård, M. Gutierrez & K. Høeg

Influence of scale on the uniaxial compressive strength of brittle rock 785

L. Li, M. Aubertin, R. Simon, D. Deng & D. Labrie

X
The confining effect of end roughness on unconfined compressive strength 793
Z. Szczepanik, D. Milne & C. Hawkes

The long-term stress-strain behaviour of chalk 799

K.J.L. Stone & K.I. Katsaros

The effect of diagenesis on stress-strain behavior and acoustic velocities in sandstones 805
R. Nygård, K. Bjørlykke, K. Høeg & G. Hareland

The effective stress coefficient in porous sandstone 813

I.O. Ojala & E. Fjær

Development of upper and lower bounds to describe engineering properties as a

function of macroporosity 821
A. DaCosta, C. Wright, Y. Ye, M. MacLaughlin & N. Hudyma

Determining abrasivity with the LCPC Test 827

K. Thuro, J. Singer, H. Käsling & M. Bauer

Weathering and geomechanical properties of Alvand granitic rocks, Western Iran 835
A. Shafiei, M. Heidari & M.B. Dusseault

Evaluation of the mechanical and physical properties of rock containing pyrite by leaching tests 843
I. Woo, J.G. Kim, G.H. Lee, H.J. Park & J.G. Um

Author index 847

VOLUME 2 – Case Histories

Natural & Engineered Slopes

The use of geological models for foundations on rock; ‘Test Section’ of the Sea to
Sky Highway Upgrade, B.C. 853
P. Schlotfeldt & M. Goldbach

Estimating lateral support pressure for rock cuts at Washington-Dulles International

Airport expansion 861
C.D. Martin, E.B. Rehwoldt & V. Gall

Dip slope analysis and parameter uncertainty – Case history and practical recommendations 871
B.R. Fisher & E. Eberhardt

Rockslope engineering challenges for power transmission lines, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada 879
W.C.B. Gates & C. Lukkarila

Rock fall hazard assessment of Chapmans Peak Drive, Cape Town, South Africa 887
P. Schlotfeldt

Seismic monitoring of rockfall, Helmet Mountain, British Columbia 895

J.R. Moore, J.W. Sanders, K.M. Cuffey, J.R. Haught & S.D. Glaser

Deformation behavior of deep-seated rockslides in crystalline rock 901

C. Zangerl, E. Eberhardt, H. Schönlaub & J. Anegg

Investigation of possible failure mechanisms of the Portillo Rock Avalanche, Central Andes, Chile 909
D. Welkner, E. Eberhardt & R.L. Hermanns

XI
A complex rock slope failure investigated by means of numerical modelling based on laser
scanner technique 917
M. Ghirotti & R. Genevois

Ground-based and airborne LiDAR for structural mapping of the Frank Slide 925
M. Sturzenegger, D. Stead, C. Froese, F. Moreno & M. Jaboyedoff

Geomechanical analysis of the instability phenomena at Stromboli volcano 933

P. Tommasi, D. Boldini, F. Cignitti, A. Graziani, A. Lombardi & T. Rotonda

Characterization and back analysis of a complex slope deformation: San Bartolo Cliff 943
S. D’Ambra

Affect of shear strength criteria selection in probabilistic rock slope stability analyses:
A case study for a jointed rock slope in Norway 951
H.S.B. Düzgün & R.K. Bhasin

Dynamic rock fragmentation causes low rock-on-rock friction 959

T.R. Davies, M.J. McSaveney & A.M. Deganutti

Geotechnical challenges facing infrastructure development in western China 967

D.H. Zou, P. Cui & Y.Y. Zhu

Construction of a landslide susceptibility map using SINMAP technique and its validation:
A case study 975
U. Jeong, S.I. Park, C.W. Lee, J-T. Lee, W.S. Yoon, J.W. Choi, H. Hong & K.J. Kwan

Stability analysis of the slope of debris-flow fan under artificial rainfall 979
Y-Y. Zhu, P. Cui & D.H.S. Zou

Probabilities of casualties on Al-Baha mountain road, Saudi Arabia 987

B.H. Sadagah

Evaluating the slope instability of the Amiya slide 993

T.N. Singh & A.K. Verma

Dams & Hydroelectric Projects

A hydroelectric utility client’s view of rock engineering consultants 1001
B.D. Ripley, D.P. Moore & A.D. Watson

Estimating rock mass strength for a concrete dam founded on good rock: Blind Slough Dam,
British Columbia, Canada 1007
M.S. Lawrence & C.D. Martin

Investigations and monitoring of rock slopes at Checkerboard Creek and Little Chief Slide 1015
A.D. Watson, D.P. Moore, T.W. Stewart & J.F. Psutka

Engineering geology, glacial preconditioning, and rockmass response to large scale

underground excavations in the Niagara Region 1023
M.A. Perras & M.S. Diederichs

Geomechanics overview of large-scale hydropower station development in China 1031

H.C. Zhu, N.C. Qi & H.B. Wu

Accounting for time-dependent deformation in the Niagara Diversion Tunnel design 1039
S.J. Rigbey & M. Hughes

XII
Hydraulic fracturing stress measurements in Iceland and the design of two hydroelectric
power projects 1047
B. Haimson & A.K. Ingimarsson

Upgrading the rock foundation stability of Hamidieh Dam with relief wells 1055
H.R. Zarei & S. Khalesi

Rock mass characterization at the proposed Khorram-Roud dam site in western Iran 1065
A. Shafiei, M. Heidari & M.B. Dusseault

The effects of jet grouting on slope stability at Shahriar dam, Iran 1075
B. Nikbakhtan, Y. Pourrahimian & H. Aghababaei

Tunnels & Deep Underground Excavations

Some opportunities for science and engineering at DUSEL 1085
D. Elsworth & C. Fairhurst

Construction of a large-deep permanent cavern for physics research at the

Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) 1091
C. Laughton

Towards a transparent Earth 1097

S.D. Glaser, W. Roggenthen, L.R. Johnson & E.L. Majer

Earth science collaborations for Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory 1105
J.S.Y. Wang

Investigating coupled mechanical-hydrological behavior in a DUSEL 1115

H.F. Wang, S.C. Blair, S.R. Carlson, S.J. Martel & T. Tokunaga

The ‘Observational Approach’ in tunnelling 1123

W. Schubert

Geomechanical characterisation of massive rock for deep TBM tunnelling 1131

M.C. Villeneuve, M.S. Diederichs, P.K. Kaiser & C. Frenzel

Brittle tectonics in metamorphic rocks: Implications in the excavation of the

Bodio Section of the Gotthard Base Tunnel 1141
L. Bonzanigo

Methods for the evaluation and interpretation of displacement monitoring data in tunnelling 1149
K. Grossauer & W. Schubert

Rock classification based on convergence measurements in tunneling 1157

C. Tanimoto, K. Tsusaka, Y. Mitarashi & T. Aoki

Experience with shear zones at the edge of an intrusive body during tunnel construction 1167
W. Steiner

Material behaviour associated with tunnelling through the weak rock masses of the
Alpine system in Northern Greece 1179
N. Vlachopoulos & M.S. Diederichs

Environmental impacts of groundwater due to tunneling operations 1187

H.I. Chung, Y.S. Lee, Y.W. Kwon & J. Yu

XIII
Horonobe URL project – present status and future plans 1193
H. Matsui, H. Kurikami, T. Kunimaru, H. Morioka & K. Hatanaka

Application of scientific visualisation – stress control on permeability anisotropy in

moderately fractured rock 1203
L. Cotesta, P.K. Kaiser, M. Cai & A. Vorauer

Rock mass yielding in the Äspö Pillar Stability Experiment 1213

J.C. Andersson, R. Christiansson & C.D. Martin

Design and operation of a pilot plant for underground LNG storage 1221
E-S. Park, S-K. Chung, H-S. Lee, D-H. Lee & H-Y. Kim

Numerical simulation evaluating the standoff distance of SPR caverns from the edge of the
Big Hill Salt Dome, USA 1227
B.Y. Park, C.G. Herrick, M.Y. Lee & B.L. Ehgartner

Open Pit Mining

Predicting the behaviour and failure of large rock slopes 1237
J.R.L. Read

Analysis of slope stability in strong, fractured rock at the Diavik Diamond Mine, NWT 1245
K.M. Moffitt, S.F. Rogers, R.J. Beddoes & S. Greer

Geotechnical study and optimum pit slope design of the Ashok Coal opencast project 1251
V.K. Singh

Forecasting potential rock slope failure in open pit mines using the inverse-velocity
method – Case examples 1255
N.D. Rose & O. Hungr

Footwall slope slab failure at a mountain coal mine 1263

D.D. Tannant & R. LeBreton

The application of resource modeling and GIS tools to establish the kinematic stability of rock slopes 1271
M. Grenon, C. Lebleu, A.J. Laflamme & M.A. Mostafavi

Geotechnical characterization and design for the transition from the Grasberg Open Pit to the
Grasberg Block Cave mine 1277
A. Srikant, C. Brannon, D.C. Flint & T. Casten

A hybrid FEM/DEM approach to model the interaction between open-pit and underground
block-caving mining 1287
D. Elmo, A. Vyazmensky, D. Stead & J.R. Rance

Use of resource modeling tools in numerical analysis of slope stability 1295

M. Grenon & R. Caumartin

Analysis of a rock slope failure in a limestone open pit 1301

M. Cravero, G. Iabichino & D. Lo Presti

Underground Mining
Geotechnical inputs for cave management in the DOZ block cave 1313
H.A. Sahupala & A. Srikant

XIV
Caving performance through integration of micro-seismic activity and
numerical modeling at DOZ – PT Freeport Indonesia 1321
E. Rubio & D. Napitupulu

Modelling the caving of stope backs under high stress conditions: A case study of
prediction and field trials 1329
R.K. Brummer, C.P. O’Connor, G. Swan, D. Counter & N. Disley

Numerical modeling analysis for São Bento Mineração S/A, Santa Bárbara, MG, Brazil 1337
B. Foo & R. Pakalnis

Stability assessment of non-entry stopes using nonlinear finite element analysis 1347
Y. Zhang & H.S. Mitri

Learning from ground failures – Underground mining case studies 1353

J. Ran

Mining and rock mass factors influencing hangingwall dilution 1361

K. Forster, D. Milne & A. Pop

Mining within a weak rock mass – Kencana Underground Mine case study – PT Nusa
Halmahera Minerals (Newcrest Mining Ltd), Indonesia 1367
I. Febrian, A. Wahyudin, C. Gunadi, D. Peterson, P. Mah & R. Pakalnis

Hazard assessment when mining orebodies under shear loading 1377

F.T. Suorineni, P.K. Kaiser & J. Delgado

Monitoring the behavior of a sill pillar at failure in a narrow-vein mine 1385

D. Labrie, R. Boyle, T. Anderson, B. Conlon & K. Judge

Estimation of the peak and post-peak behaviour of fractured rock masses using spatial and
temporal analysis of mine induced microseismicity 1395
A.L. Coulson, W.F. Bawden & J.J. Crowder

Seismic hazard assessment and the amelioration thereof in deep level mining operations 1405
S.K. Murphy & G.F. Hoffmann

Coulomb Stress Triggering in the underground mining environment 1415

G.F. Hofmann & S.K. Murphy

Seismic monitoring in mines – Design, operation, tricks and traps 1423

M.R. Hudyma & R.K. Brummer

Back analysis and performance of Block A long hole open stopes – Kanowna Belle Gold Mine 1431
P.M. Cepuritis, E. Villaescusa & R. Lachenicht

Review of crown pillar investigations in a historic mine camp 1441

J.G. Henning

Observations and evaluation of floor benching effects on pillar stability in U.S. limestone mines 1447
G.S. Esterhuizen, D.R. Dolinar & J.L. Ellenberger

Using confinement as a means to estimate pillar strength in a room and pillar mine 1455
D. Roberts, D. Tolfree & H. McIntire

XV
Pillar stability during underground mining of the complete thickness of a thick coal seam
in a single lift – Indian experiences 1463
R. Singh & R. Kumar

Geomechanical maintenance of flooded field mining problems 1469

A. Grigoryev

Time-dependent rock mass behavior: Carr Fork Mine test stope 1475
W.G. Pariseau

The application of computer mine modeling for wide room deep level potash mining in Saskatchewan 1483
V. Ong, V. Thom, S. Munroe & L. Suru

State of stress simulation during mining of salt in solution 1489

V. Arad, S. Arad, P. Chelaru, I. Ilie, D. Ciocan & D. Cotes

Rock Support, Ground Control & Blasting

Evolution of ground support practices at Agnico-Eagle’s LaRonde Division – Innovative
solutions to high-stress yielding ground 1497
F. Mercier-Langevin & P. Turcotte

Numerical modeling and dynamic simulation of high-tensile steel wire mesh for
ground support under rockburst loading 1505
A. Roth, R. Ranta-Korpi, A. Volkwein & C. Wendeler

Rock bolt characterization using guided waves and numerical simulation 1511
D.H. Zou & J.L. Cheng

Shear reinforcing effect of rust proofing expansive rock bolts 1517

M. Shinji, H. Mukaiyama, N. Kanda & H. Tanase

Reinforcement design of blocky rock masses with cable bolts in Discontinuous

Deformation Analysis (DDA) algorithm 1525
R. Grayeli

Modeling of shotcrete under ASTM C-1550 with PFC3D 1533

X.J. Zhou & R.L. McNearny

Inspection of rock-concrete interface in underground support systems using

a Non-destructive Testing technique 1541
Z. Hosseini, M. Momayez & F. Hassani

Using blast vibration measurements to estimate rock triaxial strains/stresses and

dynamic rock strength for blast damage evaluation 1547
R. Yang & D.S. Scovira

A strategy for increasing reliability of underground construction 1553

B. Amusin

Investigation of overburden movement and a grout injection trial for mine subsidence control 1559
H. Guo, B. Shen & S. Chen

Case study review of rock mass response to artificial ground freezing 1567
T.L.M. Smith, D. Milne & C. Hawkes

XVI
Numerical modeling approach of failure modes for cemented backfill sill mats 1575
C. Caceres, R. Pakalnis, P. Hughes & T. Brady

Study of cemented rockfill for longhole stoping 1581

M. Kockler & S.J. Jung

Preliminary investigation into gel fill: Strength development and characteristics of

sand paste fill with sodium silicate. 1585
S.M. Razavi & F. Hassani

Petroleum Resources & Borehole Geomechanics

Geomechanical characterization of the Weyburn Field for geological storage of CO2 1595
R.J. Chalaturnyk

Some fundamental aspects of reservoir and crustal permeability and strength 1601
N. Barton

Predicting the stress changes induced by fluid production and injection in porous reservoirs 1609
H. Soltanzadeh & C.D. Hawkes

Stress field in the vicinity of a natural fault activated by the propagation of an

induced hydraulic fracture 1617
M. Thiercelin & E. Makkhyu

A semi-analytical model for predicting fault reactivation tendency induced by pore pressure change 1625
H. Soltanzadeh & C.D. Hawkes

Hydraulic fracturing of oil reservoirs in water-sensitive tuff 1633

H.X. Han, M.B. Dusseault, X.J. Wang, P.F. Tang, H. Zhang & X.W. Deng

Hydraulic fracture propagation across frictional interfaces 1639

X. Zhang & R.G. Jeffrey

Viscosity-dominated hydraulic fractures 1649

E. Detournay, A.P. Peirce & A.P. Bunger

Porothermoelastic analysis of wellbore failure and determination of in situ stress and rock strength 1657
Q. Tao & A. Ghassemi

Cyclic loading of oil sand by large mobile mining equipment 1665

T.G. Joseph & A.D. Sharif-Abadi

Microseismic detection of casing failures at a heavy oil operation 1671

S. Talebi, M. Coté & R.J. Smith

Impact of rock properties on the relationship between wellbore breakout width and depth 1677
D. Moos, S. Willson & C.A. Barton

Impermeable drilling mud to strengthen wellbore stability 1685

J. Zhang & W.B. Standifird

Theoretical analysis of a shale ball subjected to chemoporomechanical loading 1691

A.P. Bunger

Transient ground movement simulation in thermal processes 1701

S. Yin, M.B. Dusseault & L. Rothenburg

XVII
Rock mechanical aspects of shaped charge penetration 1711
J. Heiland, B. Grove & I.C. Walton

Calculating unconfined rock strength from drilling data 1717

G. Hareland & R. Nygaard

XVIII
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Preface

With ever-increasing population growth, our society demands increased safety in the face of natural hazards,
improved urban infrastructure, and improved access to water, energy and mineral resources. This presents a con-
tinual series of fresh challenges to rock mechanics professionals, as new tunnels, dams, mines, transportation
corridors and energy supplies are required. Both new and existing surface and underground mines are going
deeper into areas providing extreme and diverse geotechnical challenges. Communities and their infrastructure
are exposed to a wide variety of slope hazards as they expand into rugged mountainous terrain. Energy needs are
promoting the development of more complex hydrocarbon deposits, such as oil sands, while increased energy
consumption mandates new solutions to mitigate the impact of burning fossil fuels on the environment, for
example CO2 sequestration. The needs of scientists and engineers to improve our understanding (and manage-
ment) of the physical, chemical and biological planet on which we live is calling for the development of deep,
underground research laboratories.
These proceedings reflect the ongoing response of rock mechanics researchers and practitioners to these
challenges. The symposium for which they were produced, the 1st Canada-U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium,
held in Vancouver May 27-31, 2007, is the first in a series that is a continuation of the former North American
Rock Mechanics Symposium (NARMS), previously held in Austin, Texas (1994), Montreal (1996), Cancún
(1998), Seattle (2000), Toronto (2002) and Houston (2004). Like the previous NARMS, this new series is a
jointly organized meeting of the Canadian Rock Mechanics Association (CARMA) and the American Rock
Mechanics Association (ARMA). Subsequent meetings will be held in rotation between the U.S. and Canada,
providing a unique opportunity for dialogue amongst the various professionals who practice rock mechanics in
its many forms.
Vancouver lies between Canada’s coastal mountains and the Pacific Ocean – this mountainous landscape
offers its own extensive array of rock engineering challenges. As host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics,
several significant infrastructure and development projects are underway in the Vancouver region that typify the
importance of rock mechanics in meeting societal needs, and exemplify many of the challenges being faced by
rock mechanics professionals in Canada, the U.S. and around the world.
Many of these projects, and the experiences gained through them, are presented in these proceedings, which
are divided into two volumes. In the first volume, papers are presented that describe new technologies, ideas and
understanding with respect to fundamental rock mechanics. The second volume comprises a collection of rock
engineering case histories relevant to the major themes of this symposium: natural hazards, engineered slopes,
geotechnical infrastructure, surface and underground mining, and petroleum exploitation.
Together, these proceedings serve as a comprehensive reference, summarizing the current state-of-the-art in
rock mechanics and rock engineering as viewed by experts from Canada and the U.S., as well as internationally.

XIX
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Each paper in the book was reviewed by at least one peer reviewer, in addition to the Editors. In particular, the
Editors would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their diligence and timely delivery:
Deepak Adhikary Scott Dunbar Michel Jaboyedoff Paul Schlotfeldt
Michel Aubertin Maurice Dusseault Amir Karami Malcolm Scoble
Tom Badger Herbert Einstein Darren Kennard Dawn Shuttle
Richard Beddoes Davide Elmo John Kemeny Dick Stacey
Rajinder Bhasin Derek Elsworth Bo-Hyun Kim Tom Stewart
Bill Black Keith Evans Michael King Matthieu Sturzenegger
Richard Brummer Steve Glaser Martin Lawrence Fidelis Suorineni
Marc-Andre Brideau John Hadjigeorgiou Simon Loew Dwayne Tannant
Nichole Boultbee Bezalel Haimson Doug Milne David van Zeyl
Ming Cai Bill Haneberg Hani Mitri Ernesto Villaescusa
Rick Chalaturnyk John Harrison Priscilla Nelson Alex Vyazmensky
John Coggan Ferri Hassani Warren Newcomen Chris Windsor
Tim Coleman Chris Hawkes Victor Ong Duncan Wyllie
Réjean Couture Francois Heuze Bob Pine Ming Yan
Bill Dershowitz Rich Humphries Rimas Pakalnis Steve Zou
Emmanuel Detournay Evert Hoek John Richmond Robert Zimmerman
Mark Diederichs Jean Hutchinson Enrique Rubio

Thanks are due to the organizers of the symposium:

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS:
Erik Eberhardt (University of British Columbia)
Doug Stead (Simon Fraser University)
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Richard Beddoes (Golder Associates)
Bill Black (Westbay Instruments/Schlumberger)
Nichole Boultbee (Golder Associates)
Marc-Andre Brideau (Simon Fraser University)
Peter Bullock (BC Ministry of Transportation)
Davide Elmo (Simon Fraser University)
Evert Hoek (Consultant)
Derek Kinakin (BGC Engineering)
Thanks are also due to the external advisory committee members:
Canada
Michel Aubertin (École Polytechnique, Quebec)
Will Bawden (University of Toronto, Ontario)
Drum Cavers (AMEC, British Columbia)
John Curran (University of Toronto, Ontario)
Mark Diederichs (Queen’s University, Ontario)
John Hadjigeorgiou (Université Laval, Quebec)
Ferri Hassani (McGill University, Quebec)
Oldrich Hungr (University of British Columbia)
Paul Young (University of Toronto, Ontario)
Steve Zou (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia)
Martin Lawrence (BC Hydro)
Tom Morrison (Greater Vancouver Regional District)
Warren Newcomen (BGC Engineering)
Rimas Pakalnis (University of British Columbia)
Paul Schlotfeldt (Golder Associates)
Duncan Wyllie (Wyllie & Norrish Rock Engineering)
Ming Yan (Simon Fraser University)
Peter Kaiser (MIRARCO, Ontario)
Timothy Keegan (CN Railway, Alberta)
Jacques Locat (Université Laval, Quebec)
Derek Martin (University of Alberta)
Doug Milne (University of Saskatchewan)
Hani Mitri (McGill University, Quebec)
Allan Moss (Rio Tinto, British Columbia)
Bruce Ripley (BCHydro, British Columbia)
Dwayne Tannant (University of Alberta)

XXI
U.S.
Tom Badger (WDoT, Washington)
Peter Cundall (Itasca, Minnesota)
Emmanuel Detournay (University of Minnesota)
Herbert Einstein (MIT, Massachusetts)
Derek Elsworth (Penn State University)
Steven Glaser (University of California, Berkeley)
Bezalel Haimson (University of Wisconsin)
Bill Haneberg (Consultant, Washington)
Reginald Hardy (Penn State University)
International
John Coggan (CSM, UK)
Xiating Feng (Northeastern University, China)
John Harrison (Imperial College, UK)
John Hudson (ISRM President Elect)
The Editors feel privileged in being a part of this exciting undertaking and hope that these proceedings will be
useful to practitioners of rock mechanics and rock engineering.
XXII
Francois Heuze (LLNL, California)
John Kemeny (University of Arizona)
Christopher Mark (NIOSH, Pennsylvania)
Priscilla Nelson (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
Jean-Claude Roegiers (Oklahoma University)
Nicholas Sitar (University of California, Berkeley)
Peter Smeallie (Executive Director, ARMA)
John Tinucci (President, ARMA)
Simon Loew (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Kurosch Thuro (TU Munich, Germany)
Nielen van der Merve (ISRM President)
Vancouver 2007 Editors,
Erik Eberhardt, Doug Stead, Tom Morrison
February 23, 2007
New Trends in Data Collection & 3-D Ground/
Deformation Characterization
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
Geology, technology and site characterisation

C.D. Martin
Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: An essential step in a site characterisation program is the development of a geological model
that captures the geological complexity of the site. This geological site descriptive model is then used as the
basis for developing the ground engineering model which forms the basis for design. Advances in technology
have led to new methods for conducting site investigation and for building the geological site descriptive model.
Examples are provided that highlight the development of a geological site descriptive model and the impact of
the geological complexity on the ground engineering model.

1 INTRODUCTION

Geotechnical engineering is fundamentally about

managing risk. Morgenstern (1995) summarized risk
assessment concepts using the framework for risk
management adopted by the Canadian StandardsAsso-
ciation. Figure 1 is a generalised framework for risk
management that would need to be modified for
individual projects. But in all cases risk assessment
requires identification of the hazard and quantifying
the risk associated with each hazard. Morgenstern
noted that while quantitative risk analysis (QRA) is
one aspect of the framework, qualitative risk assess-
ment is also a valuable component of risk management.
With risk defined as the combination of the probability
of occurrence of an undesired event and the possible
extent of the event’s consequence, risk can, in princi-
ple, be calculated. The full potential of QRA is best
met with the establishment of acceptable risk criteria.
Establishing acceptable risk criteria in geotechnical
engineering is a challenge that is evolving. Relat-
ing consequences to cost/benefit analysis provides a
simpler basis for evaluating acceptable risk. The link
between risk and benefit must be balanced and within
the context of geotechnical engineering the risks are
usually reduced to an acceptable standard by the best
practical means.
Site characterisation is one means of reducing risk
to acceptable levels, yet routine site investigations
invariable lead to wrong conclusions. To achieve an
acceptable risk requires placing the site characteri-
sation in a geological frame work and this essential
step is often poorly understood. In 1977 Morgenstern
and Cruden proposed a classification of geotechnical
complexities based on facies to provide a frame-
work for site investigations. They proposed that these
complexities arise from three processes: (1) processes
Figure 1. A general framework for risk management
proposed by the Canadian Standards Association.
associated with the formation of the material, (2) pro-
cesses associated with its subsequent modification
by deformation and diagenesis, and (3) weathering
processes. Fookes (1997, 2000) suggested that these
processes could be described by simplified geolog-
ical models that captured the important elements of
the process models that created the complexities and
still respected the geological history of the forma-
tions involved. Hoek (1999) noted that such geological
models were an essential first step for establishing con-
fidence in the numbers that form the bases for design.
Developing a geological model for a site is not a
trivial task. The geological model for some projects
may be adequately presented in simple plans and sec-
tions while three dimensional models may be needed
for more complex projects. However, regardless of the
means of communicating the information, develop-
ing the Site Descriptive Model (SDM) which is used
to develop the Ground Engineering Model requires
several steps (Fig. 2). The Site Descriptive Model is
the geological description resulting from both surface
and borehole investigations. The essential component
of the SDM is to communicate the impact of the
geological history on the rock mass conditions that
exist today. The next step is to translate the SDM into

3
Figure 2. The Site Descriptive Model and geotechnical
design. (Modified from Knill 2005).
the Ground Engineering Model which will be used as
the basis for design. In rock engineering design, val-
ues are usually required for in-situ stress, pore water
pressure, rock mass strength and deformation modu-
lus. In this paper, examples are provided to illustrate
the development of the Site Descriptive Model and the
development of the Ground Engineering Model.
2 GEOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY IN
SEDIMENTARY ROCK
Geological complexity can exist at all scales. The Site
Descriptive Model should capture this complexity but
it may not impact the ground engineering model or
the project design. Geological complexity implies that
the geological description of the site, i.e., lithology
domains and structural domains, varies spatially. The
extent of this complexity and its potential impact on
design dictates the site characterisation requirements,
not the complexity alone.
The nuclear waste industry has been investigat-
ing geological formations and complexity in detail
since the early 1970’s. The purpose of these early
investigations was to establish the suitability of these
geological formations for the disposal of radioactive
waste. Today two geological formations are generally
considered acceptable for the disposal of radioactive
waste: (1) crystalline formations and (2) sedimen-
tary formations. While crystalline rocks are usually
considered to be heterogeneous and contain complex
fracture systems, sedimentary rocks are thought to be
relatively fracture free and predictable over large dis-
tances. The site characterisation for a repository at a
depth of 500 m with a footprint of 2 km2 in either of
4
Figure 3. Geology model for the Benken Site, based on
three-dimensional seismic survey and a single borehole
(Lambert 2000).
these formations would require significantly different
approaches.
2.1 Underground repository in mudstones
The argillaceous rock Opalinus Clay, named for the
ammonite Leioceras Opalinum, is being considered
as a potential host formation for geological disposal
of nuclear waste in Switzerland. This dry (low water
content), relatively weak, Jurassic-aged claystone has
several desirable characteristics, such as low per-
meability and potential capacity for self-sealing of
fractures, that make it a good candidate as a host
formation. A site investigation consisting of a single
borehole complemented by a large three-dimensional
seismic survey showed the uniformity of the site as
well the low hydraulic conductivity (Fig. 3). While the
complexity of the small scale site geology is evident
in Figure 3 the uniformity of the site is also evident.
Three dimensional seismic surveys have been
widely used in the oil industry for the past 20 years
but the improvements in computer hardware and pro-
cessing capacity have meant dramatic improvements
in our ability to see the ground. Site characterisation
has also benefited from the significant improvements
that have occurred in our ability to characterise the
ground from a single borehole. In the 2006 volume
of Felsbau (Number 4), a series of articles describe
the geological, geomechanical, hydrogeological and
geochemical characterization techniques that are rou-
tinely carried out in both large diameter and small
diameter (<100 mm) boreholes. While the detailed
seismic survey provides information at the scale of a)
the repository the additional information gained from
the single borehole characterization was adequate to
develop a preliminary ground engineering model for
the site. It should be noted, that all site characteri-
sation is conducted within the framework developed
for similar materials from previous projects. The b)
ground behaviour of the Opalinus clay is well known
in Switzerland and is also the subject of an exten- Figure 4. General topography and stress release mecha-
sive international research program at the Mont Terri nisms found during the Site C investigations. a) Photograph
laboratory. That experience combined with the site of the Peace River valley. b) Stress release mechanisms in the
characterisation results gives confidence in predicting Site C Dam foundation (after Imrie 1991).
the ground engineering model.

2.2 Dam foundation on clay shales

While the example above illustrated the application of
geophysics in the development of the ground model for
the preliminary design of underground excavations,
the same approach cannot be relied on when the risks
are greater. The performance of concrete and earthfill
dams is intimately linked to the performance of their
foundation. During the early 1980’s BC Hydro con-
ducted an extensive site investigation for the Site C
project located on the Peace River near Fort. St John,
British Columbia. At the dam site, the Peace River cuts
through a sequence of clay shales of Lower Cretaceous
age, that contained an illite-smectite assemblage as the
principal clay minerals with lesser amounts of illite and
kaolinite. The smectite portion comprised an average
10% of the shale by weight (Imrie 1991).
Matheson and Thomson (1973) presented a geolog-
ical model for the effect of valley rebound processes
in the Plains environment containing weak clay shales.
Their work showed that during the valley down cutting
the weak bedding planes can shear in-situ result-
ing in very low shear strengths. Imrie (1991) using
this geological model reviewed the geology found at
Site C, and noted that valley down cutting resulted
in: (i) an upward arching of the central valley floor
accompanied by fracturing along bedding surfaces, (ii)
inward movements of the valley walls accompanied by
relaxation jointing and bedding plane shears formed
because of horizontal displacements along the weaker
beds, and (iii) cross-cutting shears in the riverbed
(Fig. 4).
These thin bedding plane shears noted by Imrie
(1991) presented unique challenges during site inves-
tigations (Fig. 5). The continuity and locations of these
Figure 5. Photograph of thin (<10 mm thick) bedding plane
in the Site C Dam foundation.
bedding plane shears was critical to the dam design,
and because of the very low shear strengths (ϕ∼10◦ )
the identification and sampling demanded special
techniques. Traditional triple-tube small diameter core
barrels and geophysical techniques were eventu-
ally replaced with approximately 1-m-diameter shafts
(LDH) that were used to map the dam foundation and
collect 200-mm-diameter samples for shear strength
testing (Fig. 6). A total of 29 LDH holes were used to
trace the extent of the bedding plane shears. Similar
site investigation techniques were used for the Oldman
Dam in southwestern Alberta (Davachi et al. 1991).
There is little doubt that bedding plane shears create
a significant challenge for site investigations in sedi-
mentary rocks and the occurrence of such shears can
significantly impact the ground engineering model and
project design. In the Site C case the occurrence of the
bedding plane shear was not associated with the for-
mation of the material but resulted from deformation
processes associated with valley down cutting. Hence

5

Figure 6. Photograph of the approximately 1 m-diameter
boreholes used to map and sample the thin bedding planes
shown in Figure 5.
Figure 7. Geologic and Physiographic regions of
Virginia, (from http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/vageol/vahist/
index.html).
the occurrence of bedding plane shears in sedimen-
tary rocks depends on the geological history and may
or may not be present.
2.3 Rock slopes in Triassic redbeds
Martin et al (2007) describe the rock excavations that
were planned for the Washington-Dulles International
Airport expansion. Geotechnical investigations per-
taining to the rock excavations have been ongoing
since 1999. The field investigations have consisted
of traditional and oriented cored boreholes, pres-
suremeter testing, seismic refraction surveys, optic and
acoustic televiewer surveys, and groundwater studies.
The project site lies within the Culpeper Basin,
a geologic feature that extends from South Central
Virginia to western Maryland (Fig. 7). The predom-
inant rocks are mudstones, siltstones, shales, and
sandstones of the Culpeper Group of Triassic age
(Toewe 1966). While the region has been uplifted and
intruded by igneous rocks, the sedimentary sequence is
relatively undeformed regionally. Geotechnical inves-
tigations confirmed that at the Dulles Airport site the
structural features that could impact the design of the
rock cuts were the bedding planes and the regional
6
Figure 8. Typical rock cuts at Dulles Airport site (Tier 3
Excavation, photo from McQuinn et al. 2006).
subvertical fractures. The bedding planes of these
Triassic “redbeds” were the dominant feature encoun-
tered and strike approximately North-South and dip
towards the West, while the subvertical fractures were
often non-persistent. The non-persistent nature of
these fractures is consistent with the regional defor-
mation history experienced by these rocks.
The major concern was the 30◦ dip of the bedding
and the potential for large-scale bedding plane shears
containing weak clay, particularly in the upper part
of the rock mass below the weathered zone. Given
the large number of rock cuts required for the project
and the expected discontinuous nature of the bedding
planes it was not practical to resolve the uncertainty in
the continuity of the bedding planes using site inves-
tigation techniques (Fig. 8). For such situations the
information that is gathered during construction can
be used to complement the site investigation results
and if necessary, be used to modify the design. The for-
mal procedure for this approach is the observational
method.
The observational method describes a risk-based
approach to geoengineering that employs adaptive
management, including advanced monitoring and
measurement techniques, to substantially reduce costs
while protecting capital investment, human health,
and the environment. The essential elements of the
observational method that were implemented at Dulles
Airport can be summarized as follows: establish the
geological model for the site; determine the likely
modes of failure and the appropriate method of cal-
culation; specify a construction procedure consistent
with the geological model and the possible mode(s)
of failure; Instrument and monitor the excavation
sequence and slope performance; compare predicted
and measured parameters to ensure the design assump-
tions are valid; change the design as needed.
During the course of the excavations, detailed map-
ping was carried out to confirm the design assumptions
made during the site investigation. Figure 9 gives the
results from detailed field mapping of several rock
cuts and confirms the bases for the ground engineering
model.

Figure 9. Photo of the discontinuous and rough nature of
the subvertical joints and the lower hemisphere stereonet of
the field mapping giving the large scale dip of the bedding
and the joints.
2.4 Summary
While the geological complexity in the Sedimen-
tary rocks described above may appear innocuous,
the site investigations techniques required to develop
the ground engineering model were extensive. In the
case studies described the complexities arise from
processes associated with the formation of the mate-
rial and processes associated with its subsequent
modification by deformation. Regardless of the pro-
cess creating the complexity, it is clear that the risks
associated with each project dictate the level of effort
required to establish the ground engineering model.
3 GEOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY IN
HARD ROCKS
Site investigation techniques in hard rocks are essen-
tially the same as those used in sedimentary rocks. In
hard rocks the three dimensional seismic surveys are
7
Figure 10. Fractures mapped in a crystalline outcrop in
Scandinavian shield.
Figure 11. Illustration of the fracture frequency observed
in core.
not effective and while various efforts have been made
to improve the technology, it is not used in site charac-
terisation. In hard rocks the focus of site investigation
techniques is to identify and locate discrete fractures
such as shown in Figure 10. These fractures represents
the brittle-deformation history of the rock mass and are
an indicator of the geological complexity of the site.
One of the earliest attempts to quantify the rock
mass conditions resulting from the discrete fracture
frequency observed in core (Fig. 11) was the rock
quality designation index RQD developed by Deere
(1964). Since its introduction, RQD has been used
as the cornerstone for the empirical RMR (Bienawski
1988) and Q-System (Barton 1988) classification sys-
tem. RQD is a directionally dependent parameter and
its value may change significantly, depending upon the
borehole orientation (Fig. 12).
One of the approaches currently being developed
to overcome some of the deficiencies in describing
fracture frequency is the discrete fracture network
(DFN). According to Munier (2004) a geological
model consists of three parts: (1) a lithological model
Figure 12. RQD determined in two boreholes collared from Figure 13. Illustration of a discrete fracture network model
the same locations. The upper portion of the borehole is in used to simulate jointing in hard rock.
concrete.

that describes the geometries and properties of var-

ious lithological units, (2) a structural model that
describes the geometry and properties of determin-
istic deformation/fault zones at various scales, and (3)
a discrete fracture network model that describes the
fracture/jointing within the lithological units. Munier
(2004) suggests that a DFN model is created by a sta-
tistical treatment of the sampled data using: orientation
of the fractures, size of the fractures, fracture density,
fracture termination (how fractures cross each other),
the spatial correlation of the fractures (both horizon-
tally and vertically), influence of structural control,
e.g. correlation to neighbouring large scale deforma-
tion zones and large scale folding, and influence of
lithology. In addition to the geometrical description of
the network fracture properties such as surface rough-
ness, infilling weathering and coatings can also be
described. The DFN model when coupled to the geo-
logical model can represent a significant improvement
in representing the fractured rock mass.
A typical discrete fracture network is shown in
Figure 13. Once the DFN model has been created two-
dimensional sampling can be carried out at any ori-
entation for input into hydrogeological or mechanical
models. The purpose of DFN models is not to simulate
deformation zones, such as faults or shear zones that
can be adequately described as unique features in the Figure 14. Top: Example of borehole imaging using optical
geological model. The DFN model attempts to capture (top middle) and acoustic (top right) televiewers. Bottom:
the jointing that cannot be described as unique features Bips imaging system.
by incorporating the fractures and their characteris-
tics observed in borehole and surface mapping. The
3.1 Underground excavations in crystalline rock
DFN model is particularly suited to modern borehole
imaging techniques such as the acoustic and/or optical Site investigations in crystalline rock for nuclear
televiewer where fracture orientation and spacing can waste disposal have been ongoing since the early
be determined explicitly (Fig. 14). 70’s. In Canada, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland

8
dedicated underground research laboratories have
been constructed to develop characterisation method-
ologies for these fractured rock masses. Like all rock
masses the geological complexities vary. For example,
at AECL’s Underground Research Laboratory, near
Pinawa, Manitoba Canada, essentially no open frac-
tures were found below a depth of approximately
300 m providing a relatively homogeneous massive
rock mass. While at SKB’s Apso Hard Rock Labora-
tory in southern Sweden, open flowing fractures were
commonly encountered to depths of 500 m.
The Site Descriptive Models for these sites must
reflect the varying geological complexities and degree
of fracturing and the Ground Engineering Model
must incorporate these complexities into engineering
analyses. The findings from the nuclear waste dis-
posal programs have helped defined the limitations
of borehole-based characterisation methods for these
rock masses and their geological environments.
The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste manage-
ment Company (SKB) has been conducting site
investigations in the Forsmark area in Sweden for the
siting of a used fuel nuclear waste repository since
2003. SKB constructed the Forsmark SFR Facility,
a series of underground caverns and a large silo to han-
dle low and intermediate level waste in the 1987 and
has operated the facility since then. These new investi-
gations build on the experience gained from the siting
of the Forsmark SFR facility. The site investigations Figure 15. Example of the integration of individual bore-
at Forsmark are being conducted in crystalline rock hole data used in the development of the Site Descriptive
and hence cannot take advantage of three dimensional Model (SKB 2005).
seismics shown in Figure 3. However other geophysi-
cal techniques, particularly airborne and ground based
magnetic surveys, are used extensively to map bedrock sources of primary data, both borehole and observa-
lineaments. tions. The data must be georeferenced, i.e. coupled to
These site investigations are conducted using 76- observation points on the ground surface, in a bore-
mm diameter boreholes to depths of 1000 m. The char- hole or along a tunnel. Once the data from individual
acterisation surveys being conducted in these small boreholes has been integrated the next step is the
diameter holes range from detailed hole-wall imaging integration of all borehole data.
using acoustic and optical systems, discrete fracture Modern software have revolutionised the meth-
hydrogeological and geochemical mapping, in-situ ods for visualising and updating three dimensional
stress measurements, as well as traditional geological geological data from site investigation programs. Cul-
and geomechanical core logging. While various disci- shaw (2005) in the Seventh Glossop Lecture outlined
plines are responsible for interpreting the primary data, many of these changes. In practice, the interpre-
data integration resulting in a geological Site Descrip- tation of primary geological information forms the
tive Model is the overall objective (Munier 2005). basis of a geometrical framework which will subse-
Figure 15 shows the integration of the primary data quently become a geological model. This model will
obtained from a single borehole, consisting of lithol- be modified and altered in the processes of iterative
ogy, open fracture frequency, deformation zones (DZ), and integrative interpretations and eventually forms
resistivity values, natural flow, flow at discrete loca- the key component of the geological Site Descriptive
tions obtained using the Posiva Flow Logger (PPLf), Model.
Transmissivity values and packer locations. It is clear The methodology developed by SKB for construct-
from such data integration there is a strong correlation ing geological models proceeds such that primary data
between open fractures and flow, and the interpreted and the results of integrative single hole interpreta-
deformation zones. tions are retrieved from the primary data database
During the course of the site investigations, data are (SICADA) and visualized using an appropriate tool,
accumulated in databases, which constitute the main such as RVS (Munier et al. 2003). The visualisation of

9

Figure 16. Three-dimensional geological model produced
by SKB’s RVS geological modelling software (SKB 2006).
the primary data and interpreted products is achieved
by a direct coupling between RVS and selected parts
of SICADA. Based on the visualisation of primary
surface and underground data, possible correlations
and structures are identified and later interpreted with
regard to position and extent. RVS is used to visualise
measured point values in boreholes and on the ground
surface or along planes representing geophysical, geo-
logical, chemical, rock mechanical or thermal point
measurements on reflectors, profiles or maps. Using
these data as a starting point, alternative interpretations
can be tested in an iterative process which leads to the
geometrical elements of the Site Descriptive Model.
Figure 16 shows one such three dimensional geolog-
ical model developed from the site investigations for
Forsmark.
4 DISCUSSION
There is little doubt that technology is changing our
approach to site investigations and extending our
ability to see the ground. Nonetheless geotechnical
engineering remains fundamentally about managing
risk and site characterisation remains one of the most
effective means of reducing project risk to acceptable
levels. A framework that recognises the importance of
geological complexities on project design is essential
for developing site characterisation programs. The Site
Descriptive Model and the ground engineering model
discussed in this paper is one such framework.
The Site Descriptive Model is the geological
description resulting from both surface and borehole
investigations. Site investigation technology, partic-
ularly the tools for slim boreholes, has advanced
significantly in the past 20 years and our ability to
communicate geological complexity using modern
desktop software has also changed the methodology
used collect and display geological data. Regardless
of the advances in technology, translating the Site
Descriptive Model into a ground engineering model
10
which will be used as the basis for design, remains a
significant challenge in geotechnical engineering.
REFERENCES
Davachi, M.M., Sinclair, B.J., Hartmaier, H.H.,
Baggott, B.L. & Peters, J.E. 1991. Shear strength of the
Oldman River dam foundation. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal 28: 698–707.
Deere, D.U. 1964. Technical description of rock cores for
engineering purposes. Rock Mechanics and Engineering
Geology 1: 17–22.
Fookes, P. 1997. The First Glossop Lecture – Geology
for engineers: the geological model, prediction and per-
formance. Quarterly Journal Engineering Geology 30:
293–431.
Hoek, E. 1999. The Second Glossop Lecture: Putting num-
bers to geology – an engineer’s viewpoint. Quarterly
Journal Engineering Geology 32: 1–19.
Imrie, A.S. 1991. Stress-induced response from both natural
and construction-related processes in the deepening of the
Peace River valley, B.C. Canadian Geotechnical Journal
28: 719–728.
Knill, J. 2003. Core values – the first Hans Cloos lecture. Bul-
letin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 62(1):
1–34.
Lambert, A. 2000. 3D Seismics in the Zürcher Weinland.
Nagra Bulletin 33: 18–29
Martin, C.D., Rehwoldt, E.B. & Gall, V. 2007. Estimating
lateral support pressure for rock cuts at Washington-
Dulles International Airport expansion. In Eberhardt et al.
(eds.), Proceedings 1st Canada-U.S. Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Vancouver. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema.
Matheson, D. S. & Thomson, S. 1973. Geological implica-
tions of valley rebound. Canadian Journal Earth Science
10: 961–978.
McQuinn, M.T., Ragsdale, I.J. & Parham, A. 2006. Case his-
tory of the support of excavation systems at the Dulles
Automated People Mover (DAPM) tunnels and stations.
In Proceedings 31st Annual Conference on Deep Foun-
dations, Washington, DC. Deep Foundations Institute,
pp. 35–46.
Morgenstern, N.R. 1995. The 3rd Casagrande Lecture: Man-
aging risk in geotechnical engineering. In Proc. 10th
Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foun-
dation Engineering, Guadalajara. Mexico City: Mexican
Society of Soil Mechanics, vol. 4, pp102–126.
Morgenstern, N.R. & Cruden, D.M. 1977. Description and
classification of geotechnical complexities. In Proc. Inter-
national Symposium on The Geotechnics of Structurally
Complex Formations, Capri. Italian Geotechnical Society,
vol. 2, pp. 195–204.
Munier, R. 2004. Statistical analysis of fracture data, adapted
for modelling discrete fracture networks-version 2. SKB
Report R-04-66, SKB, Stockholm. 60 pp.
Munier, R., Stenberg, L., Stanfors, R., Milnes, A.G.,
Hermanson. J. & Triumf, C-A. 2003. Geological Site
Descriptive Model – A strategy for the model develop-
ment during site investigations. SKB Report R-03-07,
SKB, Stockholm. 116pp.
SKB 2006. Site descriptive modelling Forsmark stage 2.1.
SKB Report R-06-38, SKB, Stockholm.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Four dimensional considerations in forensic and predictive simulation of

hazardous slope movement

D.J. Hutchinson & M.S. Diederichs

GeoEngineering Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

C. Carranza-Torres
Consultant, CCT Rock Engineering, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, USA

R. Harrap
Dept. Geol Sci. and Geol Eng., Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

S. Rozic & P. Graniero

University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: An integrated approach to landslide hazard monitoring and data interpretation is presented. Based
on geotechnical sensor data, numerical process simulation related to probable failure modes, a digital library of
case histories and modelling results, and GIS tools, the approach is intended to support the data analysis and
decision making of technical personnel. To improve the quality of the data derived from the numerical simulation
tools for complex slopes, with variable sub-surface conditions and observed variation in displacement across
the landslide surface and within the mass, a suite of tools to extract geometrical and geological data has been
developed. Preliminary results from the work show that the tools identify progressive zonation of movement
within the slope and simulate variable movement across and within the slope mass.

1 INTRODUCTION Large slopes and the instruments within them

Standard two-dimensional analyses, single mecha-
nism considerations and direct cause-effect interpreta-
tion of monitoring data changes are often inadequate
for hazard management of large slow moving land-
slides near critical infrastructure. This work often
demands an integrated approach, incorporating mon-
itoring using a network of variable output sensors,
multi-directional monitoring, spatial and temporal
data management, case history analysis, and four
dimensional process modeling to understand and inter-
pret the instrumentation results from discrete locations
in space, and finite and often discontinuous intervals
of time.
The influences of three-dimensional geometrical
variation and change (topography, structural contours
and isopach complexity as well as erosion or uplift) and
of key short term trigger phenomena such as pore pres-
sure, fracture fill or frost jacking or thermal oscillation
and the observable response (displacements) vary con-
siderably; across the sliding region, with depth below
surface, and in time.
respond to local fluctuations in these factors and trig-
ger phenomena, and as such average or assumed move-
ments of the slope mass simulated by two dimensional
simulation are typically in error, creating challenges
in effective data interpretation and slope monitor-
ing with discretely located and discretely sampling
instruments.
Nevertheless, spatially and temporally distributed
measurements can be effectively combined with a
knowledge engine and an evolving rule base to form
the hub of a decision support system, as shown in
Figure 1. This hub links multi-component and multi-
dimensional modeling to the knowledge and rule-
based support system, providing dynamically updating
rule sets for alert levels and a feedback loop for ongo-
ing optimization of instrumentation system design
and interpretation protocols. This paper describes an
ongoing project to develop a decision-support system
for large slope instability monitoring and manage-
ment. A case history (Downie Slide) is used to high-
light some of the features of the system and associated
ongoing work.

11
Figure 1. Integration of data from landslide visualization and monitoring within a GIS interface, process modelling using
geomechanical simulation tools, and case history digital library, through a decision support hub (after Hutchinson et al. 2006).
2 THE ROLE OF CASE HISTORIES AND
NUMERICAL MODELLING IN
DECISION SUPPORT
A collaborative research project is currently ongoing
to provide improved systems and protocols for the
evaluation of slope monitoring data interpretation and
enhanced assessment of the dynamics of slope instabil-
ity. The research is aimed at providing the responding
engineer with tools for optimizing ongoing collection
and interpretation of data from geotechnical instru-
ments to provide more rigorous and dynamic assess-
ment of the slope state and for technical evaluation of
the data for establishing thresholds for managing risk,
early warning alarm triggering and emergency plan
development and activation decision support. Effec-
tive linkage between these components depends upon
development of a geotechnically sound rule base.
Analysis of case history data is the first step for the
development of a rule base. Rules for early warning,
additional instrumentation installations, remediation
and alarm can evolve empirically through the cross
correlation of triggers (e.g. pore pressure, geometric
modification, critical creep displacement) and effects
(increased displacement rate and magnitude). It is
important to recognize, however, the importance of an
accurate interpretation of geologically/geometrically
probable failure modes and the need for four dimen-
sional considerations (geometrical variability and tem-
poral change). Incremental cause and effect analysis
must be coupled with behaviour history. Numerical
12
analysis involving individual failure mechanisms as
well as the interaction of multiple or coupled failure
modes is integrated with real time data input and spa-
tial data management tools, forming the basis for the
development of the geotechnical decision support rule
sets.
3-D modeling is recommended for large complex
slope problems although two dimensional test slope
models can be used to demonstrate the ability of
the spatial analysis tools developed for this project.
In practice, scoping three-dimensional analysis can
identify critical sections, where they exist, that can
be analyzed more routinely and continuously using
simplified and two-dimensional analysis. The results
of 2D models can be used directly where appropri-
ate or “factored” according to 2D–3D behavioural
correlations. Nevertheless, many special configura-
tions and response scenarios can only be modeled in
three-dimensions.
The objective of the Geotechnical In-Situ Sensor
Network (GIST) project is to combine sensor net-
work monitoring tools with geotechnical modeling
and intelligent systems technology, to capture aspects
of the geotechnical decision making process, in an
integrated decision support system (DSS). The basic
framework is shown in Figure 1. The GIST DSS
interface provides spatial analytical tools for operator-
driven use, as well as an interface for programming
decision rules. The system should ideally build on
commercial (i.e. off-the-shelf) GIS technology to
optimize flexibility and serviceability.
 These systems are not intended to replace human
experts and their decision making ability, but rather
to extend the expert’s capabilities and aid in the
transfer (between geotechnical experts, instrumenta-
tion technicians, and logistical decision makers), and
sustainability of corporate expertise. Efficiency and
the range of factors considered in a decision, as dis-
cussed by Clancey (2004) for other applications, are
emphasized.
The “Case Archive” shown in Figure 1 includes
a well-illustrated library of slope instability cases,
allowing operational personnel to identify potential
slope instability modes. This library is constructed
through a review of field observations, using the slope
classification scheme proposed by Cruden & Varnes
(1996).
Technical personnel can be prompted and guided, to
also carry out mechanistically appropriate slope stabil-
ity analyses, through the model management portion
of the DSS. This process is intended to develop, vali-
date and dynamically modify landslide process models
as needed for decision support.
The modelling tools are integrated into the GIST
platform to encourage sufficient analyses to improve
understanding of the sensitivity of the process to
parameter variation or to produce a probabilistic
response model of the potential for slope instabil-
ity, based on spatially variable landslide triggers. The
results of these simulations will contribute to the evo-
lution of rule sets for the interpretation of instrument
and instrument cluster response over space and time.
Modelling results are, in turn, stored in the Case
Archive (Fig. 1) for future retrieval for decision sup-
port, sensitivity and alternate scenario analysis and for-
ward prediction based on ongoing model-monitoring
feedback.
Numerical models can be utilized in a “test mode”
as illustrated on the far left of Figure 1. Models
provide “real time” synthetic monitoring input for
training of the knowledge engine and testing of rule
sets. They also allow for comparisons between known
continuous behaviour across the variable slide mass
and the discrete, piecewise response of discrete sen-
sors. Modelling over a series of incremental time steps
can be used to “invert” piecewise instrumentation
results from the field to suit a particular mechanically
valid scenario. This allows for complex interrelation-
ships between sensors in space and time to be realized,
improving predictive capabilities of the knowledge
engine.
3 SENSOR INTEGRATION INTO A GIS
BASED GEOTECHNICAL DECISION
SUPPORT SYSTEM
As emphasized by Turbain & Aronson (2000), Deci-
sion Support Systems extend the ability of a decision
13
Figure 2. Monitoring network on Downie Slide, British
Columbia (Canada). Instrument access roads are shown.
maker, to respond to large amounts of data, to deal with
rapid changes in a system, and to understand highly
complex model dynamics, through an integration
of software, hardware, and human process systems.
Modern DSS tools are predominantly software-based
systems with linkages across Internet-based informa-
tion sources.
In the case of geotechnical monitoring, signifi-
cant physical infrastructure (geotechnical monitoring
networks) is incorporated and the system is spa-
tially distributed. Furthermore, the significance of
certain measurements depends on their temporal his-
tories. The locations of the sensors (point located,
linear series, areal or volumetric) and timing (dis-
crete, incremental, continuous) of the measurements
are critically important in interpreting results during
periods of ongoing creep displacements and trigger
fluctuations and also during sudden changes in the
monitored domain, as would result from component
(berm, tension crack) or system (slope) failure.
The challenge in building a DSS for geotechnical
monitoring, such as that in Figure 1 is to provide ana-
lytical tools that can handle large amounts of current
and historical data in near-real-time from a distributed
and temporally inconsistent sensor set (downtime, new
installations, data interruptions) such as that on the
Downie Slide in Figure 2.
For a system integrity point-of-view, the DSS must
provide a summary schematic of the ongoing moni-
toring scenario and must also allow access to sensor
attribute data, the spatial data for the sensor envi-
ronment, historical status reports and high-low range
histories for automated problem diagnosis (Fig. 3).
For output interpretation, the system must obviously
provide on-demand data summaries for individual sen-
sors, but also provide heuristics that combine multiple
sensors into easily interpreted summaries, and provide
query and modification of the underlying logic of those
heuristics.
Figure 3. Plan view of sensor display for geotechnical
instruments located within a slope, including status indica-
tors for a sub-set of sensors abstracted from the data set (after
Hutchinson et al. 2004).
Figure 4. Model test slope. Shaded areas are separated by
weakness zones, lines are material boundaries and points are
location of virtual inclinometers in the slope.
As described by Lazzari & Salvaneshi (1999), a sys-
tem such as the one described here includes elements
of sensor output data viewing, time-domain analysis,
document libraries, rule libraries, and rule output dis-
plays. This functionality must be implemented in a
way that makes clear what is known, conjectured or
inferred.
The system must be capable of assessing defor-
mations and discriminating between developing zones
of differential displacement. A model test slope with
four distinct zones of movement, and with installed
‘virtual’ inclinometers (Fig. 4), was developed to pro-
vide simulated data for the monitoring analysis tools.
Data is supplied both in terms of overall slope displace-
ment (Fig. 5) and simulated instrumentation response
(Fig. 6).
Automated discrimination of distinct activity zones
within the slide is shown in Figure 6. Here the model is
run through the “test mode” shown in Figure 1. Data
is collected as the model progresses (Fig. 6a) and is
resolved, as specified, into distinct instrument types
through dimensional reduction. In the case of incli-
nometers (Fig. 6b) the multiaxial data is resolved into
14
Figure 5. Model (FEM) stages with increasing displace-
ment (top to bottom). Multiple material zones and multiple
weakness planes are incorporated into test model.
Figure 6. a) Raw displacements obtained from model points
over time; b) processed model data corresponding to virtual
inclinometer query.
the cross hole component for a vertically installed sen-
sor column. The DSS in Figure 7 resolves discrete
zones of movement and provides alerts on interface
shear, zone activity and local/regional acceleration.
This simple test case has basic rules for identifying
activity zones and interface (shear zone) behaviour).
The rule-base can be extended through numerical mod-
elling of slope stability, as discussed in Section 4,
both in terms of considering existing case studies with
abundant data, and to assess the influence of future
impacts and influences on the stability, using process
modelling approaches for situations out of the scope
of past experience.
Discrete instruments such as extensometers, incli-
nometers, piezometers and surface displacement mon-
uments, such as are shown in Figure 2, are currently
hard-wired into most acquisition and management
systems. The proposed DSS treats the sensors as

Figure 7. Automated discrimination of active zones within
the slide mass from virtual inclinometer data using the
ArcAgent tool. Geotechnical rules, specifying the acceptable
rate and magnitude of change interpret this data to generate
alerts and suggest optimal response.
a dynamic network such that in addition to read-
ings collected by the device, each sensor contributes
updated attribute information to the DSS including
the device identity, the time of the readings, the type
of device, the location of the device, and the com-
munications pathway. When combined with spatial
information in a GIS, these allow analysis of the sen-
sor readings in the context of the geospatial setting
and sensor status history (start, end, maintenance). The
recorded loss of device is itself vital information when
monitoring a dynamic site with the potential for rapid
failure.
It is not always desirable to hard-wire instrumenta-
tion into a modeling scenario. Data gathering devices
within the model should remain as flexible as possible.
The raw point data in Figure 6a can be manipulated dur-
ing or after a simulation to mimic any displacement-
based instrument (or other, such as pore pressure or
stress change, as the case may be). Figure 6b shows a
data query where the multi-axial displacement data
from the model is manipulated to return the simu-
lated response of a single discrete instrument over
time. The data could be reformulated to reproduce any
displacement-based instrument type. Figure 8 illus-
trates the generalization technique for 2D or 3D. The
same data could be used to query the hypothetical
response of an extensometer. Such flexibility allows
optimization of the virtual and actual instrumentation
array to identify change with maximum resolution and
sensitivity. The GIS interface and model management
modules in Figure 1 allow for automatic incorporation
of virtual instruments within the numerical models to
mirror the configuration of the real sensor network.
Individual sensors can be treated as points in a
GIS context although supporting geospatial informa-
tion includes historical data values (time series) at
15
Figure 8. Abstract position histories collection from model
(center) allowing virtual instrument queries (left and right)
through DSS model/instrument management.
these points. Data histories for newly installed sen-
sors can be front loaded with interpolated data from
adjacent sensors. Slide-wide, interpolated and noise-
reduced displacement surfaces (4 dimensional data
representations) can be maintained and utilized in
real time. In the case of Decision Support Systems
that need to respond quickly, or in “near-real-time,”
readings need to be analyzed not in a slow, after-
the-fact fashion, but almost instantaneously. This can
be accomplished via software agents that attach sig-
nificant consequences to specific device readings,
including a variety of alarm responses. Rule sets
evolve that allow for consideration of multiple instru-
ment response combinations. The alert interface and
the user control system can direct a change in the
monitoring state of the sensor network itself.
Numerical modeling of slope instability can be used
to extend the rule base for the DSS, as discussed in
Section 4, both in terms of considering existing case
studies with abundant data, and to assess the influence
of probable future impacts and influences on the stabil-
ity, using process modelling approaches for situations
out of the scope of past experience.
4 GEOTECHNICAL STABILITY ANALYSIS
WITHIN A GIS BASED DECISION
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Geotechnical analysis using numerical simulation is
required to assess the failure modes and the conditions
that would trigger accelerating movement and failure
of the slope. Analysis of instability of large complex
slopes, by Agliardi et al. (2001) and Eberhardt et al.
(2004) has shown promise.
However, most geotechnical analyses for slopes are
based on either modelling a two dimensional section
cut through the sliding mass, or on modelling pseudo-
rigid movement of a three dimensional solid on a geo-
metrically simple surface (spherical or spoon-shaped).
The analysis ignores the fact that large, active, slowly
 Figure 10. Cumulative displacements in annual increments
for two surface monuments (A and B from Fig. 2). Ellipses
are statistical trend envelopes.

Figure 9. Spatial variation in cumulative surface movement

(Downie Slide). Data is presented as scale arrows and as total
displacement contours (inset).

moving slopes rarely move as a single, cohesive mass,

but rather display a variety of movement orientations
and magnitudes at different locations across and within
the slope (Fig. 9).
The Downie Slide, in British Columbia, Canada,
is located along the flanks of the hydro power reser-
voir impounded by the Revelstoke Dam operated by
BC Hydro. This 1.5 × 109 m3 slide has been moni-
tored since 1978. Drain holes were drilled from two
adits installed through the base of the slide in the
early 1980’s. Further information about this slide can
be found in Imrie (1983), Imrie et al. (1991), Lewis
& Moore (1988), and Moore et al. (1997). Survey
monuments are used to record movement of the slide
surface (slide monuments) in relation to monuments Figure 11. (left) Simulations using different constitutive
established on stable ground (control monuments). assumptions and (right) the associated response of a virtual
The piezometers and inclinometers comprise a sur- inclinometer (after Hutchinson et al. 2006).
face location, as well as numerous downhole sensing
points, providing a 3-D network of monitoring data.
The geometry of the slide is complex in plan view, a quantitative Circularity Index (Gong 2002). The
and also in section, leading to a non-uniform four dimension of the ellipse y-axis provides a measure of
dimensional response. the magnitude of movement.
Movement is affected by variable topographic influ- System accuracy is represented by circular zones
ences as well as non-uniform undulations and curva- centered on each measurement point, which represent
tures of any localization interfaces (shear surfaces). a reasonable degree of measurement inaccuracy. The
These movements vary with time and are subject to movement ellipses give some indication of whether
directional perturbations and system error and drift. year to year changes in position are significantly
A key challenge in interpreting instrument data is the different from previous values.
ability to differentiate between systematic error, noise Another challenge in slope stability monitoring
and real changes. relates to difficulties in resolving changing rock
Spatial statistical techniques can be applied to sur- response with depth. Figure 11 illustrates three dif-
vey monument movement to detect significant change. ferent numerically simulated responses using three
For example, the standard deviational ellipse (Fig. 10) different assumptions of material yield response (con-
provides a way to measure whether a distribution stitutive model). Further information about the mod-
of point features exhibits a directional trend using elling approach and results can be found in Kjelland

16

Figure 12. Import of topographic information from GIS to
3D landslide modelling tools (3DEC in this case).
Figure 13. (left) 2D sections through the slide showing the
location of a shear surface; (right) Stages in the generation
of the surface in a solid modelling interface.
(2004). Interpretation of instrumentation and future
expansion of the instrumentation network in three-
dimensions requires the insight obtained through such
modelling and hypothesis testing.
Variability in space and time makes interpretation
of individual and collective responses of distributed
sensors difficult. 3D models run in simulated time
frames, while cumbersome, can provide invaluable
insight into the non-uniform response of the unstable
region, including progressive development and zona-
tion of displacing ground and the temporal context for
these movements.
Downie Slide is used here as an example of
model development. Figure 12 illustrates detailed
topographic import of a GIS DEM (digital elevation
model) of Downie Slide, into 3DEC.
A critical step in the creation of three-dimensional
landslide models is the definition of subsurface inter-
faces, material boundaries and shear zones. Accurate
(although not necessarily precise) recreation of these
17
surfaces in the model will dictate the level of reliability
in the outcome. Figure 13 illustrates stages in the def-
inition of a single subsurface shear zone. The model is
coarsely meshed in this example (using a commercial
solid modelling interface), to illustrate the procedure.
The left of the figure contains two-dimensional sec-
tions based on borehole data that are used to interpolate
the shear surface using GIS and surface modelling
tools.
Figure 14 illustrates a full three dimensional model
(finite-difference / discrete element hybrid – 3DEC)
generated from data contained in the spatial database,
including multiple regionally undulating shear zones
and variable geomaterial properties. The undulat-
ing nature of two key shear surfaces (interpolated
from borehole data and incorporated into geometrical
model) is key to a realistic model response. Figure 15
shows displacement rate contours calculated at a dis-
crete time step, illustrating the highly non-uniform
nature of the displacements and the importance of this
four-dimensional model integration for the interpreta-
tion of distributed sensor response. The displacement
rates and directions vary over time within the model
sequence as different portions of the slide readjust
and influence others. Hydrostatic pressures from inter-
polated monitoring data can be incorporated, as can
visco-plastic (creep) behaviours and strain depen-
dent degradation of material properties, all important
factors in failure triggering.
This surface response as well as the varying
response with depth at discrete locations can be fed
back into the DSS engine, through virtual instrumen-
tation devices, for comparison to actual response while
the system is in monitoring mode and as simulated
“real time” data in testing mode.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND ONGOING WORK
Further work on the GIST engine will result in semi-
automated rule development, based in part upon inte-
grated process modelling analysis for a variety of slope
failure modes providing “real time” synthetic data
feeds to the system in test mode (Fig. 1). Synthetic and
real case history development will proceed as part of
a complimentary rule development strategy. As semi-
automated approaches to rule development and sensor
monitoring are developed, other AI/GIS tools will be
considered.
GIST provides the opportunity to study the use of
rule-based techniques to handle sensor network data in
the geotechnical domain, well outside the traditional
scope of such techniques. Specific challenges include
the profound under-sampling and uncertainty of geo-
logical knowledge in nature, the highly site specific
nature of engineering solutions, and the need to have
reliable results, despite these limitations. GIST also
Figure 14. 3D model (3DEC) with topographic surface and structural surfaces (two critical shear zones) imported from GIS
and surface modeling tools. Note the undulating nature of the lower shear surface. Model mesh density is configurable (after
Hutchinson et al. 2006).

Figure 15. 3DEC model (including plastic rockmass, hydrostatic pressure and two discrete shear zones) with elevation
(shaded) and spatially variable displacement rate contours (after Hutchinson et al. 2006).

provides the opportunity to understand the application ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

of sensor webs in general, as well as their linkage to
process models in geotechnical engineering. As dis-
tributed micro-sensor webs become more common,
understanding how these webs can be utilized is crucial
to their effective application to real situations.
Funding from the GEOIDE network, from the
Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing and from
NSERC is gratefully acknowledged. The industrial
project partners, BC Hydro and Geological Survey of

18
Canada, have contributed significantly by providing
data and financial support for the funding applications.
Thanks to the research team including N. Kjelland,
M. Villeneuve, K. Kalenchuk, R. Lyle, J. McCarthy,
C. Sheriff, and D. Ball.
REFERENCES
Agliardi, F., Crosta, G., & Zanchi, A. 2001. Structural con-
straints on deep-seated slope deformation kinematics.
Engineering Geology 59: 83–102.
Clancey, W.J. 2004. Roles for agent assistants in field sci-
ence: Understanding personal projects and collaboration.
IEEE Trans. Systems, Man and Cybernetics – Part C:
Applications and Reviews 34(2): 125–137.
Cruden, D.M. & Varnes, D.J. 1996. Landslide types
and processes. Landslides: Investigation and Mitigation,
Transportation Research Board, Spec. Report No. 247,
pp. 36–75.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D., & Coggan, J.S. 2004. Numerical
analysis of initiation and progressive failure in natural rock
slopes – the 1991 Randa rockslide. Int. J. of Rock Mech.
and Min. Sci. 41: 69–87.
Gong, J. 2002. Clarifying the standard deviational ellipse.
Geographical Analysis 34(2): 155–167.
Hutchinson, J., Diederichs, M.S., Carranza-Torres, C.,
Sheriff, C., Kjelland, N. & Harrap, R. 2006. Landslide
Hazard Management: Geotechnical monitoring, virtual
process models, and decision support technology. Felsbau
24(3): 24–29.
19
Hutchinson, D.J., Harrap, R., Ball, D., Diederichs, M.S. &
Kjelland, N. 2004. Development of geotechnical sensor
network analysis capabilities for slope stability monitor-
ing, within a GIS decision support system. In Landslides:
Evaluation and Stabilization. London: Taylor & Francis,
pp. 759–765.
Imrie, A.S. 1983. Taming the Downie Slide. Canadian
Geographic 103: 46–51.
Imrie, A.S., Moore, D.P., & Enegren, E.G. 1991. Performance
and maintenance of the drainage system at Downie Slide.
In Proc., 6th Int. Symp. on Landslides, Christchurch, pp.
751–757.
Kjelland, N. 2004. Slope stability analysis of Downie
slide:numerical modelling and GIS data analysis for
geotechnical decision support. MSc. Thesis. Queen’s
University.
Lazzari, M., & Salvaneschi, P. 1999. Embedding a Geo-
graphic Information System in a Decision Support System
for Landslide Hazard Monitoring. Natural Hazards 20:
185–195.
Lewis, M.R. & Moore, D.P. 1988. Construction of the Downie
Slide and Dutchman’s Ridge drainage adits. In Proceed-
ings of the 7th Annual Canadian Tunnelling Conference,
Edmonton, pp. 238–247.
Moore, D.P., Imrie, A.S., & Enegren, E.G. 1997. Evalua-
tion and management of Revelstoke reservoir slopes. In
Proceedings of the 19th ICOLD Congress, Florence, 3,
1–22.
Turbain, E., & Aronson, J.E. 2000. Decision Support Sys-
tems and Intelligent Systems, 6ed. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Integrated, real-time, 3D GIS-based geotechnical hazard assessment

J. McGaughey & R. McLeod

Mira Geoscience, Montreal, Canada

G. Pears
Mira Geoscience Asia Pacific, Brisbane, Australia

ABSTRACT: “Hazard” in this context is a relative index measuring risk of ground failure. We have developed
a 3D GIS-based application that accepts a wide range of real-time data inputs to compute and display a user-
defined hazard index on a mine model or other geotechnical model. It is applicable to underground and open-pit
mines, tunnels, dams, slopes, and general seismic risk evaluation. In principle it can be used to estimate risk
of ground failure of any type. We present a case study from an underground mine in which the system is used
to create a relative hazard index as a function of direct observational reporting, microseismicity, excavation
geometry, stress, geological structure, and rock type. It responds in real time to data updates and presents a full
3D visualization of hazard index with respect to all aspects of the mine geometry.

1 INTRODUCTION partners, and investors. On the other hand, a “Common

This work is an extension and adaptation of previously
successful work in multi-disciplinary, 3D integrated
data interpretation in mineral exploration applications
(McGaughey 2006). The previous work has resulted
in significant exploration success, including new ore-
body discoveries based on the analysis of historical
data. Here we apply a proven conceptual methodology
for extracting optimum interpretation from complex,
multi-disciplinary, 3D data and apply it to the difficult,
general challenge of geotechnical hazard estimation.
2 THE “COMMON EARTH MODEL”
Successful geotechnical understanding and monitor-
ing of hazardous sites depends on the ability to evaluate
dynamically changing ground conditions quickly and
accurately. This depends on an accurate and timely
understanding of multiple three-dimensional data sets
from which we discern the relative level of geotech-
nical hazard. Whatever we are able to infer from our
data becomes our geotechnical “model” of the site,
which is used to justify both short-term and long-term
safety and economic decisions. Typically geotechni-
cal site models are a combination of concepts, ideas,
and data represented in multiple forms, such as maps,
drill logs, photos, memos, undocumented thoughts
and conversations. The site model may thus be only
approximately described, communicated, and shared
either within a geotechnical team or to management,
Earth Model” (a term borrowed from the oil industry)
is an explicit, quantitative model of the earth consis-
tent with all data, testable by further data collection,
and subject to editing and refinement as the collection
of new data proceeds. As a quantitative distillation of
everything our data have to tell us about the geotech-
nical character of a site, a Common Earth Model is a
requirement for maximizing the value we obtain from
our large investment in data collection.
The term “Common Earth Model” arose in the oil
industry over the last decade as a new concept in the
multi-disciplinary integration of data and work pro-
cesses. In an introductory paper on the Common Earth
Model concept Garrett et al. (1997) claim:
“The advent of 3D earth modelling computer
systems suggests there is potential to transform
the work processes in cross-disciplinary asset
teams. By sharing common digital 3D repre-
sentations of the subsurface, the team can iterate
between disciplines more easily, rapidly incor-
porating new information into existing models.
Up to now, many cross-disciplinary teams have
emphasized the importance of software com-
munication, 3D visualization and data access.
From now on, we believe that earth modelling
issues will assume greater significance in the
business of these teams.”
Thus, although all spatial geotechnical data and
interpretation reside in the Common Earth Model, the
level of integration is greater than integrated database

21
storage or integrated 3D visualization. It is particu-
larly important to recognize the difference between
integrated 3D modelling and combined 3D visualiza-
tion of multiple data sets, as the two notions are often
confused. For hazard evaluation, integrated 3D mod-
elling means primarily that geological and geotechni-
cal interpretation are consistently reflecting a single,
unified earth model. Visualization of that model is
essentially a separate issue. Typical inputs to the Com-
mon Earth Model are 2D maps from GIS systems, digi-
tal elevation models, cross-sections from CAD or other
software, geology, rock quality, hydrogeological data
from drillholes, geophysical wireline logs, numerical
stress models, microseismic data, and 3D geological
wireframe meshes and block models. Within a Com-
mon Earth Model software platform, sophisticated
procedures are used to build a 3D model consistent
with all map, cross-section, and borehole data.
The capability requirements of a successful Com-
mon Earth Model software technology are:
• sophisticated geological modelling encompassing
both geometric and topological modelling
• comprehensive 3D vector and raster modelling
• mapping an arbitrary number of both vector and
scalar properties to any model element (points,
lines, surfaces, or volumes)
• easily embedding customized algorithms for spe-
cific modelling tasks
• sophisticated 3D vector and raster model query
capability
• methods of communicating data back and forth to
other applications
• an interpretive environment in which traceable deci-
sions can be made concerning the model.
3 3D-GIS FOR HAZARD EVALUATION
3.1 Limitations of standard modelling systems
Commercially-available GIS systems have had a major
impact on the handling of geoscientific data (see, for
example, Bonham-Carter 1997). These systems com-
bine geometric modelling, sophisticated spatial anal-
ysis, and database connectivity. The more advanced
products provide explicit topological modelling in 2D.
(Topological modelling, which establishes relation-
ships between different spatial regions of the model,
is important for many aspects of model construction,
updating, and query. For example, the query “Identify
all geological contacts offset by a fault” is a topological
query.) Unfortunately commercial GIS systems have
never provided the geoscientist with acceptable 3D
capability. Fundamentally, hazard evaluation is nearly
always a true 3D problem, thus conventional 2D-GIS
falls short in fully representing the site data.
Many geological models continue to be built with
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools. “Mechanical
22
CAD aims to design objects which do not yet exist,
whereas geological CAD has to rebuild an exist-
ing body from partial, irregularly distributed, and
more-or-less precise information. Moreover, the com-
plexities of the objects treated are not the same for both
disciplines” (Renard & Courrioux 1994). Amongst
the fundamental limitations of commercial 3D CAD
software for geotechnical site modelling are severe
limitations in handling critical geological elements
such as fault-network topology, and inadequacies or
inflexibilities in the handling of heterogeneous prop-
erty fields, such as scalar rock properties or stress
fields, throughout volumes. Classical CAD modelling
techniques using parametric surface representations,
such as Bézier and spline interpolations, used on their
own have been demonstrated to be inadequate for earth
science applications (Mallet 1992).
There are many “3D geological modelling” soft-
ware systems in use. Typically, their starting point is a
set of drillholes from which one wishes to derive a min-
eral resource estimate. Their earth modelling capabili-
ties are a subset of their overall functionality, which is
heavily weighted to the engineering issues surrounding
ore extraction. Although such systems could be used to
build 3D site models they are inadequate to serve as the
basis of a geotechnical Common Earth Model. They
are “non-topological”, meaning that each geological
unit requires its own wireframe mesh (with neigh-
boring units duplicating, not sharing their boundary)
and that rock properties are not properly interpolated
across faults. Properties are typically only modelled as
scalars within a confined range of object types such as
block models, drillholes, or simple 2D grids. A suit-
able Common Earth Model technology must explicitly
handle more complex property representations, such
as tensor stress fields through volumes and on arbitrary
geometric surfaces. Although these issues become
somewhat subtle and technical they have enormous
eventual impact on the usability of the model.
3.2 The promise of 3D-GIS
New 3D software technology extends to 3D all the
benefits that GIS has brought to 2D mapping and data
integration by enabling the creation of Common Earth
Models. The 3D technology allows the explicit repre-
sentation of 2D and 3D spatial data and interpretations
in a single model common to, or shared by, geologists,
geotechnical engineers, mine engineers, and man-
agers. The result is a consistent geospatial earth model;
geological, geotechnical, and engineering models are
simply subsets of the Common Earth Model.
For reasons outlined above, no software conven-
tionally used in the geotechnical industry has the
fundamental characteristics necessary to provide the
basis for a Common Earth Model. For this we must
turn to experience in the oil industry where the
Common Earth Model paradigm, and the software that
can serve as its basis, has been developed over the
last decade. For the remainder of this paper we use
“Gocad” as the most prominent example of a software
technology that answers the need for a Common Earth
Modelling environment applicable across the range of
geosciences (petroleum, mineral, environmental, and
geotechnical).
Gocad is a very general earth-modelling applica-
tion that has been used in both soft-rock and hard-rock
applications at scales ranging from regional compila-
tions to detailed reservoir and ore body modelling.
Construction of geological surfaces is largely based
on a patented geometric modelling algorithm (Mallet
1992) that allows “data-fitting” rather than the CAD
approach of “designing” modelled objects. Gocad is
fully 3D, topological, and provides the most sophisti-
cated geometry and property modelling functionality
currently available. It is available as both a user appli-
cation and as object libraries for building custom
applications. It is fully customizable at the user level
and is easy to link to third-party applications, thus it is
an ideal candidate as a 3D data integration technology
for hazard evaluation.
4 THE HAZARD ASSESSMENT
APPLICATION
We have developed a hazard assessment application
that accepts a range of real-time data to compute and
display a user-defined hazard index on a mine or other
geotechnical model. The application was developed as
a plug-in to Gocad, and its effectiveness rests on the
power of the underlying modelling system. The appli-
cation can be rapidly customized, easily prototyped,
and inexpensively developed.
The ground failure whose risk is to be modelled
may take many forms, depending on user-defined site
criteria. It is applicable to underground and open-pit
mines, tunnelling, slope stability, and general seis-
mic risk evaluation. It can be used to estimate risk of
ground failure of any type, from slope failure to violent
rockbursting. The approach is to define a list of input
criteria that influence risk of ground failure, define
how those criteria relate spatially to relative hazard,
and then define the relative weighting of the criteria
to the cumulative, general hazard index. The general
hazard index is thus a spatially varying quantity which
can be mapped throughout a rock volume, on slope,
stope, or development surfaces, in fact to any point
(x, y, z) within an earth model. Many hazard com-
ponents are computed from the complex geometrical
relationships of geology, structure, rock mass proper-
ties, and engineered infrastructure. Thus it is critical
that the application has access to a powerful underly-
ing suite of raster and vector earth modelling and query
23
Figure 1. Intersection of fault and dyke surfaces shown
with colour map on the mine horizon indicating proximity
to structural intersections.
tools. The tools exist in Gocad which is the rationale
behind its development as a Gocad plug-in.
5 A CASE STUDY
The hazard assessment system has been prototyped at
several sites, including both open-pit and underground
coal mines and hard-rock mines. We describe aspects
of a case study from an underground mine in which
it is used to create a relative hazard index as a func-
tion of microseismicity, excavation geometry, stress,
geological structure, and rock type. It responds in real
time and presents a visualisation of hazard index with
respect to all aspects of the mine geometry.
Figure 1 shows several fault and dyke structures
intersecting a longwall mining horizon. The structures
are defined by the site geologist and electronic files
(DXF format) describing their geometry are placed at
any time in a Windows folder being monitored by the
plug-in. Once the application recognizes the update to
the input data, it automatically imports the DXF files
into Gocad, which displays them, calculates their inter-
sections, and determines proximity to the intersection
lines at every point in 3D space. A user-defined func-
tion maps the proximity (in metres) to a relative hazard
index for the “structural intersection criteria”, made
available to the user for analysis and display (Fig. 2).
Figures 3, 4, and 5 show the computation of haz-
ard criteria derived from the microseismic monitoring
system. An ASCII file is delivered from the micro-
seismic monitoring system as new events are recorded
by the underground array. The ASCII file contains
a description of event location (x, y, z) as well as
many seismic source properties computed by the
Figure 2. Mapping of structural intersection hazard criteria, on an arbitrary scale of 0–100, based on proximity to structural
intersection (in metres) computed on the longwall mine horizon.
seismic monitoring system through automatic wave-
form analysis. Typical source properties include local
magnitude, energy, stress drop, and moment. Any of
these properties may be automatically interpolated in
3D by the hazard assessment application. In this case
study the system interpolated three separate hazard
indicators throughout the monitored volume from the
microseismic data:
1. Seismic Cluster Index, a function of proximity
to the edge of isosurfaces enclosing volumet-
ric event densities exceeding 20 seismic events
per 125,000 m3 of ground volume within a user-
defined time window.
2. Seismic Index, as a function of the ratio of
Energy Index to Moment Index, computed per
event and subsequently interpolated throughout
3D space. Energy Index per event is given as
24
EI = Ex/avgE(M), where Ex is energy for the
event and avgE(M) is average energy of all
events in the time window the for same seis-
mic moment. Moment Index per event is given as
MI = Mx/avgM(E), where Mx is moment for the
event and avgM(E) is average moment of all events
in the time window for the same seismic energy.
3. Es_Ep Index, which is a function of the ratio of
source shear to compressional energy per event,
interpolated throughout the mine volume being
monitored.
The final hazard criteria used in this initial case
study, a typical deep underground, longwall drill-and-
blast South African gold operation, was determined as
a function of mine geometry. As the mine being moni-
tored used a longwall-type geometry, geometric hazard
indicators were computed on the basis of deviation of
Figure 3. Representation of distance to microseismic cluster-boundary edge on two vertical cross-sections and one plan
elevation. The small spheres are microseismic events, the irregularly shaped “bubble” is a 3D isosurface contour at a threshold
level of seismic event density (events per unit volume) over a user-defined time window. The lines are mine galleries.

actual geometry to design geometry. This site used an
ideal longwall face lead-lag ratio of 8:1 and ideal 90-
degree angles between individual leads and lags on the
longwall faces. Deviations from ideal were computed
automatically by the hazard assessment application
based on supplied surveyor’s data recorded in anASCII
file.A user-defined function sets a relative mine geom-
etry hazard score based on an average of lead-lag ratio
and angle deviation.
In a similar manner, quantitative hazard contribu-
tors of any kind can be computed and displayed in
real time. An overall hazard map was then, in real-
time, constructed as a weighted combination of each
of the input hazard contributors. The weightings and
combination methodology is completely flexible and
user-defined, as illustrated in Figure 6.
Because the system is designed to provide contin-
uous monitoring of multiple inputs, it also serves as
a convenient foundation for back-analysis in order to
estimate or fine-tune the design of how the many indi-
vidual hazard elements combine into a final estimation
of hazard risk.

25
Figure 4. Dipping ore horizon plane with Seismic Index shown as a relative hazard indicator based on analysis of source
waveforms from the microseismic system. Seismic Index is computed for each event from the waveform parameters supplied
by the microseismic system, interpolated throughout the 3D volume, and then extracted on the mine development level shown.
Relative hazard is shown, as with all hazard criteria, on a normalized scale 1–100. Areas where the index is high show a
relatively elevated level of seismic hazard at the mine development level.

Figure 5. Dipping ore horizon plane with Es_Ep Index shown as a relative hazard indicator based on analysis of source
waveforms from the microseismic system. Es_Ep Index is computed for each event from the waveform parameters supplied
by the microseismic system, interpolated throughout the 3D volume, and then extracted on the mine development level shown.
Relative hazard is shown, as with all hazard criteria, on a normalized scale 1–100. The “bulls-eyes” indicate areas on the mine
horizon close to clusters of seismic events with abnormally high shear energy, which is associated with relatively elevated
hazard at this site.

26
 Hazard Index

25% Lay Out

Index
+
15% Es_Ep
Index
+
15% Seismic
Index
+
15% Seismic
Cluster Index
+
15% Structure
Intersection Index
+
15% Structure Index
% index risk

0% 100%

Figure 6. Six individual hazard criteria computed on the mine horizon are shown as a series of input layers into a final global
relative hazard estimation. The global hazard estimation provides site personnel with an easily accessible amalgamation of a
series of independent and diverse measures of site hazard. The global hazard estimation, the individual input hazard criteria,
and the supporting data are all available to site personnel for inspection and back-analysis.

6 CONCLUSION science applications, requires these new concepts and

A new capability in geospatial modelling that quan-
titatively integrates diverse geotechnical data sets is
at hand through the Common Earth Model frame-
work. Implementation is occurring through software
developments that are, in essence, providing a 3D-GIS
that adapts the methods and tools of 2D-GIS systems.
Vector and raster model construction, powerful 3D
visualization, and a sophisticated query environment
define the key technology characteristics of the 3D-
GIS being put in the service of the Common Earth
Model concept. Hazard evaluation, like other earth
tools because economically important decisions are
being made based on the analysis of complex data that
reflects a 3D earth.
As noted a decade ago in the petroleum industry
for reservoir management, “3D earth model systems
will increasingly be established at the core of computer
applications for cross-disciplinary asset management.
Maps, cross-sections, and other 2D representations
will remain valuable tools, but will become subsets of
a consistent 3D model. The full advantages of a Com-
mon Earth Model are attainable in the near future”
(Garrett et al. 1997).

27
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank AngloGold Ashanti and Anglo
American for permission to publish this work.
REFERENCES
Bonham-Carter, G.F. 1997. GIS methods for integrating
exploration data sets. In Gubins (ed.), Fourth Decen-
nial Conference on Mineral Exploration; Proceedings of
Exploration 97, Toronto, pp. 59–64.
Garrett, S., Griesbach, S., Johnson, D., Jones, D., Lo, M.,
Orr, W. & Sword, C. 1997. Earth model synthesis. First
Break 15(1): 13–20.
Mallet, J.L. 1992. Discrete smooth interpolation in geometric
modelling. Computer Aided Design 24(4): 178–191.
McGaughey, J. 2006. The Common Earth Model: A Revo-
lution in Mineral Exploration Data Integration. In Harris
(ed.), GIS Applications in the Earth Sciences, Geologi-
cal Association of Canada Special Publication #44, pp.
567–576.
Renard, P. & Courrioux, G. 1994. Three-dimensional geo-
metric modelling of a faulted domain: The Soultz Horst
example (Alsace, France). Computers and Geosciences
20(9): 1379–1390.

28
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Application and limitations of ground-based laser scanning in rock slope

characterization

M. Sturzenegger, M. Yan, D. Stead & D. Elmo

Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT: The ability of laser scanners to rapidly provide structural data in high inaccessible rock slopes
has been frequently and correctly documented as an important advantage of the technique. Researchers have
also shown the potential for characterizing varied rock mass characteristics including discontinuity orientation,
spacing, persistence and roughness. In this paper, the authors, using laser scans of several rock slopes, illustrate
the limitations and bias in structural data collection that must be allowed for. Orientation bias can occur both
horizontally (laser plan angle bias) and vertically (laser elevation bias). It is suggested that the elevation angle
of the laser scanner may produce point clouds that, when processed to derive structural data, may at best
underestimate or even completely miss critical joint sets. Censoring can result in underestimating discontinuity
size. Limitations related to rock mass reflectivity and textures are also highlighted.

1 INTRODUCTION surveys on highway cuts, mine slopes and natural rock

Terrestrial laser scanning is being increasingly used
in rock slope engineering. Recent developments have
seen the introduction of point cloud processing soft-
ware to allow the determination of discontinuity char-
acteristics (Kemeny & Donovan 2005, Monte 2004,
Slob et al. 2005). Researchers have shown the poten-
tial for characterization of discontinuity orientation,
spacing, persistence and roughness (Feng & Roeshoff
2004). The ability of laser scanners to rapidly pro-
vide structural data in high inaccessible rock slopes has
been frequently and correctly documented as an impor-
tant advantage of the technique. In contrast, relatively
few published studies exist outlining the limitations of
laser scanning in rock slope investigations.
Bias related to conventional sampling techniques
for discontinuity characterization has been widely
documented (Terzaghi 1965, Priest 1993, Zhang &
Einstein 1998). Sources of bias include:
– Orientation: discontinuities sub-parallel to the sam-
pling line or window are under-represented
– Censoring: discontinuities larger than the sampling
window are not completely characterized
– Truncation: discontinuities smaller than a certain
size are neglected
– Length: the probability of sampling persistent
discontinuities is greater than the probability of
sampling smaller ones.
In this paper, a variety of limitations and bias related
to laser scanning are discussed, using selected field
slope faces.
2 DISCONTINUITY CHARACTERIZATION
USING LASER SCANNING
The instrument used in this research is an Optech
ILRIS-3D laser scanner. It has a quoted maximum
range of 1500 meters, however 800 meters has been
found to be a typical practical limit for scanning of
rock slopes. The ILRIS-3D is able to scan at a rate
of 2000 points/second with specified range and posi-
tional accuracies, at 100 meters, of 7 mm and 8 mm
respectively, (Optech Inc.).
The laser scanner survey provides a point cloud,
in which the rock slope is represented by three-
dimensional point coordinates (X,Y, and Z) in addition
to an intensity value. The point cloud can be geo-
referenced using surveyed targets within the data set.
However, this procedure is not required for measure-
ment of discontinuity orientation. The only require-
ment is to reorient the data set relative to the true north
and to ensure that the data are leveled (Slob et al. 2005).
Measurements of discontinuity characteristics can
be accomplished directly from the point cloud. Adja-
cent points can be linked by best-fit planes to represent
discontinuity surfaces allowing measurement of vary-
ing characteristics such as orientation and size (Fig. 1).
Surface reconstruction is the process of interpo-
lating a surface from point clouds. Different algo-
rithms are used for this purpose (Slob et al. 2005).

29

Figure 1. Laser scanning point cloud of a natural rock slope
with a best-fit plane drawn to represent a discontinuity. Note
trees and vegetation on slope.
Figure 2. Example of raw point cloud of a natural rock slope.
Inset (7 by 6 meters) shows magnified mesh interpolated from
the point cloud with three patches identified as representing
discontinuity surfaces.
Measurement on meshed surfaces provides an alterna-
tive method of obtaining discontinuity characteristics
from laser scanner data sets (Fig. 2).
Application of laser scanning for discontinuity char-
acterization has been proposed by various authors and
the accuracy of measurements has been verified by
Monte (2004) and Voyat et al. (2006). However, the
current authors’ field investigations emphasize that
30
Figure 3. Influence of rock mass color on laser scanning
measurements: a) Point cloud, b) Digital photograph. The
point cloud, on the left provides useful structural data only
where the rock mass was bright. The benches shown in a) are,
on average, 25 meters high.
careful attention should be given to selected scanning
parameters, when performing laser scanner surveys.
3 LIMITATIONS AND BIAS RELATED TO
LASER SCANNING
3.1 Rock mass reflectivity
The range of the laser scanner is limited by rock mass
reflectivity. Ullrich et al. (2001) showed that the maxi-
mum range of a laser scanner is a function of the color
of the rock mass. In addition, Lichti & Harvey (2002)
illustrated that the maximum range decreases if the
reflecting surface is wet.
These limitations have been observed during the
authors’ field investigation. Figure 3 illustrates a mine
rock slope where a dark rock mass could not be accu-
rately sampled with the Optech ILRIS-3D when range
exceeded approximately 600 meters.
The effect of wet surfaces has been further investi-
gated by the current authors. Figure 4 shows the effect
of seepage on laser scanner measurements. Although
this disadvantage can limit the ability of laser scan-
ning to make surface measurements, it also presents
an excellent opportunity for groundwater seepage
mapping. Indeed, Figure 4 shows a clear separation
between the wet and dry areas.
3.2 Occlusion and orientation bias
Numerous researchers have observed that a complete
rock face cannot be fully sampled from a single loca-
tion due to occlusion (Fig. 5). It is important to
minimize this effect by scanning the same outcrop
from different positions. The varied data sets should
be processed separately and/or merged into one single
point cloud. The authors emphasize that this phe-
nomenon will not only occur horizontally, but also
vertically. Possible consequences of this effect will be
discussed subsequently.
The effect of occlusion is to prevent parts of the rock
slope from being imaged and characterized. In addition
 (a) B
A
c
D
α
Scanline

D’
(b)
B
A
c
D
α
β Scanline

D’’

β∼90° Laser scanner L.O S. β∼180° Laser scanner

Figure 4. Influence of seepage on laser scanning measure- Orthogonal to strike of L.O S. Parallel to strike
ments: a) digital photograph, b) point cloud. The point cloud Joint Set A of Joint Set A
can be used to accurately delineate both seepage and dry areas
on the rock face. Views represented by the rock slope digi- (c)
tal photograph and point cloud are approximately horizontal
200 m and vertical 100 m. Discontinuities

Laser scanner
line of sight

View

Figure 6. Illustration of three forms of orientation bias. a)

Figure 5. Illustration of the influence of occlusion on laser
scanning measurements atTurtle Mountain (Alberta). a) Point
cloud of a rock slope as seen from the laser scanner posi-
tion, b) point cloud of the same rock slope “digitally rotated”
using processing software to show occluded or hidden zones.
Scale represented by point cloud view is approximately 300 m
elevation and 500 m horizontal.
to occlusion, attention should be given to the orien-
tation bias. The importance of orientation bias was
documented by Terzaghi (1965), who showed the pres-
ence of a blind zone, which was defined as the locus
of the poles of the joints that are parallel to a drill hole
(Terzaghi 1965). This concept has also been applied
to scanline or window sampling, although outcrop
mapping allows for a more comprehensive sample
than a drill hole. Priest (1993) suggested that surveys
should be undertaken on different outcrop faces at
varied orientations in three dimensional space. Where
Rock slope orientation relative to discontinuity sets A, B and
C (Terzaghi bias), b) horizontal line of sight of laser scan-
ner with respect to rock slope (azimuth bias), c) Vertical line
of sight of laser scanner (elevation bias) when surveying a
rock slope upwards. Rock slope view in c) shows discon-
tinuity traces when line of sight is sub parallel to dip of
discontinuity set.
possible three scanlines at right angles, two horizontal
and one vertical, provide the optimum structural data.
Terzaghi correction factors are routinely incorporated
into structural data interpretation codes such as DIPS
(Rocscience 2006).
Figure 6 shows sources of orientation bias which
must be considered when deriving structural data from
laser scanning point clouds or meshed point cloud data.
In addition to conventional bias due to the orienta-
tion of the rock slope face with respect to the major
joint sets (Fig. 6a), the authors emphasize two other
forms of orientation bias inherent to laser scanning.
The first is associated with the horizontal line of sight
of the laser scan with respect to the rock slope (Fig. 6b).

31
Table 1. Resolution measures for the Optech ILRIS-3D
laser scanner (after Lichti 2004).

Angular sampling Laser

Range interval beam width EIFOV
(m) (mm) (mm) (mm)

5 0.13 12.85 11.0

20 0.52 15.40 13.2
50 1.30 20.50 17.7
100 2.60 29.00 25.0
200 5.20 46.00 39.8
500 13.00 97.00 84.2
800 20.80 148.00 128.6
For laser scanning, the concept of a blind zone can
be adapted and defined as the locus of the poles of
the surfaces (discontinuities) that are parallel to the
line of sight. Applying a similar logic as for conven-
tional outcrop mapping, laser scanner surveys should
be achieved on different rock slope faces and/or from
varying scanner locations (ie horizontal lines of sight).
This form of bias, being similar to the conventional
Terzaghi bias, has been reported frequently in the lit-
erature. The authors also emphasize the importance of
a second form of laser scanning bias due to the vertical
elevation of the scanner with respect to the horizontal
(Fig. 6c). This form of bias has received less attention
although it may constitute an important limitation in
the use of laser scanners in obtaining structural data
on remote inaccessible mountain rock faces.
Together occlusion and orientation bias may have
a significant influence on the accuracy of the laser
derived discontinuity sets. Consequently, the choice
of a scanner position is critical and should be planned
carefully to allow for these limitations.
3.3 Resolution and truncation
Resolution is the minimum distance between the mea-
sured points and controls the level of detail that can be
recognized from the scanned scene (Slob et al. 2005).
Lichti (2004) showed that resolution depends on the
laser beam width, the spot spacing and the distance. He
combined these three parameters in a resolution mea-
sure, called the effective instantaneous field of view
(EIFOV), which defines the maximum resolution that
can be obtained for a certain distance. Some EIFOV
values calculated for the Optech ILRIS-3D are listed
in Table 1.
The principal effect of resolution is truncation of
data. For outcrop mapping, truncation bias occurs,
because very small trace lengths are difficult or
sometimes impossible to measure and therefore, trace
lengths below some known cutoff length are not
recorded (Zhang & Einstein 1998). This definition
must be adapted for laser scanning. Truncation occurs
in laser scanner surveys, when surfaces smaller than
Figure 7. Influence of truncation on laser scanning mea-
surements. Resolution (spot spacing) of data sets a) and b)
is 98.3 mm and 49.2 mm, respectively. Stereonet b) (lower
hemisphere, equal area projection) shows poles of small
surfaces which are not recorded on stereonet a).
a certain size are unable to be measured. In order to
accurately measure a surface, its dimensions must be
significantly greater than the resolution. The effect of
truncation is illustrated in Figure 7, which shows the
orientation measurements obtained on two DTMs of
the same outcrop with two different resolutions.
Field observations have revealed that the level of
detail that can be sampled with the laser scanner varies
with rock mass texture. The Geological Strength Index
(GSI) was introduced by Hoek & Brown (1997) and
Hoek et al. (2002) to classify rock masses according
to their average block size and joint surface conditions.
Results show how the limitations of the laser scanner
can be considered in terms of the resolution and its
relation to the GSI of the rock mass (Fig. 8).
Figure 8 shows two rock masses with different GSI
values. The GSI of rock mass a) is between 50 and
70. Laser scanning measurements of this rock mass
are able to determine the main discontinuity sets. In
contrast, in rock mass b), with a GSI of 25–40, the
laser scanning data was unable to effectively and prac-
tically characterize the discontinuity characteristics.
The influence of scanning varied GSI rock masses at
varying scales of resolution is a subject of continuing
research.
3.4 Censoring
In conventional mapping, censoring occurs when long
discontinuity traces extend beyond the visible expo-
sure so that one end or both ends of the discontinuity
traces cannot be seen (Zhang & Einstein 1998). Laser
scanning conventionally measures surfaces instead of
traces. The surface of a discontinuity is often assumed
to be circular or elliptical (Zhang et al. 2002). Conse-
quently, in laser scanner surveys, censoring will occur
on the edge of the sample window, where only one part
of the surface is included in the sample.
Censoring will also occur, because a surface
appears only partly on a rock face with the part of
the surface hidden within the rock face (Fig. 9). In

32

Figure 8. Geological Strength Index (after Marinos et al.
2005). Resolution of the laser scanner is too low to measure
discontinuity characteristics of rock mass shown in b).
scanline surveys, this bias is referred to by Priest
(2004) as f-bias. It occurs, because the trace repre-
senting the intersection of circular discontinuities and
a rock face will be chords produced by random sections
across the circular discs.
The main consequence in terms of discontinuity
size characterization using laser scanning is that the
measured size may often be smaller than the true size.
4 DISCUSSION
Discontinuity characteristics, such as orientation and
size, are required input for most numerical analysis
methods. Stead et al. (2006) state that, these meth-
ods are characterized by varying levels of complexity.
They conclude that the quality of the input data must
complement this trend. Laser scanning represents a
sampling method that can be used in conjunction with
other techniques to provide high quality data sets.
Indeed, it can provide samples with several millions
33
Figure 9. Schematic representation of a rock outcrop. The
hatched area is the laser scanner measured size of a surface
of the outcrop representing a discontinuity. Its true size is the
shaded ellipsoid. Parts of the ellipsoid are censored, because
they are either hidden in the outcrop or eroded.
of measurements for spatially remote and inaccessible
areas on outcrops. Where such areas are potentially
unstable laser scanning has been shown to be an
extremely useful technique (Slob et al. 2005).
The authors’ field investigations have revealed that
various forms of bias can affect the quality of laser
scanning derived data sets. Censoring bias can lead to
an underestimation of the persistence of discontinu-
ities. The effect of occlusion is to obscure areas of a
rock slope results in a “hidden zone” where important
data may be missed. As stated previously, occlusion
and orientation bias can be minimized by making
measurements at different positions. For example, it
is often possible to position the laser scanner so as
to take varying line of sight scans with respect to
the strike of the rock slope (Fig. 10). This may be
easily accomplished when scanning highway rock
cuts, however when scanning remote, steep and high
rock slopes, it is often not possible to locate the scan-
ner in a planned manner and one may be forced to
scan from unfavourable locations. The limitations due
to “elevation bias” suggest that the scanner should be
located at various vertical positions to provide different
perspective views. The authors experience shows that
this may be easier to achieve in engineered or benched
excavations but may be impossible for steep and high
mountain rock slides (Fig. 11). Indeed, the laser scan-
ner cannot be transported easily, especially in steep
terrains and surveys may require helicopter access.
The effect of occlusion and orientation bias will
be of particular concern when discontinuities are dip-
ping out of a rock face and the laser scanner line of
sight is up-dip. In such a case, these discontinuities are
precisely the ones that are located in the blind zone
and/or that can be obscured by occlusion (Fig. 6c and
12). Consequently, laser scanning point clouds under-
taken at an elevation angle of 30–40 degrees to a rock
slope with joints dipping directly out of the face may
fail to record discontinuities that not only daylight in
Figure 10. Illustration of the azimuth bias. a) 200 meters
high rock slope with sub vertical structures, b) and c) present
stereonets (lower hemisphere, equal area projection) obtained
from two different laser positions: orthogonal and oblique to
the dip of the structures respectively. Note the additional poles
on stereonet c) inside the black circle.
Figure 11. Illustration of the elevation bias. a) Rock cut in
an open pit mine showing bedding joints, b) positions of the
laser scanner at two different elevation with respect to the
rock cut, c) stereonet (lower hemisphere, equal area projec-
tion) obtained from the upper position, on which bedding
joints do not appear, d) stereonet obtained from the lower
position showing poles representing the bedding joints (inside
the black circle).
the slope face, but also dip at an angle greater than
the friction angle. If data sets with elevation bias are
interpreted using conventional algorithms and subse-
quently used in stability analysis, it could result in the
omission of important daylighting discontinuities and
the analysis of non-critical failure mechanisms.
The authors suggest that it is particularly important
to use structural geological principles in the interpre-
tation of laser scanning derived data. Where areas on
34
Figure 12. a) Road cut with daylighting joints dipping at
about 30◦ , b) conceptual stereonet (lower hemisphere) show-
ing the daylight envelope of similar discontinuities dipping
to the North and illustrating the area (shaded) where they can
also be located within the blind zone related to laser scanning.
The arrow represents the laser scanner line of sight.
a laser scanning derived stereographic discontinuity
polar plot shows extensive areas where no discon-
tinuities are present, this must be interpreted with
skepticism (Fig. 10c and 11c) and interpreted with
respect to i) the line of sight (both horizontal and ver-
tical) of the laser scanner and ii) the structural geology
of the rock slope/region. The authors suggest that laser
scanning data must be in accord with information on
structural domains within a rock slope.
The ability of laser scanning to remotely survey
inaccessible spots and a detailed investigation of the
bias related to laser scanning are part of the authors’
research program. The authors are also studying the
effect of rock mass reflectivity and scan resolution
on sampled data quality. Field investigations have
revealed that rock mass reflectivity has an important
effect on the maximum range of the laser scanner
and resolution controls the level of detail which can
be sampled. The authors propose that laser scanner
resolution should be linked with a qualitative or quanti-
tative description of rock mass texture. The Geological
Strength Index (GSI) is a rock mass classification sys-
tem well adapted for this purpose. In order to fully
characterize the failure mechanism operative in rock
slopes it is important to consider the rock mass as a Dis-
crete Fracture Network (DFN). Various workers have
shown that the use of discrete fracture networks in Table 2. Difficulties encountered in laser scanning of rock
combination with digitally derived structural data has slopes.
significant potential in the characterization not only
of potential failure mechanisms, but also the potential Difficulty level Examples/uses Comments
keyblocks. Such an approach may be used in associa-
IV (highest) Large scale Often inadequate
tion with numerical models to investigate progressive
“remote” scanner range
mechanisms of slope failure in large open pits or high inaccessible rock (>1500 m). Excessive
mountain slopes (Read & Ogden 2006, Poropat & slides. Eg. Hope elevation angle from
Elmouttie 2006). Slide. below, azimuth
It is the authors’ opinion that a laser scanning sur- bias/occlusion bias from
vey should be preceded by a careful planning process. crest. Difficult to define
Giussani & Scaioni (2004) developed a guideline for joint sets.
geometric survey of rock walls, whose application is III High steep rock Range limitations –
mostly for monitoring purposes. It is suggested that the slopes in confined either too far, or too
valleys at a high close (in narrow valley
development of similar guidelines for the use of laser
angle to highways unable to obtain
scanning (and other remote sensing techniques) in rock etc. sufficient field of view).
mass and discontinuity characterization is essential. Limited choice of
The first stage would be a detailed observation of the scanner locations
rock mass. It would include a description of the color, (L.O.S.)/orientation
presence of water, texture and lithology. This stage will w.r.t valley axis.
help define both the required resolution that must be II Moderate height Low GSI material –
chosen and the appropriate distance between the laser rock cuts adjacent difficult to determine
scanner and the rock face. to highways, open geological structure.
pits etc. (Low
The next stage should involve recording of any
GSI). Useful for
existing observations/evidence of geological structure erosion/rockfall
(regional and local) and the attitude of the main dis- monitoring.
continuities sets. This would aid in minimizing the I (lowest) Moderate height Upper sections of rock
orientation bias through selection of scanner locations rock cuts adjacent cuts imaged but caution
and improved data interpretation. Where possible, to highways, open with elevation bias
laser scans should be undertaken such that the scanner pits etc. (Mod- needed. Best used in
line of sight is looking down onto potentially critical High GSI). Useful combination with line
discontinuity surfaces. However this is a difficult task supplement to surveys at slope toe.
rockfall/hazard
in high inaccessible rock slopes. Caution should be
studies.
adopted in the use of automatic computer derivation of
discontinuity sets with manual geological truthing of
identified joints conducted as a routine practice. Fur-
ther development in the use of joint trace-rock slope
profile relationships in addition to observed joint sur- 5 CONCLUSION
faces in determining joint set orientations would help
circumvent orientation bias issues. Field investigations have been performed with an
The authors recommend that, whenever it is possi- Optech ILRIS-3D laser scanner. They have confirmed
ble, different sampling methods should be combined. the ability of laser scanning to characterize discontinu-
Indeed, if adequately chosen, these different meth- ity and rock mass characteristics. However, important
ods will provide complementary results. For example, limitations and bias have been observed. Potentially
the blind zone related to trace mapping on a photo- serious consequences related to these limitations and
graph and laser scanning will be at different locations. forms of bias have been exposed.
Consequently, combining the samples would help Although the field investigations have been per-
reduce orientation bias. Another possible combination formed with one particular type of laser scanner, the
of methods is ground-based and airborne LiDAR (Ruiz nature of the limitations and bias presented in this
et al. 2004, Sturzenegger et al. 2007). paper should be considered whenever digital mapping
The authors suggest that laser scanning usage in techniques are used in rock slope characterization.
rock slope engineering can be conveniently catego- The authors emphasize that laser scanning is one
rized under difficulty levels. Table 2 provides guide- tool in rock slope characterization. Its use should if
lines on where laser scanning should be used with possible always be complemented by conventional
caution, and also highlights the need for an awareness engineering geological mapping techniques. Opti-
of possible limitations/difficulty in its application to mization of laser scanning methods will be ensured
rock slope characterization. where they are undertaken in association with other

35
remote sensing technologies such as digital pho-
togrammetry, airborne LiDAR and air photograph
interpretation.
Laser scanning provides an excellent method of
obtaining data on inaccessible rock slopes. Its subse-
quent use in rock slope analysis must always consider
carefully the limitations due to bias presented in this
paper. If this is incorporated into a suggested method
for digital imaging of rock slopes more efficient and
safe design of slope and remedial measures will be
possible.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding for this research was provided by NSERC
Equipment and Discovery grants and an FRBC
Endowment to Dr. Stead. The authors also acknow-
ledge field assistance/access provided by Parks
Canada,Alberta Geological Survey.The authors would
like to thanks D. Lichti for his technical assistance with
respect to Table 1.
REFERENCES
Feng, Q.H. & Roeshoff, K. 2004. In-situ mapping and doc-
umentation of rock faces using a full-coverage 3D laser
scanner technique. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41(3): 379.
Giussani, A. & Scaioni, M. 2004. Application of TLS to sup-
port landslides study: survey planning, operational issues
and data processing. In Proc., IAPRSSIS, Freiburg.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(8): 1165–
1186.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion. In Proc., NARMS-TAC Confer-
ence, Toronto.
Kemeny, J. & Donovan, J. 2005. Rock mass characteriza-
tion using LiDAR and automated point cloud processing.
Ground Engineering 38(11): 26–29.
Lichti, D.D. & Harvey, B.R. 2002. The effects of reflecting
surface material properties on time-of-flight laser scan-
ner measurements. In Proc., Symposium on Geospatial
Theory, Processing and Applications, Ottawa.
Lichti, D.D. 2004. A resolution measure for terrestrial laser
scanners. In Proc., XXth ISPRS Congress, International
Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and
Spatial Information Sciences, Istanbul.
Marinos, V., Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2005. The Geological
Strength Index: applications and limitations. Bull. Eng.
Geol. Environ. 64: 55–65.
Monte, J.M. 2004. Rock mass characterization using laser
scanning and digital imaging data collection techniques.
Master of Geological Engineering, University of Arizona.
36
Optech Incorporated. ILRIS-3D (http://www.optech.on.ca/
prodilris.htm).
Poropat, G.V. & Elmouttie, M.K. 2006. Automated struc-
ture mapping of rock faces. In Stacey (ed.), Stability of
Rock Slopes in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering
Situations. Johannesburg: SAIMM.
Priest, S.D. 1993. Discontinuity Analysis for Rock Engineer-
ing. London: Chapman and Hall.
Priest, S.D. 2004. Determination of discontinuity size dis-
tributions from scanline data. Rock Mechanics and Rock
Engineering 37(5): 247–386.
Read, J.R.L. & Ogden, A.N. 2006. Developing new
approaches to rock slope stability analyses. In Stacey (ed.),
Stability of Rock Slopes in Open Pit Mining and Civil
Engineering Situations. Johannesburg: SAIMM.
Rocscience, 2006. Dips. Toronto: Rocscience (http://www.
rocscience.com).
Ruiz, A., Kornus, W., Talaya, J. & Colomer, J.L. 2004. Terrain
modeling in an extremely steep mountain: a combination
of airborne and terrestrial lidar. In Proc., XXth ISPRS
Congress, International Archives of the Photogramme-
try, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences,
Istanbul.
Slob, S., Van Knapen, B., Hack, R., Turner, K. & Kemeny, J.
2005. Method for automated discontinuity analysis of rock
slopes with three-dimensional laser scanning. In Proc.,
Transportation Research Board 84th Annual Meeting,
Washington.
Stead, D., Eberhardt, E. & Coggan, J.S. 2006. Developments
in the characterization of complex rock slope deforma-
tion and failure using numerical modeling techniques.
Engineering Geology 83(1): 217–235.
Sturzenegger, M., Stead, D., Froese, C., Moreno, F. &
Jaboyedoff, M. 2007. Ground-based and airborne LiDAR
for structural mapping of the Frank Slide. In Eberhardt
et al. (eds.), Proc., 1st Canada-US Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Vancouver.
Terzaghi, R.D. 1965. Sources of error in joint surveys.
Geotechnique 15(3): 287–304.
Ullrich, A., Reichart, R. & Reigl, J. 2001. Time-of-flight
based 3D imaging sensor with true-color channel for auto-
mated texturing. In Proc., 5th Conference on Optical 3-D
Measurement Technique, Vienna.
Voyat, I., Roncella, R., Forlani, G. & Ferrero, A.M. 2006.
Advanced techniques for geostructural surveys in mod-
eling fractured rock masses: application to two Alpines
sites. In Proc., 41st US Symposium on Rock Mechanics,
Golden.
Zhang, L. & Einstein, H.H. 1998. Estimating the mean trace
length of rock discontinuities. Rock Mechanics and Rock
Engineering 31(4): 217–235.
Zhang, L., Einstein, H.H. & Dershowitz, W.S. 2002. Stereo-
logical relationship between trace length and size distri-
bution of elliptical discontinuities. Geotechnique 52(6):
419–433.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Comparison of terrestrial-based, high resolution, LiDAR and digital

photogrammetry surveys of a rock slope

C.D. Martin, D.D. Tannant & H. Lan

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: Analysis of a rock slope requires a geometric description of the surface and knowledge of fracture
patterns and their properties. Advances in digital technology provide tools that allow the generation of digital
terrain models at the centimetre-scale. In this research a terrestrial based LiDAR and a digital photogrammetry
survey were conducted of a large rock slope to obtain detailed three-dimensional elevation models for interpret-
ation of major and minor geological structure present in the slope. The paper compares both approaches and
discusses how the surveys were performed and how the data were processed and interpreted. The digital elevation
models from both surveying techniques are compared with each other as well as with known survey locations
and other features on the rock slope to assess accuracy and detail within the 3D models. Finally, assessment of
the surface models for use in mapping both large and small scale geological structures is given.

1 INTRODUCTION
There is often a need in rock engineering to establish
the geology and structure of the rock mass remotely. In
such situations the choices are traditional photogram-
metry techniques enhanced by the advantages of
digital photography and an adaptation of the airborne
laser technology known as LiDAR to terrestrial based
technology. Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)
uses the same principle as RADAR.The LiDAR instru-
ment transmits light out to a target. The transmitted
light interacts with the target and some of this light
is reflected back to the instrument. The time for the
light to travel out to the target and back to the instru-
ment is used to determine the distance to the target.
Advances in both LiDAR and digital photogrammetry
technologies have been rapid in past few years and the
technology can be now considered mainstream options
for rock mass characterisation.
This paper presents a comparison of a ground-based
LiDAR and digital photogrammetry survey of a 55 m
high rock slope (Fig. 1). The rock slope lies immedi-
ately above the left abutment of a hydroelectric dam
and contains joints and fracture zones as well as ten-
sioned cables and rockbolts and is referred to as the
731 Block. According to Corkum & Martin (2004), the
731 Block is comprised of metasediments consisting
of quartzite gneiss with lesser amounts of hornblende
gneiss and mica gneiss. Small quantities of pegmatite,
marble and quartzite are also present. Most of the rock
within the 731 Block is considered to be of moderate
quality with rock quality designation (RQD) averaging
between 35% and 55% (Moore & Imrie 1982). The
rock is generally of lower quality towards the north
and south ends of the Block. The degree of weather-
ing in drill core was described as mostly fresh stained
to slightly weathered with more intense weathering
occurring near original ground surface.
The LiDAR and photogrammetry surveys were con-
ducted from setups on the top of the dam. The area
surveyed had 12 prisms placed throughout the slope
for periodic displacement monitoring (Fig. 2). The
prism locations were obtained by conventional survey-
ing with a total station giving coordinate accuracy of
approximately ±2 mm. The prism locations and pro-
tective caps on the cables can be seen in Figure 1.
The prisms provided survey control for the 3D models
generated by the LiDAR and photogrammetry tech-
niques. Two horizontal steel and concrete walkways
run across the rock slope to provide long term monit-
oring and inspection access to instrumentation and
cables installed into the slope.
2 LiDAR SURVEY
The LiDAR survey was conducted by placing an
Optech Ilris-36 D LiDAR unit on top of a survey monu-
ment located on the dam as seen in Figure 2. A pan/tilt
unit was used with the LiDAR instrument to scan the
entire slope which is around 55 m high and 100 m long.
The pan-tilt base combined with the software provides
an efficient means of combining multiple scans into a
single image. A LiDAR survey provides a point cloud

37
Figure 1. Rock slope showing prism locations, steel catwalks, and protective caps for cable bolts.
Figure 2. Plan view showing location of the rock slope,
left dam abutment and set-up locations for the LiDAR and
camera.
of surface coordinates and a value of intensity (Fig. 3)
governed by the strength of the returning laser signal at
each point. Nearly 1.5 million dense points were col-
lected with average spacing of 60 mm which results
in around 250 points per m2 . The scans for this slope
took approximately 3 hours to acquire.
38
Figure 3. LiDAR point cloud for part of the rock slope.
Contour elevations were created at 615 m and 600 m.
The overall accuracy of a LiDAR derived slope
surface model depends on the accuracy of the
geo-referencing of LiDAR point clouds (Adams &
Chandler 2002, Webster 2005). Prisms on the slope
were clearly identified in the LiDAR point clouds as
a bright white circular area in a relatively black back-
ground. A very strong return signal occurs wherever
the laser beam hits a prism (Fig. 4). Georeferenc-
ing of the LiDAR data was done using the known
location of four prisms. The mean distance between
these prisms and the interpreted points representing

Figure 4. Prism signal in LiDAR point cloud and digital
photograph. The 585 m contour is also shown in the LiDAR
point cloud.
the prisms in the LiDAR point cloud was 65 mm,
which is close to the average distance between points
in the point cloud indicating good georeferencing of
the three-dimensional model. Once the model is cor-
rectly georeferenced, the orientation of geological data
can then be obtained. The point cloud can also be used
to create a digital terrain model which can be imported
into other software.
3 PHOTOGRAMMETRY SURVEY
The photogrammetry survey used two camera stations
located on the upstream and downstream edge of the
road forming the dam crest (Fig. 2). The camera sta-
tions were located at roughly the same distance from
the rock slope (100 to 140 m) as was used for the
LiDAR setup. The distance between the camera sta-
tions was 11.5 m giving an object to camera separation
ratio of 8.7 to 12.2. A wider camera separation to yield
39
a maximum ratio of about 4 to 8 would have been desir-
able to give better distance accuracy but this was not
possible given the constraints on the camera station
locations.
Images were taken with a Canon 5D digital Sin-
gle Lens Reflex camera with a 35 mm Canon fixed
focus lens. The lenses and camera had previously
been custom-calibrated for photogrammetry applica-
tions with a focus set at infinity and f/8 aperture.
These settings were also used to acquire images of the
rock slope. The images were processed using Adam
Technologies CalibCam and Analyst software (Birch
2006). The photogrammetry software corrected for
image distortions associated with the camera and lens
and the resection and bundle adjustment procedure
determined the exterior camera orientations.
Two to three overlapping images were taken from
each camera station to cover the full lateral extent of the
slope using a panning technique. The camera locations
were not surveyed.Thus the time required to setup a tri-
pod and take the images from each locations was only
a few minutes, which is one advantage of the photo-
grammetry technique. The location and orientation of
the camera for each photograph was determined in
the photogrammetry software using manually picked
locations of the prisms on the photographs of the slope.
A pixel in the photographs covered 23 to 33 mm on
the slope depending on the distance from the camera.
With the given camera separation and object distance,
the theoretical model accuracy was about 30 mm in
elevation and northing and about 300 mm in easting
coordinates. The lower easting coordinate accuracy
was caused by the cameras being located relatively
close together compared to the distance they were
placed away from the slope.
The distance between the camera and the rock slope
resulted in only 3 to 8 pixels representing the face of
the roughly 70 mm diameter prisms in the image. Thus
it was typically not possible to pick the centre of the
prism with better accuracy than one pixel, and in some
cases less than one pixel accuracy. The use of proper
size photogrammetry targets can improve target pick-
ing accuracy by an order of magnitude, which also
improves the geo-referencing in the Digital Terrain
Models (DTM) generated from the photographs.
The images were used to generate digital terrain
models, generate contours and cross-sections, and
measure bedding, joint and minor fracture zone orien-
tations. Using two images, one from each camera
station, a DTM covering about 80% of the rock slope
could be achieved. By merging two images from each
camera station, an image with a wider field of view
could be created and hence when these were used to
construct a DTM, the whole rock slope was covered.
Figure 5 shows a small section of the 3D photogram-
metry model with 5 m contour intervals plotted in blue.
The corresponding triangular irregular network (TIN)
 610

609 blue sections - photo

black sections - LiDAR 7
608

607 walkways and railings 6

located above prisms
606

605
5
604

Elevation (m).
603

602

601

600

599

598

597

596

595
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Horizontal distance (m)

Figure 6. Comparison of vertical cross-sections, looking

upstream, through prisms 5, 6, and 7.

can be used to create cross-sections and contours

Figure 5. Oblique view of a small section of the three dimen-
sional photogrammetry model located southwest of prism 6
and the corresponding TIN model generated from the digital
image. The 595 m and 600 m contour lines are also shown.
is also shown with red lines connecting the point cloud
of surface coordinates.A typical DTM contained about
200,000 points and 400,000 triangles after trimming
away portions of the model that were not relevant such
as the vegetation above the rock slope and the fore-
ground. The DTM points had an average density of
about 14 points/m2 of surface area or roughly one point
every 0.27 m.
The presence of light posts and other structures
along the dam affected the DTM creation by blocking
views of the rock surface. Areas of the DTM that didn’t
match the desired rock slope were manually removed
by editing the model.
4 COMPARISON OF RESULTS
The three dimensional coordinates of all points in the
LiDAR and photogrammetry models were extracted
and imported into PolyWorks (PolyWorks 2006) soft-
ware in order to compare the two models. PolyWorks
through the point clouds as well as analyse dimen-
sional and directional differences between the three
dimensional surfaces represented by the point clouds.
PolyWorks can also export the results to AutoCad file
format.
4.1 Contours and cross-sections
Contours and cross-sections were generated from the
LiDAR and photogrammetry models. The contour ele-
vations were selected such that the contours cut the
slope in three representative elevations (585 m, 600 m
and 615 m) while avoiding the two cat walks and rail-
ing systems that were located on the slope (Fig. 2).
Three vertical cross sections perpendicular to the slope
through prisms 5, 6, and 7 were also created (Fig. 6).
The contour creation technique in PolyWorks differs
from the method used in the Adams Analyst software.
Analyst creates contours or sections by cutting the
triangular irregular network with a plane and thus gen-
erating a polyline using linear interpolation in each
triangle cut by the plane. PolyWorks uses a slicing
algorithm to create sections through the point cloud
data. The slicing is controlled by the maximum point
to plane distance and sample step. The best fit sections
were created using all points in the zone defined by a

40
Table 1. Difference in contour and cross section coordinates 1.5
(m) between the two models.
1

Point separation (m)

Std 0.5
Pts Mean Dev RMS Max+ Max−
0
585 315 0.050 0.683 0.662 1.65 −1.03
−0.5
contour
600 303 −0.083 0.854 0.846 1.66 −1.84 −1
contour
615 273 0.004 0.825 0.808 1.97 −1.51 −1.5
contour 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
prism 5 159 −0.069 0.377 0.382 0.94 −1.17 Distance along contour (m)
section
prism 6 393 0.029 0.528 0.528 2.33 −1.76 Figure 7. Distance between nearest points for 585 m eleva-
section tion contours from the LiDAR and photogrammetry models.
prism 7 183 0.088 0.380 0.389 1.32 −1.19
section
Average 271 0.003 0.608 0.603 1.65 −1.41 Table 2. Offset (m) between LiDAR and photogrammetry
models and known prism locations.

0.3 m point to plane distance and smoothed by a 0.7 m LiDAR Photogrammetry

sample step.
Figure 2 compares three contours and Figure 6 com- Prism N E  Elev N E  Elev
pares three cross-sections. In general, the contours
1 0.081 0.059 0.096 0.094 0.061 0.004
and cross sections match fairly well and show simi- 2 0.034 0.005 0.045 0.148 0.099 0.003
lar geomorphologic features. The largest differences 5 0.171 0.008 0.107 0.023 0.036 0.019
between the cross-sections occur at the lateral extents 6 0.008 0.128 0.106 0.067 0.035 0.009
of the models where vegetation such as shrubs and 7 0.061 0.114 0.020 0.030 0.018 0.055
small ever-greens occur on the slope. Other differences 9 0.034 0.016 0.167 0.069 0.050 0.032
occur where the LiDAR survey picks up the locations 10 0.005 0.002 0.184 0.049 0.004 0.012
of the steel railings whereas the photogrammetry sur- 11 0.026 0.018 0.047 0.126 0.097 0.032
vey ignores these small scale features that do not lie mean 0.053 0.044 0.096 0.076 0.050 0.021
on the slope surface.
LiDAR derived sections show more detailed infor-
mation than those from the photogrammetry model.
Using PolyWorks, statistical analysis of the coordinate comparing the known prism locations with the inter-
differences between cross sections and contours from preted prism locations on the three dimensional sur-
the two models was conducted using the photogram- face models. Table 2 shows the offset distances in
metric model as a reference object. For each point northing, easting and elevation directions for the two
along a LiDAR contour or cross section, the short- surface models for the lower eight prisms on the rock
est distance to a point on a photogrammetry contour slope.
or cross section was found. The distance between the The horizontal accuracies of LiDAR coordinates in
two points indicates the error between LiDAR and pho- the Northing and the Easting directions are similar and
togrammetric models in the shortest distance direction. they are better than the elevation accuracy. The overall
A summary of the comparison is given in Table 1. average distance between the LiDAR model and the
Figure 7 shows the distribution coordinate differ- eight prisms is about 138 mm.
ences along the 585 m contour. The larger coordinate Photogrammetry accuracy in the Easting direction
differences were often associated with small objects is the lowest and this is consistent with the layout of
positioned off of the general slope surface such as the cameras as coordinate accuracy in the direction
steel hand rails or vegetation. The coordinates of the cameras were pointing was expected to be signifi-
these smaller objects are captured in the higher reso- cantly less than in other directions because the cameras
lution LiDAR model while they are ignored in the were relatively close together. The vertical accuracy
photogrammetry model. and Northing accuracies were close to the theoretically
expected value of about 30 mm. The overall average
distance between the photogrammetry model and the
4.2 Coordinate accuracy comparison
eight prisms is about 98 mm.
An estimate of the coordinate accuracy of the LiDAR Note that these results are not intended to be
and photogrammetry models can be obtained by a precise analysis of coordinate accuracy from the

41
Table 3. Distance (m) statistics between nearest points for selected portions of the LiDAR and photogrammetry models
corresponding to different surface textures.

Fresh Fresh
smooth rough Altered Vegetated Concrete Shotcrete

# Pts 9439 31427 9493 3367 2132 4025

Mean 0.11 −0.28 −0.40 −0.60 0.06 0.03
Std Dev 0.13 0.96 0.36 1.08 0.42 0.23
RMS 0.17 0.99 0.54 1.23 0.42 0.24
Max + 0.81 2.27 1.41 0.55 1.28 0.97
Max − −0.36 −3.63 −1.78 −3.02 −0.82 −0.66

two techniques. The values presented in Table 2 also

include errors associated with georeferencing of the
models.

4.3 Comparison of different slope surface types

A comparison between the LiDAR and photo-
grammetry models for different surface textures and
conditions on the rock slope was also conducted
(Veneziano et al. 2004). Photographs were used to
define the approximate locations of slope surfaces that
could be classified as: fresh smooth rock, fresh rough
rock, slightly altered or weathered rock, partially veg-
etated, concrete, and shotcrete. Portions of the LiDAR
and photogrammetry point clouds corresponding to
each surface texture were manually selected and then
compared to each other by finding the shortest dis-
tance between the two surface models at thousands of
points. The results are presented in the Table 3.
The LiDAR and photogrammetric surface models
match quite well for smooth fresh rock surfaces
and concrete and shotcrete surfaces. As the surface
becomes rougher or when vegetation is present, a
larger mismatch between the surfaces occurs.
5 STRUCTURAL MAPPING &
ORIENTATIONS
A common application of LiDAR and photogramme-
try surveys is identifying and measuring the orien-
tation of important structural features in the rock
mass. The photogrammetry model can be used to
identify features since the colour texture in the pho-
tographs combined with the three-dimensional nature
of the photogrammetry model is an excellent interpret-
ative tool. Figure 8 shows the location of structures
manually mapped using the three-dimensional photo-
grammetry model. The smallest structure mapped had
a trace length of about 2.5 m whereas the largest struc-
ture had a trace length of 25 m. Using a 35 mm lens at
a distance of 100 to 140 m from the slope effectively
Figure 8. Portion of the 3D model of the rock slope showing
mapped structural features (green = joints, blue = bedding,
purple = shears).
prevents accurate identification of joints that have
trace lengths less than 2 m.
Figure 9 show a stereonet plot of structural orienta-
tion mapped in the three-dimensional photogrammetry
model. The contacts between the various metasedi-
ments have fairly consistent orientation and generally
dip a few degrees into the slope. The joints that were
identified have a wide range in dips. Based on only
23 mapped joints and fracture zones, there doesn’t
appear to be any strongly developed joint sets. The
joints tended to have dip directions into or out of the
slope surface and no joints with dip directions towards
NE were mapped. Further work is required to assess
the significance of bias in the mapping of structure
using three-dimensional photogrammetry models.
It is important to note that mapping of structural fea-
tures in the three-dimensional photogrammetry model
was conducted manually by clicking numerous times
with the mouse either on the surface of an exposed
near-planar feature or along the trace of a near-planar

42
Figure 9. Equal angle lower hemisphere stereonet plot
of poles to structural features mapped on the 3D photo-
grammetry model of the rock slope.
feature. The software then automatically fits a plane
to the sets of points defined by the mouse clicks.
While the software can be used to automatically find
and define planar features, this option was not used.
The rock slope didn’t have many well-developed large
scale planar features and it was important to use
the colour texture information as well as the three-
dimensional view of the rock slope to identify and
classify the various structural features. For this slope,
relying exclusively on software to identify these fea-
tures would lead to errors such as identifying numerous
planar concrete walls that are part of the walkways
along the slope.
Using Split FX (Kemeny et al. 2006), orienta-
tion information about near-planar features can be
extracted automatically from the georeferenced point
clouds. The point clouds are triangulated to create a
mesh, and then a patch or a contiguous group of tri-
angles that match user-defined criteria for planarity
between neighbouring triangles are found. A best-fit
plane is found for each patch of triangles and hence a
dip and dip direction is obtained.
A part of the point cloud for each model lying
between prisms 6, 7, 10, and 11 was selected for analy-
sis.The same parameters were used for processing both
the LiDAR and photogrammetric point clouds. A num-
ber of parameters were defined in Split-FX to extract
the patches. The minimum patch size is 4 triangles.
The neighbourhood mesh normal angle was set to 30◦ .
The filtering and noise removal functions were also
applied to the patch extraction.
Similar orientations were obtained from the two
models with the LiDAR model capturing more features
43
Figure 10. Equal angle lower hemisphere stereonet plot of
near-planar rock surface orientations derived from LiDAR
and photogrammetric models.
for a given fixed set of searching parameters simply
because the model has nearly an order more trian-
gles than the photogrammetry model (Fig. 10). The
Split FX software was not able to distinguish between
surfaces that represent discontinuities and near-planar
surfaces created by blasting and hence most of the
points on the stereonet simply reflect the dip and dip
directions of segments of the rock slope. Note the stere-
onet in Figure 9 only covers about 10 to 15% of the
rock slope versus the mapping presented in Figure 10
which covers most of the slope.
Mapping of subtle geological structures on rock
slopes such as that shown in Figure 1 still requires
manual interpretation of both geometry and colour tex-
ture information. Currently, a trained human is better
able to interpret the information than software alone.
For mapping purposes, the combination of both point
cloud data and high resolution photographs is essen-
tial. Simply automatically processing LiDAR data
without the photograph may not yield the geological
structures of interest.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A ground-based LiDAR and digital photogrammetry
survey of a 55 m high rock slope was conducted to
compare the accuracy of the three-dimensional digital
models derived from both surveys. The digital ele-
vation models from both surveys gave very similar
results that would be suitable for most rock engineer-
ing problems. The digital elevation models from both
surveys were also suitable for extracting orientation
data of geological features and these features are best
extracted by trained personnel rather than automated
software routines. The density of the point cloud from
the LiDAR survey means that smaller features could
be extracted from the LiDAR digital elevation model
but this is not considered to be a practical advantage.
The photogrammetry survey is clearly quicker to con-
duct in the field compared to the LiDAR survey, but
considerable effort is required to calibrate the camera
and lens prior to the field work. The main conclusions
from this work is that both methods complement each
other and the LiDAR survey clearly needs a high qual-
ity digital image to aid in the extraction of geological
data for rock engineering purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of
Mr. Tom Stewart BC Hydro, Revelstoke for providing
access to the rock slope.
REFERENCES
Adams, J.C. & Chandler, J.H. 2002. Evaluation of LiDAR
and medium scale photogrammetry for detecting soft-
cliff coastal change. Photogrammetric Record 17(99):
404–418.
44
Corkum, A. & Martin, C.D. 2004. Analysis of a rock slide
stabilized with a toe-berm: a case study in British
Columbia, Canada. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41(7):
1109–1121.
Birch, J.S. 2006. Using 3DM Analyst mine mapping suite
for rock face characterization. In Tonon & Kottenstette
(eds.), Laser and Photogrammetric Methods for Rock Face
Characterization Workshop, 41st U.S. Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Golden, Colorado., 15 pp.
Kemeny, J., Norton, B. &Turner, K. 2006. Rock slope stability
analysis utilizing ground-based LiDAR and digital image
processing. Felsbau 24: 8–16.
Moore, D.P. & Imrie, A.S. 1982. Rock slope stabilization
at Revelstoke Dam. In Transactions 14th International
Congress on Large Dams, Paris, vol. II, pp. 365–385.
PolyWorks/IMInspect 2006. Comparison and verification
software – reference guide version 9.1. InnovMetric
Software Inc.
Veneziano, D., Hallmark, S. & Souleyrette, R. 2004.Accuracy
of light detection and ranging derived terrain data for high-
way location. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure
Engineering 19: 130–143.
Webster, T.L. 2005. LiDAR validation using GIS: a case study
comparison between two LiDAR collection methods.
Geocarto International 20(4): 1–9.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A digital approach for integrating geotechnical data and stability analyses

H. Lan & C.D. Martin

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: Current geotechnical modelling tools are focused on the numerical analyses and generally not
designed to facilitate synthesis of data from site investigation and characterisation. Site characterisation must
address key geospatial issues, e.g., complex geology, highly irregular pore-water pressure, complex surface
geometry and slip surface definition. An integrated digital methodology is presented that combines geospatial
data management techniques with mining geological visualization software and numerical modeling tools.
Specialised tools were created that facilitated geospatial analyses of piezometer data and displacement data from
inclinometers. The methodology is applied to bedrock landslide in Edmonton, Canada.

1 INTRODUCTION

Natural and human-induced slope movement and slope

failures are complex geotechnical engineering prob-
lems involving both surface and subsurface conditions
and their interactions to triggering factors (Renaud
et al. 2000). Assessment of slope movement and asso-
ciated hazards demands an understanding of the site
characteristics and their spatial and temporal vari-
ability. In practice, engineers use modern computer
software, such as Geostudio (Krahn 2003) to deter-
mine the minimum factor of safety associated with
the critical slip surface (Renaud et al. 2000, Cheng
2004). Because important decisions are often based on
this minimum factor of safety, it is important that the
slope stability analyses accurately capture the essential
features determined from the site characterisation.
Current geotechnical modelling tools are focused
on the numerical analyses and generally not designed
to facilitate the requirements of site investigation and
characterisation. Site characterisation must address
key geospatial issues, e.g., complex geology, highly
irregular pore-water pressure, complex surface geom-
etry and slip surface definition (Krahn 2003). Figure 1
shows the detailed surface geometry often found in
complex slope failures that was captured by mod-
ern LiDAR airborne technology. There is little doubt
that capturing more complete geomorphological, geo-
logical and geotechnical information and properly
designed data visualization and integration always
improves the quality of geotechnical site investigation,
particularly when the site is geologically and geotech-
nically complex (Luna & Frost 1998, Tsai & Frost
1999, Parsons & Frost 2002, Jaboyedoff et al. 2004,
Kunapo et al. 2005). Culshaw (2005) in the fifth Glos-
sop lecture suggested that “the rapid development in
Figure 1. Complex slide geometry commonly encountered
in site investigation programs, after Eshraghian et al. 2006.
technology over the last twenty years and the digit-
ization of increasing amounts of geological data has
brought engineering geology to a situation in which the
production of meaningful three-dimensional spatial
models of the shallow subsurface is feasible”. Despite
these advances there are very few spatial tools that help
the geotechnical engineer achieve this goal.
The geographic information system (GIS) is
increasingly viewed as a key tool for managing spatial
distribution of data (Nathanail & Rosenbaum 1998,
Parsons & Frost 2000, Kunapo et al. 2005). However,
GIS has limitations in presenting three-dimensional
(3D) geologic and geotechnical data since it was ori-
ginally developed to deal with two-dimensional plane
problems (Kunapo et al. 2005). Some GIS systems,
like ArcGIS, a GIS system developed by the Envir-
onmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.(ESRI), pro-
vide functional developer kit which can be used to
develop the 3D capability for geotechnical engineering
problem. Nonetheless the many current developments
in 3D GIS are still not sufficient to meet the needs
of the geotechnical engineer. Mining software such

45

Figure 2. The architecture for the integrated system. It
is composed of three different stages which required the
implementation of specific tasks.
as Surpac Vision developed by Surpac Minex Group
provide a comprehensive system for geological mod-
elling but not geotechnical modelling. For example
while three-dimensional solid modelling and two-
dimensional sections can be easily created in SurPac,
querying inclinometer or piezometer data is not eas-
ily accomplished. The main objective of this paper
is to describe an integrated approach using ArcGIS,
Surpac Vision and numerical modeling, to develop a
three-dimensional spatial models of a shallow subsur-
face slide locally referred to as Keillor Road Slide.
This integrated approach illustrates the added value
obtained when data and analyses are tightly integrated.
2 INTEGRATED APPROACH DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Framework
Nearly all site investigation programs deals with sur-
face mapping, geological information from borehole
data and monitoring data. The work flow from data
collection through to engineering analyses is outlined
in Figure 2 and can be summarized in three stages.
Stage 1 involves data collection, management and
46
geosynthesis. Stage 2 is the development of a compre-
hensive ground model that includes ground behaviour
and Stage 3 is the engineering analyses.
Modern GIS software provides effective tools
for the handling, integrating and visualizing diverse
spatial data sets (Brimicombe 2003). Therefore, in
Stage 1, the functionality of GIS provides an essen-
tial role in collecting, storing analyzing, visualizing
and disseminating geospatial information. This infor-
mation could be basic site investigation data, such as
geomorphology and geology conditions, and diverse,
continually evolving geotechnical parameters, such
as displacement and pore pressure readings from
geotechnical instruments. GIS tools focus on the spa-
tial distribution of static data and their relationship
to one another in space (Brimicombe, 2003). Most
GIS tools have limitations in representing time series
data such as the displacement data from inclinometer
or pore pressures from piezometers. Therefore addi-
tional functional tools were required to the standard
ArcGIS software. These tools have been implemented
in using ArcObject, an ArcGIS developer Kit, and
Visual studio.net, a software developing package by
Microsoft. These development tools provide capability
for users to interact and communicate with various
data sets.
The main aim of Stage 2 is to establish a compre-
hensive ground model for the site. The ground model
may be based a total geological model, such as that
proposed by Fookes (1997) but must also establish the
ground behaviour which ultimately requires putting
numbers to geology (Hoek 1999). The construction of
the ground model is enhanced using three dimensional
geological modelling tools commonly available in the
mining industry, e.g. Surpac Vision. Finally, geotech-
nical analyses and engineering decision making are
performed in Stage 3. In this step the ground behaviour
is analysed using commercially available geotechnical
numerical tools.
It is well recognized that data is the core component
for geotechnical site characterisation and advanced
analyses. This data can be categorized into two classes:
(1) geospatial data and (2) nonspatial attribute data. In
the case of a slope stability problem, geospatial data
involves the slope surface, slope boundary, subsurface
geology, groundwater conditions, and borehole loca-
tion, location of rainfall gauges and location of other
infrastructure, such as roads, building, utilities. GIS
and Surpac Vision store and manage geospatial data
in a number of different formats e.g., point, polyline,
polygon, GRID, TIN.
Nonspatial data consists of attribute information
that mainly includes borehole details information (col-
lar coordinates and downhole survey information) and
geotechnical parameters from laboratory or field test,
as well as environmental data, such as rainfall. In
addition to geology, groundwater and rock properties,
 Geology data Inclinometer data structure String File
ArcGIS Surpac
structure
(Shp) (String)
Collor Installation survey Data Shape File
Hole_id InstID Pointer Pointer
X Site Rdg_Set Rdg_set
Y Inst Date_Read Depth DXF DXF
Z Desc Time_Read A_0
Max_depth SerialNum Full_Set A_180
Hole_path… A0Dir Actl_Sens B_0
Engineering
Deep Rot_Corr_A B_180
Analysis
Geology Shallow Rot_Corr_B
Interval Actl_Cnst
Hole_id InitDate Operator
Depth_from Azimuth Spiral Figure 4. Data import and export scheme using industrial
Stickup Num_Depth
standard file formats to facilitate moving information among
Depth_to
different software.
Lithology DataLoaded Include
Elev InstrConstant Exclude
Code… offsetA … ….

Figure 3. Example database structure for geology and

inclinometer readings. The arrow indicates relationship
between tables.

borehole information can also consist of important

results from instrumentation, such displacement moni-
toring and water pore pressure. All the attribute data
can be entered into a relational database based on stan-
dard geotechnical structure and linked to the geospatial
layers. Both the GIS software and Surpac vision can
access the same database once it is created. Figure 3
shows an example of the standard structure for man-
aging inclinometer data and geological data in a
relational database. This database structure is fairly
standard today and is supported by many engineering
software packages. Perhaps one of the lesser known
benefits of creating a central database for the storage
of site investigation results is related to quality con-
trol. A central storage location for data with restricted
access minimises the chances for data errors.
One of major issues in this integration approach
involves data input and output. In order to develop
an appropriate easy-to-use input and output function,
some industrial standard file formats are employed
for data conversion and communication throughout
the three Stages. Shape file (.SHP) from ESRI and
Data Exchange File (.DXF) from AutoDesk are both
industrial standard formats supported by almost all
PC-based CAD and GIS products. The communica-
tion between different Stages in our system is also
implemented by these two file formats. Figure 4 shows
a geospatial data input and output scheme by which
these three Stages can communicate seamlessly.
2.2 Features and capabilities
The integration of the tools described above offers
effective digital tools to model heterogeneous geology,
complex stratigraphy and slip surface geometry, and
Figure 5. Photograph of the Keillor Road Slide, from Soe
Moe et al. (2005).
variable pore pressure conditions which are critical to
complex slope stability problems. The tools also pro-
vides for incorporating findings from monitoring data.
In the following section the tools are demonstrated
using a bedrock slide in Edmonton Alberta.
3 CASE STUDY AND DISCUSSION
A completion description of the Keillor Road bedrock
slide was given by Soe Moe et al. (2005). The fail-
ure of the slope occurred over a number of years with
the largest deformations occurring in 2002. The slide
took place along the bank of the North Saskatchewan
River valley in Edmonton, Alberta Canada (Fig. 5).
The site investigations for the slide were conducted
over a period of 15 years using traditional boreholes
and monitoring systems.
3.1 Site characterization tools
Effective and timely site characterization plays an
important role in geotechnical modeling and the evalu-
ation of site characterisation data. The increased avail-
ability of spatial data from remote sensing, GPS, Lidar,

47

Figure 6. Plan view of Keillor Road slope showing location
of the site investigation boreholes, tension cracks and outline
of the slide. Contour elevations have been removed for clarity.
geophysical and instrumentation monitoring technol-
ogy enable engineers to capture more information
related to geomorphology, geology, hydrology and
geomechanics (Luna & Frost 1998, Cencetti et al.
2000, Godio & Bottino 2001, Hanson et al. 2002,
Na et al. 2005). In addition surface deformation fea-
tures, such as the location of the shear zones, tension
cracks, groundwater seeps and environmental factors
can also dominate the spatio-temporal behaviour of
the slope. The impact of these key factors on the
behaviour of Keillor Road slope failure was integrated
using ArcGIS and Supac Vision. Figure 6 shows a plan
view of the site created in ArcGIS showing the loca-
tion of the boreholes used in the site investigation.
The major benefit of Figure 6 is that the borehole
symbols are dynamically linked to the data base and
instrumentation data installed in the boreholes.
As part of the site investigation it was necessary
to reconstruct the dynamics and kinematics of the
processes acting on the slope and to determine their
spatial and temporal distribution. To accomplish this
add-on tools for ArcGIS were needed. These add-on
tools enabled the processing of borehole information,
plotting of time-series displacement data from slope
inclinometer, pore pressure data from piezometer and
relative geomorphological features, such as tension
cracks.These data maybe spatially correlated and com-
parable between each other and hence the tools needed
to be able to process the data from multiple boreholes
48
Figure 7. Sample inclinometer plot showing typical incre-
mental data between various sets of reading, the borehole log
and pore pressure data for two piezometers installed in the
same hole.
for quick and easy comparisons. For instance, when
a user clicks any borehole location in the plan view
in Figure 6, all the information related to this bore-
hole will show in the view window in Figure 7. Every
borehole in the study area can be quickly browsed by
clicking Previous and Next button and zoomed to its
spatial location by clicking ZoomtoFeature button.
The add-on tools provide all of the standard types
of plots for analysing slope inclinometer data. The
user can quickly check the cumulative displacement
plot and incremental displacement plot. From these
standard plots discrete movement zones can be defined
by specifying the from-to-depths. The resultant time-
displacement plots for these discrete zones show accel-
eration or deceleration of slope movement. In addition
to the displacement versus timeplots, plots of displace-
ment vector directions and displacement rate offer the
ability to identify and evaluate the spatial and temporal
character of the deformations.
Figure 8 shows the six-year (1997–2002) displace-
ment history for shear zone from 4.88 m depth to
6.71 m in borehole B95-7. The direction of the dis-
placement vectors for each set of readings taken
over the six year monitoring period. The overall
movement direction is downslope towards the North
Saskatchewan River. A total of 70-mm of deform-
ation occurred during the six years with an average
velocity of approximately 1.2-mm/month. The largest
and fastest movement took place between March 2000
and September 2001. Furthermore, the daily rainfall
record during this period was extracted automatically
from the weather database to create a graph show-
ing its relationship to movement (Fig. 9). Compared
to displacement records from 1997 to 1999, slope
movement continuously increased from the summer
of 2000. A significant increase in the displacement
velocity took place during the fall of 2001 immediately

Figure 8. Displacement vectors showing the history of dis-
placement magnitude (upper) and displacement rate (bottom)
at borehole B95-7. The discrete shear zone is located from
depth 4.88 m to depth 6.71 m and is readily observed in the
incremental inclinometer plot (top left insert).
Figure 9. Daily rainfall versus displacement at borehole
B95-7. Major failure occurred at Fall of 2002, even though
lower intensity of rainfall took place during year of 2002.
after an intense rainfall event. The higher movement
rate remained until the major failure during the fall of
2002 in spite of the smaller rainfall amounts during
the year 2002.
The site deformation analysis was enhanced by pro-
viding the capability within ArcGIS to interactively
query the data. This is an essential step in evaluating
slope inclinometer data. Multiple movement zones at
different depth are often detected in slope inclinometer
plots. How these different movement zones behave and
how they respond to the environmental factors, such
as rainfall are important in slope failure analysis (Lan
et al. 2004, 2005). For example, two movement zones
were identified in the inclinometer readings for bore-
hole B02-2 (Fig. 10). One zone was from depth 0.61 m
to depth 2.44 m (zone1) and the other zone was from
49
Figure 10. Displacement history at different shear zones of
site B02-2. Shearing zone 1 and zone 2 are characterized by
obviously different displacement vectors.
depth 7.32 m to depth 8.53 m (zone2). Their deforma-
tion histories can be rapidly shown on the plan map
(Fig. 10). It can be seen clearly that the movement
zones 1 and 2 show different movement behaviour.
The moving direction of the shallow zone 1 changed
direction frequently while the direction of zone 2 was
essentially unchanged. The deformation rates in zone1
were sensitive to rainfall, while the displacement rate
of the deeper zone 2 tended to remain relatively con-
stant regardless of the rainfall conditions. Localised
small scale of slope failure occurred at the location of
zone 1. On the other hand, the movement zone 2 posed
the greatest potential for forming a large rupture sur-
face. Hence stability analyses that ignored movement
zone 2 would have ignored the more serious stability
threat.
The spatial deformation pattern of Keillor Road
slope obtained from all the inclinometer data is
shown in Figure 11. The most significant deform-
ations occurred downslope from Keillor Road and
all the inclinometers showed down slope movement.
Nonetheless there are clear differences in some of the
displacement directions and this may reflect blocks
within the slope moving in different directions or per-
haps a survey error in the measured directions of the
inclinometer. With such a plot it is easy to check if
there is an error in the inclinometer orientation.
Figure 11 shows that the slope above Keillor Road
remained stable. The displacement vector of borehole
B02-3 shows only minor adjustments during the initial
readings but remained stable throughout the monitor-
ing period. The interactive tools are clearly useful for
quickly evaluating such inclinometer data.
Geotechnical parameters are usually measured at
points during site investigation by in-situ tests or by
laboratory tests. Geostatistical kriging and simulation
techniques in GIS offer powerful spatial modeling
tools for visualising the spatial variability of these
parameters (Nathanail & Rosenbaum 1998). Parsons
(2002) argued that such statistical approaches improve

Figure 11. Spatial distribution of slope deformation from
all the inclinometer data at the same discrete movement
zone. Two major slope portions with different displacement
evolution are divided by Keillor Road.
Figure 12. Pore pressure surfaces at three different time
periods. The curves attached to borehole show displacement
record from the inclinometer data.
the quality of site investigation data (Parsons & Frost
2002). Pore pressure is an essential parameter in slope
stability studies. Using geostatistical techniques, point
pore pressure data can be interpolated into a spatial
pore pressure surface throughout the sampling area
and extended to a region with no-data. Figure 12
shows the interpolated pore pressure surfaces cre-
ated by kriging for different time periods, which helps
understand the site hydrological conditions as function
of time. When conducting such geostatistical analysis
it is important to ensure that the pore pressures are
being measured on the same geological unit. This can
50
Figure 13. The ground model for Keillor Road Slide
created in Surpac Vision. All data in Surpac Vision is
three-dimensional solids which means that representative
cross-sections can be created at any orientation.
be readily seen by comparing the borehole logs and
piezometer installation locations.
Three dimensional displacement curves obtained
from the inclinometer data were also attached to
the boreholes as lines to show a spatial relationship
between displacement locations and pore pressure
(Fig. 12). A similar technique has also been used for
evaluating the spatial distribution of rock mass proper-
ties such as discrete shear zone locations and strength.
The three dimensional displacement curves and pore
pressure surface were also imported into Surpac by
converting them into strings, a file format which can
be used in Surpac Vision.
Surface mapping will include tension crack features
including the crack trace along the slope surface, the
dip of the tension crack plane and the depth of the ten-
sion crack. Using these data, three-dimensional planes
representing the tension cracks can be created by the
tool developed in ArcGIS. These tension-crack planes
are represented by 3D polyline shape file which can
be converted to string file for export to Surpac.
3.2 Ground model
As mentioned earlier, Surpac Vision provides
advanced tools for viewing and interpretation of geol-
ogy data. Connecting to the same geological database
as used by ArcGIS, the three-dimensional geology
model was created in Surpac Vision. Together with the
other data imported from ArcGIS, such as geomor-
phological surface, displacement and pore pressure
reading, and tension crack planes, a comprehensive
ground model for Keillor Road slope was created
in Surpac Vision (Fig. 13). From the model, the
spatial extent of slope which is at risk from instabil-
ity can be immediately defined by the displacement
data and the surface mapping information. The most
significant deformations were occurring in a layer of
clay shale in the Upper Cretaceous bedrock of the
Edmonton Group. Because of the data in the Surpac

Figure 14. Slope stability analysis using Limit equilibrium
and/or Finite-element analysis.
model are three dimensional solids or planes, cross-
sections can be extracted at any orientations. Critical
profile sections were extracted in Surpac Vision along
the section lines parallel to the displacement vectors
(see Fig. 11). These sections now include all infor-
mation managed and produced in GIS and Surpac.
These section profiles can be exported to DXF files
which can then be optimized for slope stability analy-
sis. Nearly all modern slope stability software such as
Slope/W or Slide can readily import DXF files. How-
ever, it is important that the user examine these DXF
files to ensure that the relevant information is captured.
3.3 Slope analysis
Slope/W is widely used in geotechnical engineering
practice for analyzing the stability of slopes. It uses
limit equilibrium theory to compute the critical fac-
tor of safety (Krahn 2003). The essential geometry
elements in Slope/W include the ground surface, com-
plex geological regions, and pore pressure line and ten-
sion crack lines. In many slope stability problems it is
very important to establish an accurate representation
of the slope surface geometry because small changes
in the slope profile can have significant impact on the
calculated factor of safety especially when the rupture
surface is relatively flat such as the translational slide
at Keillor Road. Creating the section profile from a
three-dimensional model ensure that the most accurate
surface geometry is captures, particularly when that
surface geometry is determined from LiDAR data.
Determining the critical slip surface is one of the
key issues in a slope stability analysis using limit equi-
librium methods (Renaud et al. 2002, Krahn 2003). It is
possible to specify the potential slip-surface by inte-
grating all the relevant information in the model, such
as the inclinometer reading, stratigraphy and observed
tension cracks (Fig. 14). These data combined with the
presence of weak clay shale layer in the Keillor Road
slope results in a translational mode of failure on a
near horizontal rupture surface.
51
4 CONCLUSIONS
Many geotechnical problems require the development
of a comprehensive ground model that is then used
as the bases for engineering analyses and decisions.
The ground model incorporates the results from site
investigation and characterisation techniques. Despite
the rapid advances in the digital technology there are
no off the shelf solutions for helping the geotechnical
engineer develop this ground model.
A suite of tools have been developed in ArcGIS that
allows the geotechnical engineer to manage geospa-
tial and time-related data such as slope-inclinometer
displacement, pore pressure from piezometers and
environmental data such as rainfall. The tools provide
an easy means of plotting and exploring data during
the site characterisation phase. Once an understanding
of the site and instrumentation results are obtained,
the same data set can be exported to Surpac Vision,
a full three-dimensional solids modelling package that
is then used to incorporate the geological model with
the geotechnical data to develop a comprehensive
ground model for the site. This ground model can
then be sectioned and the appropriate data exported
for engineering analysis using modern software.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank K. W. Soe Moe for pro-
viding the Keillor Road dataset. The development
of the ArcGIS tools was supported by the Canadian
National Railways, Canadian Pacific Railways and the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada
and partly by National Science Foundation of China
(40501055).
REFERENCES
Brimicombe, A. 2003. GIS, Environmental Modelling and
Engineering. London: Taylor & Francis, 312 pp.
Cencetti, C., Conversini, P., Radicioni, F., Ribaldi, C.,
Selli, S. & Tacconi, P. 2000. The evolution of Montebes-
tia landslide (Umbria, Central Italy). Site investigations,
in-situ tests and GPS monitoring. Physics and Chemistry
of the Earth Part B- Hydrology Oceans and Atmosphere
25(9): 799–808.
Cheng, Y.M. & Zhu, L.J. 2004. Unified formulation for two
dimensional slope stability analysis and limitations in fac-
tor of safety determination. Soils and Foundations 44(6):
121–127.
Culshaw, M.G. 2005. The Seventh Glossop Lecture –
From concept towards reality: developing the attributed
3D geological model of the shallow subsurface. Quar-
terly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
38: 231–284.
Eshraghian, A., Martin, C.D. & Cruden, D.M. 2007. Com-
plex earth slides in the Thompson River Valley, Ashcroft,
 British Columbia. Environmental and Engineering Geo-
science Journal, In Press.
Fookes, P. 1997. The First Glossop Lecture – Geology for
engineers: the geological model, prediction and perform-
ance. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and
Hydrogeology 30: 293–431.
Godio, A. & Bottino, G. 2001. Electrical and electromagnetic
investigation for landslide characterization. Physics and
Chemistry of the Earth Part B- Hydrology Oceans and
Atmosphere 26(9): 705–710.
Hanson, D.R., Vandergrift, T.L., DeMarco, M.J. & Hanna, K.
2002. Advanced techniques in site characterization and
mining hazard detection for the underground coal indus-
try. International Journal of Coal Geology 50(1–4):
275–301.
Hoek, E. 1999. The Second Glossop Lecture: Putting num-
bers to geology – an engineer’s viewpoint. Quarterly
Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 32:
1–19.
Jaboyedoff, M., Ornstein, P. & Rouiller, J.-D. 2004. Design
of a geodetic database and associated tools for monitoring
rock-slope movements: The example of the top of Randa
rockfall scar. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
4: 187–196.
Krahn J, 2003. The 2001 R.M. Hardy Lecture: The limits
of limit equilibrium analyses. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal 40(3): 643–660.
Kunapo, J., Dasari, G.R., Phoon, K.K. & Tan, T.S. 2005.
Development of a Web-GIS based geotechnical informa-
tion system. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering
19(3): 323–327.
Lan, H.X., Zhou, C.H., Wang, L.J., Zhang, H.Y. & Li, R.H.
2004. Landslide hazard spatial analysis and prediction
using GIS in the Xiaojiang watershed, Yunnan, China.
Engineering Geology 76(1–2): 109–128.
Lan, H.X., Lee, C.F., Zhou, C.H. & Martin, C.D. 2005.
Dynamic characteristics analysis of shallow landslides
in response to rainfall event using GIS. Environmental
Geology 47(2): 254–267.
52
Luna, R. & Frost, J.D. 1998. Spatial liquefaction analysis
system. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering 12(1):
48–56.
Maffei, A., Martino, S. & Prestininzi, A. 2005. From the
geological to the numerical model in the analysis of
gravity-induced slope deformations: An example from the
Central Apennines (Italy). Engineering Geology 78(3–4):
215–236.
Na, Y.M., Choa, V., the, C.I. & Chang, M.F. 2005. Geotech-
nical parameters of reclaimed sandfill from the cone
penetration test. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 42(1):
91–109.
Nathanail, C.P. & Rosenbaum, M.S. 1998. Spatial manage-
ment of geotechnical data for site selection. Engineering
Geology 50(3–4): 347–356.
Parsons, R.L. & Frost, J.D. 2000. Interactive analysis of spa-
tial subsurface data using GIS-Based tool. Journal of
Computing in Civil Engineering 14(4): 215–222.
Parsons, R.L. & Frost, J.D. 2002. Evaluating site investi-
gation quality using GIS and geostatistics. Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 128(6):
451–461.
Renaud, J.P., Anderson, M.G., Wilkinson, P.L., Lloyd, D.M.
& Wood, D.M. 2000. The importance of visualisation of
results from slope stability analysis. Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, Geotechnical Engineering
156(1): 27–33.
Soe Moe, K.W., Cruden, D.M., Martin, C.D., Lewycky, D. &
Lach, P.R. 2005. 15 years of movement at Keillor Road,
Edmonton. In Proc. 58th Canadian Geotechnical Confer-
ence & 6th Joint CGS/IAH-CNC Groundwater Specialty
Conference, Saskatoon, vol. 1, pp. 281–388.
Tsai, Y.C. & Frost, J.D. 1999. Using geographic information
system and knowledge base system technology for real-
time planning of site characterization activities. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 36(2): 300–312.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The use of Slope Stability Radar (SSR) in managing slope

instability hazards

N.J. Harries
GroundProbe, Brisbane, Qld, Australia

H. Roberts
GroundProbe North America, Tucson, Arizona, USA

ABSTRACT: Assessing and managing instability hazards is an essential activity when working with both
unstable natural slopes and engineered slopes. The GroundProbe ‘Slope Stability Radar’ (SSR) was developed
to provide an improved tool to manage risk related to slope instability. The SSR is an all-weather system
that remotely scans rock slopes to continuously measure surface movement with a sub-millimetre precision. The
combination of near real time measurement, sub-millimetre precision and broad area coverage to quickly identify
the size of developing failures provides ideal parameters for the management of slope instability hazards. It has
allowed users to detect and alert personnel of rock wall movements that may result in instability. The success of
using radar in monitoring slopes is verified by the rapid adoption of the technology by major mining operations
throughout the world. This paper provides a brief outline of some of the slope instability risk management
applications of SSR systems.

1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 Rock slope monitoring

The instability of engineered and natural slopes is often
of high importance due to potential for loss of life
and property. The GroundProbe Slope Stability Radar
(SSR) was developed to aid in the management of risks
associated with unstable slopes. This paper describes
the use of the SSR system in a risk management frame-
work for management of unstable rock slopes. Before
discussion of the SSR use within a slope instability risk
management framework, a brief introduction to rock
slope failure, rock slope monitoring, risk management
and the SSR technology is presented.
1.1 Rock slope failure
Failure of rock slopes is mostly defined by service-
ability or performance criteria defined by the owners
or users of the slope and is therefore difficult to
define uniquely. Glastonbury & Fell (2002) used the
term ‘collapse’ to denote the single point of sudden
movement, disaggregation and associated large-scale
displacement. Not all slopes showing movement will
collapse, many will continue to move at a constant
or decreasing rate, as the system reaches a new equi-
librium. The collapse concept is however particularly
relevant for many SSR applications on rock slopes that
contain failure modes and geological characteristics
that lead to final disaggregation.
In a recent study of a large database of information on
excavated rock slopes exhibiting deformation prior to
failure by Glastonbury & Fell (2002), it was estab-
lished that the present industry practice of dealing
with moving slopes generally involves establishment
of a monitoring system, adopting acceptable slope
deformation criteria coupled with warning systems
and design of stabilisation or risk reduction measures
if appropriate.
A number of signs may occur prior to collapse
including dilation of cracks on the wall, new frac-
turing seen on the face, audible noise (cracking and
popping), dislocation (shearing) along fractures and
increased dust or rilling of loose material from the rock
face. However, not all signs will be observed prior to
collapse and it is difficult to predict the progression
of failure towards collapse by reviewing such qualita-
tive phenomenon. This usually results in over-cautious
decisions that impact on productivity, while the reverse
places lives at higher risk.
A more reliable indicator of instability involves the
quantitative measurement of outward movement and
acceleration of material as an instability mechanism
develops. There is strong evidence that small precursor
movements of a rock wall occur for an extended period
prior to rock slope collapse (Hoek & Bray 1981).
Qualified personnel can interpret the pattern and

53

1. Establish the context
Communicate and Consult
Monitor and Review
2. Identify Risks
3. Analyse Risks
4. Evaluate Risks
5. Treat Risks
Figure 1. Risk management framework (from AS/NZS
4360:199).
history of movement to improve prediction of failure
processes, and to advise appropriate and timely sta-
bilisation or safety management actions. This might
involve use of a risk management framework to warn
workers when the movement or acceleration of the rock
face exceeds a set threshold.
1.3 Risk management
The term ‘risk’ denotes exposure to the possibility
of such things as economic or financial loss or gain,
physical damage, injury or delay, as a consequence of
pursuing or not pursuing a particular course of action.
It is described and evaluated in terms of likelihood
and consequences; with the likelihood a rating of the
probability of an event occurring and the consequence
related to the outcome of this event, which may be
given as the consequence to people (e.g. single fatal-
ity) or a dollar value attached to property damage. Risk
management is the process by which informed deci-
sions are made to accept known levels of risk or to
implement a set of actions to reduce unacceptable risks
to acceptable levels.
Numerous texts are available detailing the subject of
risk management. A simple risk management frame-
work from the Australian Risk Management Standard
(AS/NZS 4360) is shown in Figure 1. This simple
framework will be used to discuss SSR applications
in this paper.
Before detailing specifics associated with use of
the framework for managing the risk related to slope
instability using the SSR, an overview of the main
components of risk management is warranted. The
activities that are required to manage risks effectively
in this framework include:
1. Establishing the strategic, organizational, and risk
management context in which the rest of the process
54
will take place. This involves identifying criteria
against which the risk will be evaluated. The struc-
ture of the risk analysis should be defined at this
stage.
2. Identification of all risks whether or not they are
under the control of the organization. What can
happen? How and why can it happen?
3. Analysing risks to separate the minor acceptable
risks from the major risks, and to provide data
to assist in the evaluation and treatment of risks.
This requires estimation of the consequence and
likelihood, the product of which is the risk.
4. Risk evaluation involving comparing the level of
risk found during the analysis with previously
established risk criteria. The output is often a
prioritised list of risks.
5. Risk treatment involving identifying the range of
options for treating risk, assessing these options,
preparing risk treatment plans and implementing
them. Options can include: Avoid, Reduce likeli-
hood, Reduce consequence, Transfer the risk and
Retain the risk (Residual Risk).
It is also important to remember the communi-
cate/consult and monitor/review processes at all levels.
Effective communication is important to ensure that
those responsible for implementing risk management,
and those with a vested interest understand the basis
on which decisions are made and why particular
actions are taken. Risks and the effectiveness of con-
trol measures need to be monitored to ensure that
changing circumstances do not alter risk priorities (few
risks remain static). Review and regular repeat of the
risk management cycle is an integral part of the risk
management process.
1.4 Slope Stability Radar (SSR) technology
The Slope Stability Radar (SSR) is a new technique
for monitoring mine walls and general slopes. The
concept is based on the considerable success achieved
by differential interferometry obtained with synthetic
aperture radar, which can measure small movements of
land masses from satellites (for example: along-fault
slippage associated with earthquakes; ground subsid-
ence associated with underground mining; velocity
of slowly moving ice masses, Goldstein et al. 1993).
Instead of using synthetic aperture radar from a mov-
ing radar platform, the slope stability radar uses
a real-aperture on a stationary platform positioned
50 to 1000 metres away from the foot of the wall.
The system scans a region of the wall and compares
the phase measurement in each footprint (pixel) with
the first scan to determine the amount of movement of
the slope. An advantage of radar over other slope mon-
itoring techniques is that it provides full area coverage
of a rock slope without the need for reflectors mounted
Figure 2. Trailer Mounted Self Contained SSR System.
Figure 3. SSRViewer visual and deformation image.

on the rock face. The system offers sub-millimetre

precision of wall movements without being adversely
affected by rain, fog, dust, smoke, and haze, although
reduced precision occurs in pixels where there is low
phase correlation between scans (e.g. vegetation on the
slope).
The system is housed in a self-contained trailer that
can be easily and quickly moved around the site (see
Fig. 2). It can be placed in the excavation, or on top
of a wall or on a bench to maximize slope coverage
whilst not interfering with operations. The radar elec-
tronics and computer module are located on the tripod.
The tripod detaches from the trailer during deploy-
ment so that vibrations from the trailer and generator
do not degrade reliability and performance. The two-
axis mount can scan the dish through 320 degrees in
azimuth, and from −60 to +60 degrees vertically from
the horizon level. The scan area is set manually using
a digital camera image.
The display and interface module contains a key-
board, touchpad and display that are all weatherproof.
Power is provided by a Remote Area Power Supply,
which consists of a battery pack that is automati-
cally charged during a 3.5 hour period each day by
a 12 V diesel generator. The system provides immedi-
ate monitoring of slope movement without calibration
and prior history. Scan times are typically every 1–
10 minutes. Data is uploaded to the office via a
dedicated radio link. Custom software enables the
user to set movement thresholds to warn of unstable
conditions.
Data from the SSR is usually presented in two
formats. Firstly, a colour ‘rainbow’ plot of the slope
representing total movement quickly enables the user
to determine the extent of the failure and the area where
the greatest movement is occurring (see Fig. 3).
Secondly, time/displacement graphs can be selected
at any locations to evaluate displacement rates (see
Fig. 4). Additional software can also be installed to
allow the data to be viewed at locations remote to the
SSR site.
Figure 4. SSRViewer figure plot function.
2 RISK MANAGEMENT BASED ON SSR
MEASUREMENTS (OR SURVEY)
Risk management frameworks for slope hazards are
typically set up and administered by geologists or engi-
neers. It would be inappropriate to suggest a generic
framework as it should be developed considering
the geological, environmental, operational, legal etc
parameters that are likely to be distinctive for each site.
Some case studies of SSR applications have been
presented previously (Harries et al. 2006). This section
summarizes some of the applications of the SSR in risk
management obtained during a review of operations.
Although not a comprehensive review, it nevertheless
provides a snap-shot of some of the current uses of
the SSR; which will no doubt evolve, as the technol-
ogy develops further and the geotechnical community
becomes more educated about the system.
2.1 SSR survey in the risk management framework
It is important to define the role of the SSR system
within the context of the operation. The SSR system
could be equally used as a passive slope monitoring
system or as an active risk management tool to increase
productivity. Prior to the SSR being deployed at site,

55
some operations have stated that they do not want to
rely on the SSR system or allow the system to modify
the way they operate. Other operations, in particular
a number of metalliferous mining operations, heavily
rely on the SSR systems and will not operate in iden-
tified areas of the pit unless they are currently being
screened by a SSR system. Different operations are
likely to have different view points on the SSR appli-
cation, much of it based on personal preference. There
is nothing wrong with this, but it is important to con-
sider the context of the SSR in operation, which will
have implications on how the technology is integrated
and optimised.
2.2 Use of the SSR in identifying slope
instabilities
One of the primary roles of the SSR is identifying
unstable slopes. The broad area coverage and almost
real time scanning means that large expanses of slope
(e.g. 500,000 m2 ) can be scanned and results obtained
in less that 10 minutes. After a relatively short time,
areas of stable slope can be identified, as well as
those areas that are showing greater deformation than
expected (providing they show deformation greater
than a millimetre). This increased deformation may
represent areas of slope instability, possible leading to
collapse.
Some operations have used the SSR as a campaign
monitoring tool where the portability of the system is
used to scan regions of the slope for several days before
moving onto the next region of the slope. The results of
the slope survey are then used to target further geotech-
nical investigations and instrumentation. For example,
additional survey prisms or wireline extensometers
will then be located at areas where deformation is
greater than the surrounding slope.
Another frequent application of the SSR in iden-
tifying instabilities is in monitoring highly hazardous
rock walls with adverse geological structures. It is usu-
ally quite straightforward to locate hazardous regions
of a slope associated with large faults or other large
geological structures as they are often known to an
operation or visually obvious. However, in the pres-
ence of ubiquitous minor geological structures, the
exact location of failure is usually difficult to ascertain.
From a review of operations utilising SSR systems,
these problems appear to be particularly common in
two geological settings:
– Slopes with foliation or bedding dipping into the
slope, which can lead to planar mode of failure.
– Where a combination of joint sets forms rock
wedges of an unfavourable orientation that daylight
into of the slope (wedge failure mode).
The SSR has seen widespread adoption in these situ-
ations because the broad area coverage and fast scan
mean that such failures (providing they are above a
56
minimum size related to distance) can be identified
quickly. These small failures appear simpler in geom-
etry and often develop rapidly with little pre-failure
deformation observed prior to collapse. In the case
of small bench failures (e.g. 15 m in height) in large
open pits, it is prohibitive to mount survey prisms at
such high densities to guarantee that the failure would
be identified on survey. As a result, SSR systems are
employed to provide monitoring coverage and early
warning of rapid failures.
In some forms of mining such as strip mining of
coal, any rock excavations are usually short lived in the
mine plan and no access is allowed to the face to pos-
ition survey prisms. In small (<20,000 t) structurally
controlled wedge failures, the time from the start of
measurable deformation (approximately 1 mm) to col-
lapse is often less than 5 hours, which favours a rapid
scanning system. This has resulted in adoption of the
SSR technology in the Australian coal mines to iden-
tify rapid-developing failures in highly hazardous rock
slopes.
2.3 Use of the SSR in analysing slope
instability risks
The SSR system can also provide data to aid in the anal-
ysis of risks related to slope instability. It provides data
useful both for assessing the likelihood and for estimat-
ing the consequences of slope failure. In both cases,
geotechnical input is required and without skilled staff
reviewing the data, the value of the SSR for analysing
risks is compromised.
2.3.1 Analysing the likelihood of slope failure
In determining the likelihood of slope failure the
SSR monitoring record provides a useful measure of
deformation rate and trend. While the rate of defor-
mation is a clear indicator of potential failure, the
trend is an even clearer measure. In environments such
as open pit mining where blasting /excavation can
occur at regular cycles, it is quite common to see a
regressive rate of movement in the displacement of pit
slopes. These are characterized by initial high velocity
caused by some trigger event (usually blasting, exca-
vation or rainfall) which reduces with time to a lower
background level (often zero velocity). Stress relief of
excavations can lead to such a trend. This contrasts
with a progressive rate of movement that has initial
lower velocity but the velocity increases with time. The
likelihood of a failure is far greater when a progressive
failure curve is measured.
2.3.2 Analysing the consequence of slope failure
The SSR can contribute to the determination of the
consequences of failure by providing information
relating to three major factors; the size of failure, mode
of failure and determining the potential for evacuation.
The size of failure can be critical (e.g. is it small enough
to be caught by the catch bench) and the SSR is ideal
to determine the areal size of the failure after a very
short monitoring time (several scans). A number of
operations have been unpleasantly surprised by the
size of the failure developing after the SSR system
has been deployed following the monitoring of several
existing survey prisms.
The deformation footprint can be reviewed along
with the visual image to study the characteristics of the
failure. The SSR data can be georeferenced if required,
with the 3D deformation data imported into 3D CAD
packages to investigate the mode of failure. This can
be a particularly strong analysis technique, where a
3D geological model is also available in the same soft-
ware package. The SSR Viewer software can also be
used to select multiple time-deformation figure plots
from different parts of the failure, which can then help
distinguish between toppling and rotational failure
mechanisms etc. Knowledge of the failure mechanism
can help in determining the likely consequence of the
failure.
Whether an area is evacuated in time prior to a fail-
ure obviously has major implications to the resulting
consequence of that failure. Although loss of access
and productivity may not change, an effective evacu-
ation should mean a slope failure without loss of life
and with a minimised cost to equipment. The near wide
area coverage and real-time nature of monitoring with
the SSR systems has meant increasing confidence of
operators to evacuate operations with a minimized loss
to production. It should be noted that the monitoring of
a failure using a SSR system is only a part of the chain
of responses that is required to effectively evacuate
an operation and all the components (many of which
require human responses) need to be considered before
incorporating the SSR into the consequence of failure
analysis.
2.4 Use of the SSR in treating risks related to
slope instability
SSR systems have been used as an aid to effectively
treat risks related to slope instability in a variety of
ways. Risk treatment usually involves a combination
of avoidance, reduce likelihood, reduce consequence,
transfer the risk or retain the risk. Risk avoidance
has been achieved in at least one occasion where an
operation has ceased activity due to the deformations
recorded by the SSR exceeding set triggers. Although
not a normal operational situation, in scavenge mining
operations or in pits towards the end of their working
life such situations may arise.
2.4.1 Reducing the likelihood of slope failure
The likelihood of failure can sometimes be reduced
by modifying the geometry or properties of the slope.
57
SSR systems are often used in buttress operations
during both removal and creation. During the devel-
opment of slope stabilizing toe buttresses, the SSR
system has been deployed to monitor the real-time
velocity of a slope while material is added to the toe of
the slope to stabilise it.As well as monitoring the stabil-
ization effect of buttressing on the slope (works cease
when slope velocity drops below a target level). The
SSR is also used to monitor and alarm for an increase
in slope velocity or disintegration of the slope, so that
the construction team can be safely evacuated.
Use of the SSR systems to monitor removal of a but-
tress is particularly common in the coal mines where
failures on the high wall often occur due to coal exca-
vation (coaling). The SSR has been utilized in known
unstable areas of the high wall during coaling to safely
excavate the coal rather than leaving the coal in place
(which involves a significant loss of production). The
amount of coal that is safely extracted will be depen-
dent on the deformation response of the high wall
during production. This requires near real time mon-
itoring data over the expanse of the rock slope, for
which the SSR is well suited.
A less direct application of the SSR in reducing the
likelihood of failure involves using the data obtained
in geotechnical analysis, which is then used to mod-
ify operational activity. For example, at one mine site
the sub-millimetre response of a rock slope during
blasting was monitored by the SSR for a number of
different blasting trials, to select the best limit blasting
procedure to reduce damage to the rock slopes. Opera-
tions can also often track excessive slope deformation
to geological structures. If this geological structure is
oriented such that it will be encountered in the next
planned excavation, the SSR data can be used to feed-
back into the design of the next excavation. In this way
we can modify the design to ameliorate the geotechni-
cal hazard associated with these geological structures
and hence reduce the likelihood of failure.
2.4.2 Reducing the consequences of
slope failure
The treatment of risk related to slope instability by
reducing consequence of failures is possibly the most
significant application of the SSR systems. This is
achieved by setting alarms on the SSR systems that
automatically trigger at given displacement thresholds.
These displacement threshold alarms are usually mea-
sured from a nominated time or over a set time window
(e.g. where displacement exceeds 20 mm over a 24 hr
monitoring window).
For the alarming system to work well, geotechnical
input is required to ascertain the correct displace-
ment thresholds. Multiple alarms allow a hierarchical
approach of alarming, using increasing thresholds to
represent increasing urgency. In this way, a minor
alarm level can be used to notify geotechnical staff to
review the situation, whereas a higher alarm setting can
be used to notify all the people concerned to evacuate
the operation.
How the system is integrated into the operation
is equally as important as how the alarm threshold
have been selected. The ‘Communicate and Consult’
and ‘Monitor and Review’ stages of risk manage-
ment shown in Figure 1 are essential in this pro-
cess. It is important that the system and alarms are
communicated to all the appropriate personnel.
The colour graphic output of the SSR Viewer has
been found to be an excellent communication tool
with equipment operators, who can clearly under-
stand the visual image produced (white – no defor-
mation, yellow-orange-red increasing deformation)
and some operations have printed daily updates of
SSR plots to post in lunch rooms so that equipment
operators remain involved and aware of geotechnical
hazards.
The ‘monitor and review process’ is also essen-
tial and here the responsibility is with geologists and
engineers to review how the alarms are set. Any fail-
ure monitored by the SSR should be back-analyzed
to review how the alarms performed and the alarms
should be optimized if possible. If rapid failures are to
be successfully monitored and managed using the SSR
system, then the management may have to be prepared
for pit evacuations during training alarms, particularly
during the early stages of SSR utilisation. It is also
important that senior management is involved at this
stage to ensure that the system is well integrated with
the operation.
2.5 Summary of the use of the SSR in the
process of risk management for
rock slope instabilities
Using the risk management framework introduced in
Section 1.3 some of the applications of the SSR to man-
age risks associated with rock slope instability have
now been presented. These applications are shown
graphically as a summary in Figure 5.
3 FUTURE APPLICATIONS OF THE
SSR DATA
Many of the processes discussed in the risk manage-
ment framework require knowledge of how rock slopes
fail. Due to the complexity and natural variation of
rock masses, theoretical approaches to understand-
ing and predicting rock mass behaviour are difficult
and often approximate. As a result, much advance-
ment in rock mechanics has been closely linked with
observation and measurement of field performance.
Smith & Hungr (1992) suggested that ‘the only feasi-
ble, if not exact, method to predict that a rockslide is
58
1. Establish the context
Select Role for the SSR Systems
Communicate and Consult (Train personnel on SSR system and show data)
Monitor and Review (Monitor movement and review alarms)
2. Identify Hazard
SSR used to find slope areas
showing excessive deformation
3. Analyse Hazards
SSR used for deformation rate,
style, failure size and to help
assess failure characteristics
4. Evaluate Hazards
(use organisation input to eval.)
5. Treat Hazards
Reduce likelihood by helping
engineering control of failure
(e.g. buttressing, unloading,
design). Reduce consequence by
set up of SSR alarm evacuation
Figure 5. Risk management framework highlighting the
uses of the SSR system in managing slope instability risk.
capable of catastrophic failure is by recognising typical
failure mechanisms, and outlining their characteristic
behaviour from precedent.’This approach was adopted
in work based on understanding the mechanisms and
behaviour of a large group of excavated rock slope fail-
ures by Glastonbury & Fell (2002). It is the author’s
view that the approach adopted by these researchers is
entirely appropriate.
There are currently more than 45 SSR units in oper-
ation throughout the world, monitoring rock slope
performance at unprecedented detail in operations
experiencing large rock slope failures and multiple
rock slope failures. The large number of slope failures
recorded (>100) may provide an opportunity to further
characterize slope failure and rock mass response, par-
ticularly in rapid rock failures which have been poorly
sampled by traditional geotechnical monitoring tech-
niques. The data from the SSR systems may be able to
add significantly to the database of knowledge in this
field and it is hoped that such an opportunity will be
realised in the near future.
4 CONCLUSION
The SSR is the state-of-the-art development for
monitoring slope movement in open pit mines and
non-vegetated slopes. It offers the unprecedented
advantage of sub-millimetre precision and broad area
coverage of wall movements through rain, dust and
smoke. The real-time display of the movement of rock
faces has allowed continuous management of the risk
related to slope instability at a large number of mining
operations and at several infrastructure projects. The
SSR technology has enabled a radical change in the
management of risks in open cut mining operations,
which has resulted in a rapid take-up of the technology
throughout the world to date. At a number of mines,
the SSR is now an integral part of the mine providing
major contributions to the mine’s future plans. It is also
believed that the SSR will contribute significantly to
safety and mine design by providing accurate, reliable
deformation data that may be later reviewed to fur-
ther develop our understanding and analysis of failure
mechanisms in open pit mines, eventually leading to
improved slope design.
59
REFERENCES
AS/NZS 4360. Risk management. Standards Australia,
Homebush, NSW.
Glastonbury, J. & Fell, R. 2002. Report on the analysis of the
deformation behaviour of excavated rock slopes. Uniciv
report no. R-403, The University of New South Wales,
Australia.
Goldstein, R.M., Engelhardt, H., Kamb, B. & Frolich, R.M,
1993. Satellite radar interferometry for monitoring ice
sheet motion: application to an Antarctic ice stream.
Science 262: 1525–1530.
Harries, N.J., Noon, D. & Rowley, K. 2006. Case studies of
slope stability radar used in open cut mines. In Stacey
(ed.), Stability of Rock Slopes in Open Pit Mining and
Civil Engineering Situations, Proc. intern. symp., Cape
Town, South Africa. Johannesburg: SAIMM.
Hoek, E. & Bray, J.W. 1981. Rock Slope Engineering. The
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Smith, D. & Hungr, O. 1992. Failure Behaviour of Large
Rockslides – Report to The Geological Survey of
Canada and BC Hydro and Power Authority. Thurber
Engineering Ltd.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

New insight techniques to analyze rock-slope relief using DEM and

3D-imaging cloud points: COLTOP-3D software

M. Jaboyedoff, R. Metzger & T. Oppikofer

IGAR Institute of Geomatics and Risk Analysis, FGSE – University of Lausanne, Switzerland

R. Couture
Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

M.-H. Derron
Geological Survey of Norway, International Center for Geohazards, Trondheim, Norway

J. Locat & D. Turmel

Université Laval, Québec, Canada

ABSTRACT: COLTOP-3D software performs structural analysis of a topography using a digital elevation
model (DEM). A color is defined based on slope aspect and slope angle in order to obtain a unique color code for
each spatial orientation. Thus continuous planar structures appear as a unique color. Several tools are included
to create stereonet(s), to draw traces of discontinuities, or to compute automatically density stereonet. A new
version has recently been developed to represent true 3D surfaces from point clouds. Examples are shown to
demonstrate the efficiency of the method. High resolution DEMs acquired with Lidar techniques greatly improve
topographic analyses.

1 INTRODUCTION point clouds (i.e. x, y, z, coordinates), should define,

Digital elevation models (DEMs) are used in many
hazard assessment methods, including landslides and
rock instabilities. Slope angles are used for stabil-
ity estimation, e.g. infinite slope stability models
(Dietrich et al. 2001). Kinematic tests are used to esti-
mate the likelihood of failure in rock slopes, such as
slide, wedge and toppling failures (Jaboyedoff et al.
2004, Gokceoglu et al. 2000, Günther 2000). DEMs
are also used for modeling rockfall trajectories.
Many GIS tools permit a mathematical analy-
sis of topography using slope, slope aspect, second
derivative, curvature, flow paths, etc. (Burrough &
McDonnell 1998). But very few are dedicated to the
analysis of the relief structure. An attempt of merg-
ing slope angle and slope aspect in one document was
made by Brewer & Marlow (1993) to represent topog-
raphy using colors dependent on both slope angle and
slope aspect, but the results were not used for struc-
tural analysis. Using the dip and strike direction of
each cell, a DEM can be theoretically represented with
a map having a unique color for each spatial orienta-
tion, allowing a very simple slope analysis. This can
also be applied to triangulated surfaces made from 3D
enabling for example, the detection of planar structures
within a cliff.
The increasing availability and accuracy of high
resolution DEMs by Lidar (LIght DetectionAnd Rang-
ing) technologies allow for more detailed structural
and morphological analyses and increase the potential
of DEM analyses. Although if the principle of the pro-
posed analysis is simple, the point cloud management
and surface creation is not straightforward.
In this paper we describe the principle of
COLTOP-3D software, its use for DEM analysis and
its future evolution toward a true 3D analysis. This
is illustrated with some examples from rock cliffs in
Québec and in the Swiss Alps.
2 METHOD
2.1 Document types
Airborne Lidar DEMs have been available for more
than 10 years, either as point clouds or regular grids.
Up to now most of the acquisitions have been per-
formed with a nearly vertical laser beam, which means
that the cliffs are only poorly defined because of a poor

61

Figure 1. Example of an airborne Lidar DEM on top, and
the merge of the ground-based and airborne Lidar DEM on
the bottom (DEM from Åknes project, Stranda Commune,
Norway; after Derron et al. 2005).
point density. The new techniques linked to ground-
based Lidar permit the creation of accurate 3D images
by merging several scans. By combining the two tech-
nologies it is possible to obtain a point cloud that
has no preferential density direction (Fig. 1), which
means that the topographic surfaces have similar point
densities in all spatial directions.
The ground-based Lidar data often include vegeta-
tion, which must be removed manually. The interest
is also to create a routine to automatically remove the
trees from scans.
2.2 Software principle
The first version of COLTOP-3D (Jaboyedoff &
Couture 2003) displays a square DEM grid using
the Hue Saturation Intensity (HSI) wheel. The color
displayed is linked directly to direction of the nor-
mal (pole) of the DEM cells by representing the HSI
wheel, in a stereonet and showing the link between pole
62
Figure 2. Illustration of the principle of the COLTOP-3D
color scheme. (A) The orientation is defined by four nearest
neighbors on a square grid or by three points of each triangle
of a TIN. (B) Relationship between Schmidt-Lambert projec-
tion and HSI wheel. (C) The HSI wheel plotted on a stereonet
that is afterward affected to the cells of A.
orientation and colors (Fig. 2). The dip direction of the
surface elements are represented by the hue (H) of the
wheel from 0 to 360◦ and the dip of the pole using
the saturation (S). The intensity (I) can be changed
for representation purposes. The link with RGB value
is performed following the relationship proposed by
Gonzalez et al. (2004).
2.3 The 2D representation
Basically, COLTOP-3D was designed to use square
grids. Contrary to standard methods, the colored pixels
are created by using the normal of the plane defined
by 4 neighboring grid points and by placing the HSI
value corresponding to the normal vector orientation
at the center of these points (Fig. 2). If the grid’s cell
size is d and the four points’ altitudes are z1 , z2 , z3 and
z4 , then the surface orientation can be defined by two
following vectors:
They correspond to the line passing through the center
of the cell and linking the middle of the edges defined

Figure 3. Illustration of the capabilities of COLTOP-3D
designed for a square grid DEM (The image is normally in
color, see data repository).
by the segment linking the 4 grid points. The pole is
given by the cross product:
Another solution has been used to represent surfaces
created by TIN (triangulated irregular network) tech-
niques by simply applying the color respecting the
above method to each triangle.
2.4 Other capabilities
COLTOP-3D possesses several others capabilities
besides the simple representation by means of the HSI
wheel (Fig. 3). The color scheme can be also rotated
in order to get a better visualization of different pla-
nar features. Since the color is a direct indicator of the
orientation, one can select and click on a colored pixel
and instantaneously the dip angle and dip direction is
returned. By clicking on the image, the standard sign
of dip is plotted on the colored DEM and the corre-
sponding orientation is added to a stereonet and listed
in a text window.
By selecting an area of the DEM, it is possible to
calculate the histogram of the orientations (density
stereonet), for example to obtain the mean orienta-
tion of a planar surface. The DEM cells for which
the orientations corresponds to a chosen orientation
(defined by a dip angle, a dip direction and a tolerance
(cone) around this orientation) can be mapped in a sin-
gle color. By choosing up to five different orientations,
this leads to an image of the relief displaying only the
selected orientations with user-defined colors. Results
63
can be exported in an ASCII grid file that can be used
in any common Geographic Information System (GIS)
software.
Currently fault traces can be drawn in COLTOP-3D
by indicating one point and the orientation of the fault
or by clicking on 3 points. Further developments will
implement least-square methods for the determination
of fault traces. The X-Y coordinates of fault traces can
be exported into a text file.
3 THE TRUE 3D REPRESENTATION
3.1 3D point cloud data management
Ground-based laser scanners allow for capturing dense
3-dimensional data sets (up to millions of points) of
the surface of an object, within a few minutes. How-
ever, the post-treatment and the standard operating use
of such large data sets may impair an in-depth analysis
for specific applications, such as landslide and rock-
fall analysis. This is mainly due to computer access
time for the localization of data points near a given
location. To solve these problems, a structure based
on octrees (an index based on spatial portioning) is
used, which allows for fast localization of points within
a given region, low consumption of RAM, and hard
drive access minimization. First a region (root node)
large enough to enclose the entire point cloud is com-
puted. Points are added one by one until the root node
(level 0) contains a total number of point equals to
a given threshold. The node is then equally splitted
into eight sub regions (sub nodes) (level 1), and all
points of the root node are removed and added to their
corresponding sub nodes. This subdivision process is
repeated until the number of points included in a sub
node falls beneath a given threshold. The value of the
threshold must be large enough, typically in the order
of few hundreds of thousand, for fast disk access, as all
the points contained in a sub node are automatically
loaded into RAM and unloaded from it as a whole.
Figure 4 (top) shows an example of a first order octree
(only non-empty nodes are shown) This first octree
allow not only for minimizing disk access, but also for
minimizing RAM consumption.
For solving hardware problems related to 3D point
topology, a second octree is built as described above,
but with a much smaller threshold: typically it is in the
order of a few hundreds to one thousand. This leads to
an octree with much more branches (Fig. 4b).
The retrieval of neighborhood points of a given
coordinate (x,y,z) is then straightforward. First, the
node of the first octree holding (x,y,z) is retrieved, and,
if needed, the data points are loaded into RAM. Sec-
ondly, the procedure is repeated for the second octree.
The few hundreds of points stored in this node are
inspected to obtain the nearest neighbors of (x,y,z).

Figure 4. First order octree (A), second order octree (B) and
original data set of the Randa rockfall (C).
This structure is similar to the ones proposed by
Dey and al. (2001) and Schaffer & Garland (2005).
3.2 Normal estimation
Extensive work has pinpointed that eigenvalue analy-
sis of the covariance matrix of a local neighborhood
can be used to determine local surface properties,
and hence its normal vector (Pauly et al. 2002).
64
The covariance matrix C is defined over a local
neighborhood surrounding a point of interest as:
where the entries for a neighborhood containing k
points are defined as:
with E(value) being the excepted value or the mean
value (E(x)=x), and var(x) and cov(x, y) denoting the
variance of x and the covariance between x and y
respectively (Belton & Lichti 2002).
Since C is a symmetric and positive semi-definite,
its associated eigenvalues λi are greater than or equal to
zero. The local normal vector is given by the associated
eigenvector ei with the smallest eigenvalue. The direc-
tion of the normal vector is the same as the one found
by least squares plane fitting, since the two methods
are equivalent (Shakarji 1998).
3.3 Removing of non-surface features
One of the main advantage of computing eigenvalues
for normal estimation instead of least-squares plane
fitting, is that the eigenvectors correspond to the prin-
cipal components (directions and orientations) of the
neighborhood and the eigenvalues will represent the
variance in each direction (Belton & Lichti 2002).
Thus, it is possible to estimate the change of geomet-
ric curvature, Mcurv , in the neighbourhood of a single
point, pi , with simple calculation such as (Bae & Lichti
2004):
Points lying on the surface will have a change of cur-
vature value close to zero. Belton & Lichti (2002) use
the values given by eq. 7 to classify the points as sur-
face (plane), edges or corners (their field of application
being terrestrial laser scans of buildings). From a slope
instability or rockfall hazard analysis point of view,
these features do not have a particular meaning, but
the change of curvature can be used to automatically
remove vegetation from the data set, as it is excepted
that such features have a highly variable curvature.
Depending on the scanned area, it takes up to one day to
manually remove trees from a single scan. Vegetation
and foliage are automatically detected by specifying
a threshold for the values given by eq. 7. Points with
higher curvature than the threshold can be removed
from the dataset (Fig. 5). However, the procedure is
not as straightforward, as it can be seen from Figure 5.
Some surfaces or ground points located on a fracture or
fault may also be deleted by blindly applying the filter.

3.4 Surface reconstruction

Surface reconstruction is a topic of great interest in
the computer graphics field and there are numerous
works regarding surface reconstruction. Amenta &
Bern (1998) give a short review of the most popular
algorithms.
The surface reconstruction is very important for
slope instability studies, since it allows firstly for the
automatic delineation of faults, and secondly for vis-
ibility culling purposes, as points in the background
may make the interpretation difficult.
Most, if not all, of the surface reconstruction
algorithms imply that the surface to reconstruct is
smoothed and that the sampling density is fine enough
to capture all its features. However, this assumption
can often not be met on the scanned rock surfaces,
due to the intrinsic roughness of the study site and/or
the distance from the ground-based Lidar device to
the target (up to 1,000 m), which may lead to an
undersampling and the missing of small scale fea-
tures. Moreover, the collected data points may easily
reach values on the order of millions, impairing most
of the standard algorithms (Shaffer & Garland 2005).
To overcome these problems, a local reconstruction
algorithm similar to the one proposed by Linsen &
Prautzsch (2001) is used. For each point p, all the
points within a user-defined, 3D radius are retrieved
(p1 ,…,pk ). The k points are then projected on the plane
defined by p and its normal. A local coordinate system
transformation allows for 2D Delaunay triangulation
(Delaunay 1934). The n triangles, which hold point p
as a vertex, are inserted in the global triangle surface
list, the others being dismissed. Our experience shows
that n should be in the range of 5 to 7, which is consis-
tent with well distributed points. As stated by Linsen &
Prautzsch (2001), local reconstruction does not ensure
the topological correctness of the surface, but a post
filtering process can easily overcome this problem.
Starting from using the above triangulation method,
the surface can be represented with COLTOP-3D color
scheme (Fig. 6). Figure 5. Original point cloud (A), vegetation points high-
lighted in red (B) and picture of the scanned area (C)
(Boulevard Champlain, Quebec City, Canada).
4 EXAMPLE
transected by long faults that are very difficult to
To illustrate an application of COLTOP-3D, we present measure directly on the field, because they affect the
the analysis of a mountain peak in the Swiss Alps, relief at a small scale. Furthermore, such summits are
Grand Muveran summit (3051 m a.s.l.). This peak is not easy to survey without perilous climbing efforts

65
Figure 6. Surface reconstruction of a scattered points cloud
of the Randa rockfall. The colors correspond to the dip angle
and dip direction of the surfaces.
Figure 7. View of the west face of the Grand Muveran sum-
mit displaying sets of faults on picture (A) and on the 1 m
resolution airborne laser-DEM represented by a 3D shaded
relief in (B) (Source: MNT-MO/MNS, (c) 2007 SIT).
(Fig. 7a). As shown on Figure 8, these large faults
generate rock instabilities within the cliffs.
The analysis performed with COLTOP-3D indi-
cates that the fault slopes have a mean dip direction
of 205◦ and a mean dip angle of 45◦ . The DEM
cells, whose orientation are within a tolerance of ±20◦
66
Figure 8. Example of rock slope instability scar (in
yellow-beige) controlled by the faulting system shown in
Figure 7.
Figure 9. Application of COLTOP-3D to the Grand
Muveran summit. The faults shown in Figure 7 (mean dip
direction and dip angle is 205◦ /45◦ ) are identified in grey.
around this mean direction can be exported into a GIS
file. The results (Fig. 9) show that the west facing
slope is clearly shaped by these discontinuities (Figs. 7
and 9).
This shows that it is very easy to obtain struc-
tural data using aerial Lidar DEM. This example also
shows the need to acquire data with ground based
Lidar in order to study the instabilities within the cliffs.
For example, the instability shown in Figure 8 needs
to be analyzed in detail by terrestrial Lidar and the
new COLTOP-3D version. The efficiency of of the
COLTOP color representation of the relief has also
been illustrated by the following examples:
• In the basement rock of the Swiss Alps, the fractur-
ing is well enough developed to shape up to 50% of
the slope orientations, or even more at outcrop scale.
Often the entire slope is controlled by two or three
main discontinuity sets (Jaboyedoff et al. 2004).
• Structural analysis of the scar of Frank Slide
(Canada) permitted to refine previous interpreta-
tions (Jaboyedoff et al., in press).
• Recent works on the Eiger collapse in Switzerland
clearly show the control of structures, and that 3D
point clouds are needed to understand the mecha-
nism of rock instabilities (Oppikofer et al., in prep.).
5 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION
3D point clouds from airborne or ground-based Lidar
recordings permit a rapid structural analysis. This
is useful since joints and instabilities are often in
inaccessible zones.
The colors obtained from grid DEMs using the Hue
Saturation Index in COLTOP-3D permit an easy detec-
tion of the main features of a relief, such as the main
joint sets shaping rock faces. The colored surfaces
and their interactivity, allow for a detailed structural
analysis.
Unstructured clouds of 3D data points can serve
as a basis for surface reconstruction by triangulation.
Thus, the color representation, based on the dip direc-
tion and the dip angle of the surface, can be assigned to
each triangle. This color representation forms a simple
way to quickly obtain information for slope analysis.
COLTOP-3D has shown its efficiency using square
DEM grids. The difficulty to implement a true 3D ver-
sion comes from: (1) storage and access of huge Lidar
data sets; (2) octree classification and triangulation of
data points; (3) extraction of 3D surface resulting from
the triangulation, and; (4) representation of the 3D sur-
face according to a Hue Saturation Index wheel using
the dip direction and dip angle.
The promising preliminary results presented here
indicate that these new DEM analysis tools will greatly
help structural geologists and rock mechanics engi-
neers by supplementing part of the classical field work
and permitting to contribute to more quantitative field
work analysis.
The use of both grid DEM and point clouds open
a lot of new perspectives in relief interpretation as
suggested in the above examples. The field work
will be greatly improved by the preliminary DEM
investigations in the office.
67
Since the power of computer will still increase in
the next years, permitting the management of huge
datasets, letting us think that the future is “cloudy”.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the Åknes Project (Stranda Commune,
Norway) and its leader Dr. L. Blikra for providing
the DEM in Figure 1. D. Conforti and B. Ysseldyk
from Optech Corp. are thanked for their kind collabo-
ration. We thank also the Canton deVaud (Switzerland)
for providing DEM data of the Grand Muveran
region. We thank anonymous reviewers for their help
in improving this manuscript, especially the GSC
internal reviewer. Colour images can be found on:
http://www.quanterra.org/repository/repository.htm.
REFERENCES
Agliardi, F. & Crosta, G. 2003. High resolution three-
dimensional numerical modelling of rockfalls. Int. J. Rock
Mech. and Mining Sci. 40: 455–471.
Amenta, N. & Bern, M. 1999. Surface reconstruction by
Voronoi filtering. Discrete & Computational Geometry
22(4).
Bae, K.-H. & Lichti, D. 2004. Edge and tree detection from
three-dimensional unorganised point clouds from terres-
trial laser scanners. In Proceedings of the 12th Australian
Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Conference, Fre-
mantle, WA, CD-ROM, 9pp.
Belton, D. & Lichti, D. 2005. Classification and feature
extraction of 3D point clouds from terrestrial laser scan-
ners. In SSC2005: Spatial Intelligence, Innovation and
Praxis: Proceedings of National Biennal Conference of
the Spatial Sciences Institute, Melbourne. CD Publication,
pp. 39–48.
Brewer, C.A. & Marlow, K.A. 1993. Color representa-
tion of aspect and slope simultaneously. In Proceedings,
Eleventh International Symposium on Computer-Assisted
Cartography (Auto-Carto-11), Minneapolis, pp. 328–337.
Burrough, P.A. & McDonnell, R.A. 1998. Principles
of Geographical Information Systems. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 333 pp.
Delaunay, B. 1934. Sur la sphère vide. Bul. Acad. Sci. URSS:
793–800.
Derron, M.H., Blikra, L.H. & Jaboyedoff, M. 2005. Norway
high resolution digital elevation model analysis for land-
slide hazard assessment (Åkerneset, Norway). In Senneset
et al. (eds.), Landslide and Avalanches, ICFL 2005, pp.
101–106.
Dey, T.K., Giesen, J. & Hudson, J. 2001. Delaunay based
shape reconstruction from large data. In Proc. IEEE Sym-
posium in Parallel and Large Data Visualization and
Graphics (PVG2001), pp. 19–27.
Dietrich, W.E., Bellugi, D. & de Asua, R. 2001. Validation
of the shallow landslide model, SHALSTAB, for forest
management. In Wigmosta & Burges (eds.), Land Use and
Watersheds: Human Influence on Hydrology and Geomor-
phology in Urban and Forest Areas. Amer. Geoph. Union,
Water Science and Application, pp. 195–227.
Gokceoglu, C., Sonmez, H. & Ercanoglu, M. 2000. Discon-
tinuity controlled probabilistic slope failure risk maps of
the Altindag (settlement) region in Turkey. Eng. Geol. 55:
277–296.
Gonzalez, R.C., Woods, R. & Eddins, S. 2004. Digital Image
Processing Using Matlab. Prentice Hall, 624 pp.
Günther, A. 2003. SLOPEMAP: programs for automated
mapping of geometrical and kinematical properties of
hard rock hill slopes. Computers and Geosciences 29(7):
865–875.
Jaboyedoff, M. & Couture, R. 2003. Report on the project
COLTOP3D for March 2003: stay of Michel Jaboyedoff
at GSC – Ottawa. Quanterra administrative document –
Activity report – RA01.
Jaboyedoff, M., Baillifard, F., Couture, R., Locat, J. &
Locat, P. 2004. New insight of geomorphology and land-
slide prone area detection using DEM. In Lacerda et al.
(eds.), Landslides Evaluation and Stabilization. Balkema,
pp. 191–197.
Jaboyedoff, M., Baillifard, F., Philippossian, F. &
Rouiller, J.-D. 2004. Assessing the fracture occurrence
68
using the “Weighted fracturing density”: a step towards
estimating rock instability hazard. Natural Hazards and
Earth System Sciences 4: 83–93.
Jaboyedoff, M., Couture, R. & Locat, P. 2007. Structural anal-
ysis of Turtle Mountain (Alberta) using digital elevation
model: toward a progressive failure. Geomorphology: In
Press.
Linsen, L. & Prautzsch, H. 2001. Local versus global
triangulation. EUROGRAPHICS 20(3).
Oppikofer, T., Jaboyedoff, M. & Keusen, H.-R. in prep. High
resolution monitoring and analysis of the Eiger rock slope
collapse induced by climate changes.
Pauly, M., Gross, M. & Kobbelt, L. 2002. Efficient Simplifi-
cation of Point-Sampled Surfaces, IEEE Visualization.
Shaffer, E. & Garland, M. 2005. A multiresolution rep-
resentation for massive meshes. IEEE Transactions on
Visualization and Computer Graphics 11(2):139–148.
Shakarji, C. 1998. Least-squares fitting algorithms of the
NISTalgorithm testing system. Journal of Research of the
National Institute of Standards and Technology 103(6).
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

High resolution 3D imaging for site characterisation of a

nuclear waste repository

A. Gaich
3G Software & Measurement GmbH, Graz, Austria

M. Pötsch & W. Schubert

Institute for Rock Mechanics and Tunnelling, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

ABSTRACT: This case study presents a high resolution 3D imaging and assessment system and its application
during the construction of a planned nuclear waste repository in Hungary. During the drill and blast excavation
of two inclined access tunnels of about 1.800 m each the system is applied on a regular basis (every round)
in order to support the underground exploration program. From the acquired 3D images thorough geological
mapping is performed as the system allows directly measuring geometric information on visible discontinuities
such as dip and dip direction. Descriptive rock mass parameters such as spacing are instantly available. The major
benefits of the described system in this project are: (i) comprehensive, objective, three-dimensional records of
the actual rock mass conditions, (ii) thorough rock characterisation by directly measuring geological features on
the computer, (iii) increased safety for geological mapping due to the contact free measuring principle, and (iv)
advantageous referencing mechanism using panoramic images.

1 INTRODUCTION

The safe storage of radioactive waste is a topic of inter-

est not least due to the constant accumulation of the
problematic material. Sites already in operation such
as the first one – the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New
Mexico – or under long-term exploration such asYucca
Mountain (both USA) demonstrate that underground
storage of radioactive waste is an issue. Before and
during the construction of an underground site, data
acquisition on ground conditions is essential to ensure
amongst others long-term stability of the structure.
Especially during construction works the continuous
collection of information on the rock such as type, Figure 1. Present practice of acquiring discontinuity ori-
structure, and quality, as well as the system behaviour entation data at an underground opening (left) and the
requires special attention (Schubert et al. 2003). resulting manual sketch with few discontinuity orientation
Relevant parameters particularly important for rock measurements (right).
mass modelling are related to discontinuities, such as
orientation, spacing, frequency, size, aperture, filling Traditional geological documentation can be seen
width, termination index, or the geo-referenced posi- as a combination of manual and visual methods. How-
tion, as well as the rock surface geometry (Priest 1993). ever they are prone to errors due to access and time
These data are completed by information concerning restrictions as well as an inherent subjectivity leading
the distribution of rock types, mineral content, poros- to incorrect and incomplete data (Fasching 2001).
ity, permeability, weathering, and possibly specific The access problem is highlighted in Figure 1.
local phenomena. Rock mass data related to geometry Although there are excellent working conditions for
can be acquired by visual methods when measuring the geological data acquisition during excavation
positions, distances, and orientations within a known works in a tunnel, areas above approximately 2 m
3D co-ordinate system (Fasching 2001). off the ground cannot be reached without additional

69
assistance, e.g. a lifting platform. Consequently, struc-
tures in those areas are not measured. Analogously
structures in unsupported/hazardous regions cannot be
taken directly.
Time restrictions are typical due to the interference
of the documentation work with construction activi-
ties such as excavation, mucking, support installation,
or drilling and charging. Consequently, the documen-
tation work has to be performed while machinery
like boomers, excavators or muck loading and haul-
ing equipment is operating. However, in the case of
exploration tunnels time restrictions might be less
influential.
To overcome existing drawbacks, several approaches
were presented allowing to capture the actual rock Figure 2. Stereoscopic image pair. Two corresponding
mass conditions with visual and geometric infor- image points P(u,v) relate to one three-dimensional object
mation and allowing to take computer aided mea- point P(X,Y,Z). Note that modern algorithms do not require
the baseline to be known.
surements of rock mass features (e.g. Hagan 1980,
Roberts & Poropat 2000, Kemeny et al. 2003, Lemy &
Hadjigeorgiou 2004, Gaich et al. 2006). Such sys-
photographs of the object/rock surface from different
tems transfer a major part of the mapping process
standpoints.
to the computer. However, the basis for mapping on
Taking measurements from photographs is covered
the computer is a realistic representation of the rock
by photogrammetry – the art and science to measure
surface. It is straightforward to use images as the
from images dating back to the beginning of photog-
prime source for such purposes. Several approaches
raphy (Slama 1980, Wolf et al. 2000). When using
were introduced to analyse rock structures from sin-
two photographs the terms stereoscopic photogram-
gle (two-dimensional) images (e.g. Reid & Harrison
metry or Shape from Stereo are used. This allows the
2000, Lemy & Hadjigeorgiou 2003) and consequently
recovery of three-dimensional object points from their
from three-dimensional (3D) images.
corresponding image points. The principle geomet-
In this paper the application of a special 3D imag-
ric arrangement for Shape from Stereo is outlined in
ing system based on large panoramic images (up
Figure 2.
to 100 Megapixel) is given. Modern reconstruction
Important prerequisites for Shape from Stereo are
algorithms that enhance classical Photogrammetry by
(classical photogrammetry):
modern Computer Vision principles are used leading
to a simplified application of the imaging system and – Precise information on the used camera (interior
the processing software. From the 3D images geolog- camera orientation) such as the focal length, the
ical features are determined directly, thus providing image centre, and parameters describing lens dis-
the possibility of assessing the rock similar to being in tortion. If these parameters are known, the camera
front of it. is said to be calibrated.
The panoramic approach bears two major benefits: – Precise information on the camera position and
(i) high resolution for the areas to me mapped and viewing direction when taking the pictures (exte-
(ii) the resulting 3D images can be geo-referenced rior camera orientation). This information can be
using surveyed reference points that are mounted provided by six parameters – three providing the
somewhere around the imaging system. No surveying position in space and three giving the rotations of
of the imaging system itself is required. the camera along the co-ordinate axes of a Cartesian
co-ordinate frame (see Fig. 3).
These issues made photogrammetry rather a tool for
2 ON 3D IMAGING
specialists in the past requiring special (costly) hard-
ware components and significant efforts to determine
2.1 General information
the camera positions.
A 3D image is a real (digital) photograph combined More recent approaches to three-dimensional object
with the geometry of the objects it shows. When taking reconstruction are related with the term Computer
a photograph there is an inherent loss of informa- Vision. Impacts of computer vision to practical appli-
tion as three-dimensional objects are mapped onto a cations are: (i) that new mathematical models and
two-dimensional image. Therefore, three-dimensional algorithms allow the use of standard off-the-shelf
geometry cannot be determined from a single photo- cameras for measurement purposes and (ii) metric
graph. This ambiguity can be solved by taking two (scaled) reconstructions are possible by freehand

70

Figure 3. Co-ordinate systems and rotation angles.
picture taking. An introduction to computer vision
principles can be found in (Faugeras 1993).
2.2 Generation of a metric 3D image
A metric 3D image refers to a metrically correct recon-
struction of imaged object(s) within the Euclidean
space. Metric in this context does not necessarily stick
on the metric system but means rather that measure-
ments at correct scale and orientation can be taken.
The basic steps to reach a metric 3D image are
(within the modern photogrammetry plus computer
vision approach)
1. Automatic identification of corresponding points:
the goal is to get an evenly distributed set of point
correspondences.
2. Automatic computation of the relative camera ori-
entation (position and viewing direction of one
imaging standpoint related to the other): this can
be done based on the set of corresponding points
from step 1.
3. Automatic computation of 3D points based on
results from steps 1 and 2 using spatial intersec-
tion: each corresponding pair of points leads to one
surface measurement.
4. Automatic inter-connection of reconstructed 3D
points from step 3: this forms a so-called surface
mesh.
5. Automatic alignment of photograph(s) and sur-
face mesh: trivial task since the surface mesh was
directly computed from the photographs.
Steps 1 – 5 can be performed fully automatic leading
to a so-called generic 3D image. A generic 3D image
correctly reflects the shape of the surface combined
with the photo but does not yet include scale or refer-
ence (a relationship to an external co-ordinate system).
71
Figure 4. Picture of the JointMetriX3D imaging system
taken during a surface application.
6. Referencing and scaling of the generic 3D image
leading to a metric 3D image: several procedures
are possible such as (i) having scaling elements
to be visible within the photographs, (ii) using
GPS measurements, or (iii) using total station
measurements to provide reference points.
Note that this procedure is different from clas-
sical photogrammetry where generic 3D images
are unknown. The procedure eases photogrammet-
ric data processing as (i) measuring applications are
not limited to special (photogrammetric) cameras,
(ii) photos can be taken freehand meaning that camera
standpoints need not to be determined, and (iii) generic
3D images can be computed even from completely
uncalibrated cameras without any referencing infor-
mation by following steps 1–5.
3 THE JOINTMETRIX3D SYSTEM
JointMetriX3D is a system for the contact free acqui-
sition and assessment of rock and terrain surfaces by
high resolution metric 3D images. The system con-
sists of a special imaging device (Fig. 4) and software
components for 3D image generation and geological
mapping as well as geometric measurements.
Images are taken using a rotating panoramic image
scanner leading to images of up to 360◦ field of view.
Changeable (zoom) lens are used to adapt for different
working distances.
For the actual image generation a 3 × 5300 rgb lin-
ear CCD array rotated together with the lens is used.
A specific characteristic of the system is the fields of
views (vertical and horizontal) are independent which
is not possible with a conventional frame camera. The
one is controlled by the used lens and the other by the
motion of the rotation unit. This is beneficial when
special imaging geometries are needed.
Figure 5. Measurement of a discontinuity orientation on a Figure 6. A three-dimensional poly-line following the sur-
surface. By marking points on the 3D surface and calculating face geometry is used to mark a discontinuity trace. A plane
the mean orientation of the surface normal the orientation is fitted to the poly-line. Its orientation corresponds with the
vector is determined and visualised. orientation of the discontinuity.

JointMetriX3D follows the Shape from Stereo prin-

ciple, thus two images taken from different standpoints
are required for measurements. The precise location
of the two imaging standpoints does not have to be
known. The resulting 3D images are related to a given
co-ordinate system using surveyed control (reference)
points. Due to the panoramic geometry of the images
the reference points can be somewhere around the
imaging system, i.e. already existing points in the
excavated area can be re-used (see section 4.2).
From a stereoscopic image pair a generic 3D image
is computed which then is upgraded to a metric 3D
image using the information from the reference points. Figure 7. Computer generated sketch of the discontinuity
The achievable accuracy mainly depends on the quality traces of one set and statistics on the traces. Dashed lines
of the reference points. For typical practical applica- indicate the scanline direction for determining the spacing
and the discontinuity frequency.
tions reference points are assumed to be known with an
uncertainty of about 1 cm. In this case the accuracy of a
geo-referenced 3D image typically lies within 2–4 cm
for the standard deviation of the overall error vector
length in space.
Once a metric 3D image is ready, measurements
can be taken. A purpose built 3D software allows
a thorough three-dimensional inspection of the 3D
image. During inspection, measurements can be taken
such as orientations of discontinuity surfaces (see
Fig. 5) orientations of discontinuity traces (see Fig. 6),
geo-referenced positions (x,y,z), distances, or areas.
Measured structures are represented as coloured
overlays on the 3D image. They can be grouped the-
matically to discontinuity sets providing the basis for
an instant determination of discontinuity spacing (see
Fig. 7) or the representation within a stereonet
(see Fig. 8). Due to the known three-dimensional shape Figure 8. Lower hemisphere equal-area projection polar
of the free surface and the measured orientations the plot of identified discontinuity sets. Measured orientations
true normal spacing can be determined. Spacing in this are instantly displayed together with statistics on the distri-
context follows the definitions given by Priest (1993). bution of the orientations.

72
Figure 9. Basic layout of the planned excavation with
two inclined access tunnels and an underground research
laboratory.
For algorithmic stability analyses the combination
of discontinuity orientation measurements with their
geo-referenced positions is a requirement. Measure-
ments from 3D images can be used instantly for the
identification of kinematically movable blocks (Pötsch
et al. 2006).
4 SITE APPLICATION FOR A NUCLEAR
WASTE REPOSITORY
4.1 Site characteristics
In Hungary, the programme for the final disposal of
low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste coming
from a nuclear power plant started before 1995 with a
geological screening in order to find the most suitable
location for the repository. The chosen location was
a granite complex in the Mórágyi Granite formation.
Based on the results of a detailed site characterisation,
the low and intermediate level radwastes originating
from a Nuclear Power Plant are planned to be disposed
in the underground repository.
Following the principle of “design as you go” the
final design of the repository is going to be worked out
according to the geotechnical experiences to be gath-
ered during the construction of two parallel, inclined
exploratory access tunnels.
The construction of these 1800 metres long tunnels
started at the beginning of 2005 according to the design
of Mott McDonald (England). The tunnels are exca-
vated by drill and blast. The cross sections are 21
and 25 m2 , respectively, at a lateral distance of about
30 metres (see Fig. 9).
Presently both tunnels have been excavated on a
length of somewhat more than 1000 metres through
highly tectonised and fractured granitic rock. The
expected completion of the exploratory phase is at the
end of 2007.
The knowledge of the behaviour of the fractured
rock is important both for designing the layout of
the repository and facilitating the daily construction
related decisions on site. As the conditions are per-
manently changing a strict geological data acquisition
programme was setup.
73
Figure 10. Photograph of the JointMetriX3D image scanner
on site.
Pilot core borings are drilled periodically. The
analysis of the cores is used to predict the prospec-
tive ground conditions ahead. Additionally, geological
mapping of each excavated tunnel face is performed
in order to determine the rock mass quality. Two rock
mass classification systems are used to specify and
determine the rock support category in order verify
and compare results and deliver the basis for a reliable
statistical evaluation.
As the classification methods rely on geometric
information of the discontinuity network, the image
based 3D data acquisition and assessment system
JointMetriX3D is used for capturing the actual rock
mass conditions of each excavation round.
4.2 Use of JointMetriX3D
Every round the tunnel face is recorded with the
JointMetriX3D image scanner. Two panoramic sweeps
of about 270◦ are taken subsequently leading to 65
Megapixel images (typically). Additionally to the tun-
nel face also the tunnel walls are acquired with the
images. Figure 10 shows a picture of the imaging sys-
tem applied on site. Figures 11 and 12 show a resulting
3D image of a tunnel face and the adjacent tunnel
walls.
A major benefit of the panoramic approach is that
already existing reference points utilised for displace-
ment monitoring can be re-used to establish a reference
between the generic 3D images. Figure 13 outlines the
basic geometric arrangement for imaging on site. Each
panoramic image shows both the tunnel face and the
already excavated area.
An extension of the standard bundle adjustment
algorithm (Slama 1980) to panoramic images allows
the determination of the imaging standpoints without
requiring any additional surveying (Gaich 2001) and
thus providing the basis for referencing the 3D image.
For geological/geotechnical analyses image resolu-
tion is a key parameter. Depending on the required
level of detail (from main structures down to fine
cracks), image resolution directly influences the

Figure 11. 3D image of a tunnel face and adjacent walls at
chainage 785.
Figure 12. Detailed view of the 3D image. Screenshot taken
from JointMetriX3D assessment software.
Figure 13. Principal sketch showing the geometric arrange-
ment for taking panoramic stereo images of the tunnel face.
Existing control points in the already excavated area are
used to reference the generic 3D image to the tunnel. Grey
wedges indicate parts of the panoramic images that are used
to determine the 3D image and its reference.
74
visibility of structural information on the rock mass.
Higher image resolution means finer rock mass details
can be identified. The larger the number of pixels that
map a certain area, the higher is the geometric image
resolution (specified in m/pixel).
In the actual case of a 25 m2 cross section the result-
ing image resolution is below 0.002 m/pixel. The area
is captured by several 100.000 surface measurements
leading to a point density of about 4000 points/m2 or
a surface grid of about 1.6 cm, respectively.
5 DISCUSSION
The JointMetriX3D system is used on a regular basis
during the excavation of two exploratory access tun-
nels at Bátaapáti site. With the system stereoscopic
images of tunnel faces and the newly excavated tunnel
walls are acquired and processed to metric 3D images.
Already existing reference points on site are re-used
for providing a relationship of the 3D images with the
tunnel.
The 3D images are the basis for mapping of geolog-
ical features and for determining geotechnical param-
eters such as discontinuity spacing. Besides, the 3D
images represent a permanent, objective record of the
actual conditions allowing also later revisits.
The 3D images are assessed by means of a spe-
cial software component allowing the assignment of
visible rock mass features directly on the 3D image.
Discontinuity orientations are measured by dip and
dip direction and instantly visualised. As the measure-
ments happen without physical contact restrictions due
to time or access are overcome.
Besides the support for the daily decision mak-
ing on site, the improved determination of descriptive
rock mass parameters, and the objective record, the
geometry behind the 3D images can be used to update
excavation plans of the construction.
If data acquisition is very time critical then scanning
of two panoramic images subsequently might take too
long. In this case an alternative system for taking pic-
tures of the tunnel face using a calibrated SLR camera
is available (ShapeMetriX3D). The whole data acqui-
sition is then a matter of a minute (3G Software &
Measurement 2006).
Summarising, the support of geological mapping by
a contact-free data acquisition technique such as the
JointMetriX3D system is helpful for the daily work on
site and valuable for the overall need of geological data
acquisition especially when special account is taken on
certain geotechnical parameters such as spacing.
As the data acquisition (imaging) is decoupled
from the assessment, images can be taken indepen-
dently from geological mapping. However, rock mass
analyses by 3D images should be seen as supple-
ment to conventional geological surveying and not a
replacement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Mr. Imre Molnos,
Head of Geotechnical Dep. from Mecsekérc zRt. and
responsible for the Bátaapáti project for his kind
support during preparation of this paper.
REFERENCES
3G Software & Measurement 2006. ShapeMetriX3D –
Manual for version 1.9, 2006, www.3gsm.at.
Faugeras, O. 1993. Three-Dimensional Computer Vision.
Boston: MIT Press.
Fasching, A. 2001. Improvement of Acquisition Methods for
Geotechnical Data. PhD thesis. In Riedmüller et al. (eds.),
Schriftenreihe Gruppe Geotechnik Graz Heft 12b, Graz
University of Technology.
Gaich, A. 2001. Panoramic Vision for Geotechnical Analy-
ses in Tunnelling. PhD thesis. In Riedmüller et al. (eds.),
Schriftenreihe Gruppe Geotechnik Graz Heft 12a, Graz
University of Technology.
Gaich, A., Fasching, A. & Schubert, W. 2003. Improved
site investigation. Acquisition of geotechnical rock mass
parameters based on 3D computer vision. In Beer (ed.),
Numerical Simulation in Tunnelling. Wien: Springer, pp.
13–46.
Gaich, A., Pötsch, M. & Schubert, W. 2006a. Acquisition
and assessment of geometric rock mass features by true
3D images. In ARMA Golden Rocks – 50 Years of Rock
Mechanics, Golden, Paper 06–1051.
Hagan, T.O. 1980. A case for terrestrial photogrammetry in
deep-mine rock structure studies. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 17: 191–198.
75
Kemeny, J., Mofya, E. & Handy, J. 2003. The use of digital
imaging and laser scanning technologies for field rock
fracture characterization. In Culligan et al. (eds.), Soil and
Rock America 2003, pp. 117–122.
Lemy, F. & Hadjigeorgiou, J. 2003. Rock mass characteriza-
tion using image analysis. In Culligan et al. (eds.), Soil
and Rock America 2003, pp. 95–100.
Lemy, F. & Hadjigeorgiou, J. 2004.A field application of laser
scanning technology to quantify rock fracture orientation.
In Schubert (ed.), Proc. of the ISRM Regional Sympo-
sium Eurock 2004 &53rd Geomechanics Colloquium,
pp. 435–438.
Pötsch, M. Schubert, W. & Gaich, A. Kinematical analyses
of rock blocks supported by 3D imaging. In Golden Rocks
2006, Golden.
Priest, S.D. 1993. Discontinuity Analysis for Rock Engineer-
ing. London: Chapman and Hall.
Reid, T.R. & Harrison, J.P. 2000. A semi automated method-
ology for discontinuity trace detection in digital images
of rock mass exposures. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci 37:
1073–1089.
Roberts, G. & Poropat, G. 2000. Highwall joint mapping in
3D at the Moura mine using SIROJOINT. In Bowen Basin
Symposium 2000 Coal and Mining. The New Millennium,
Rock-hampton.
Slama, Ch.C. (ed.) 1980. Manual of Photogrammetry.
4th edition. Falls Church, VA: American Society of
Photogrammetry.
Schubert, W., Goricki, A. & Riedmueller, G. 2003. The
guideline for the geomechanical design of underground
structures with conventional excavation. Felsbau 21(4).
Wolf, P.R. & Dewitt, B.A. 2000. Elements of Photogramme-
try, Third Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The application of metric 3D images for the mechanical analysis

of keyblocks

M. Pötsch & W. Schubert

Institute for Rock Mechanics and Tunnelling, Graz University of Technology, Austria

A. Gaich
3G Software & Measurement GmbH, Graz, Austria

ABSTRACT: Keyblock analysis plays an important role in the evaluation of the behaviour of jointed rock.
Remote sensing technologies are nowadays frequently used to provide the basis for those analyses. Metric 3D
images provide accurate and detailed data on the rock mass structure and topography. This contribution outlines
the use of metric 3D images for keyblock analysis. First of all, the generation of a 3D image is discussed using
the JointMetriX3D and ShapeMetriX3D systems. The following sections describe the evaluated data and its
use for the identification of finite blocks in rock faces, the kinematical analysis of blocks and the calculation
of block reaction curves. The importance of the use of data from 3D images is illustrated with two examples,
a kinematical analysis of a block and the determination of a reaction curve of a block, subject to a rotational slide.

1 INTRODUCTION forms the principal part of the discontinuity data

Rock blocks and their behaviour govern decisions on
engineering works in hard, jointed rock. Although
block theory (Goodman & Shi 1985) is a well-
accepted method for block analysis, investigation into
the behaviour of blocks is still subject of many pub-
lications (Um & Kulatilake 2001, González-Palacio
et al. 2005, Malmgren & Nordlund 2006). Block anal-
yses rely on the quality of geological investigation
results, the assumed loads and the constitutive rela-
tionships as well. This paper outlines a consistent
sequence of analysis steps for block analysis starting
with the acquisition of discontinuity data and ending
with stability analyses.
Discontinuities in a rock mass such as joints, foli-
ation or faults form blocks. While the blocks usually
consist of competent rock, discontinuities represent
zones of weakness. The properties and the behaviour
of the discontinuities are therefore critical for the anal-
ysis and assessment of block stability. The mapping
of outcrops and drill cores is the traditional method
for the determination of relevant discontinuity data.
However, in an outcrop reliable data can only be
gained if the location can be accessed without dan-
ger and if time and environmental conditions allow
careful mapping and measurement (Gaich et al. 2004).
Remote sensing technologies have emerged in the
last years and effectively support the field mapping.
In this contribution the technology of 3D imaging
acquisition. Data gained from 3D images are used to
determine block geometries in irregularly shaped out-
crops. The obtained blocks are analysed following the
steps proposed by block theory. The steps include the
kinematical analysis, the mode analysis and the stabil-
ity assessment. It will be shown how block geometries
affect kinematics and how kinematics influences the
behaviour of blocks in the stability analysis.
2 ACQUISITION OF DISCONTINUITY DATA
The first crucial part of any geotechnical analysis is
the acquisition of relevant information on the ground
which forms the basis of a suitable geotechnical model.
2.1 Required data for block analysis
Mechanical analyses of blocks require extensive infor-
mation on the structural properties of a rock mass
and the surface topography. The irregular geometry of
rock masses is usually approximated by planes whose
principal geometrical properties are:
• Type of plane: Planes forming a block have to be
distinguished between discontinuity planes ( joints)
and free surfaces. Discontinuity planes are defined
as contacts between block and rock mass and there-
fore restrain block motion. Free surfaces are defined

77
 as contacts between block and free space and they
facilitate block motion.
• Orientation of discontinuities and free surfaces:
This affects the shape of a block and significantly
governs the kinematical conditions.
• Location of discontinuities and free surfaces: This
affects the size and the shape of the block. In
traditional analyses it is usually not adequately con-
sidered. However, it has been shown that the true
geometry of a block affects the kinematical condi-
tions, the inertia properties, as well as the driving
and resisting forces (Pötsch & Schubert 2006).
• Discontinuity size: Discontinuity persistence con-
trols the intersection probability of block planes.
Per definition, blocks are formed by completely
persistent discontinuities.
• Roughness of the discontinuity surface: In contrast
to perfectly flat planes the irregularity of the sur-
face affects the shear behaviour and resistance of
discontinuities.
Apart from the geometrical properties, mechanical
parameters, such as friction or tensile strength, infill-
ings, the petrographical properties, etc. control the
mechanical behaviour of blocks. Anyhow, this paper
focuses on the influence of the geometrical properties.
2.2 3D imaging technology
A suitable measurement system for the determination
of the geometrical properties has to provide three-
dimensional information of the rock mass structure.
Remote measurement systems are only capable of
recording the surface geometry of an outcrop. Addi-
tional information is required to determine the struc-
tural properties. Discontinuities can be distinguished
by their appearance. Therefore, the visual informa-
tion completes the geometrical information. The rock
mass structure can be analysed by applying image
processing algorithms or by interactive evaluation of
the image. The remote sensing technologies used in
geotechnics can be divided into two groups, namely
laser methods and imaging methods. An overview of
the systems is given in Gaich et al. (2004).
In the last years 3D imaging technology has been
penetrating the field of engineering geology and
geotechnical engineering. 3D imaging emerged after
the development of high-resolution digital cameras,
methods of computer vision and the increase in com-
putational power. High resolution digital cameras are
required to enable the registration of fine details of
the rock mass in combination with large outcrops.
The science of computer vision (Faugeras 1993) com-
plemented methods of photogrammetry. As a conse-
quence the acquisition and generation of 3D images
has significantly improved. In general, the genera-
tion of a 3D image is a task which requires intensive
computational power. Modern off-the-shelf desktop
78
computers and notebooks are nowadays able to cope
with the amount of data within a reasonable time
(Gaich et al. 2006a).
A 3D image basically consists of a three-
dimensional wire mesh representing the surface topog-
raphy with a digital photograph draped on. By using
methods from computer vision it is possible to gener-
ate a 3D image by simply taking two photographs that
show the same object from different locations (stereo-
scopic image pair). This is referred to as a generic 3D
image. A generic 3D image shows the relative angular
geometric properties of a surface correctly but it has
no scale and global orientation. A generic 3D image
is scaled and orientated into a metric 3D image by the
application of either scale figures or reference points
with surveyed coordinates. From a metric 3D image
measurements are derived in their true scale and ori-
entation. The measurement systems applied in this
paper are JointMetriX3D and ShapeMetriX3D. The
difference between the two systems is basically the
camera used for image acquisition. ShapeMetriX3D
relies on calibrated off-the-shelf SLR cameras with
fixed or zoom lenses. In contrast, JointMetriX3D uses
a high-resolution image scanner, which allows captur-
ing images up to 100 Megapixel. This is especially
important for the generation of 3D images from large
outcrops or the capturing of fine details (Gaich et al.
2006b).
2.3 Geological and geotechnical information
obtained from metric 3D images
Information related to geometrical properties can be
derived from a metric 3D image. 3D images proved
to provide extensive information on the visible rock
mass structure. In a small scale analysis the roughness
properties of discontinuity surfaces can be measured
by 3D images.
2.3.1 Evaluation of the rock mass structure
The 3D images are used to take measurements of the
rock structures. These measurements are gained from
the size and orientation of the individual triangles
forming the surface of the 3D image. In order to ensure
accurate measurements the 3D images must show fine
details. Discontinuities in an outcrop can be identi-
fied as area elements and linear elements. Usually
area elements are assigned to discontinuities appear
on the surface as an area with limited extent. Con-
versely, linear elements are assigned to discontinuities
which appear as a linear trace on the surface.
During evaluation using JointMetriX3D or
ShapeMetriX3D the structures are directly marked on
the 3D images. The marked structures are analysed
by the software and their properties calculated. The
location of the area elements is defined by the marked
points on the surface, their extension is defined by
a closed polygon and expressed as the area enclosed
Figure 1. Measurement of linear and area elements from
a 3D image. Left: Trace of a discontinuity with orienta-
tion (triangle). Right: Discontinuity plane with orientation
(arrow).

by the polygon. Conversely, the extent of linear ele-

Figure 2. Sketch of an evaluated metric 3D image
ments is defined by an open polygon on the 3D image (ShapeMetriX3D) of an outcrop.
and expressed as the length. For both, area and lin-
ear elements, orientations can be determined. They are
represented as the normal vector of the orientation for
area elements and as a spatial triangle (representing
the discontinuity plane) for linear elements (Figure 1).
The evaluation of a 3D image is an interactive
process, hence, the user himself has to identify the
relevant rock mass structures. The topography describ-
ing the shape of the outcrop eases the identification of
flat regions as joint areas. The highly detailed image
allows the discrimination of natural structures (traces
of foliation, joints, faults, etc.), man-made structures
(excavator scratches, etc.), or other geological features
such as lithological boundaries. The combination of
both sources of information allows the establishment
of a consistent discontinuity network and an audit of
the evaluation.
Additional properties can be assigned to the iden-
tified structures according to their nature and the
structures can be grouped into structure sets (disconti-
nuity sets). The sets can be statistically analysed with
respect to the variation of the orientations, the persis-
tence and the spacing. At the end of the evaluation the Figure 3. Stereographic projection (lower hemisphere) of
discontinuity system of the rock face is represented as a the discontinuity orientations evaluated from Figure 2.
trace network with its corresponding spatial properties
(Figure 2).
Figure 3 shows the stereographic projection of ori- of the corresponding 3D image has been approxi-
entations of the discontinuity system determined from mately 1.2 pts/cm2 . The obtained roughness profiles
the 3D image of Figure 2. can then be compared with the standardised profiles,
for instance Barton & Choubey (1977).
2.3.2 Roughness analysis The 3-D nature of the images especially facilitates a
Roughness of a discontinuity surface is a parameter spatial evaluation of the irregularity.A method particu-
describing the surface irregularity. In rock engineer- larly applicable for such evaluations has been proposed
ing the roughness basically affects the shear resistance by Grasselli (2001). In this method the apparent incli-
of a discontinuity. It is frequently measured during nation of asperities relative to the shear direction is
geological field mapping. 3D images at a sufficiently analysed and results in a decreasing cumulative dis-
high resolution can also be used for the determination tribution of asperity areas at a certain inclination.
of discontinuity roughness. The required resolution Figure 5 shows a plan view of a joint surface of a shear
for measurement of discontinuity roughness is not test sample (diameter 150 mm), in which the shad-
a deterministic value, but depends on the scale of ing refers to the apparent asperity angles. The shear
analysis. Figure 4, for instance, shows a roughness direction is top to north (Schieg 2005). The point den-
profile along a discontinuity plane. The point density sity of the corresponding 3D image is approximately

79

Amplitude [m]
0,1
0,0
-0,1
0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0
Profile length [m]
Figure 4. Roughness profile evaluated from a 3D image
(ShapeMetriX3D). The point density is approximately
1.2 pts/cm2 .
Figure 5. Plan view of discontinuity surface of a shear test
sample. The shading refers to the apparent asperity angles
relative to the shear direction. The shear direction is top to
north (from Schieg 2005).
20 pts/mm2 . This information allows one to determine
the influence of the surface irregularity on the dila-
tion and shear resistance of a discontinuity (Seywald
2006).
3 DETERMINATION OF BLOCK GEOMETRY
The discontinuity data derived from 3D images of rock
faces is used to determine
• the discontinuity system of the rock face,
• the geometry of the excavation surface if the inves-
tigated excavation is represented by the 3D image,
• the trace map of the excavation surface, and
• the geometries of finite blocks adjacent to the
excavation surface.
Pötsch et al. (2004) proposed to derive a geometrical
model from 3D images. The geometrical model con-
tains all relevant information on the geometry of the
rock face, as well as the rock mass structures. Basically,
the geometrical model approximates the irregular rock
mass geometry with planes. For the investigation of
2,5 3,0
existing rock faces, the establishment of the geomet-
rical model is evident. The model geometry is derived
from the 3D image topography. However, in the design
and analysis of future excavation the model geometry
has to be separately introduced into the geometri-
cal model. In this case the discontinuity system for
the geometrical model has to be predicted into the
designed excavation volume as well. Depending on
project-specific requirements the prediction is sup-
ported by outcrop data (3D imaging) and core drillings
(Pötsch et al. 2005). Statistical methods for modelling
and predicting a spatial fracture network can be useful
if these methods properly describe the properties of
the discontinuity system.
The geometrical model is a trace network on the
designed excavation and is used for the determination
of finite blocks at the excavation surface. The finite
blocks are identified by means of a search algorithm
along the trace network. Fundamental works in rock
engineering have been presented by Chan (1987) and
Lu (2002). The algorithms find closed polygons in the
trace network. These polygons are the free surface of
finite and infinite blocks. The algorithms have been
extended for identification of maximum finite blocks
for general excavation geometries.
Infinite and finite blocks can be distinguished from
trace maps. According to block theory there are two
classes of finite blocks, namely tapered and remov-
able blocks. Finite blocks identified from trace maps
alone are simultaneously removable. Tapered blocks
are formed from identified infinite blocks if a plane
cuts through the joint pyramid of the infinite blocks at
the rock mass side of the excavation, and it does not
intersect the excavation surface within the polygon at
the excavation surface. Once the polygons that corre-
spond to finite blocks have been identified, the planes
belonging to each trace are intersected to calculate the
block geometries.
4 MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF KEYBLOCKS
Keyblocks are usually treated as rigid bodies in the
analysis of kinematics and stability. This implies that
stress-strain relationships are not applied within a
block. However, in hard rock the large displacements
of blocks which take place at discrete joints are of
major interest. The stiffness of these joints is usually
some orders of magnitude lower than that of the blocks.
Conventional limit equilibrium analyses of keyblocks
only consider frictional resistance in the joints. This
approach is well acknowledged in practice and easy
to apply to rock engineering projects. A major dis-
advantage is that limit equilibrium methods do not
80
account for the mobilisation of shear resistance with
block displacement. This can lead to an overestima-
tion of block stability and an unconservative design
of support, for instance, with different joint proper-
ties, exhibiting rotational motion or the application
of support (which usually has a different mobilisation
characteristic from discontinuities).
A consistent approach to perform and improve the
mechanical analysis of keyblocks has been proposed
by several authors in the past (Goodman & Shi 1985,
Warburton 1993, Goodman 2002, Button & Schubert
2002). The analysis includes a hierarchical proce-
dure including kinematics, failure modes and stability
analyses. In the kinematical analysis the rock block’s
kinematical situation is analysed for general motion.
The result shows if the block can be displaced at all,
i.e. if the block can detach from the rock mass or
slide on one or two joints. Only kinematically mov-
able blocks are subjects for the subsequent analysis
step, unmovable blocks are regarded as stable.
Failure modes of blocks consider the effect of the
external loading on the behaviour of movable blocks.
Failure modes indicate if blocks are stable or poten-
tially unstable due to the loading, and, in the second
case, in which manner the block will fail. Potentially
unstable block are subjects for stability analysis. The
stability analysis accounts for loads and resistance
mobilised in discontinuities and/or support. A block
is considered as stable if resisting forces potentially
exceed the driving forces.Traditional limit equilibrium
methods assume complete mobilisation of all resisting
forces at the same instant. A simple example based on
ground reaction curves outlines that this can lead to an
overestimation of resistance.
4.1 Kinematics
Basically, the kinematical analysis investigates poten-
tial displacement vector orientations of the block.
Since the block is considered to be rigid, no relative
displacements within the block are taken into account.
Potential displacement vector orientations, so called
feasible displacements, are those which are parallel
to a joint plane or point away from the rock mass
into the block or free space. It has been shown that
information on the spatial orientations of the planes
forming the block is sufficient to determine kinematics
for translational motion (Goodman & Shi 1985).
The general displacements of a rigid body, however,
include translational and rotational parts. Displace-
ment vectors are not parallel. Due to the parallel axis
theorem there is always an axis for which translational
components disappear. The description focuses there-
fore on rotational motion. Fundamental works for
block rotation have been provided by Mauldon (1992).
By definition, blocks are arbitrarily shaped poly-
hedra. Since polyhedra are a linear combination of
planes, it is sufficient to judge displacement feasibility
81
Figure 6. Corner displacement x due to rotational motion
about rotation axis r. For x to be kinematically feasible it
has to point into the halfspace defined by the joint planes of
the corner Cj . R is a point fixed in space.
at the block corners (Goldstein et al. 2006). In gen-
eral, a kinematically feasible displacement forms part
of the blockside halfspace of a joint. At a corner the
displacement vector has to plot into the intersection of
halfspaces of joints forming the block, the corner’s
joint pyramid. This criterion has to simultaneously
apply at all block corners. Note that the joint pyramid
of corners solely formed by free faces is empty. These
corners are not taken into account. Subsequently, the
analysis results in regions of rotation axes which allow
for feasible displacements. Figure 6 shows a corner of
a block formed by three joints. The indicated normal
vectors ni,c point towards the block. The displacement
at the corner C j has to plot towards the block into the
corner’s joint pyramid.
The corner displacement is related to the orienta-
tion and location of the rotation axis relative to the
corner. Considering the location of the rotation axis to
be fixed to a block corner on a free face, the goal is
to find possible orientations of rotation axes allowing
for feasible displacements. These orientations can be
found by intersection of halfspaces. The definition of
these halfspaces can be derived from the formulation
of the corner displacement (Pötsch & Schubert 2006)
and results in Equation 1.
The denotation corresponds with Figure 6. The
term in parentheses describes a normal vector of a
plane through the current corner delimiting a halfspace
which is indicated by the direction of the normal vec-
tor.This halfspace is the union of all possible directions
of rotation axes which lead to kinematically feasible
displacements with respect to one joint plane at a cor-
ner.This plane is subsequently described as limit plane.
The rotation space is the intersection of halfspaces of
limit planes for a static corner and includes all possible
orientations of a fixed rotation axis. For a block to be
rotatable the rotation space must not be empty. It has to
be tested for all block corners at the free surface which

Figure 7. Example on kinematical analysis. Perspective
view of a convex polyhedral block (see Table 1). Stere-
ographic projection of planes, joint pyramid and rotation
space.
are not formed by free faces alone. Note that the vector
C j R depends on the geometry of the block. In order to
completely analyse block rotatabilty the geometry of
the block has to be determined requiring orientation
and location of planes, and plane intersection rules.
For illustration of the analysis of rotatabilty a simple
example of a convex polyhedral block is shown in Fig-
ure 7. It contains a perspective view of the block and the
stereographic projections (upper focal point) of planes
(full and dashed circles), joint pyramid according to
block theory (light-grey areas), and rotation spaces for
each relevant corner (dark-grey areas). Geometric data
on the block can be found in Table 1.
From Figure 7, it can be seen that the block is remov-
able since the joint pyramid plots entirely outside the
excavation pyramid (Intersection of the dashed cir-
cles). There are several non-empty rotation spaces,
hence, the block is rotatable about corners C1, C2,
82
Table 1. Data on planes forming the convex polyhedral
block in Figure 7.
Dip direction Dip angle
Planes [◦ ] [◦ ] Halfspace Corners
Joint plane 1 230 55 upper 1, 3, 4, 7
Joint plane 2 115 65 upper 2, 5, 6, 8
Joint plane 3 170 35 upper 3, 5, 7, 8
Joint plane 4 345 80 upper 4, 6, 7, 8
Free face 1 180 10 lower 1, 2, 4, 6
Free face 2 180 60 lower 1, 2, 3, 5
C3, C4, C5 and C6. A closer examination reveals that
some of the rotation spaces are adjacent. If, in this case,
the orientation of a physical block edge plots into this
region, then the block is rotatable about this edge. This
block is rotatable about edge E25, E26, E35 and E46.
4.2 Kinematical mode analysis
The kinematical mode analysis provides information
on the mode how a block exposed to loading will
fail. Translational failure modes have been discussed
and described by Goodman & Shi (1985). These
authors distinguish between Falling/Lifting, Single
Plane Sliding, and Double Plane Sliding.
The rotational modes have been discussed by Tonon
(1998). Corner and edge rotation modes can be dis-
tinguished. For their determination the unconstrained
motion of the block is considered. For corner rota-
tion a compressive reaction has to develop at joints of
the static corner while separation at the other corner
takes place. For an edge rotation a compressive reac-
tion has to develop at both corners forming the edge
while separation at the other corners takes place.
Since general loading consists of forces and
moments, the unconstrained displacements can only
be determined taking into account the inertia proper-
ties (mass and inertia tensor) of the block. Again, these
properties depend on the geometry of the block.
4.3 Stability analysis
The limit equilibrium method for stability analyses
suggested by block theory considers only frictional
resistance of joints in terms of the friction angle. This
parameter has therefore to include all factors affect-
ing the shear resistance such as cohesion or dilation.
The friction angle concept assumes fully mobilised
shear stresses in the discontinuities, as well as fully
mobilised loads and forces in the support. Anyhow,
every feature contributing to the force system has usu-
ally its own reaction curve for a block displacement.
The resulting block reaction curve is the sum of all
reactions at a certain displacement. In consequence,
reactions of discontinuities and support measures must
Figure 8. Rotational slide of a cuboidal block. The block is forced to rotate about (0|0). Left: Contour plots of mobilised
shear stress at different displacement stages. Right: Block reaction curve of mobilised moment vs. displacement of point A
(top), Stress displacement curve of shear stress for the discontinuity (bottom).

not be considered to be fully mobilised at the same
instant except they have the same reaction curve. Typ-
ical block models with different reaction curves are
wedge analyses where the two sliding joints comprise
significantly different properties. Peak shear resis-
tance is not necessarily simultaneously mobilised at
different locations of the joint. Another example where
kinematics significantly influences the block reaction
curve is the rotational slide. Even if the discontinuity
involved in sliding shows almost constant properties
within its area, the rotational motion causes different
mobilisation rates depending on the distance from the
rotation axis.
Figure 8 shows a simple example of a rotational
slide. The examined cuboidal block has a length and a
width of 7 metres and a height of 6 metres. For simplic-
ity, it rests on a horizontal discontinuity which shows
uniform shear behaviour. The normal stress is con-
stant at 0.156 MPa. The shear behaviour is described
by a constitutive model (Grasselli 2001, Seywald
2006) considering 3D joint roughness derived from 3D
images (Fig. 5), exponential asperity degradation and
non-linear shear stress mobilisation (Fig. 8, right bot-
tom).The block is forced to rotate about a fixed vertical
axis passing through (0|0). The peak shear strength of
0.246 MPa is reached after 8 mm.
The contour plots in Figure 8 (left) show the non-
uniform distribution of mobilised shear stress at 1 cm
and 5 cm displacement of point A. Peak shear strength
is reached simultaneously only in a portion of the dis-
continuity. On the right hand side the block reaction
curve in terms of the mobilised resisting moment vs.
the displacement of point A is plotted. The maximum
moment of about 62.6 MNm is reached after approx-
imately 1 cm displacement. For optimum design of
support the characteristics of the block reaction curve
should be taken into account. In order to benefit from
shear resistance induced by surface roughness the
support should follow a stiff reaction curve.
5 CONCLUSION
Metric 3D images are increasingly used for data acqui-
sition in rock engineering. They provide valuable
information on the geometry of rock faces and the rock
mass structure. Typical data gained from 3D images
are the orientation and location of discontinuities,

83
trace lengths and the topography of outcrops. It has
been outlined how 3D images can be applied for the
determination of the discontinuity roughness either
conventionally with profiles or by a 3D roughness
analysis.
3D images provide detailed and accurate data for
many applications in rock mechanics. For instance,
the geometry of finite blocks can be determined in
rock faces. The evaluated data from 3D images are
processed into a discontinuity system. The discontinu-
ity system is intersected with the excavation geometry
forming a trace map. This trace map is subjected to
trace search algorithms resulting in identification of
closed polygons which correspond to finite blocks.
Mechanical analysis of keyblocks require complete
information on the block size and shape to judge
the kinematical movability, to determine the inertia
properties and to assess loads and resistance. Data on
discontinuity roughness support the constitutive mod-
elling of shear behaviour. Two simple examples on
keyblock rotations outlined the manifold potential for
the use of 3D images in rock analysis.
The authors are convinced that 3D imaging tech-
nology will have a significant impact on the analysis
and design practice in rock engineering. Furthermore,
they will allow for a better insight in the mechanisms
involved with jointed rock.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work has been funded by 3G Software & Mea-
surement GmbH and the FFG Austrian Industrial
Research Promotion Agency Ltd. The authors would
like to thank Nedim Radoncic for the support during
preparation of this paper.
REFERENCES
Barton, N. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics 10(1–2):
1–54.
Button, E. & Schubert, W. 2002. A goal orientated approach
to rock slope engineering. Felsbau 21(2): 19–24.
Chan, L.-Y. 1987. Application of block theory and simulation
techniques to optimum design of rock excavation. PhD
Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Faugeras, O. 1993. Three-Dimensional Computer Vision.
Boston: MIT Press.
Gaich, A., Pötsch, M., Fasching, A. & Schubert, W. 2004.
Measurement of rock mass parameters based on 3D imag-
ing. In Barla & Barla (eds.), La caratterizzazione degli
ammassi rocciosi nella progettazione geotecnica. Proc. X
Ciclo di conferenze di meccanica e ingegneria delle rocce,
Turin. Bologna: Patron Editore, pp. 21–45.
Gaich, A., Pötsch, M. & Schubert, W. 2006a. Acquisition and
assessment of geometric rock mass features by true 3D
images. In Golden Rocks 2006, Golden, Paper 06–1051.
84
Gaich, A., Pötsch, M. & Schubert, W. 2006b. Basics,
principles and application of 3D imaging system with
conventional and high-resolution cameras. In Tonon &
Kottenstette (eds.), ARMA Workshop on Laser and Pho-
togrammetric Methods for Rock Face Characterization,
Golden.
González-Palacio, C., Menéndez-Díaz, A., Álvarez-
Vigil, A.E. & González-Nicieza C. 2005. Identification
of non-pyramidal key blocks in jointed rock masses
for tunnel excavation. Computers and Geotechnics 32:
179–200.
Goldstein, H., Poole, C.P. & Safko, J.L. 2006. Klassische
Mechanik – 3. Auflage, Weinheim: Wiley-VCH-Verl.
Goodman, R.E. & Shi, G.-H. 1985. Block Theory and
Its Application to Rock Engineering. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall.
Goodman, R.E. 2002. A hierarchy of rock slope failure
modes. Felsbau 21(2): 8–12.
Grasselli, G. 2001. Shear strength of rock joints based
on quantified surface description. PhD thesis, EPFL,
Switzerland.
Lu, J. 2002. Systematic identification of polyhedral rock
blocks with arbitrary joints and faults. Computers and
Geotechnics 29, 49–72.
Malmgren, L. & Nordlund, E. 2006. Behaviour of shotcrete
supported rock wedges subjected to blast-induced vibra-
tions. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 43: 593–615.
Mauldon, M. 1992. Rotational failure modes in jointed
rock: A generalization of block theory. PhD Dissertation,
University of California, Berkeley.
Pötsch, M., Schubert, W. & Gaich, A. 2004. Computer
based stability analysis of rock slopes in a blocky
rock mass. In Schubert (ed.), Proc ISRM Reg. Symp.
Eurock 2004 & 53rd Geomechanics Colloquy, Salzburg,
pp. 431–434.
Pötsch, M., Schubert, W. & Gaich, A. 2005. Application of
metric 3D images of rock faces for the determination of the
response of rock slopes to excavation. In Konecny (ed.),
Proc. ISRM Regional Symposium Eurock 2005, Brno,
pp. 489–497.
Pötsch, M. & Schubert, W. 2006. Rotational kinematics of
rock blocks with arbitrary geometries. Felsbau 24(3):
30–36.
Schieg, T. 2005. Investigations on the shear behaviour of
artificial rock joints. Diploma Thesis, Institute for Rock
Mechanics and Tunnelling, Graz University of Technol-
ogy, Austria.
Seywald, C. 2006. Investigations on the relationship between
surface roughness and dilation of rock joints in direct
shear. Diploma Thesis, Institute for Rock Mechanics and
Tunnelling, Graz University of Technology, Austria.
Tonon, F. 1998. Generalization of Mauldon’s and Good-
man’s Vector Analysis of Keyblock Rotations. J. Geotech.
Geoenviron. Engineering 124(10): 913–922.
Um J.-G. & Kulatilake, P.H.S.W. 2001. Kinematic and
Block Theory Analyses for Shiplock Slopes of the Three
Gorges Dam Site in China. Geotechnical and Geological
Engineering 19: 21–42.
Warburton, P.M. 1993. Some Modern Developments in
Block Theory for Rock Engineering. In Hudson (ed.),
Comprehensive Rock Engineering, pp. 293–315.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Assessment of laser-based displacement mapping in an

underground opening

F. Lemy & S. Yong

Engineering Geology, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

T. Schulz
Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: Knowledge of the temporal and spatial evolutions of displacements occurring in the vicinity of
underground openings is essential to understanding the response of a given rock mass to its excavation. The
study presented in this paper aims at assessing the potential of laser scanning in accurately mapping surface
displacements in underground excavations. The laser scanner Imager 5003 of Zoller+Froehlich was employed
to scan the surfaces of a tunnel located in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory (Switzerland). The reliability of the
approach was assessed by comparing measurements provided by the laser scanner with those obtained through
the surveying of targets using a total station. The developed field methodology and data processing are presented
in the first part of the paper and are followed by a description of the results obtained for two investigation areas.
The advantages and limitations of laser scanning in mapping surface displacements are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION The study presented in this paper aims at assess-

Collecting data concurrently with construction work is
often necessary to correct or refine the design devel-
oped during the preliminary stages of an excavation
project. The information gathered during construction
allows for a more precise ground characterization and
hence for an adjustment of the construction method
to the observed ground behaviour (Schubert 2006).
In addition to time and access constraints related to
excavation work, near-face data collection must tackle
stability problems occurring in freshly excavated sec-
tions of openings. Several tools and methodologies
addressing these issues have been developed in the last
years (e.g. Gaich et al. 2004, Feng & Rösshoff 2004,
Lemy & Hadjigeorgiou 2004a).
A thorough understanding of rock mass behaviour
requires quality data about the evolution of the dis-
placement field occurring around openings. The anal-
ysis of such information also facilitates the prediction
of adverse ground conditions lying ahead of the face. In
practice, displacement monitoring typically involves
repeated measurements of the relative or absolute dis-
placement of a limited number of points. Absolute
displacements are derived from the coordinates of
object points measured with a total station. Surveying
has to be carried out as early as possible after the exca-
vation if the major part of the displacements undergone
by the rock is to be monitored.
ing the potential of laser scanning in detecting
low-magnitude surface displacements in underground
openings. The approach offers several advantages over
traditional monitoring methods. It does not require
the installation of physical targets on the investigated
surfaces, and it allows for the generation of high-
resolution maps that reflect the spatial distribution of
the displacements around the excavation. Laser scan-
ning has been recognized over the last few years as a
promising tool in the field of rock engineering as it
quickly provides a realistic and permanent representa-
tion of excavation surfaces. The recorded dataset can
be used for several routine tasks such as topographic
surveying, structural mapping and for documenta-
tion purposes (Feng & Rösshoff 2004, Slob et al.
2004, Lemy & Hadjigeorgiou 2004b, Donovan et al.
2005).
Several laser scanning systems with different capa-
bilities are currently available on the market. The
characteristics of these systems must be carefully
considered when selecting the most appropriate equip-
ment for a specific application. Important consid-
erations include the required accuracy, the scene
geometry, the range interval, the time available for
scanning and the spatial resolution of the data.
The laser scanner Imager 5003 of Zoller+Froehlich
(Figure 1) was selected for this investigation. This
scanner is particularly well-suited for applications

85
Figure 1. Laser scanner Imager 5003 of Zoller + Froelich
as used in the tunnel and a sphere used for the referencing of
the scanner.

in underground excavations since a 360◦ view (i.e.

vertical and horizontal) can be obtained in one scan.
The scanner is based on a deflecting technique,
which entails the deflection of the laser beam by a
mirror that rotates about a horizontal axis and a ver-
tical axis. For this reason, this laser scanner is called
a panoramic scanner. The distance measurement sys-
tem is based on the phase-shift principle, which limits
the maximum range to a distance of about 50 m. The
combination of the high-speed rotation of the mirror
and the fast detection of distances, via using the phase-
shift principle, results in a high scanning rate of up to
625,000 points per second for accuracies at the mil-
limetre scale. Investigations regarding performance,
accuracy and instrumental errors of the laser scanner
Imager 5003 can be found in Schulz (in prep.).
This paper relates to a case study where the Imager
5003 was employed to scan the surfaces of a 5-m long
tunnel (Figure 2) throughout and after its excavation.
Two different views of the point cloud resulting from
the scanning of the tunnel at the end of its construc-
tion are shown in Figure 3. The tunnel is located in
the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory (Switzerland) where
several experiments have been and are currently under-
way to investigate the behaviour of the Opalinus Clay
as a potential host for radioactive nuclear wastes. Exca-
vation in this rock has been known to induce different
types of displacements that are related to stress redistri-
bution and to the availability of moisture.The detection
and identification of these displacements are essential
as they may indicate the development of a damaged
and disturbed zone around the opening in response to
its excavation.
The reliability and benefits of laser scanning in
identifying surface displacements were assessed by
Figure 2. Map showing the location of the experimental
tunnel as well as of control and reference points.
comparing measurements provided by the laser scan-
ner with those obtained through the surveying of
targets installed on the tunnel surfaces using a total
station. Two sections of the tunnel surface were inves-
tigated to evaluate the effectiveness of the two meth-
ods in detecting different types of displacements.
A description of the geological and geomechanical
properties of the Opalinus Clay at MontTerri is given in
the first part of the paper. The developed field method-
ology and data processing are then presented. This is
followed by a description of the results obtained for
the two investigation areas.
2 MONT TERRY ROCK LABORATORY
The Mont Terri Rock Laboratory is constructed in
the Opalinus Clay sequence located in the Mont Terri
Anticline. The Opalinus Clay is a folded and thrusted
sequence of claystones and marls consisting of 40 to
80% of clay minerals, of which 10% have a tendency
to swell (Thury & Bossart 1999). Bedding planes in
the Opalinus Clay at Mont Terri are highly continuous
(extending for tens of metres along the strike and dip)
and thinly laminated with spacing of less than 20 mm.
In the tunnel, the bedding has a dip of about 45◦ and
falls outwards and downwards from the face (Fig. 3).
Two major fault systems have been identified in the
tunnel (Nussbaum et al. 2005). The most prominent

86

Figure 3. Point cloud representing the final geometry of the
tunnel: a) exterior view of the tunnel, as seen from inside the
rock mass; b) interior view of the tunnel.
system is sub-parallel to bedding while the second
system is sub-horizontal. Faults sub-parallel to bed-
ding and intersecting the tunnel face can be observed
in Figure 3. The in situ water content is estimated at
6%. The uniaxial compressive strength is 16 MPa per-
pendicular to bedding and 10 MPa parallel to bedding
while the elastic modulus is 4 GPa perpendicular to
bedding and 10 GPa parallel to bedding (Bock 2001).
These values illustrate the intensity of the anisotropy
related to bedding.
Previous investigations have shown that four modes
of instability contribute to the development of an exca-
vation disturbed and damaged zone at Mont Terri
(Martin et al. 2004): 1) stress-induced breakouts,
2) extensile fracturing, 3) bedding plane and fault slip,
and 4) swelling and softening.The first three modes are
directly related to stress redistribution. Swelling and
softening is dependent on moisture. Bedding plane and
fault slips cause shearing of the excavation surface
while extensile fractures form parallel or sub-parallel
to the excavation boundary. Each instability mode may
contribute to the displacement undergone locally by
the rock surface. The availability of maps displaying
87
the distribution of surface displacements around the
excavation would greatly facilitate the identification
of these different processes.
3 FIELD METHODOLOGY
A major concern when measuring displacements is the
installation of an appropriate and stable reference sys-
tem. Based on previous convergence measurements
made at the Mont Terri facility, the extent of the lab-
oratory that would be influenced by the excavation
of the tunnel was estimated. Four control points (1,
2, 3, 4), defining a local reference system, were then
installed outside this region (Fig. 2). Additional points
(1000,1001) belonging to the surveying network of the
laboratory were also included to transform local coor-
dinates into the North-oriented reference system of the
laboratory.
Displacement measurements were achieved in two
different ways, via geodetic measurements with a total
station and via a laser scanner. Five arrays (100, 200,
300, 400, 500) of object points were installed during
and after the tunnel excavation to assess the perfor-
mance of the displacement monitoring using the laser
scanner (Fig. 2). In arrays 100 to 400, six object points
were installed at 45◦ intervals above the finished floor.
In array 500, three object points were installed near
the centreline of the tunnel face and distributed over
its height.
For all measurement sessions, the total station was
located outside the tunnel and the laser scanner was
placed at the centre of tunnel. As a result, stable ref-
erence points 1, 2, 3 & 4 could be seen by the total
station but not by the laser scanner. To cope with this
constraint, intermediary object points equipped with
spheres were installed in and around the tunnel at
locations visible from the scanner position (Fig. 1).
The coordinates of these intermediary points were then
measured with the total station to tie in the different
surveys. The point clouds generated by the laser scan-
ner consist of x-, y-, and z-coordinates transformed
according to the established reference system.
4 DATA PROCESSING
4.1 Pre-processing
Data pre-processing consists of automatically or man-
ually detecting and deleting points representing blun-
ders. These blunders are due to the measurement
principle of the scanner and/or to the scanning envi-
ronment, and may result in false distance readings.
4.2 Filtering
Once the pre-processing is complete, data processing
is applied with the main objective of noise reduction
Figure 4. Cross-sections of a point cloud describing two
horizontal surfaces separated by a sharp edge before (a) and
after (b) filtering.

by means of a filtering process. This is an important

step as noise due to the natural limits of laser scanning
affects the quality of the point cloud by making sharp
edges dull and making smooth surfaces rough. This
is illustrated in Figure 4 showing a cross-section of a
point cloud that describes two horizontal smooth sur-
faces separated by a sharp edge before (Fig. 4a) and
after (Fig. 4b) filtering.
Figure 4a indicates that the difference between the
height of the points and of the actual surface may reach
several millimetres at locations where the point cloud
delineates smooth horizontal surfaces. Therefore, the
identification of displacements of a few millimetres Figure 5. a) Displacement field produced by the rotation
would be greatly hampered if the noise effects are of a plate and the corresponding differential elevation maps
not reduced. The development of an effective filter derived from: b) calculations; c) unfiltered point clouds; d)
that significantly improves the representation of the filtered point clouds.
scanned objects requires knowledge of the noise origin
and pattern. Detailed investigations of the perfor- the observer. This operation facilitates the identifica-
mance of the Imager 5003 revealed that the accuracy tion of the displacements occurring perpendicular to
in determining the orientation of the laser beam is the surface.
much greater than for measuring the distance to an
object (Schulz, in prep.). Therefore, a filtering tech- 4.4 Grid construction
nique that corrects the distance between the scanner Subsequently, the point cloud is interpolated to pro-
and the acquisition points was developed (Lemy et al., duce a model of the surface. This interpolation allows
in prep.). The use of filtering allows for the removal for the generation of a grid where each point is assigned
of isolated peaks while preserving edges in the image a value corresponding to the local elevation of the sur-
(Fig. 4b). This property is particularly important in the face model. The selection of an appropriate spacing
detection of geological structures that may be activated value for the grid depends on the size and morphology
(i.e. shearing surfaces) by the excavation. of the displaced area.

4.3 Rotation 4.5 Differential elevation mapping

The next step of data processing consists of calculating
the orientation of the best-fit plane of the investigated
area using the least-square method. The reference sys-
tem is rotated so that the x- and y-axes lie in this plane
and the z-axis is normal to the surface pointing towards
Finally, a map displaying temporal variations in the
surface topography is computed by subtracting the
z-coordinates of two point clouds representing
the same area but acquired at different times. Examples
of differential elevation maps are given in Figure 5.

88
 In these examples, a reference scan and a test scan
were acquired respectively before and after the rota-
tion of a 21 cm × 67 cm plate. The plate was rotated
by an angle of 1◦ about one of its edges (Fig. 5a). As
a consequence, a displacement field, where displace-
ments increase linearly with distance from the rotation
axis, is generated. The creation of a synthetic displace-
ment field allows for an accurate estimate of the actual
displacement distribution of a surface. This estimate
can be used as a reference to assess the performance
of laser scanning in capturing a specific displacement
pattern. Two differential elevation maps reflecting the
displacements undergone by the plate were produced
(Figs 5c, d). This operation is only possible if the test
scan is first transformed into the reference system of
the object scan. The resulting maps were compared to
the one describing the calculated actual displacement
field shown in Figure 5b.
Figure 5c shows the map generated without filtering
indicating a linear increase of the surface elevation
despite numerous noise artefacts that make the local
magnitude of the displacements difficult to identify.
Additionally, the sign and therefore, the direction of
the displacements are very difficult to recognize in
the lower part of the map where elevation differences
do not exceed 5 mm. The use of a filter allows for
the elimination of the majority of the noise effects and
thereby greatly facilitates the interpretation of the map
(Fig. 5d).

5 CASE STUDIES
The procedure described above was applied to evalu-
ate the potential of laser scanning in mapping surface
displacements in underground excavations. The case
studies presented in this paper concentrate on the evo-
lution of the displacements of the final tunnel surface
illustrated in Figure 3.
Figures 6b and 8b show differential elevation maps
that were produced to monitor the displacements that
occurred in the lower parts of the West wall and of the
tunnel face as illustrated in Figures 6a and 8a, respec-
tively. These maps were calculated from two scans
acquired after the tunnel excavation. The first scan was
recorded three days after the excavation and filling of
the 30 cm-thick tunnels invert (17th March–Session
1). The second scan was acquired several months later
(28th October–Session 2) to investigate the long-term
response of the rock mass to the excavation. Data for
Session 1 was used as the reference scan for the maps.
The accuracy of laser scanning for mapping surface
displacements was assessed by comparing differen-
tial elevation values derived from laser point clouds
with the displacements of object points measured
during sessions 1 and 2 with a total station. These
measurements were used as a reference as their accu-
racy is estimated at less than 0.5 mm. The white arrows
Figure 6. a) Investigation area in the left wall and displace-
ment values measured with a total station; b) differential
elevation map of the investigation area.
in Figures 6 and 8 represent the projection of the dis-
placement vectors in a vertical plane parallel to the
tunnel wall (Fig. 6) or to the tunnel face (Fig. 8).
The numbers correspond to the magnitude of the dis-
placements in a direction normal to this vertical plane.
Positive values indicate movement toward the observer
while negative values indicate movement away from
the observer.
5.1 Tunnel wall
Total station data in Figure 6 suggest uniform move-
ment (by several millimetres) in a direction sub-
parallel with the wall. The majority of the pixels in
Figure 6b are negative in value, denoting global move-
ment away from the observer. The median value of all
differential elevation values in the map is −0.7 mm,
which is in the same order of magnitude as the com-
ponent of the normal displacement vectors. However,
the differential elevation map also suggests that differ-
ent types of displacements have occurred at different
locations in the surface.

89

Figure 7. Cross-sections a-a’ (a) and b-b’ (b) with locations
shown in Figure 6a. The solid lines correspond to Session 1
while the dashed lines correspond to Session 2.
Examination of differential elevation maps allows
for the identification of areas where displacements
have occurred. However, the determination of the
nature of the movement is not straightforward as differ-
ential elevations do not provide a measurement of the
actual magnitude and orientation of the displacements.
To better describe displacements, cross-sections of the
rock surface obtained from the point clouds were gen-
erated. This is illustrated in Figures 7 and 9, which
show point cloud sections of the cuts indicated in
Figures 6a and 8a. The z-axis in Figures 7 and 9 is
normal to the investigation area and points towards
the observer. It is worth mentioning that data filtering
was found to produce a more accurate representation
of the surface topography and thus allowed for a more
reliable interpretation of the magnitude and direction
of the movement.
Figure 7a displays horizontal cross-sections of the
point clouds acquired during Sessions 1 (solid line)
and 2 (dashed line) and are located in the vicinity of
an object point as shown in Figure 6a. These sections
intersect two fractures oblique to the tunnel wall and
dipping to the left in the photograph. Comparison of
the two sections indicates movement parallel to the
90
x-axis and hence to the rock surface. This is in
agreement with the total station data. It is also observed
in this figure that positive or negative differential ele-
vation values can be generated by a displacement par-
allel with the surface. This is due to the irregularities
shaping the rock surface.
Cross-sections in Figure 7b reveal that the mag-
nitude of the displacement component normal to the
surface reaches up to 1 cm and moves towards the rock
mass above the fractures. On the other hand, the frac-
ture surfaces move upwards and better concur with
the total station data. These variations in displace-
ment orientation cannot be observed in the total station
measurements. This is mainly due to an anchoring con-
straint of the object point, which was most securely
fixed at the intersection between a fracture and the
rock surface. Large positive differential elevation val-
ues visible in the lower part of the map (light grey
and white areas) are related to the occurrence of larger
fracture surfaces at the bottom of the wall.
5.2 Tunnel face
Displacement values in Figure 8a suggest that larger
displacements occurred in the lower part of the tunnel
face. In this case, the magnitude of the displacement
components normal to the surface is positive reveal-
ing a movement towards the observer. This tendency is
confirmed by the map in Figure 8b where the median
value of all differential elevations is +2.6 mm. Like the
tunnel wall, the map suggests that the displacements
undergone by the tunnel face are highly heterogeneous.
The cross-sections presented in Figure 9 facilitate
the understanding of what may be producing these
heterogeneities.
The vertical cross-sections in Figure 9a describe
the surface geometry in the vicinity of the object
point installed in the upper part of the area. This
point lies right above a fault plane dipping out of
the face as observed in Figures 8a and 9a. The evo-
lution of the surface topography indicates that the
fault surface moved away from the observer during
the investigation period. This results in homogeneous
zones in the differential elevation map (Fig. 8b), which
is characterized by negative values. These zones cor-
respond to well-exposed fracture and fault surfaces
parallel to bedding in the upper part of the investigation
area. Similar fracture surfaces also intersect the bot-
tom of the face. However, cross-sections in Figure 9b
reveal that these surfaces were displaced towards the
observer. This implies a change in the rock behaviour
in the lower part of the area.
Of particular interest is the increase of differen-
tial elevation observed in the lower right part of the
face (Fig. 8b) where most values exceed +5 mm.
The monitoring of discrete points fails to capture this
phenomenon as no points were installed in this area.

Figure 8. a) Investigation area in the tunnel face and dis-
placement values measured with a total station; b) differential
elevation map of the investigation area.
5.3 Interpretation
The processes associated with the different zones iden-
tified in the differential elevation maps are the object
of current investigations (Yong et al. 2006). A pre-
liminary interpretation of the differential elevations
that occurred during the investigation period is given
below.
Several regions in the wall and in the tunnel face
are characterized by negative values (dark grey and
black areas), which indicate that the surface is mov-
ing locally away from the observer. In several cases,
large negative values are due to the fall of small rock
blocks as observed in the field. However, the major-
ity of the negative values observed in the maps is not
related to block falls. One possible explanation is the
drying of the rock that has been observed during the
investigation period.
Positive differential elevation values suggesting dis-
placement in the direction of the observer are dominant
in Figure 8b. The magnitude of these differential
elevations is generally less than 5 mm but increases
91
Figure 9. Cross-sections a-a’ (a) and b-b’ (b) with locations
shown in Figure 8a. The solid lines correspond to Session 1
while the dashed lines correspond to Session 2.
progressively in the lower right part of the tunnel face
and locally in the lower part of the left wall. This ten-
dency could be a sign of the degradation of the rock
and/or of the development of fractures sub-parallel
with the surface. This interpretation is supported by
excavation-induced fractures that have been observed
in the entrance of the tunnel. Some of these fractures
formed sub-parallel to the excavation surface in the
lower right part of the face that was excavated months
before the tunnel construction. Additionally, numer-
ous fractures oblique to the tunnel axis are also found
at the bottom of the left and right walls (Figs 6a, 8a).
Relatively large positive differential elevations are
observed between discontinuity planes intersecting the
tunnel face (Figs 8b, 9). They could be related to dis-
placements and/or the deformations of clay layers in a
direction parallel to bedding and fault planes. Fractures
parallel to bedding planes have also been observed sev-
eral months after the excavation of the opening in the
right wall of the tunnel.
6 CONCLUSION
Laser scanning is a promising tool since it has the
potential to be used for the collection of data made
available or generated by the excavation of an open-
ing. This paper aimed at assessing the performance of
the laser scanner, Imager 5003 of Zoller+Froehlich,
in mapping low-magnitude surface displacements in
underground excavations.
The accuracy of a laser scanner for the measurement
of individual points can be increased on condition that
a significant part of the noise artifacts are removed
from the point clouds. In the developed methodol-
ogy, this is achieved by taking advantage of the large
quantity of spatial data provided by the scanning.
The investigation undertaken at the Mont Terri Rock
Laboratory demonstrates that an accuracy of a few
millimetres can be reached for field conditions in the
calculation of differential elevation values calculated
from the comparison of two point clouds representing
the same surface at different times.
The case study also revealed that the examination
of differential elevation maps may bring to light phe-
nomena that are overlooked when using traditional
monitoring methods. This has some practical implica-
tions as the analysis of these maps greatly improves
the understanding of the rock mass behaviour and
allows for better constraining models of its response
to excavation.
However, the interpretation of differential elevation
maps is not straightforward as these differences do not
provide the actual magnitude and orientation of the dis-
placements. Additionally, differential elevation values
are greatly influenced by the surface geometry. To bet-
ter describe displacements, cross-sections of the rock
surface obtained from the point clouds were generated.
Current work aims at generating displacement vectors
from point clouds. The displacements mapped from
laser point clouds are also compared with data pro-
vided by other field investigation methods such as geo-
logical surface mapping, borehole image analysis, core
logging and borehole geophysics, and to numerical
models that simulate the rock mass behaviour around
the tunnel. It is expected that this investigation will lead
to a better assessment of the capability of laser scan-
ning in monitoring displacements of rock surfaces.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding for this project was provided by the Swiss Fed-
eral Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (HSK). The authors
would also like to acknowledge Simon Loew (ETH
Zuerich) and Erik Frank (HSK) for their contribution
in the EZ-B experiment, the Geotechnical Institute for
their support in the management of the experiment
and Hans-Martin Zogg and Jonas von Ruette (ETH
Zuerich) for their support in the field.
REFERENCES
Bock, H. 2001. RA Experiment rock mechanics analyses and
synthesis: Data report on rock mechanics. Internal Techni-
cal Note, Federal Office for Water and Geology (FOWG),
Berne, Switzerland.
92
Donovan, J., Kemeny, J. & Handy, J. 2005. The application of
three-dimensional imaging to rock discontinuity charac-
terization. In Proceedings of the 40th US Symposium on
Rock Mechanics, Anchorage, Alaska.
Feng, Q.H. & Röshoff, K. 2004. In-situ mapping and doc-
umentation of rock faces using full coverage 3D laser
scanning technique. In Proceedings of SINOROCK2004
Symposium, China, pp. 139–144.
Gaich, A., Pötsch M., Fasching A. & Schubert, W.
2004. Contact-free measurement of rock mass struc-
tures using the JointMetrix3D System. In Proceedings of
SINOROCK2004 Symposium, China, Paper 1B 18.
Lemy, F. & Hadjigeorgiou, J. 2004a. A digital face mapping
case study in an underground hard rock mine. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 41(6): 1011–1025.
Lemy, F. & Hadjigeorgiou, J. 2004b. A field application of
laser scanning technology to quantify rock fracture orien-
tation. In Schubert (ed.) Proceedings of EUROCK 2004 &
53rd Geomechanics Colloquium, Salzburg, October 2004.
Essen: VGE.
Lemy, F., Yong, S. & Schulz, T. High-resolution displacement
mapping of underground surfaces. In preparation.
Martin, C.D., Lanyon, G.W., Bossart, P. & Blümling, P. 2004.
Excavation disturbed zone (EDZ) in clay shale: Mont
Terri. Internal Technical Note, Federal Office for Water
and Geology (FOWG), Berne, Switzerland.
Nussbaum, C., Bossart, P., Von Rütte, J., Meier, O. &
Badertscher, N. 2005. EZ-B Experiment: Small-scale
mapping of tectonic and artificial (EDZ) fractures of the
EZ-B Niche. Internal Technical Note, Federal Office for
Water and Geology (FOWG), Berne, Switzerland.
Schubert, W. 2006. The role of on-site engineering in under-
ground projects. In Proceedings of the 2nd Asian Rock
Mechanics Symposium, Singapore, pp. 71–82.
Schulz, T. Calibration of a Terrestrial Laser Scanner for Engi-
neering Geodesy. Doctoral thesis, ETH Zurich, Switzer-
land. In preparation.
Slob, S., Hack, R., Van Knapen, B. & Kemeny, J. 2004. Auto-
mated identification and characterization of discontinuity
sets in outcropping rock masses using 3D terrestrial laser
scan survey techniques. In Schubert (ed.) Proceedings
of EUROCK 2004 & 53rd Geomechanics Colloquium,
Salzburg. Essen: VGE.
Thury, M. & Bossart, P. 1999. The Mont Terri rock labora-
tory, a new international research project in a Mesozoic
shale formation, in Switzerland. Engineering Geology 52:
347–359.
Yong, S., Loew, S., Fidelibus, C., Frank, E., Lemy, F. & Schus-
ter, K. 2006. Induced fracturing in the Opalinus Clay: An
integrated field experiment. In Proceedings of the 2nd
Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium, Singapore, Paper 270.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Use of a 3-D scanning laser to quantify drift geometry and overbreak due to
blast damage in underground manned entries

J. Warneke, J.G. Dwyer, & T. Orr

National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), Spokane, Washington, USA

ABSTRACT: Case-study data from a series of three-dimensional scanning laser tests conducted at the Still-
water Mining Company’s, Stillwater Mine in Nye, Montana, USA is presented. A series of blast rounds in two
underground development drifts were scanned using a Leica HDS 3000 Scanning Laser. Detailed digital surveys
from the scans were used to supplement basic blast audit data including location and orientation of drill holes,
comparison of “as-designed” versus “as-built” and calculations of overbreak and underbreak. Operational con-
siderations and feasibility of using the system as a research tool to quantify blast damage are discussed as well
as the safety implications of improving blast designs.

1 INTRODUCTION damage produced from a blast would minimize the

1.1 NIOSH mine safety research
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) is currently performing blasting
research to help mine operators minimize the amount
of loose or damaged rock surrounding a blasted open-
ing. The goal of the research is to show that better
perimeter control in underground excavations will
decrease the number of accidents associated with
ground fall injuries as well as decrease the exposure
to hazards associated with scaling and installation
of ground support. One component of the project is
to develop standardized methods for quantitatively
assessing improvements in blast designs. This paper
highlights preliminary results from a case study of sev-
eral drift development rounds at the Stillwater Mining
Company’s (SMC) Stillwater Mine, Nye, Montana.
1.2 Quantification of blast damage
The primary objective of designing an underground
blast round is to fracture the rock mass of a desired
excavation according to specific design criteria (e.g.,
size distribution, muck pile placement, round dimen-
sions, etc.). However, in doing so, the rock adjacent
to the opening is commonly fractured and weakened.
The damaged ground must be secured before further
advancement of the working face can occur. This task
involves scaling of loose material, either mechanically
or by hand, and the installation of various ground sup-
port systems. Both tasks are highly hazardous to the
miners that perform them.A reduction in the peripheral
amount of scaling and ground support needed, thus
reducing a miner’s exposure to these hazardous tasks.
Damage and overbreak have many definitions as
reported in the literature:
1 “Overbreak can be defined as the excessive break-
age of rock beyond the desired excavation limit.”
(Fletcher et al. 1989).
2 “Blast damage refers to the type of damage beyond
the breakage zone immediately around the bore-
holes.” (Yu & Vongpaisal 1996).
3 “Damage to a rock mass is considered to be the
reduction in its integrity or quality.” (Scoble et al.
1997). The authors made a distinction between
inherent rock mass damage, which arises from
natural processes during its evolution, and mining-
induced damage, which is inflicted by the mining
process itself. Mining-induced damage may relate
to blasting, mechanical excavation, or the redistri-
bution of ground stressed by the excavation process.
4 “Damage is a change in the rock mass proper-
ties which degrades its performance and behavior”
(Singh 1992).
For the purposes of this project, NIOSH defines
blast damage as the unintended collateral damage and
weakening of the rock mass around the periphery
of an underground excavation due to explosives use.
References to overbreak in this paper refer to that por-
tion of the blast damage between the intended design
perimeter and final excavation perimeter as shown in
Figure 1.

93

Intended excavation
Actual excavation
Blast damage Overbreak
Figure 1. Comparison of “as-designed” vs. “as-built” show-
ing overbreak and blast damage.
While the definitions of blast damage are plentiful,
methods for quantifying the extent of the damage are
much less accessible. This was reiterated by Scoble
et al. (1997) who stated, “There is no straightforward
and systematic method for adequately measuring blast
damage in on-going mining operations.”
The purpose of the field studies conducted by
NIOSH was to investigate the feasibility of using scan-
ning lasers coupled with digital photography and field
mapping techniques to quantify the results of several
blast rounds with respect to the final perimeter of
the underground excavation. Information about col-
lar locations, drill hole orientations, charge weights,
explosive performance, vibration data, geological and
geotechnical data and other information was also
collected as part of this study.
Related project work is being done by NIOSH and
cooperating researchers to quantify the extent of dam-
age that extends beyond the perimeter of the final
opening. The focus of this paper is to highlight the
operational logistics and feasibility of using a three-
dimensional scanning laser to quantify drift geometry
and overbreak as well as to aid in collection of blasthole
data. Detailed digital surveys of several development
drift rounds were made using a three-dimensional
scanning laser. Results were used to compare
“as-designed” versus “as-built” dimensions of the
drifts and to calculate overbreak percentages. Informa-
tion was also collected to assess the drilling accuracy.
2 EQUIPMENT AND DATA COLLECTION
METHODS
2.1 Equipment selection considerations
One of the most important components of NIOSH’s
initial blast audit was the measurement of the over-
break and underbreak in the underground openings.
94
Several methods have been used in the past to measure
overbreak and underbreak in underground excava-
tions. These methods include manual measurements,
standard surveying, laser surveying with reflectors,
photographic sectioning, and light sectioning meth-
ods. The limitations of some of these previously
used methods are that they are subjective, manually
intensive, time-consuming, and often provide detailed
information only for a select number of points instead
of for the entire scene.
In order for an instrument to be of any practical
value, the necessary data must be easily attainable
while minimizing disruption to the production cycle.
Maerz et al. (1996) developed the following criteria for
an instrument to measure tunnel profiles successfully
in a working environment:
1 Speed: measurements should not interfere with
operations, and results must be available from one
round before drilling begins on the next round.
2 Accuracy and precision: measurements must be
reproducible, and of sufficient accuracy.
3 Simplicity: the method must be easy to implement
by available personnel.
4 Cost: purchase, operation, and maintenance of the
equipment must be within a specified budget.
5 Reliability: equipment must function under a large
range of conditions, including high temperature,
humidity and levels of dust.
6 Versatility: the method must be operational for
different shapes and sizes of tunnels, shafts, and
inclines.
7 Clarity of results: the output data must be immedi-
ately usable; in practice this refers to both graphical
and numerical output.
As much as possible, NIOSH’s field equipment
selection and data collection methodology was based
upon these criteria while also ensuring the instru-
mentation was capable of collecting the required
research data.
2.2 Field equipment used
For the field tests NIOSH selected Leica Geosystems’
HDS-3000, which is a pulsed, high-speed laser scan-
ner with survey-grade accuracy, range, and field of
view (Leica GeoSystems HDS3000, Leica 2006). The
instrument supports standard surveying procedures,
such as instrument setup over known or assumed sur-
vey points, height-of-instrument measurements, and
instrument orientations for automated geo-referencing
of scan data to local coordinate systems. The instru-
ment is also capable of taking digital images of the
scan area. Table 1 provides an overview of the system
performance and capabilities of the instrument.
Use of the scanning laser made it possible for the
researchers to collect detailed digital surveys of the
Table 1. Overview of Leica HDS 3000 scanner
specifications.

Instrument type Pulsed, high-speed laser

scanner, with survey-grade
accuracy, range, and field-
of-view
User interface Notebook or Tablet PC
Scanner drive Servo motor
Camera Integrated high-resolution
digital camera
System performance
Accuracy of single
measurement
Position* 6 mm
Distance* 4 mm
Angle 60 microradians Figure 2. Typical field setup of the laser scanner and laptop
Modeled surface 2 mm computer.
precision/noise
Target acquisition** 2 mm std. deviation in cooperation with Stillwater’s rock mechanics and
Laser scanning system geology departments extensively mapped the geology
Type Pulsed: proprietary and structural information in the test drifts. Geotech-
microchip nical, geological, and blast vibration data coupled with
Color Green blast performance measures and laser scan data pro-
Laser class 3R (IEC 60825-1) vided a wealth of information that will be reported
Range 300 m @ 90%; 134 m @ elsewhere. The primary focus of this paper is a dis-
18% albedo
Scan rate Up to 4,000 points/sec.
cussion of the data collection methodology, field
considerations, and results from the laser scanner.
Scan resolution
Spot size From 0–50 m : 4 mm
(FWHH – based); 6 mm
(Gaussian – based) 2.3 Data collection procedures
Selectable resolution Independently, fully field tests were conducted in two separate devel-
selectable vertical and opment headings on the 4400 W Footwall Lateral
horizontal point to point
(44 W FWL) and the 4700 W Footwall Lateral (47 W
measurement spacing
Point Spacing Fully selectable horizontal FWL) levels. These headings were chosen by SMC
and vertical; 1.2 mm personnel based on several considerations. First, the
minimum spacing development headings were deemed as “typical” of
Maximum sample density 1.2 mm the conditions encountered and methods used at the
Scan row (horizontal) Max 20,000 points/row mine. Secondly, the headings were of a lower priority,
Scan column (vertical) Max 5,000 points/column which allowed scheduling flexibility to accommodate
Field -of-view (per scan) research needs. Because of the lower priority, the 44 W
Horizontal 360 degrees (maximum) was only being worked on a single shift. This provided
Vertical 270 degrees (maximum) maximum access to the mining cycle without having
to provide around-the-clock coverage. Third, both of
* At 1 m–50 m range, one sigma. the headings were easily accessible, making it possi-
** Algorithmic fit to planar HDS targets. ble to transport equipment and personnel via the 4800
decline. Finally, the headings were generally isolated
underground openings without a major disruption to from the rest of the activities at the mine, minimizing
the production cycle and to analyze the point clouds the disruption of the mine’s productivity.
from the scanner in terms of overbreak, underbreak, Laser scans were acquired before and after a series
and drift geometry. of development drift rounds for a two-week period.
Additional blast data was collected using Instantel Average advance rates were approximately 3.7 to
Minimate® Plus vibration monitors and triaxial geo- 4.0-m [12 to 13-ft] per round. The scanner was oper-
phones mounted along the ribs at varying distances ated using a laptop computer connected via a network
away from the blast. Loading and timing informa- cable. The scanner was powered by one of two batter-
tion was provided by the miners working at the face. ies that came with the system, while the laptop relied
NIOSH personnel and contractors from the University on internal battery power. Figure 2 shows the scanner
of British Columbia’s Geomechanics Group working and a typical field setup.

95
Figure 3. Example of NIOSH-developed rib-mounted
spherical target and identification placard used to merge
overlapping scan areas.
Post-blast scans were made after the heading had
been mucked out, but prior to scaling and installation
of ground support. This allowed the freshly blasted
face to be scanned from a distance while ensuring
personnel remained under safely supported ground.
Leica Geosystems and NIOSH-designed targets
were numbered and placed throughout the scan scene
(Figure 3). These targets allowed the scanner process-
ing software to merge adjacent scans collected over
the course of two weeks into a combined digital survey
of the area. SMC staff also surveyed the target loca-
tions so the scan data could be referenced to the local
mine coordinate systems. The use of targets was also
useful for editing the point clouds to limit the dataset
to information of specific interest, such as cross- or
long-sections of the drift, drill hole collars, instrument
locations, and ground supports.
The targets were mounted along the rib straps
using magnetic bases or were screwed into holes that
had been drilled and tapped in the rock bolt plates.
This allowed for easy removal of the targets so they
would not be damaged during blasting, but allowed
for easy and accurate remount in known positions for
subsequent scans.
Pre-blast scans required a higher level of detail than
post-blast scans. The primary purpose of the post-blast
scans was to gather sufficient information to repre-
sent the size and shape of the excavation, whereas
pre-blast scans involved collection of collar locations
and approximation of blasthole angles. The scanner
is capable of collecting x, y, z information every
1.2-mm [0.05-in], but there is a trade-off between
time to collect scan data and scan data density. The
time it takes for the HDS 3000 to acquire scan data
is largely dependent on the horizontal density of the
scan. Many different horizontal densities were tried
over the two-week period until a density was found
that optimized the data density and the scan time.
96
Figure 4. Laser scan of drill hole collars and scan aids.
(Note: this is the actual point cloud and not a photograph).
A full 360-degree scan at the highest density possi-
ble would require approximately four hours of actual
scan time, which is impractical. NIOSH researchers
determined for roughly a 6-m [20-ft] scan range a scan
density of approximately 7.5-mm by 5-mm [0.3-in
by 0.2-in] provided ample detail and could be com-
pleted in 45 minutes or less. At the Stillwater Mine,
a 45-minute scan could easily be completed while the
development crew was cycling equipment, retrieving
explosives from the magazines, or conducting other
tasks.
Once the face was drilled-out, but before the drill
holes were loaded, a detailed face scan was performed
to locate the hole collars and to estimate the drill hole
orientations. To accomplish this, “scan aids” that con-
sisted of two-foot long pieces of plastic PVC pipe were
inserted in each drill hole, and the collar of each drill
hole was spray-painted (Figure 4). The paint enhanced
the reflected signal of the laser at the collar location of
each drill hole and made the point cloud display easier
to interpret. The scan aid pipes provided an approxima-
tion of the hole orientation that could later be displayed
in three dimensions using the processing software.
Attempts were made to use the digital photography
feature of the laser scanner. However, lighting provided
by shining cap lamps in the photo region was insuf-
ficient. Subsequent attempts using auxiliary lighting
from small underground man carriers were also unsuc-
cessful. For these preliminary trials, it was decided
that while the digital photographs would be useful,
they were not a crucial piece of the data collection
procedures.
3 RESULTS
The laser scanner output is in the form of a three-
dimensional point cloud. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate
samples of point cloud data. Figure 5 shows the point
Figure 5. Examples of laser point cloud data shown from computer-generated viewpoints inside the drift (left) and outside
the drift (right). Light-colored band on right side denotes a cross-sectional study area.

Table 2. Percent overbreak and area for cross-sections along

44FW study drift.

Cross- % over- Cross-sectional Overbreak

section break area (m2 ) area (m2 )

Planned 0% 11.3 0.0

Xsect00 16% 13.1 1.8
Xsect01 6% 11.9 0.7
Xsect02 4% 11.7 0.4
Xsect03 10% 12.4 1.1
Xsect04 4% 11.7 0.5

in Figure 6. The areas and perimeters of the as-built

Figure 6. Examples of actual (solid line) vs. planned
(dashed line) at the mid-point of select blast rounds.
cloud data from two computer viewpoints: inside and
outside the study drift. The information gathered in
each of the scans was used to create profiles of the
drift, locate the collars of the drill holes, and estimate
the blast hole orientation. The data also provides a
detailed image that can later be compared to field maps
of geology and geotechnical data or used to view the
types and amount of ground support installed.
3.1 Computation of overbreak from point clouds
To create cross-sections, the combined dataset was
sliced into 1-foot cross-sections perpendicular to the
axis of the drift. An example of one of these cross-
sections is denoted by the light band on the right side
of Figure 5. The cross-sections were exported into
AutoCAD, traced with a closed polyline, and mapped
over a drawing of the planned drift geometry as shown
and planned cross-section were then measured using
AutoCAD and tabulated for analysis.
Table 2 contains the measurements of percentage
overbreak and cross-sectional area at the mid-point of
the excavation for five blast rounds on the 44FW level.
Each of the cross-sections indicated overbreak ranging
from under 4 percent to over 16 percent.
3.2 Drill hole collar locations and estimation
of drill hole orientation
Along with the comparison of the as-built to the
as-designed, drill hole collar locations and estimated
orientations were also incorporated into the scans.
Estimates of the drill hole orientations were computed
by using the processing software to “fit” a cylinder to
the point cloud data of a PVC pipe inserted in the drill
holes as shown previously in figure 4. The processing
software was used to extend the cylinders back through
the entire length of the round and to estimate the end
of the hole. This method of estimation does not take
drill deviation into account, but does provide a quick
and easy approximation of the drill hole orientation
without requiring manual measurements.

97

Figure 7. Plan view of drill hole locations and orientations
as estimated from scan aids projected back through the length
of the round.
In the scanner processing software, the ability to
view the estimated drill hole data in three dimensions
is extremely valuable. Figure 7 is a plan view of the
estimated hole locations as projected from the scan
aids. As can be seen in this figure, one hole near the
center of the face appears to be substantially out-of-
parallel with the majority of holes in the round, but
overall, the hole alignment is fairly good. In contrast,
Figure 8 shows a side view of drill hole orientations for
a sump cut-out made perpendicular to the drift. When
angled in this manner, alignment of the drill boom is
more difficult for the drill-jumbo operator and was
most likely a contributing factor to the high degree of
variability in drill hole orientations.
Poor drilling practices, poor hole alignment, collar-
ing errors, and other deviations from the planned drill
pattern can have a substantial impact on the results of
a blast (Barkley 2003, Forsyth et al. 1995, and others).
Information from the laser scans could be used to help
improve quality control in drilling and to show drillers
the effect of imprecise drilling on the final excavation
perimeter.
3.3 Benefits of using a scanning laser in
underground drill and blast excavations
The use of the 3-D scanning laser decreases the amount
of time needed to collect data on profiles, and collar
locations, and provides a quick and easy estimation
of borehole deviations. One previous study (Moser
98
Figure 8. Cutaway side view of estimated drill hole loca-
tions and orientations for a sump being constructed perpen-
dicular to the drift.
et al. 1996), reported that traditional surveying meth-
ods required a total of 3.5 hours for data collection
(one hour to survey collar positions, one hour to sur-
vey borehole deviations, and 1.5 hours to survey blast
profiles at three locations along the excavation) with
additional time for data processing. With the use of
a 3-D scanning laser, all of the data on profiles, col-
lar locations, and borehole deviations can be collected
with a single 45-minute scan of the area and provides
much more information than discrete profile measure-
ments. This 45 minute scan consists of pulling into the
drift, setting up targets, placing scan aids, spray paint-
ing interesting features, and the scan. The scan itself
would scan the face to be shot and the profile of the
previous round. This method allowed us to only need
one scan to collect the required data.
The NIOSH data collection methods satisfy the
Maerz, et al. criteria – speed, accuracy, simplicity,
cost, reliability, versatility, and clarity of results – for
measuring drift profile. The mine personnel can view
accurate and repeatable preliminary results in a read-
ily understandable 3-D graphical format within a few
minutes of completing and processing a scan. The
simplicity and versatility of the system also make it
possible to collect very detailed information without
significantly affecting the mining cycle. The costs of
the scanner are comparable to higher-end surveying
equipment and therefore should be within the budgets
of a typical mine.
One of the most substantial benefits of using a scan-
ning laser is the level of detail provided by the data.
High density, three-dimensional point cloud data could
potentially be used to extract important geotechnical
data automatically. Such efforts are currently under-
way by several researchers (Nasrallah et al. 2004,
Kemeny & Handy 2004, Post et al. 2001, Poropat
2001, and others) to characterize the rock mass using
remotely-sensed data including digital imagery and
point cloud scan data. A sound understanding of the
geotechnical environment is essential to develop drill
and blast designs, but manual collection of information
can be time-consuming and subjective and therefore is
not always performed as a standard matter of practice
in underground mines. However, when ground con-
ditions are difficult to define prior to development,
or when variable ground conditions exist, methods
for designing and assessing the drilling and blasting
practices is essential (Onederra et al. 2001) and will
help ensure blast damage to the excavation is kept to a
minimum. In the future blast designs may include the
utilization of automated geotechnical data to refine
pattern layouts and explosive selections.
Detailed digital records of the underground excava-
tions could also be used to track the type and amount of
ground support in particular regions. Subsequent scans
of the area could be taken and compared to earlier point
clouds to compute scaled volumes or to quantify the
amount and location of sloughed material. Areas that
require rehabilitation of ground support or experience
rock falls could also be studied to evaluate whether the
rehabilitation was necessary because of blast damage,
blast disturbance, or other mining-induced causes.Any
tools that could be developed to track and assess the
damage from blasting would be valuable to manage
the risks associated with this damage and to help mine
operators design safer excavations.
4 FIELD LESSONS LEARNED
Several concepts were developed over the course of
this initial study including: 1) the use of laser scan
aids to register overlapping scans and to identify the
drill holes in the face; 2) the use of point cloud pro-
cessing software to estimate drill hole orientation; and
3) the ability to look at data in a three-dimensional
environment as it is being acquired.
The custom-designed spherical targets provided the
most efficient results because they could quickly be
removed and reinstalled between blasts. These targets
are also omni-directional, meaning they did not need to
be directed toward the laser scanner, which reduced the
amount of time needed to readjust the targets between
scans.
Estimation of the drill-hole orientations using the
scan-aids assumed that the drill holes were perfectly
straight (the drill steel did not bend during drilling)
and that the cylindrical scan aids placed in the hole
collars were perfectly aligned with the axis of the
drill hole. Precise hole orientations and deviations
would require time-consuming down-the-hole surveys
using specialized instrument. While the scan-aid tech-
nique of estimating the drill-hole orientations may not
be exact, the information does provide a quick and
reasonable approximation that can be used to monitor
quality control and operator consistency.
99
From an operational perspective, a number of
lessons were learned during the initial trials of the
scanning laser in an underground environment. First,
when power is not available, the laptop battery is the
weakest link in the system. Provisions for extra batter-
ies and/or a plan for recharging need to be incorporated
into the field plan. The stand-alone batteries for the
scanner were sufficient to power the instrument for
several scans covering an entire shift.
Standing water poses a problem for the laser scan-
ner. The water surface may reflect and refract the laser
beam adding erroneous time of flight to scanned point.
Generally, this erroneous data falls outside of the con-
fines of the scan area and can be quickly removed in the
software but may cause problems if the noise interferes
with important data.
The use of placards and spray paint on features of
interest make analyzing data easier. The reflectivity
of the spray paint is highly distinguishable from the
host rock and makes recognition of items of interest
like collars and geologic features stand out. Placards
identifying target numbers, locations, and dates also
greatly simplify analysis of the data.
When possible, the laser should be set up under
a known point, (like a total station for surveying) to
allow the data to be collected in the same coordinate
system used by the mine. The software allows the user
to translate the dataset to the mine coordinate system,
but this adds yet another task in the data processing
that would be unnecessary if the instrument was set up
under a control point.
The laser needs to acclimate to the surrounding tem-
perature. Bringing the laser from a cool environment
to a warm mine causes condensation on the lenses that
required upwards of an hour to dissipate.
Lighting provided by shining cap lamps or small
underground man carriers in the photo region was
insufficient to use the digital photography feature of
the laser scanner.
Future testing of various lighting options to utilize
the digital photography feature of the instrument is
planned. Tests pertaining to sensitivity analyses of var-
ious scan aids, extraction of geotechnical data from
point clouds, computation of scaled volumes, and anal-
ysis techniques for computation of displaced volumes
are also planned.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The collection of drift profiles, collar locations, and
drill hole orientations to assess blast designs and blast
performance is certainly not a novel concept. However,
the authors have shown that by using current 3-D laser
scanning technology to record detailed digital records
of the final excavation perimeter, a wealth of informa-
tion can be collected that surpasses many of the older,
more traditional techniques. The instrument quickly
and successfully collected data without a major disrup-
tion to the production cycle, and allowed researchers
to analyze the point clouds in terms of overbreak,
underbreak, and drift geometry as well as give an indi-
cation of the accuracy of drilling. Future research may
allow mine operators to extract important geotechni-
cal data automatically from the point clouds, which
will foster improvements in blast design and ground
support considerations. The detailed digital records
provide data that can aid mine operators in tracking and
assessing blast performance and quantifying effects of
changing blast designs in order to improve safety for
underground miners.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Stillwater
Mining Company for participating in this project and
providing data, mine access, and personnel support
for this research. All activities at the mine were per-
formed in direct collaboration with Rad Langston,
Sr. Rock Mechanics Engineer-SMC and John Mar-
jerison, Rock Mechanics Engineer-SMC. Much vital
information and cooperation was provided by many
of the miners at the face, particularly Stu Doyle, Ken
Sykes, Clay Sweet, and Clint Stadel. The authors grate-
fully acknowledge the summer interns who provided
transportation to and from the working areas, as well
as assistance on the project. This project would not be
possible or successful without the assistance provided
by these and other SMC personnel. Special thanks
to Jacqueline Post and Rich Mainiero of NIOSH,
and Braden Lusk of the University of Kentucky for
their assistance in editing and reviewing a preliminary
version of this manuscript.
REFERENCES
Barkley, T. 2002 Measuring underground face drilling and
blasting. In Proceedings of the International Society of
Explosives Engineers Annual Meeting, pp 11.
Forsyth, W.W., Kleine, T.H. & Cameron, A.R. 1995. Inaccu-
rate blasthole drilling. In Proceedings of the International
Society for Explosives Engineers Annual Meeting, vol. 2,
pp. 36–42.
Kemeny, J. & Handy, J. 2004. Improving blast fragmen-
tation prediction with new technologies for rock mass
100
characterization. In Proceedings of the International Soci-
ety for Explosives Engineers Annual Meeting, vol. 1.
Leica 2006. Leica Geosystems product website. http://www.
leica-geosystems.com/hds/en/lgs_5574.htm (accessed
Oct. 10, 2006).
Maerz, N.H., Ibarra, J.A. & Franklin, J.A. 1996. Overbreak
and underbreak in underground openings Part 1: measure-
ment using the light sectioning method and digital image
processing. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 14:
307–323.
Moser, P., Obendorfer, T. & Siefert M. 1996. Drill and blast
data analysis procedure for the purpose of blast perfor-
mance improvement in underground drifting. In Mohanty
(ed.), Rock Fragmentation by Blasting – FRAGBLAST 5.
Balkema.
Nasrallah, J.G., Monte, J. & Kemeny, J. 2004. Rock mass
characterization for slope/catch bench design using 3D
laser and digital imaging. In Gulf Rocks 2004, Proceedings
of the 6th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Houston, TX.
Onederra, K., Riijioja, K. & Chitombo, G. 2001. Com-
puter aided design and information management for tun-
nel development using drilling and blasting techniques.
In Proceedings ISRM Regional Symposium, Eurock 2001.
Post, R.M., Kemeny, J.M. & Murphy, R. 2001. Image process-
ing for automatic extaction of rock joint orientation data
from digital images. In Elsworth et al. (eds.), Proceedings,
Rock Mechanics in the National Interest,Washington, D.C.
A.A. Balkema, pp. 877–884.
Poropat, G.V. 2001. New methods for mapping the struc-
ture of rock masses. In Proceedings Explo 2001: Blasting
Techniques andTechnologyToday andTomorrow’s. Hunter
Valley: Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
Publication series No. 4/2001.
Scoble, M.J., Lizotte, Y.C., Paventi, M. & Mohanty, B.B.
1997. Measurement of blast damage. Mining Engineering.
June: 103–108.
Singh, S.P. 1992. Mining industry and blast damage. Journal
of Mines Metals and Fuels December: 465–472.
Yu, T.R. & Vongpaisal, S. 1996. New blast damage criteria for
underground blasting. CIM Bulletin 89(998): 139–145.
The findings and conclusions in this report are those
of the authors and do not necessarily represent the
views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health; nor does mention of trade names, commer-
cial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by
the U.S. Government.This paper is a result of work per-
formed by the U.S. Government, free non-copyrighted
reproductions of this article may be obtained from the
authors.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Directional roughness profiles from three-dimensional photogrammetric

or laser scanner point clouds

W.C. Haneberg
Haneberg Geoscience, Seattle, Washington, USA

ABSTRACT: Outcrop-scale directional roughness profiles can be extracted from photogrammetric or laser
scanner point clouds using a straightforward five step procedure consisting of: 1) calculation of the dip direction
and magnitude for use as a geologically significant reference vector; 2) rotation of the coordinate system into
alignment with the dip-line and strike-line; 3) interpolation of scattered points onto a grid in a plane defined
by the dip-line and strike-line; 4) extraction of linear profiles in desired directions relative to the dip-line; and
5) estimation of quantities such as Patton asperity angles (i) and Barton joint roughness coefficients (JRC) using
published empirical relationships. Because rotation of the coordinate system effectively reduces the dimension-
ality of the problem, rock surface roughness can be conveniently visualized using contour maps, shaded relief
images, or three-dimensional surface plots. Profile data extracted from point clouds can also be used as the basis
for more advanced methods such as spectral or fractal analysis of rock surface roughness. Extraction of profiles
and estimation of i and JRC values is illustrated using data from a large joint surface encountered in a highway
rock slope stabilization project along Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, USA.

1 INTRODUCTION This paper describes a simple method to pro-

Practical measurements of rock surface roughness
have traditionally been made using methods that
require direct contact with the rock (e.g. Wyllie &
Norrish 1996). Although direct methods can produce
accurate and useful results, they have some significant
limitations. Traditional field-based measurements can
be made only on rock surfaces that are accessible,
which can require the use of technical rock climb-
ing equipment or mechanical lifting devices that are
expensive, time consuming, and may expose field per-
sonnel to hazardous conditions. Some practitioners use
pocket-sized mechanical contour gauges that, while
being simple and easy to carry, can measure profiles
only 15 to 20 cm long. Laboratory methods likewise
require accessible rock surfaces for sample collection
in the field and are generally limited to small samples
that can be easily collected and transported.
Technological advances have made high-resolution
digital photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scan-
ning affordable tools for practical and academic rock
mass characterization at the outcrop scale (Slob et al.
2004, Haneberg 2005, Renard et al. 2006, Sagy et al.
2005). Both methods can produce a dense aggregate
of coordinates – commonly referred to as a point
cloud – defining the surface of the outcrop in three
dimensions.
duce directional rock surface profiles from three-
dimensional photogrammetric or laser scanner point
clouds. The method consists of five steps that can be
implemented using either proprietary or open source
software: 1) determination of the dip-line orientation
for use as a reference vector, 2) three-dimensional rota-
tion of points defining the surface of interest into align-
ment with the dip-line, 3) interpolation of a regularly
gridded surface from which profiles can be extracted,
4) extraction of a linear profile in any direction speci-
fied relative to the dip-line, and 5) estimation of rock
surface roughness measures used in shear strength cri-
teria such as those proposed by Patton (1966), Barton
(1973, 1976), Kulatilake et al. (1995), or others. The
method is illustrated using a joint surface extracted
from photogrammetric point cloud obtained as part
of a highway rock slope stabilization project along
Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, USA.
2 DIP-LINE REFERENCE VECTOR
The dip-line, strike-line, and normal to the joint plane
form a convenient and geologically significant local
and orthogonal coordinate system that simplifies cal-
culation of roughness. The dip-line, consisting of both
dip direction and dip magnitude, can be measured in

101
the field using a geologic compass or calculated from a
plane fitted to the point cloud data as described below.
Given the x, y, z coordinates of N points defining the
rock surface of interest, the normal, n = {nx , ny , nz }, to
the best-fit plane passing through the centroid of the
point cloud is the eigenvector corresponding to the
smallest eigenvalue of the covariance matrix (Fienen
2005):
in which x̄, ȳ, and z̄ are the arithemetic mean values of
each coordinate and which, taken together, define the
centroid of the point cloud. This approach is preferable
to standard least squares methods because it minimizes
the normal deviations between the points and the best
fit plane whereas the standard method minimizes only
the z-direction deviations.
It is assumed that the point cloud is initially refer-
enced to a geographic coordinate system in which the
positive x-axis corresponds to east, the positive y-axis
corresponds to north, and the positive z-axis represents
to elevation. In such a case, simple geometry can be
used to show that the azimuth of the dip-line of the
best-fit plane is
in which sgn (nz ) = +1 if nz > 0 and sgn (nz ) = −1
if nz < 0. The x and y components are reversed from
their normal positions to account for the fact that the
azimuth is referenced to the positive y-axis (north)
rather than the positive x-axis (east). Equation (2) must
be evaluated using a four-quadrant arctangent function
that preserves the signs of both the numerator and the
denominator. If the point cloud coordinates are given
in something other than a geographic coordinate sys-
tem, for example a local project or mine coordinate
system, the difference between north and the local
coordinate system y-axis must be taken into account.
The dip angle of the best-fit plane is:
Although the dip-line is directed downward, dip angles
are considered positive in this paper to maintain
consistency with traditional geologic notation.
102
3 ROTATION AND INTERPOLATION
Once the dip-line orientated is known, the point cloud
coordinates can be referenced to a coordinate system
with axes parallel and perpendicular to the dip-line.
Rotation simplifies subsequent data processing and
makes available a variety of analytical and visual-
ization tools in which surface height is given as a
function of two independent orthogonal coordinates.
The coordinate system can be rotated such that the
downward-directed dip-line corresponds to the nega-
tive y-axis and the surface roughness corresponds to
variations in the z-direction using an abbreviated form
of the three-dimensional rotation matrix:
The rotation described by equation (4) performs the
equivalent of two separate rotations. The first rotates
the points about the vertical z-axis so that the dip direc-
tion is parallel to the –y-axis. The second rotates the
dip-line upward into the x−y coordinate plane.As long
as the rotations are performed in this order using equa-
tion (4), there is no need to specify the third Euler angle
that is required for more general three-dimensional
rotations.
Once the point cloud coordinates have been recast
in terms of a coordinate system parallel and perpendic-
ular to the dip-line (left-hand side of equation 4), they
can be interpolated onto a regular grid in order to pro-
duce profiles in arbitrary directions. The example in
this note uses bicubic splines to produce a smooth and
continuously differentiable surface that passes through
the rotated points. A triangulated irregular network
(TIN) can be also be used although, as explained below,
a TIN has some computational disadvantages for in
approach used in the example presented below.
Once a regularly gridded surface has been interpo-
lated, profiles can be plotted to visualize roughness
in any direction. It is possible to use a grid increment
smaller than the typical data point spacing. While this
can produce a smooth surface that is more easily visu-
alized than one based on a coarse grid, it does not
add any information about roughness components with
wavelengths shorter than the typical point spacing.
4 DIRECTIONAL ROUGHNESS
Rock surface roughness – used here as a generic term
to describe the relief of joints, faults, bedding planes,
and other geologic discontinuities – can be estimated
by visually comparing the calculated profiles with
standard profiles or by using more quantitative mea-
sures that are ideally suited to digital outcrop models.
 Current technology allows the routine creation
of three-dimensional point clouds in which points
are typically separated by millimeters to centime-
ters. Thus, digital rock surface characterization has
the potential to characterize first order variations in
roughness that occur over tens to hundreds of centime-
ters. Finer scale second-order roughness estimates over
scales of 5 to 10 cm can be made under favorable con-
ditions and if the average point spacing is on the order
of millimeters or less, as might be obtained by placing
the camera or scanner in close proximity to the rock
surface.
The rock mechanics literature is replete with meth-
ods for the quantification of rock surface roughness
from surface profiles, but the joint roughness coef-
ficient (JRC) proposed by Barton (1973, 1976) is
probably the most widely used among practicing rock
engineers. The asperity angle i proposed by Patton
(1966) is also attractive to some practitioners, par-
ticularly in situations where the normal stress is low
and asperities are not crushed, because of its straight-
forward geometric definition. This paper makes use
of two straightforward published formulae to estimate
JRC and i values from surface profiles. More sophis-
ticated measures of fractal dimensions and spectral
parameters for shear strength criteria such as those
proposed by Kulatilake et al (1995) can also be cal-
culated from profiles, but are not discussed in this
paper. Maerz et al (1990) provide and overview of
other measures of roughness.
Maerz et al (1990) published the empirical
correlations
in which
and z is the height of the profile above a reference line.
Application of each of these empirical correlations is
illustrated in the example below.
5 EXAMPLE
This example uses a cloud of approximately 7000
points created with Sirovision (CSIRO 2005), a com-
mercial photogrammetry and structural mapping soft-
ware package. The modeled joint surface was exposed
in a highway cut along Interstate 90 about 106 km east
of Seattle, Washington. Rock in the area consists of
early Oligocene to middle Eocene Naches Formation
rhyolite, andesite, and basalt, tuff, and breccia with
lesser amounts of sandstone, argillite, and laminated
siltstone interbeds (Tabor et al. 2000). Haneberg et al.
(2006) describe the geologic setting, photogrammetric
work used to create the three-dimensional model, and
project results in detail.
Note that measurements of length and area in the
example below are given in the original units of feet, as
is standard for engineering projects within the United
States. To convert feet to meters, multiply by 0.3.
The entire three-dimensional model, shown in
Figure 1, consists of 425,523 xyz points in the
project coordinate system and covers approximately
7700 square feet (715 m2 ) outcrop surface, giving an

in which c is an empirical constant with values of

approximately 400, the roughness profile index, Rp ,
is the ratio of the true profile surface length to its
projected length along the best-fit plane. Maerz et al
(1990) reported values of c = 401 and c = 411. For a
digital profile consisting of N discrete points sepa-
rated by distance s and having heights zi measured
relative to a reference height, Rp can be approximated
as the sum of the Pythagorean lengths of many small
straight line segments:

Figure 1. Surface model of a rock slope along Interstate 90

Tse & Cruden (1979) developed a similar empirical
correlations based upon the root-mean-square (RMS)
of the local surface slope of a profile:
approximately 66 miles (106 km) east of Seattle, WA, con-
sisting of about 425,000 xyz points created using Sirovision
digital photogrammetry software. The modeled outcrop is
about 65 feet (15 m). The joint surface to be extracted for
roughness measurement is outlined near the lower center of
the slope.

103
average linear xyz point spacing of about 4 cm and
an estimated RMS error of 0.02 feet (0.6 cm). Denser
photogrammetric point clouds can be obtained using
higher resolution cameras or lenses with longer focal
lengths to decrease the amount of area covered.
The point cloud coordinates for the joint were
exported from Sirovision as a text file and imported
into the commercial mathematics software Mathe-
matica (Haneberg 2004, Wolfram 2003) for plane
fitting, rotation, profile extraction, and visualization.
Bicubic spline interpolation of the rotated points was
performed using the akima interpolation package writ-
ten for the open-source computer software R (Akima
1978, R Development Core Team 2006).
Figure 2 contains three-dimensional plots of the
6990 points defining the discontinuity surface to be
analyzed, one looking up the dip-line and the other
along the orthogonal strike-line. Formulation of the Figure 3. Points comprising the point surface after rotation
coordinate matrix described by equation (1) and appli- of the coordinate system. The joint surface is now quantified
cation of the eigenvalue plane fitting technique pro- as the vertical distance above or below the plane defined by
duced a best-fit dip direction of 158◦ and a dip angle the dip-line and strike-line. 1 foot = 0.3 m.
of 50◦ .
The points were rotated using equation (4) to
produce the joint surface topography illustrated in
Figure 3, which shows the joint surface height as a
function of the strike-parallel and down-dip coordi-
nates. Several scales of surface roughness are evident
and the topography agrees qualitatively with that
shown in Figure 1. The surface roughness appears to be
somewhat anisotropic, with the principal directions of
anisotropy oriented obliquely to the dip and strike axes.
Figure 4 illustrates three methods that can be used
to graphically depict surface roughness once the coor-
dinate system has been rotated: a contour map, a
shaded relief image, and a series of intersecting rough-
ness profiles superimposed on a contour map. For
the work described in this paper, the use of regularly
gridded values rather than a TIN allowed the joint sur-
face to be represented as a Mathematica construction

Figure 2. Two views of the joint surface extracted from the

larger digital model. The view to the left looks up the dip-line Figure 4a. Graphical depiction of surface roughness after
and the view to the right looks along the strike-line. Units of rotation using contours. Contour interval is 0.02 feet (0.6 cm).
length are feet (1 foot = 0.3 m). Units of length are feet (1 foot = 0.3 m).

104

Figure 4b. Graphical depiction of surface roughness after
rotation using a shaded relief image with simulated illu-
mination from the upper right . Units of length are feet (1
foot = 0.3 m).
Figure 4c. Graphical depiction of surface roughness after
rotation using roughness profiles (dark gray) superimposed
on contours (light gray). Contour interval is 0.02 feet
(0.6 cm). Units of length are feet (1 foot = 0.3 m).
105
Figure 5. Directional roughness profile along the dip-line
axis shown in Figures 3 and 4. Units of length are feet (1
foot = 0.3 m).
Figure 6. JRC type curves from Barton & Choubey (1977)
for comparison with the digital rougness profile in Figure 5,
showing that the numerical estimates are consistent with the
type curve JRC range of 6 to 8.
known as an interpolating function, which simplified
the directional profile extraction process.
The down-dip profile in Figure 4c is plotted sepa-
rately in Figure 5, and was used to estimate roughness
according to equations (7) and (9). The Maerz et al.
(1990) empirical relationships yield roughness values
of i = 10◦ and JRC = 6. The Tse & Cruden (1979)
relationships yield values of i = 10◦ and JRC = 7. The
extracted profile can also be visually compared to the
JRC type curves included in many rock mechanics ref-
erences (e.g., Barton & Choubey 1977), showing that
the numerical JRC estimates of 6 and 7 are consistent
with type curves of that roughness.
6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Advantages of the digital point cloud approach include
the ability to characterize inaccessible or unsafe rock
surfaces, the large amount of data that can be collected,
and the ability to estimate rock surface roughness on
a scale comparable to the size of potentially unstable
blocks rather than small samples for which up-scaling
becomes a concern. Disadvantages include the cost
of equipment and software, the time and cost of
training inexperienced users, the need to accurately
survey camera or laser scanner locations for some
applications, and the potential difficulty of extracting
and analyzing rock surface profiles in directions that
differ from the point cloud coordinate axes. The latter
is addressed in this paper.
Point clouds are typically referenced to coordinate
systems or project grids that have no relationship to
geologically significant directions such as the strike-
lines or dip-lines of rock mass discontinuities. This
complication can, however, be eliminated by rotating
and recasting the surface in terms of the dip-line and
strike-line as described in this paper.
 The ability of digital methods to produce profiles
useful for roughness estimates depends on two things:
the spatial density of xyz points and the error associated
with those points. The smallest roughness elements
that can be depicted and quantified will typically be
an order of magnitude longer than the average point
spacing. Likewise, roughness elements with ampli-
tudes that are not significantly larger than the error
associated with the xyz points will likely be unreli-
able. Current technology and careful fieldwork allow
the extraction of outcrop-scale or first-order rough-
ness profiles. In the example presented above, the
RMS error of ±0.02 feet (0.6 cm) is about an order
of magnitude smaller than the amplitude of the rough-
ness profile. As with any computational method, field
verification is essential in practical applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Conversations with Bob Burk, Ashley Creighton, Paul
Maconochie, Ed Medley, and Norm Norrish helped
to motivate the work described in this paper. Norm
Norrish and Dave Findley assisted with Sirovision
fieldwork for the Interstate 90 project used for the
example calculations. Fieldwork and initial data pro-
cessing for the example were performed under contract
to Golder Associates. Surveying services and fund-
ing for the Interstate 90 project were provided by
the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The roughness calculations were developed separately
by the author. Comments by an anonymous reviewer,
particularly with regard to the nature of the rotation,
helped to improve the paper.
REFERENCES
Akima, H. 1978. A method of bivariate interpolation and
smooth surface fitting for irregularly distributed data
points. ACM Trans. Math. Software 4(2): 148–159.
Barton, N.R. 1973. Review of new shear strength criteria for
rock joints. Engineering Geology 7: 189–236.
Barton, N.R. 1976. The shear strength of rock and rock joints.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Mining Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 13:
225–279.
Barton, N.R. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics 10(1–2):
1–54.
CSIRO 2005. Sirovision® 3D Imaging/Pit Mapping Sys-
tem Manual, Version 3.1. Brisbane: CSIRO Mining and
Exploration Group.
106
Fienen, M.N. 2005. The three-point problem, vector analysis
and extension to the N-point problem. J. Geosci. Ed. 53(3):
257–262.
Haneberg, W.C. 2004. Computational Geosciences with
Mathematica. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Haneberg, W.C. 2005. 3-D digital rock mass discontinuity
characterization using high-resolution photogrammetric
or laser scanner point clouds. Geol. Soc. America Abstr.
Prog. 37(7): 245.
Haneberg, W.C., Norrish, N.I. & Findley, D.P. 2006. Dig-
ital outcrop characterization for 3-D structural map-
ping and rock slope design along Interstate 90 near
Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. In Proc., 57th Annual
Highway Geology Symposium, Breckenridge, Colorado,
pp. 146–160.
Kulatilake, P.H.S.W., Shou, G. & Huang, T.H. 1995.
Spectral-based peak-shear-strength criterion for rock
joints. J. Geotch. Engrg. 121(11): 789–796.
Maerz, N.H., Franklin, J.A. & Bennett, C.P. 1990. Joint rough-
ness measurement using shadow profilometry. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 27(5): 329–343.
Patton, F.D. 1966. Multiple modes of shear failure in rock.
In Proc. First Cong. Int. Soc. Rock. Mech., Lisbon, vol. 1,
pp. 509–513.
R Development Core Team 2006. R: A Language and Envi-
ronment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for
Statistical Computing (http://www.r-project.org).
Renard, F., Coisin, C., Marsan, D. & Schmittbuhl, J.
2006. High resolution 3D laser scanner measure-
ments of a strike-slipe fault quantify its morphlogical
anisotropy at all scales. Geoph. Res. Lett. 33: L04305,
doi:10.1029/2005GL025038.
Sagy, A., Axen, G.J. & Brodsky, E.E. 2005. LIDAR mea-
surements of fault roughness. Eos Trans. AGU 86(52) Fall
Meet Suppl.: T14B–02.
Slob, S., Hack, R., van Knapen, B. & Kemeny, J. 2004.
Automated identification and characterization of discon-
tinuity sets in outcropping rock masses using 3D ter-
restrial laser scan survey techniques. In Proceedings of
the ISRM Regional Symposium EUROCK 2004 & 53rd
Geomechanics Colloquy, Salzburg: pp. 439–443.
Tabor, R.W., Frizzell, V., Booth, D.B. & Waitt, R.B. 2000.
Geologic Map of the Snoqualmie Pass 30 x 60 Minute
Quadrangle, Washington. United States Geological Sur-
vey Map I-2538.
Tse, R. & Cruden, D.M. 1979. Estimating joint roughness
coefficients. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech.
Abstr. 16: 303–307.
Wolfram, S. 2003. The Mathematica Book (5th ed). Cham-
paign, Illinois: Wolfram Media.
Wyllie, D.C. & Norrish, N.I., 1996. Rock strength prop-
erties and their measurement. In Schuster & Turner
(eds.), Landslides – Investigation and Mitigation, Trans-
portation Research Board Special Report 247: 372–390.
Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Joint set definition using topology based structure mapping

G.V. Poropat, M.K. Elmouttie & D. Walford

CSIRO Exploration & Mining, Brisbane, Australia

ABSTRACT: 3D imaging developed by the CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining is routinely used to
map exposed rock faces in both open cut and underground environments. The 3D imaging technology accurately
registers 2D image information from the rock face with 3D structural information defining the surface topology
of the rock. As the efficiency of such automated mapping methods and the volumes of data produced by them
increase, so does the need to rapidly map structures and analyse structural data that have been obtained from
this 2D/3D space. Fracture properties such as orientation, size, spacing, shape and distribution type must be
estimated from the data in statistically valid ways and the use of 3D imaging can improve the statistical reliability
of structural mapping. These requirements have lead to efforts to automate the mapping of structure from 3D
images. This paper presents current work covering the development of algorithms to automatically map rock
structure so that extraction of structural parameters can be done more accurately and reliably.

1 INTRODUCTION

In recent years, the use of laser and photogrammet-

ric systems to map the surface topology of rock faces
in mining and civil engineering applications has been
increasing dramatically as the benefits of these remote
mapping techniques have come to be realised. As the
efficiency of such automated mapping methods and
the volumes of data produced by them increase, so
does the need to rapidly map structures and analyse
structural data that have been identified. The use of 3D
imaging can improve the statistical reliability of struc-
tural mapping by obtaining more data from larger, and
sometimes inaccessible, areas.
Fracture properties such as orientation, size, spac-
ing, shape and distribution type must be estimated
from the data in statistically valid ways and this
requires sufficient data to apply statistical methods
reliably. As a result, the need to automatically clas-
sify characteristics of the 3D models based on these
surfaces has become more apparent and this has lead
to efforts to automate the mapping of structure from Figure 1. A section of a 3-D model.
3D images.
The use of automated detection algorithms for clas- Similar data may be obtained using other methods,
sification of discontinuities on rock faces has been such as laser scanning data registered to image data
documented for 3D data acquired using laser sys- from a digital camera, however the low cost of pho-
tems (Turner et al. 2006) and for some photographic togrammetric methods makes them easily accessible
applications (Reid & Harrison 2000). for many end users.
In this paper, we present methods being investigated A section of a 3D image is shown in Figure 1.
to perform such classification on 3D surface models The fusion of image, spatial and other data, gener-
obtained using photogrammetric data. These models ally referred to as a fused-feature approach, has been
fuse image and spatial data and provide a rich data set adopted. Such approaches are particularly sensitive to
capable of supporting automated analysis of structure. the topological characteristics of the surfaces being

107
investigated and have been used successfully for com-
puter vision and medical imaging applications. This
work represents a continuation of initial investigations
conducted by the authors and described in Poropat &
Elmouttie (2006) and Walford (2006).

2 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ALGORITHM

2.1 Generation of the data

The algorithms discussed in this paper have been
developed using surface models generated using pho-
togrammetry. Although application of the algorithms
is not limited to data generated in this manner, gen-
eration of surface models using photogrammetry is
particularly attractive because the spatial data gen-
eration registers naturally to the original 2D images Figure 2. The image data from Figure 1 after anisotropic
used to create it. Therefore, fused-feature approaches diffusion has been applied.
can benefit maximally from the concurrence of spa-
tial and image properties without the requirement for
post-acquisition correction or alignment.
3D imaging systems produce a cloud of spatial data
points. To process this data meaningfully each data
point must be associated with the overall structure and
this is usually achieved by creating a triangulated mesh
linking the spatial data points into a coherent structure.
Mesh based modeling techniques are attractive as the
use of well established discrete differential geometry
can be employed. Using mesh based modeling, 3D
images can be interrogated using robust algorithms
and the surface properties calculated with confidence.
The surface properties of most use are the normal
orientations and geometric curvatures. The former is
represented as a 3-vector in space whilst the latter is
calculated in terms of the geometrical Gaussian and
mean curvature of the surface. However, image prop-
erties can also be used to improve the results obtained
with the algorithms providing appropriate thresholds
are given.

2.2 Preprocessing
The image component of the data can be processed
using classical anisotropic diffusion methods and an
example of the application of diffusion to a 3D model
(Fig. 1) is shown in Figure 2. Calculation of the sur-
face feature properties necessary for the fused-feature
approach requires some data filtering to be performed Figure 3. The spatial data from Figure 1 before (top) and
after (bottom) edge-sensitive diffusion.
prior to processing.
Anisotropic methods (Gerig et al. 1992) and curva-
ture based diffusion methods (Meyer et al. 2003) have resolution 3D images, a fast algorithm has been
recently been trialed in other domains such as medical developed to employ an empirical approach to edge-
imaging with great success.The use of inhomogeneous sensitive diffusion of multi-dimensional data. The
diffusion for the filtering of high ‘spatial-frequency’ results of applying this to the data shown can be seen
information whilst still retaining important ‘edge’ in Figure 3.
information is also well established (Weickert 1997). When compared to more basic smoothing tech-
For application to structural mapping using high niques these methods have the advantage that

108
Figure 4. The over-segmented data.
important ‘edge’ information is retained when the
surface normals and curvatures are calculated. This
greatly improves the ability of the algorithm to dis-
criminate planar or quasi-planar surface features from
their boundaries.
2.3 Data fusion
Fusion of the surface features can occur in several ways
but the end result is a set of multi-dimensional vec-
tors containing appropriately weighted components.
For each spatial point, a vector is therefore defined
such that it represents the surface properties belonging
to that spatial point. The next phase involves employ-
ment of an algorithm to search the vector space for
similarities and cluster the data appropriately.
2.4 Segmentation algorithm
A vector-quantization algorithm has been developed
to analyse this multi-dimensional data. The algorithm
can be separated into two distinct parts.
The first searches the vector space for ‘structure’.
For each input vector (and hence each spatial point),
the likelihood that the point belongs to a surface edge
feature is calculated. Therefore, vectors associated
with topologically flat areas will be rated as having
a low likelihood of belonging to edges.
The second part of the algorithm segments this
likelihood data such that local similarities are identi-
fied. This output is insensitive to large scale structures
and therefore represents an over-segmented result
(Fig. 4) which requires user guidance for refinement.
109
Figure 5. The refined segmentation with a region of interest
indicated by the circle.
This over-segmentation serves as a crucial intermedi-
ate step to ensuring the final segmentation does not
converge incorrectly.
2.5 Post-processing the segmentation
Refinement of this over-segmented data can now be
performed one of two ways. If the number of ‘sets’ of
discontinuities is known apriori, this can be enforced
by a conventional clustering algorithm. An example
of this scenario might be the identification of berm
and face data in a benched wall. In this case, one
could force the algorithm to search for two dominant
discontinuity sets (faces and berms) and the final seg-
mentation will therefore be insensitive to smaller scale
structures that may be present.
If there is no knowledge of the expected number
of discontinuity sets or such a search is not desired,
topological properties can be specified and a region
merging algorithm employed. The result is a refined
segmentation as shown in Figure 5. Note that for com-
parison, the results of applying the algorithm using
only normal information are presented in Figure 6. In
this case, the algorithm has been less successful in
detecting edge information highlighting the value of
the fused feature approach.
3 DISCUSSION
More examples of segmentations are shown in
Figure 7. It can be seen that the algorithm is reason-
ably successful at segmenting surfaces with varying
Figure 6. The refined segmentation using normal orienta-
tions only (for the region of interest indicated in Fig. 5).

degrees of fracturing. The limitations of the current

algorithm can be seen in some of these results. It is
clear that although some structure has been detected,
significant features have not been identified. The rea-
sons for this incorporate both choice of thresholds as
well as data quality.
The structural mapping algorithm described in this
paper combines several different computational fields
such as discrete differential geometry, morphological
image analysis and vector quantization techniques. In
many applications image analysis algorithms require
appropriate metric thresholds to control the processing
stages. For structural mapping applications, the thresh-
olds relate directly to variance in geometrical surface
properties.
Although generic thresholds can often suffice,
application of the algorithm to unusual surfaces neces-
sitates some user control. Therefore, the need to make
such controls intuitive and directly related to geotech-
nical measures such as surface roughness is imperative
(Poropat & Elmouttie 2007). Such measures will
improve the user’s ability to choose thresholds more
appropriately.
The algorithm is, of course, sensitive to the quality
of data that it analyses. The data quality achieved with
3D photogrammetry can be affected by many factors
such as the geometrical configuration used to acquire
the stereo pair of images and the surface features them-
selves which affect the success of the image matching
procedure used to correlate features. In certain sce-
narios, the image and spatial data will deviate quite
dramatically (as shown in Fig. 8). Such a scenario will
not be dealt with successfully by the current algorithm
as it attempts to fuse different surface properties into
a single descriptor and therefore assumes correlation
between these parameters. Further pre-processing of
the image data to ensure this type of discrepancy does Figure 7. More examples of segmentations for rock surfaces
not occur would alleviate this problem. with varying degrees of fragmentation.

110
 4 CONCLUSIONS

An algorithm to segment 3D models of surfaces has

been presented. The algorithm uses a fused-feature
approach which makes it more adept at detecting
structures on a variety of rock surface models com-
pared to more simple algorithms. Work is continuing
to facilitate the choice of thresholds and improve the
robustness of the algorithm such that it can deal more
successfully with varying data quality.

REFERENCES
Turner, A.K., Kemeny, J., Slob, S. & Hack, R. 2006. Evalua-
tion and management of unstable rock slopes by 3-D laser
scanning. In Proc of the IAEG Conference, Paper No. 404.
Reid, T.R. & Harrison, J.P. 2000. A semi-automated method-
ology for discontinuity trace detection in digital images of
rock mass exposures. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 37:
1073–1089.
Poropat, G.V. & Elmouttie, M.K. 2006. Automated structure
mapping of rock faces. In International Symposium on
Stability of Rock Slopes in Open Pit and Civil Engineering
Situations, Cape Town. SAIMM Symposium Series S44.
Walford, D. 2006. Rock wall segmentation using spatial
and image information fusion. B.Eng. Thesis (Honours).
The School of Information Technology and Electrical
Engineering, The University of Queensland.
Gerig, G., Kubler, O., Kikinis, R. & Jolesz, F.A. 1992. Nonlin-
ear anisotropic filtering of MRI data. IEEE Transactions
on Medical Imaging 11(2): 221–232.
Meyer, M., Desbrun, M., Schroder, P. & Barr, A. 2003.
VisMath III, pp. 35–57.
Weickert, J. 1997. A review of Nonlinear Diffusion Filtering.
In Romeny et al. (eds.), Scale-Space Theory in Com-
puter Vision, Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin:
Springer, 1252: 3–28.
Poropat, G.V. & Elmouttie, M.K. 2007. Estimation of surface
roughness from tessellated surfaces. In preparation.
Figure 8. A discrepancy between the image data and the 3D
model. The transition from planar joint to loose rock seen in
the circled portion of the top image has not been ‘captured’
in the spatial data shown in the bottom image.

111
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The surface expression of strain accumulation in failing rock masses

N.J. Rosser, D.N. Petley & S.A. Dunning

International Landslide Centre, University of Durham, UK

M. Lim
Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle, UK

S. Ball
Measurement Devices Ltd, Northminster Business Park, UK

ABSTRACT: This paper presents results generated using high-resolution 3D monitoring of rock slopes and
focuses upon the development of slope surface strain prior to failure. The data suggest that given sufficient
measurement precision, precursory behavior, including both the rates of small rock fall activity and creep in
the rock mass prior to large slope failure can be detected, measured and monitored. Combined with models
of the temporal nature of slope failure evolution, for example first time failure due to brittle crack nucleation
and coalescence, these data have the potential to be used to predict both the time of failure and the geometry
of the mobile mass. Results are presented from monthly monitoring using 3D laser scanning of 100,000 m2 of
near-vertical rock face over a three year period. During the monitoring period a dataset of in excess of 500,000
rock falls has been derived, ranging in volume from 0.0001 m3 to over 1,000 m3 . The temporal patterns in the
rockfall dataset suggest that the cumulative volumes of small rockfall can be treated as precursory indicators
of larger failures. Environmental conditions have a perhaps surprisingly limited impact on triggering rockfall.
Precursory behavior also appears scale dependant both in time and space. The behavior of the rock mass prior to
the largest events recorded appears consistent, following a hyperbolic acceleration through time prior to ultimate
failure. This has implications for understanding of both the conditions within the rock mass that lead to rockfalls
and those environmental factors which bring the rock mass closer to failure.

1 BACKGROUND presents detailed data on rock falls, here treating them

Strain accumulation manifest through slope surface
deformation and disruption before failure is regularly
monitored and commonly forms the basis of failure
warning systems. This paper considers this behav-
ior as a precursory signal prior to slope failure. This
deformation is often a complex product of a series
of overlain processes each of which lead to cumu-
lative gravity controlled deformation, at a range of
scales (Crosta & Agliardi 2003). These may include
macro-scale tectonic creep, meso-scale deep-seated
gravitational creep or micro-scale shrink and swell.
Each of these processes maybe a function or manifes-
tation of an ongoing process of slope failure, or be a
product of an unrelated phenomena which operates at
a scale above or below the process of slope failure.
Understanding how the signature of slope failure is
manifest within this is critical to gaining insight into
how slope failures evolve through time and space. This
paper considers both directly monitoring creep across
a whole slope surface in high-resolution and secondly
as a derivative or expression of ongoing slope fail-
ure evolution. This is based on the assumption that as
a slope experiences strain, the mass and its surface
will become disrupted leading to secondary precur-
sory effects, in this instance rock falls. The research
into the surface expression of strain accumulation prior
to rock slope failure presented in this paper arises from
a series of observations from the data presented below,
questions which arise from a study of the nature of pat-
terns in slope behavior presented elsewhere, and the
treatment of precursory behavior in other brittle fail-
ures beyond studies of failing slopes. These form the
basis for the context of the paper.
Numerous authors have explored the nature of fre-
quency, timing and size of rock fall occurrence, a
re-view of which is beyond the scope of this paper.
What is however apparent is a paradox; the results,
for example, in terms of magnitude / frequency rela-
tionships commonly show similarities, whereas the
triggers attributed to causing these events, particularly
the environmental controls and the processes through

113
which they lead to rock slope failure, are diverse. For
example, the controls on high alpine rock falls have
been explained using the transition through the ‘frost
shattering window’, moisture availability and morpho-
logical derivatives, for example aspect (Sass 2005).
These factors have been cited as dominant controls on
the timing of failure and commonly correlate well with
the data presented in each study, but it remains difficult
to draw generalizations between sites, environments or
failure types. Furthermore, numerous studies demon-
strate the difficulty in relating positive environmental
forcing directly to failure timing, with a lag in response
commonplace. A widely cited example of this is the
Leyte landslide in the Philippines in February 2006,
with the time of failure occurring some 5 days after the
most intense period of rainfall (Adler 2006), although
interestingly numerous precursors such as changes
to water courses and ground cracking were noted in
the days prior to failure. This disparity may, in part,
be explained by the landslide mechanisms, through
for example models of progressive failure (Bjerrum
1967). Using these approaches the slope undergoes
deterioration or damage to a point where the internal
deformation of the mass determines the final failure
dynamics and timing rather than environmental con-
trol (Saito & Uezawa 1961, Petley 2004). Such models
may explain the apparent insensitivity to trigger events
and lagged timing, but field data to support this is
commonly unsuitable, sparse and potentially difficult
to collect.
Patterns in precursory behavior have been widely
observed in both detailed monitoring of the nature of
slope failure and in studies of other brittle phenomena.
Szedzicki (2003) describes the conditions in under-
ground mine workings prior to failure, identifying a
range of characteristic ‘signs’ before impending rock
bursts; Kilburn (2004) examined patterns in behavior
prior to volcanic eruptions and Pralong et al. (2005)
reports similar behavior in ice avalanches. Addition-
ally derivatives of these types of behavior are apparent;
Grasso et al. (2005) report a significant increase in
micro-seismic activity in the hours leading to failure in
coastal rock cliffs, and Wu et al. (2005) report charac-
teristic increases in IRR (infrared radiation) in a failing
rock sample. Huggel et al. (2005) reported significant
increases in glacier surface debris in the period lead-
ing up to the September 2002 Kolka Karmadon glacier
failure.
The understanding of precursory behavior has the
potential to add insight to the mechanisms and nature
of rock slope failure (Amitrano et al. 2005). There
are complications and challenges which must be over-
come to optimize the use of this data. The spatial and
temporal scales at which these processes act com-
monly differ from those at which they are manifest
and hence can be effectively measured and monitored.
Precursors, particularly in brittle rock slopes where the
114
scale of deformation of the rock is minimal, are small
in magnitude and are commonly of a similar magni-
tude to instrumental error and natural variability or
noise. There is also a more philosophical problem as
to when any given event is treated as a precursor or
when it is considered final. Complication also arises
in that the most critical information commonly lies
in a final period leading to ultimate failure, a period
which is often poorly described by the temporal reso-
lution of field sampling. Ground instrumentation data,
although highly precise and easily collected, is com-
monly restricted to single points. This approach relies
on both extensive instrumentation in addition to adopt-
ing the assumption that each individual instrument
represents the wider deformation processes under
examination, rather than a localized anomaly.
Valuable qualitative accounts of precursory behav-
ior highlight the potential for precursors as a tool for
understanding failure. Precursors, either as actual dis-
placements or the resulting disruptions, commonly
occur within the area of ultimate failure and larger
events appear to be preceded by larger precursors
which are apparent over a longer period of time. This
research aims to quantify these observations.
2 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Field location
A series of actively eroding rock cliffs on the north
eastern UK coast were chosen for this study to ensure
that a large number of failure events were captured
within the data set (Fig. 1). Records suggest that fail-
ures range in size from what appears to be a constant
spalling of small ( < 0.00001 m3 ) fragments to infre-
quent large-scale failures ( > 1,000 m3 ). Although the
area has been studied extensively in terms of the rates
of retreat of the coastal cliffs, the composition of
this rate of retreat in terms of individual constituent
failures is poorly understood. Data from 6 sites is pre-
sented in this paper, totaling in excess of 100,000 m2
of rock face. The cliffs form part of the north east
Heritage Coast of the North Yorkshire Moors National
Park in the UK, a section of coast which is world
renowned for its fossiliferous rocks. The cliffs are pre-
dominantly steep to near-vertical and are composed
of near-horizontally bedded intercalated Jurassic sand-
stones, shales and mudstones, capped with a glacial till
(Fig. 2). The coastline is crenulate in plan form, with
a series of embayments and headlands, but in general
the coast retains a predominantly northerly aspect.
A geological section is presented in Figure 2. Cliff
height ranges from 35 m to 80 m. The cliffs are com-
monly fronted by a foreshore rock platform which
extends up to 500 m seaward at mean low water during
spring tides. This allows access by foot to the base of
the cliffs for at least 1 week per month.

Figure 1. Example of near vertical cliffs, here showing Site
6. The cliff shown is approximately 75 m high, and is fronted
by rock armor.
Figure 2. Geological section of the cliffs on the Yorkshire
Coast. The exposure at each site is illustrated by the bars
on the right side of the diagram. The exposure at the toe of
the cliff varies due to the north – south dip of the strata in
this area.
2.2 Data collection
High-resolution 3D digital elevation models of each
of a series of 6 sites were collected on a monthly basis
using a terrestrial laser scanner. Sites total 100,000 m2
of rock face. The instruments used to collect the data
were a Measurement Devices Ltd LaserAce600 and
a Reigl LMS420i. A series of pairs of survey bench-
marks were installed on the foreshore in August 2003
which allow the precise relocation of the scanner and
enable azimuth angles to be quickly re-established.
115
DGPS was used to position each scan data set to
Ordnance Survey datum and OSGB02 cartesian coor-
dinates. The distance from the scanner to the cliff toe
was approximately 75 m. At this range occlusion on
the rock face was minimized, partly as a function
of the relatively low topographic relief of the rock
face and partly due to the near-vertical profile of the
cliff. Point cloud data were collected at an average
of 0.03 m intervals across each cliff face. Monthly
scan data is held from September 2003 to Decem-
ber 2006. A detailed description of the methodology
developed is provided in Rosser et al. (2005), and is
integrated with digital photogrammetry by Lim et al.
(2005) to provide a detailed qualitative assessment of
change. Environmental data including wave climate,
tidal regime, weather (rainfall, humidity, temperature,
wind speed and direction) and cliff ground water were
collected in parallel.
2.3 3D data analysis
Anomalous points, mainly sea birds, are cleaned from
the scans using Archaeoptics Demon3D, and fore-
shore and cliff tops removed as these areas are either
vegetated or undergo seasonal shifts in loose fine-
grained sediments. Successive scans are positioned to
the first scan at each site using a least squares itera-
tive alignment algorithm. This method overcomes the
inability of a laser scanner to hit exactly the same
point on a rock face in successive scans, by statisti-
cally matching the geometry of larger morphological
features. Root mean squared error in alignment after
this approach was less than 0.02 m in three dimen-
sions. Points clouds are then triangulated using a view
dependant algorithm, long-triangles are filtered out,
based upon the 99th percentile of the mean point spac-
ing in the cloud, and a smoothing function applied to
the resulting model which optimizes surface texture
and reduces noise. Figure 3 shows the types of dig-
ital elevation model derived using this approach and
the resolution obtainable at this scale of survey. Dif-
ference between successive scans is calculated as the
Hausdorff distance (Girardeau-Montaut et al. 2005).
As each of the sites in effect represents a planer
face, the calculated monthly difference was projected
into an image format where x is the horizontal dis-
tance across the cliff face, y is the height up the cliff
face and the difference is the pixel value. Deformation
was then mapped and contoured both normal to and
parallel to the axis of the cliff face. Analysis of the
precision obtainable using this method and the sub-
sequent minimum change which can be extracted is
presented by Abellon et al. (2007). In this study a min-
imum change of 0.01 cm normal to the cliff face was
used, which results in a minimum detectable volume
of 0.00001 m3 . Rock fall volumes are extracted using
an object oriented classification. This data was then
Figure 3. 3D mesh model of a monthly laser scan.Top image
shows site 5, where the length of rock face surveyed is approx-
imately 350 m and 45 m high.The bottom image shows a close
up section of the rock face illustrating the level of detail. The
area depicted is approximately 4 m × 6 m.
used to derive the 3D geometry of each rock fall and
is combined with position, time and location data in
a single database. To date in excess of 500,000 have
been monitored over a period of 39 months.
3 RESULTS
3.1 General observations
The cliffs surveyed appear to be actively undergoing
failure, with much of the exposed rock face exhibiting
dilated joints, apparently loose blocks, with intermit-
tent small-scale detachments dropping material onto
the foreshore. There is little evidence of steep circular
failure or toppling, with most scars showing evidence
of fracturing, with the steep cliff face promoting pla-
nar sliding down the cliff face with negligible storage
of detached material on the rock cliff face. The mecha-
nism of failure appears therefore to be a combination of
stress relief exfoliation, undercutting by proximal fail-
ures and deeper seated sliding failures of the cliff mass.
Evidence of larger-scale failures is also apparent, with
extensively shattered zones of rock surrounding frac-
tures and joints in the rock mass which have clearly
experienced displacement. Where the dominant joint
planes run parallel to the cliff face air gaps are evi-
dent as the failing mass warps. Processes of rock
deformation due to the ongoing failure of these cliffs
are evident.
116
Figure 4. Site 6. Top – September 2003. Bottom –
November, 2006. Note the large debris cone of rock fall debris
at the toe of the cliff, and the changes to the horizon profile
of the cliff top.
Significant evidence of rockfall activity is observed,
with fresh scars visible across the rock face between
each monthly survey epoch. The identification of these
scars is made easier by the seasonal liquid drape of
glacial till washed on to the cliff face during the win-
ter rains; where this is absent commonly indicates the
location of a rock fall scar. Five significant failures
were observed during the monitoring period, each in
excess of 1,000 m3 of rock. Figure 4 shows one of the
largest failures, here over 2,200 m3 in volume detached
from the scar.
3.2 Wide-area monitoring of creep deformation
A severe limitation of this approach for monitoring
creep has been found to be the infrequent timing of
surveys. As discussed, the changes recorded in the
monitoring are a product of both creep and fragment
detachment. With a wide temporal sampling frame it
remains difficult to explicitly identify the relative con-
tribution of each of these processes. To overcome this
two very high-resolution scans were collected over a
short time period (6 weeks). The resolution and preci-
sion of the laser scanning method developed offers the
potential to monitor the strain field across the face of a
failing slope, as observed, at the rates anticipated from

Figure 5. Top: Orthoimage of a section of site 5, with
2 m vertical grid lines for scale. Note arch shaped for-
mation. Upper middle: monitoring results for same area
showing deformation contours expressing movement normal
to the cliff (0.0005 m intervals). Arrows indicate resultant
movement direction of four moving blocks. Lower middle:
magnitude frequency distribution of cliff normal displace-
ment for all pixels in difference analysis image. Bottom:
kernel density estimate of distribution of movements dur-
ing the monitoring period, with four distinct movement rates
relating to the movement of sections of the cliff face, as
mapped in the upper middle image.
117
monitoring undertaken using ground instrumentation
elsewhere. The repeatability of measurements using
this approach is a function of the instrument measure-
ment precision, which is a function of the distance
measurement accuracy and the angular precision, and
the point density. Two high-resolution scans were col-
lected using the Reigl LMS420i, with a mean point
separation of 0.005 m across the surveyed area. Data
were treated using the same procedure as described
above to derive the mesh to mesh, or Hausdorff dis-
tance in successive scans discussed previously. By
using a short timeframe over a cliff section known to
be deforming and combining the laser scan data with
digital photogrammetry the mechanisms responsible
for the changes monitored can be explained. Figure 5
shows the results of monitoring strain accumulation
over a period of 6 weeks across a section of rock cliff
face 15 m × 10 m. The deformations recorded display
a distinct pattern which traces the perimeter of a pre-
existing arch formation. Ongoing monitoring at this
site has demonstrated previous rock fall activity in this
area. Small-scale deformations have been measured, as
illustrated by the contour plot, here showing 0.0005 m
intervals normal to the cliff face. A qualitative analysis
using the photogrammetry suggests that no detach-
ment of fragments occurred during this period, so it
is presumed that the movements detected reflect the
deformation of the rock mass. An assessment of the
magnitude / frequency distribution of the range of
deformations detected shows that by far the majority
of the rock face undergoes what is considered negli-
gible change as it is of a scale similar the to precision
of the scanning, modeling and analysis. An analysis
of the larger changes measured (those between 0.01 m
and 0.1 m) show four dominant groups (labeled and
mapped as A – D), as illustrated in the bottom graph of
Figure 5. When these magnitudes of deformation are
mapped back onto the rock face they fall broadly into
four zones, within which movement can considered to
be acting, in general, in a consistent vector. The maxi-
mum rate of movement is 0.08 m during 6 weeks, with
over 98% of the remainder of the rock face moving
less than 0.0005 m during the same period. The results
suggest that the beam across the top of the arch is
creeping down, with the side flanks of the arch mov-
ing downwards and inwards. The difficulty remains
in differentiating detachments from creep. The nature
of change (shape, magnitude and direction) could be
used to explore this, but the principle problem arises
from the low-frequency of surveys. A mechanism to
overcome this is discussed further below.
3.3 Derivatives of strain accumulation
During the 3 year monitoring period at the six sites,
in excess of 500,000 individual rockfalls have been
identified, in parallel to the collection of a range of
Figure 6. The significance of correlations between environ-
mental variables and rockfalls of increasing size. Data from
all sites.

environmental monitoring data. A series of correla-

tion tests were undertaken to establish causal linkages
between the prevailing environmental conditions and
the occurrence, the cumulative total and the nature of
rockfalls. Although it was often possible to find sta-
tistically significant relationships at individual sites,
these models loose significance when applied between
other sites. Several general observations were apparent
from the data collected. i.) there is only a slight marine
influence on the distribution of rock falls on the cliff
face, with a marginal increase in rockfall activity in
the cliff section which is inundated by water during Figure 7. A 30-month sequence of rockfall activity from
high-tides; ii.) there is an underlying rock control on Site 6. Images show a 70 m × 120 m section of rock fall (grid
the morphology of detachments, for example shales squares are 10 m × 10 m). Black polygons show the scar area
of rockfalls monitored during each epoch, with grey polygons
and mudstone predominantly source small fragments
showing the accumulation of previous events. The monitor-
of rock, whereas the more widely joint sandstone pro- ing period begins in September, 2003 and covers 2-monthly
duce larger rock falls; iii.) the cumulative magnitude/ intervals until April, 2006. Survey epochs are discussed in the
frequency distribution conforms to a linear trend in text, numbered from 1 to 15, following down each column
log-log space; iv.) there is no direct link between pre- starting from the top left image.
vailing adverse weather conditions and large rockfall
occurrence. It is apparent that there is a decreasingly
Figure 7 shows an example of the evolution of a series
significant influence of environmental conditions on
of slope failures, here at Site 6. During the monitoring
increasingly large rock fall events. This observation is
period a variable rate of activity appears to increase
illustrated in Figure 6 using three commonly cited con-
to give rise to large failures during epoch 4 and epoch
trols on rock fall occurrence: rainfall, wind-speed and
11. There is an apparent clustering of rock falls in the
temperature. Figure 6 demonstrates that the correlation
areas which ultimately fail, in addition to an appar-
coefficient ‘r’ decreases as increasingly large rock fall
ent increase in the levels of rock fall activity in the
are included in the analysis with the environmental
months prior to final failure. The sequence of events
variables. The larger rock fall therefore appear insen-
suggests that there is some degree of spatial connection
sitive to environmental forcing; v.) there is no clear
between failures. To quantitatively examine temporal
seasonality in the majority of the rockfall data; and
sequences of rock falls the six of the largest events
vi.) rock fall often appear to be clustered and focused
recorded were randomly selected for analysis. The area
upon specific locations on the cliff face. These obser-
of the scar of each rock fall on the rock face was iden-
vations form the basis for considering sequences of
tified, and then used to filter all activity within this
rock falls and precursors.
zone during the months leading to the final failure.
All failures which occur within this zone are included
3.4 Patterns of precursors?
within the analysis. The rate of activity is normalized
Precursors are defined and discussed here as rock falls by the ultimate failure magnitude, such that precur-
occurring in the months prior to a larger slope failure. sors can be considered spatially scale free, allowing

118

Figure 8. Graph illustrating the rate of rock fall activity in
the area of the final failure scar for 6 of the largest failure
re-corded from all sites.
an analysis of the timing of precursory failures. Spa-
tially rock falls appear to be clustered around the area
of the final failure. Additionally the data suggest that
the rate of activity, both in relative and in real terms,
is proportional to the geometry of the final failure. It
is perhaps logical to expect that larger rock slope fail-
ure would be preceded by larger precursors. Figure 8
illustrates the temporal occurrence of rock falls for six
of the larger rockfalls recorded. It is clear that for the
larger events, an increase in activity in the zone of the
final failure is apparent earlier, than for those failure
one or two orders of magnitude smaller.
The nature of the increase in rockfall activity
appears similar to the hyperbolic increases seen in
strain experienced in laboratory simulations of brittle
shear processes, for example Petley (2004). Several of
the failures appears to undergo an initial small level
of activity some months before the final failure, after
which the rate of activity levels off to effectively zero,
which then increases in the lead up to the final rock
failure. An interesting line of enquiry here is to what
extent a derivate of strain, such as rock fall activ-
ity, reflects directly the internal processes of brittle
deformation.
It is therefore apparent that that larger rock slope
failure is preceded by larger precursors, and that these
precursors act over a longer period of time for larger
failures. A strong linear relationship links the final
volume of failure to the rates of activity in the month
prior to this collapse (Fig. 9). The implication of this
relationship is that the failure geometry could, with
adequate monitoring, be predicted from the rates of
precursory activity as manifest in rock falls.
4 DISCUSSION
The results presented attempt to quantify the nature
of patterns previously observed in rock fall activity
119
Figure 9. The relationship between the final failure volume
and the rate of rockfall activity in the zone of the final failure
in the month preceding failure. Rockfall data from all sites.
prior to slope failures on near vertical rock slopes,
showing the potential for a detailed understanding
of slope deformation using precursors. The analy-
sis, using rockfall, a product of both environmental
drivers and internal rock mass deformation, may help
to explain the normally limited relationship between
environmental triggers and rock fall occurrence, and
the subsequent lag in slope response to forcing. The
rates of activity, in time and space, are proportional to
the magnitude of the final failure, and the acceleration
in these rates appears to reflect the nature of the pro-
cess of internal rock mass deformation. It is logical to
assume that the magnitude / frequency distribution of
precursors is determined by the rock mass structure.
The shales and mudstones in the example presented
above are closely jointed and hence may more freely
produce small-scale rockfalls when undergoing defor-
mation, so the behavior observed here may not be as
apparent in a more massively jointed rock mass where
creep or stress relief fracturing may dominate.
Previous attempts to predict failure have success-
fully used inverse velocity relationships applied to
slope displacements (e.g. Petley 2004). The data pre-
sented here implies that similar patterns of behavior
may be manifest in disruptions to a failing slope
surface, potentially allowing surface disruptions to
be used as a proxy in slope failure warnings. High-
resolution wide-area monitoring appears to be able
to disaggregate various influences on slope deforma-
tion, including directly monitoring creep. The issue
however remains as to how and when can one event
be considered a precursor as opposed to an ultimate
final failure. A hyperbolic increase in activity, simi-
lar to that demonstrated above, is often indicative of
a homeostatic self reinforcing process. The extent to
which any rockfall acts to further destabilize a slope in
itself raises questions as to whether the precursors pre-
sented here are as much a product of failure as opposed
to a cause. This type of approach could readily be
applied to other failing rock slopes. The recurrence
and magnitude frequency of rock falls, and their rel-
ative significance as precursors as compared to creep
displacements is a function of rock mass composition
and structure, history and climate. If rock slope failure
is related to a critical strain accumulation the phenom-
ena observed here could be expected to be proportional
to failure size. With laser scanning systems now capa-
ble of ranges of 1.5 to 2 km, this level of detail can be
achieved over wide areas experiencing failure.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The data presented here demonstrates spatial and tem-
poral patterns of precursory behavior prior to rock
slope failure. Terrestrial laser scanning and 3D mod-
eling has been shown as a valuable tool in detecting
and monitoring small-scale creep processes, previ-
ously only obtainable through the resolution of ground
instrumentation. Rock falls have been monitored and
appear to follow a characteristics pattern of spatial and
temporal behavior, suggesting a direct link between
their occurrence and evolution of a wider slope fail-
ure. Future research is focused upon optimizing the
temporal element of the sampling. This will allow fur-
ther insight into the nature of strain accumulation, both
leading to and after the occurrence of failure. This is
being pursued by the development of a fixed terres-
trial laser scanning system which is remotely operated
and scheduled to survey at short (≈ hourly) intervals,
reporting change automatically and remotely. This
approach has the advantage of the effective increase
in instrument precision using multiple scans of a sin-
gle site in addition to increase the temporal resolution
of the survey which adds significantly to the ability to
differentiate the various components of slope surface
deformation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the role of Cleve-
land Potash Limited and nGridWireless in supporting
this research. The services of the Natural Environ-
ment Research Council (NERC) British Isles GPS
archive Facility (BIGF), www.bigf.ac.uk, in provid-
ing archived GPS data to this project, are gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Abellan, A., Rosser, N.J., Vilaplana, J.M., Garcia, D. &
Calvet, J. 2007. Terrestrial laser scanning for rockslope
monitoring & joint orientation: the influence of the point
density. Abstracts of the European Geosciences Union.
Adler, B., Hong,Y., Huffman, G., Negri,A. & Pando, M. 2006.
Towards a quasi-global precipitation-induced land-slide
120
detection system using remote sensing information. In
American Geosciences Union Joint Assembly, Baltimore,
H32A.
Amitrano, D., Grasso, J.R. & Senfaute, G. 2005. Seismic pre-
cursory patterns before a cliff collapse and critical point
phenomena. Geophysical Research Letters 32: L08314.
Bjerrum, L. 1967. Progressive failure of slopes of over con-
solidated plastic clay and clay shales. Journal of the Soil
Mechanics Association and Foundations Division of the
American Society of Civil Engineers 93: 1–49.
Crosta, G. & Agliardi, F. 2003. Failure forecast for large rock
slides by surface displacement measurements. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 40(1): 176–191.
Huggel, C., Zgraggen-Oswald, S., Haeberli, W., Polkvoj, A.,
Galushkin, I. & Evans, S.G. 2005. The 2002 rock/ice
avalanche at Kolka/Karmadon, Russian Caucasus: assess-
ment of extraordinary avalanche formation and mobility,
and application of Quickbird satellite imagery. Natural
Hazards and Earth Systems Sciences 5: 173–187.
Kilburn, C.J.R. 2004. Fracturing as a quantitative indica-
tor of lave flow dynamics. Journal of Volcanology and
Geothermal Research 132: 209–224.
Lim, M., Petley, D.N., Rosser, N.J., Allison, R.J., Long, A.J.
& Pybus. D. 2005. Combined digital photogrammetry
and time-of-flight terrestrial laser scanning for moni-
toring cliff evolution. The Photogrammetric Record 20:
109–129.
Girardeau-Montaut, D., Roux, M., Marc, R. & Thibault, G.
2005. Change detection on points cloud data acquired
with a ground laser scanner. In ISPRS WG III/3, III/4,
V/3 Workshop “Laser scanning 2005”, Enschede, The
Netherlands.
Petley, D.N. 2004. The evolution of slope failures: mecha-
nisms of rupture propagation. Natural Hazards and Earth
System Sciences 4: 147–152.
Pralong, A., Birrer, C., Stahel, W.A. & Funk, M. 2005. On
the predictability of ice avalanches. Non-linear Processes
in Geophysics 12(6): 849–861.
Rosser, N.J., Lim, M., Petley, D.N. & Dunning S.A. 2005. The
use of terrestrial laser scanning for monitoring the process
of hard rock coastal cliff erosion. Quarterly Journal of
Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 35: 71–78.
Saito, M. & Uezawa, H. 1961. Failure of soil due to creep.
In Fifth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and
Foundation Engineering, Montreal, pp. 315–318.
Sass, O. 2005. Spatial patterns of rockfall intensity in the
northern Alps. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie Suppl. Bd.
138: 51–65.
Suwa, H., Hirano, M.N. & Okunishi, K. 1991. Rock fail-
ure process of cutting slope in Shimanto geologic belt
in Kyushu, Japan. Annals of the Disaster Prevention and
Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan, 34B–1.
Szwedzicki, T. 2003. Rock mass behavior prior to failure.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 40(4): 573–584.
Wu, L., Liu, S., Wub, Y. & Wanga, C. 2006. Precursors for
rock fracturing and failure—Part II: IRR T-Curve abnor-
malities. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences 43(3): 483–493.
Zvelebil, J. & Moser, M. 2001. Monitoring based time-
prediction of rock falls: three case histories. Physics and
Chemistry of the Earth (B) 26(2): 159–167.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Predicting inter-well rock mechanics parameters using geophysical

logs and 3-D seismic data

Y.G. Zhang
Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd., Heilongjiang, China

H.X. Han & M.B. Dusseault

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

X.J. Wang, Z.X. Zhang, K.M. Fan & Y.M. Yu

Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd., Heilongjiang, China

ABSTRACT: We introduce an inter-well rock mechanics parameters prediction method using a combination
of geophysical well logging data and 3-D seismic data. The method has been used to estimate Poisson’s ratio (ν),
Young’s modulus (E), fracture closure pressure (PCL ), and fracture breakdown pressure (PBD ) during fracture
treatments, for any reservoir location in the rock volume analyzed. The statistical approach is based first on
explicit correlations between static core analysis of rock mechanics parameters and dynamic multi-pole-array
sonic logging. By further multiple linear regression analysis, these parameters can in turn be correlated to
common well logging curves. Then, inter-well rock mechanics parameters are estimated through the use of the
3-D seismic database, constrained statistically using the logging data from individual wells. As a result, a 3-D
rock mechanics properties model is developed for the volume covered. Relevant rock mechanics parameters at
any point in the volume can be estimated from the model, allowing hydraulic fracture engineering design to be
undertaken before an infill well is drilled.

1 INTRODUCTION the quality, precision, and reliability of data from

There has been growing interest in determining in situ
dynamic rock mechanical (lithomecanical) parame-
ters in the oil and natural gas E&P industries. Various
methods are available for measuring rock mechanics
parameters. Mechanical and petrophysical properties
are usually obtained from core sample tests using
standardized laboratory procedures. This method is
limited by the availability of core and by the cost
of testing. Although interactive multi-pole-array sonic
logging is an important tool for analyzing lithome-
chanical parameters, logging cost is too high for such
tools to be used extensively. A mechanical earth model
is one of the key tools for rock mechanical proper-
ties characterization as well as for provision of data
to implement fully coupled reservoir geomechanics
simulation.
The concept of a mechanical earth model was
introduced in the late 1990’s (Chardac et al. 2005).
Such a model is assembled from various data sources
including seismic, geophysical logging, drilling data,
laboratory core measurements and well tests. How-
ever, the availability of sufficient data to adequately
populate such a model remains an issue, as well as
different sources over different time frames. For exam-
ple, a well drilled in the 1960’s may have no core
data, a simple flow-to-surface test with inaccurate
measurements, and only four simple logging measure-
ments (typically 3-arm caliper diameter, single-array
resistivity, natural gamma radiation level, and spon-
taneous potential). Potentially, a recent well could
have linear and side wall cores, formation testing at
a number of depths, detailed drilling parameter data
(RPM, WOB, ROP, mud parameters, etc.), as well as
sophisticated wellbore geophysical logging data. The
latter might include, for example, full borehole wall
imagery from multiple resistivity measurements at the
millimetric scale, magnetic resonance data, four-arm
caliper plus wellbore breakouts analysis, quadrupole
multiple receiver seismic traces, multiple penetration
depth resistivities, gamma ray spectral decomposition,
neutron porosity, gamma-gamma density, and other
sophisticated logs as well as the other standard geo-
physical traces mentioned above. Integrating these
different types of data is part of constructing a mechan-
ical earth model, and executing good-quality dynamic
rock mechanics studies remains a challenge in oilfield
development.

121

Figure 1. Developing the 3-D Lithomechanical Earth
Model from cores, logs and seismic data.
Usually, a great quantity of numerical (digital)
information is available from geophysical wellbore
logs and common seismic data. It is possible to obtain
estimates of a number of rock mechanics param-
eters even from the conventional geophysical logs
that are used in most development wells (exploration
wells usually have more complex logging suites). The
numerical value of many inter-well lithomechanical
parameters can be estimated with the help of seis-
mic data that serves as a constraint to the interpolation
between sites where direct data has been obtained.
For example, in a wellbore, the porosity may have
been calculated in three different ways: from direct
core measurements, from gamma-gamma bulk den-
sity log data using mineral and fluid densities, and
from neutron porosity measurements (actually, this is a
measure of hydrogen density). Furthermore, there may
be an acoustic velocity log trace giving compressional
and shear wave velocities (vP , vS ). A decomposition
of a standard high-quality 3-D seismic data base gives
the velocity structure of the rocks, and the seismic
data can also be calibrated using shot-points in the
same borehole (giving direct ray transit to the surface
geophones). Clearly, based on suitable statistical rela-
tionships, the 3-D seismic data can now be used as
an explicit predictor of the interwell porosity because
of the known velocity-density relationships, assuming
that other factors remain the same.
Such concepts lead to the assessment and develop-
ment of methods to construct a three-dimensional rock
mechanics earth model of the inter-well regions within
which there are no direct data, only what can be reason-
ably calculated in a manner similar to that mentioned
above. These earth models are subject to additional
geometric and geological constraints such as those
provided by the lithostratigraphic model generated by
the geoscience team. In this article, we look at a method
of combining geophysical wellbore logging data and
3-D seismic data to generate a lithomechanical model
of the entire reservoir.
The concept as shown in Figure 1 is relatively sim-
ple. The set of procedures in the method can be divided
122
Table 1. General steps used for building rock mechanical
model.
Steps Descriptions
A Perform lab tests on cores at depths from 1719.6
to 1799.6 and in situ tests at relevant depth.
i. Young’s modulus, and bulk modulus deter-
mined using uniaxial tests.
ii. Poisson’s ratio calculated from uniaxial
test results.
iii. Shear modulus determined using torsion test.
iv. Closure pressure and break down pressure
using LOT tests in the wellbore.
B Establish the correlation with multi-pole acoustic
log data base.
i. Calculate Poisson’s ratio, shear modulus,
bulk modulus, and Young’s modulus using
Equations 1 to 4.
ii. Calibrate with lab test results.
iii. Calculate closure pressure and break down
pressure using Equations 5 to 8.
iv. Calibrate with in situ test results.
C Carry out multi-variate statistical regression
using a combination of conventional acoustic
slowness log, deep resistivity log, and gamma
ray log.
i. Determine Poisson’s ratio from the logs.
ii. Determine Young’s modulus from the logs.
iii. Determine closure pressure from the logs.
iv. Determine break down pressure from the logs.
D Inversion of logging data and seismic data.
i. Assemble seismic database, logging
curves, stratigraphic zonation, seismic
interpretation.
ii. Obtain wavelet from the seismic data.
iii. Create well-point synthetic record.
iv. Calibrate synthetic record with neighboring
well seismic trace.
v. Obtain wavelet from the log curve.
vi. Build inversion model.
E Construct 3-D rock mechanics model.
i. Build a planar map between wells using
correlated seismic data.
ii. Transform the map into rock mechanics map.
iii. Calculate 3-D rock mechanics parameters
using logging data and the maps.
iv. 3-D visualization and inter-well estimation
of parameters can now be carried out.
into five steps: core test analysis, correlation with
multi-pole-array sonic logging, multiple linear regres-
sion using common well logging curves, inversion of
logging data and seismic data, and construction of the
3-D rock mechanics model. The general description of
steps used to construct the rock mechanics earth model
are listed in Table 1.
The first step of the procedure is core test analysis
and in situ test analysis followed by the calcula-
tion of lithomechanics parameters from correlation
equations obtained from using static core analysis
of rock mechanics parameters and the values from a
dynamic multi-pole-array sonic logging data base as
the predictor. Because the multi-pole array is seldom
available for a large number of wells, the lithomechani-
cal parameters can then be correlated to more common
well logging curves by multiple linear regression anal-
ysis. Finally, inter-well rock mechanics parameters are
estimated through constrained inversion of the well-
bore geophysical logging data and the 3-D seismic data
obtained from surface seismic methods. As a result, a
3-D rock mechanics properties model is developed for
the volume covered.
The method has been used to estimate Poisson’s
ratio (ν), Young’s modulus (E), the fracture closure
pressure (PCL ) as well as the fracture breakdown pres-
sure (PBD ) during fracture treatments, at any reservoir
location, in a field case that will be described herein.
2 CALCULATING LITHOMECHANICS
PARAMETERS THROUGH
MULTI-POLE-ARRAY SONIC LOGGING
2.1 Mathematical equations
Elastic deformation parameters of the rock in the
vicinity of a borehole, including Poisson’s ratio (ν),
Young’s modulus (E), shear modulus (Ms ) and bulk
modulus (Mb ), are calculated from a combination of
geophysical log data for formation density, porosity,
and rock volume, after correlation between static core
analysis of rock mechanics parameters and dynamic
multi-pole-array sonic logging data. Some correlation
equations have been used extensively to calculate the
above moduli (Chardac et al. 2005, Plumb et al. 2005,
Qiu et al. 2005). After explicit correlation analysis on
static cores and multi-pole-array sonic logs, the fol-
lowing mathematical equations (Chardac et al. 2005)
are used to calculate these parameters.
In these equations,
• υ is Poisson’s ratio;
• γ is the ratio of SS to Sl (see below);
• Ms is shear modulus;
123
• Mb is bulk modulus;
• ρ is bulk volumetric density;
• Ss is S-wave slowness;
• Sl is P-wave slowness;
• E is Young’s modulus.
Equations for calculating fracture closure pressure
(PCL ) and fracture breakdown pressure (PBD ) by mak-
ing use of these parameters are listed below. Fracture
breakdown pressure is given by the relationship in
Equation 5, while fracture closure pressure is given
in Equation 6 (Dusseault 2005).
In these equations, the following relationships are also
defined:
In Equations 5 to 8, the following definitions apply:
• PBD is fracture breakdown pressure;
• PCL is fracture closure pressure;
• α is Biot’s poroelastic parameter;
• P0 is the pore pressure gradient;
• ρυ is the average density of the overlying forma-
tions; and,
• h is depth from surface datum.
PBD is defined as the peak pressure reached on a
pressure-time plot taken during a hydraulic fractur-
ing treatment in a hole section that has not previously
been hydraulically fractured. PCL is the point on the
same hydraulic fracture curve where an induced frac-
ture aperture just closes some time after injection is
ceased and the interval is closed under the injection
pressure; it is generally considerably lower than PBD
and is taken to be the best estimate available for the
minimum principal stress, σ3 (=σhmin ), in cases where
induced fractures are vertical.
2.2 Calculation results
The rock mechanics parameters calculated through the
use of multi-pole-array sonic logging curves of one
typical well (well Yuan 170-326 in Daqing Oilfield,
Heilongjiang Province, PRC) are given in Figure 2.
Poisson’s ratio (ν), Young’s modulus (E), fracture clo-
sure pressure (PCL ), and fracture breakdown pressure
(PBD ) were calculated. Calculation results are listed in
Table 2 for several specific intervals. In these tables,
the values for the pressures are given as gradients
 R25 smod clpg
AC SP 1 100 0 50 0.1 0.3
Éî¶È 400 150 20 70
LLD ymod fpg
(m) 1 100 0 50 0.1 0.3 ½
CA
L GR
40 20 0 150 40 cl p bmod poi s
20 0 50 0.2 0.4
00
1710
1720
1730
1740

Figure 3. Flow diagram of regression of conventional log

and lithomechanics parameters relationships.
1750

arrival time of the primary wave, and the slowness is

1

usually expressed as microseconds per metre.The deep

Figure 2. Interactive multi-pole-array sonic logging curves
of Well Yuan170-326, Daqing Oilfield, Heilongjiang resistivity log is the formation resistance computed
Province, PRC. from a widely spaced electrical array along the axis of
the logging tool, and therefore reflects the resistivity
Table 2. Calculation results of well Yuan170-326, Daqing of the formation beyond the zone of fluid invasion in
Oilfield, from logging data. the near proximity of the borehole. The gamma ray log
is the natural radioactivity of the strata in the borehole
Depth E PBD PCL wall, and reflects all sources and frequencies of gamma
(m) (109 N/m2 ) ν (MPa/m) (MPa/m) radiation, although in general the natural gamma radi-
ation is dominated by the concentration of radioactive
1719.6–1729.0 35.1 0.222 0.0160 0.0157 potassium, 40 K, in the sediments.
1747.8–1748.6 35.6 0.278 0.0188 0.0186 The logs from four wells (including well Yuan 170-
1767.8–1775.0 32.7 0.293 0.0193 0.0184
1780.4–1784.4 31.5 0.259 0.0175 0.0168
326) together with interactive multi-pole-array sonic
1798.4–1799.6 33.8 0.263 0.0178 0.0174 logs of these four wells, were analyzed by using
multi-variate statistical regression methods to cal-
culate the optimum correlation parameters between
rock mechanical parameters and the combination of
(MPa/m), which is a typical method of presentation conventional logs. This process is represented dia-
in the petroleum industry. grammatically in Figure 3.
Once a number of specific points such as shown in Multiple-regression formulas (Equations 10 to 13)
Table 2 are selected, it then becomes possible to calcu- were then assembled. These equations give statistically
late a relationship, calibrate with actual test results, and predicted values for the lithomechanical parameters in
also assess the statistical reliability of the predictive a well, and can be used in wells having only a limited
equation. suite of conventional geophysical logs.

3 MULTIPLE-REGRESSION OF
LITHOMECHANICS PARAMETERS

Combinations of several more conventional wellbore

geophysical log curves were analyzed to investigate
if there exist similarities for the characterization of
the lithomechanical parameters, as compared to the
calculation results obtained through the use of the
multi-pole-array sonic logs. (Remember that the multi-
pole-array sonic logs are available in general for only
4 PREDICTION OF INTER-WELL ROCK
a few wells, therefore other empirical relationships
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
are sought from the log suite so that the relationships
from these holes can be used to extract data from less
4.1 Inversion of logging data and seismic data
expensive log suites using statistical relationships.)
The curves used include the acoustic slowness log Because logging data has a higher vertical resolution
(AC), the deep resistivity log (LLD), and the gamma with limited horizontal extent and seismic data has
ray log (GR). The acoustic slowness log is a single a higher horizontal resolution, the combined use of
emitter – single receiver sonic log that captures only the both will effectively allow a prediction of the inter-well

124
lithomechanical parameters. The seismic data must be
inverted before this can take place.
Inversion of seismic data is a processing proce-
dure through which seismic traces can be analyzed
and the formation velocities can be reconstructed. It is
also a link for correcting log responses and calibrat-
ing the seismic traces, as well as generating synthetic
seismograms, based on the acoustic response of the
borehole. Geological modeling and stochastic stimu-
lation methods, constrained by the seismic waveform
data, can help with predicting the inter-well lithome-
chanics parameters. Many articles (e.g. Jarvis 2006,
Johnston 2006, Lu 2005, Xu 1995) have reported the
integration and coupled inversion of logging data and
seismic data, as well as the modeling methods that
have been used in recent years. In this research, for the
inversion of the data, we use the basic approach, which
is through a linear dimension convolution model.

Figure 4. Wavelet obtained from log curve.

In this equation,
• T (i) is the linear dimension seismic record;
• r(i) is the zero deflection underground reflection
coefficient expressed in a time series;
• w(i) is the seismic wavelet, assuming that time is
constant;
• n(i) is noise; and,
• i, j are orientations.

In the general inversion process, the seismic

database, the logging curves, the stratigraphic zonation
from the geological model, and the seismic interpre-
tation of the formations are first assembled. Then, the
wavelet is obtained from the seismic data and is used
with an acoustic sonic log (AC) curve to calculate the
well-point synthetic record.The synthetic record is fur-
ther refined through calibration with a seismic trace
from a neighboring well. On the basis of this quality
assurance process, the wavelet is obtained from the log Figure 5. Synthetic wave from log curve and seismic
curve again to build the inversion model. calibration of well Yuan 300-142.
Wavelet abstraction and seismic calibration are two
key elements for quality inversion under the con- of up to 75% was obtained. The accuracy of seismic
straints of seismic data available. In this case we used calibration affects directly the accuracy of the inver-
the geophysical log curves to get the entire wavelet sion results, the accuracy of zonation using logging
(Fig. 4). The amplitude spectrum and the phase spec- data, the accuracy of seismic interpretation, and the
trum of the wavelet can also be obtained through a quality of the extracted wavelet (Fig. 5).
least-squares error minimization fitting of the seis-
mic trace and the reflection coefficient calculated from
4.2 Creation of the 3-D rock mechanical model
the log acoustic impedance. This has the advantage of
accuracy, but is sensitive to the matching of the well Poisson’s ratio (ν), Young’s modulus (E), fracture clo-
data and the surface seismic trace. sure pressure (PCL ), and fracture breakdown pressure
The extracted wavelet is used to convolve the seis- (PBD ) of wells in an experimental area were calculated
mic record with the acoustic sonic log (AC) curve. by using the formulae listed above (Equations 10 to
It is assessed for quality and usefulness (reliabil- 13) with logging data. The correlated seismic data are
ity) through comparison with seismic traces from the first used to build a planar map between wells based on
neighboring wells, and in this case, a coincidence rate the velocities and the densities obtained. The map can

125

Figure 6. Example of 3-D rock mechanics earth model data.
Figure 7. 3-D Young’s modulus earth model in one area of
Daqing Oilfield.
then be transformed to a planar rock mechanics map.
Using the lithomechanical parameters calculated from
the geophysical well logging data and these maps, the
3-D model of the lithomechanics parameters is then
calculated directly. A continuous distribution of shear
modulus, Young’s modulus, and bulk modulus of the
area serves as the basis for calculating the fracture clo-
sure pressure and fracture breakdown pressure in any
location of the area, using Equations 5 to 8. The 3-D
lithomechanical earth model is digitally expressed as a
set of numerical values for each point of a grid, and can
be fed into software for display through visualization
tools.
Figure 6 is an example of a 3-D rock mechanics
earth model. Figure 7 is a cross section of an actual
3-D Young’s modulus model of one area in the Daqing
Oilfield. The magnitude of Young’s modulus in any
location within the volume of interest can be estimated
from the model data. 3-D earth models of Poisson’s
ratio (ν), fracture closure pressure (PCL ), and frac-
ture breakdown pressure (PBD ) were also built for this
region. The estimation of inter-well parameters gives
126
helpful references for hydraulic fracturing engineer-
ing design. However, the spatial coincidence (location
accuracy) and the quality of prediction (parameter val-
ues) must be tested through the systematic collection
of information from the hydraulic fracture testing to
evaluate the actual quality of the model.
5 CONCLUSIONS
It is possible to estimate inter-well rock mechanics
parameters (lithomechanical parameters) by using a
3-D rock mechanics model, which is built by synthet-
ically combining conventional logging data and 3-D
seismic data. Considering that there is a large amount
of common logging data available from oil and gas
wells, and that 3-D seismic data collection has now
become commonplace, using this information to popu-
late the model is desirable. However, correlations must
be established using more powerful logging tools, and
in this case a multi-pole acoustic log data base was
available in several wells.
The key elements for building the 3-D rock mechan-
ics model are the development of an explicit cor-
relation between static core analysis parameters and
the values from a multi-pole-array acoustic log data
base. Then, using multiple linear regression methods,
a statistical relationship was established between the
multi-pole acoustic log data and conventional logging
curves (deep resistance, gamma ray, acoustic slow-
ness). A vital aspect is high-quality inversion of the
logging data and the seismic data using wavelet meth-
ods, and the log traces must be carefully spatially
correlated with the larger-scale seismic data to permit
extrapolation and full 3-D model population.
Fracture closure and fracture breakdown pressures
can be estimated as well if 3-D rock mechanics param-
eters are available and if suitable expressions are
known (see equations). All these parameters are help-
ful for pre-drilling hydraulic fracturing engineering
design, although the spatial coincidence and the accu-
racy of the model still must be verified through the
drilling and testing of new wells.
6 NOMENCLATURE
E =Young’s modulus
Mb = Bulk modulus
Ms = Shear modulus
PBD = Fracture break down pressure
PCL = Fracture closure pressure
P0 = Pore pressure gradient
Sl = P-wave slowness
Ss = S-wave slowness
T (i) = Linear dimension seismic record
h = Depth
n(i) = Noise
r(i) = Zero deflection
w(i) = Seismic wavelet
α = Biot’s poroelastic parameter
γ = Ratio of Ss and Sl
ρ = Volume density
ρυ = Average density of overlying formation
υ = Poisson’s ratio
i, j = Orientations
REFERENCES
Chardac, O., Murry, D., Carnegie, A. & Marsden, J.R. 2005. A
proposed data acquisition program for successful geome-
chanics projects. SPE Paper 93182. Proceedings, 14th
SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conf., Bahrain
International Exhibition Centre, Bahrain.
Dusseault, M.B. 2005. Rock Mechanics – Course Notes.
University of Waterloo.
Johnston, D.H., Gouveia, W.P., Solberg, A. & Lauritzen, M.
2004. Integration of time-lapse seismic and production
logging data: Jotun Field, Norway. In Proc. OTC Conf,
Houston, Paper 16927.
Jarvis, K. 2006. Integrating well and seismic data for reser-
voir characterization: Risks and rewards. In AESC 2006,
Melbourne.
Lu, B. & Shi, G. 2005. A review of study on relationship
between well logging data and seismic attributes. Acta
Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Pekinensis 41(1):
154–160 (in Chinese).
Plumb, R., Edwards, S., Pidcock, G., Lee, D. & Stacey B.
2000. The mechanical model concept and its application
to high-risk well construction projects. In Proceedings,
2000 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, New Orleans.
Qiu, K., Marsden, J.R., Solovyov,Y., Safdar, M., Chardac, O.,
Murry, D. & Shatwan, M. 2005. Downscaling geome-
chanics data for thin beds using petrophysical techniques.
SPE Paper 93605. Proceedings, 14th SPE Middle East
Oil & Gas Show and Conference, Bahrain International
Exhibition Centre, Bahrain.
Xu, S. & White, R.E. 1995. A new velocity model for clays
and mixtures. Geophysical Prospecting 43: 91–118.

127
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Geotechnical data management using acQuire workflows and data integrity

M.J. Murphy
Golder Associates Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

B.A. Murphy
SRK Consulting, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT: acQuire is a database management system for the storage of quality data related to the exploration
and mining industry. Poor data management systems can lead to inconsistencies and loss of data which results in
a waste of time and money to achieve a usable set of data. Integral to the acQuire system is the data model with its
different components which allows for the storage of data collected at the different scenarios in the exploration
program. acQuire is commonly used for organizing geological and geochemical data but is now being used for
the management of geotechnical data sets. This paper will discuss possible work flow models. Also discussed
will be quality control and data validation aspects from the geotechnical logging and mapping phase through to
the integration of the data in the database and the running of procedures to perform calculations; validating the
data and the retrieval of the data for reporting and other geotechnical procedures.

1 INTRODUCTION When capturing geotechnical data in the core shed

Paper logging systems have long served a purpose but
have been replaced over the years with more modern
digital systems following development trends in Infor-
mation Technology. In situations where a paper system
is still being used, the data collected will inevitably be
transferred to a digital scheme for storage and use in
application products. It therefore makes sense to cap-
ture the data digitally at the onset of a project, making
use of features such as pick lists with valid selections
and comment fields for extra information. Digital data
capture systems encourage good data collection pro-
tocols by establishing business rules and validation
procedures.
Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) are handheld
devices originally designed as personal data organis-
ers but have developed into devices with data capture
functionality. While these have a definite use for explo-
ration geologists who cover a vast area and for whom
portability is critical, they are limited in the amount of
data that is visible on the small screen. These limita-
tions exist not only in the number of fields and rows
that can be displayed but also in the number of char-
acters and are therefore more suitable for collecting
coded data. An additional limitation is with the data
collector losing touch with what they are collecting. If
portability is not necessary, a bigger screen simplifies
the data collection process immensely and is therefore
preferable.
or even at the drill rig, a laptop computer provides
a user-friendly solution to capturing digital data. The
decision to use such a device requires a re-assessment
of logging methods and the introduction of concepts
of human-computer interaction. Ideally the interface
should be intuitive for all users, allowing any input
while maintaining data integrity and providing a
method for real time feedback to the logger to help
identify errors. Some data capture interfaces are anal-
ogous to “black boxes” where the logger enters the data
but does not see a final log and loses the control that
was had when capturing the data on paper. In addition,
a digital interface can present QC graphs to the log-
ger enabling them to recognise and hopefully rectify
errors in their data. “Digital data handling forces us
to adopt strict rules on the uniformity of data formats
which is essential for the “interoperabililty” of data on
different parameters and from different data sources.”
(Rengers et al. 2002).
2 DIGITAL DATA CAPTURE
2.1 Spreadsheets
Spreadsheet applications (or “spreadsheets”) are
computer programs that allow the creation and
manipulation of tables of numbers and/or text, with
individual values stored in a “cell”. Cells can be linked

129
together by means of formulas which will come into
effect as values are entered into the cells.
Commonly known spreadsheets such as Microsoft
Excel or Lotus1-2-3, are often used to capture data
digitally. These systems are advantageous in that a
large number of people have access to the programs
which are functional, relatively cheap and also fairly
well known to the vast majority of people. “Decision
makers need to analyze data, and they know excel.”
(Chung 2004) Some validation can be written into
these spreadsheets and individual boreholes can be
logged quite soundly using a spreadsheet application.
As the amount of data increases, however, software
limitations result in the data problems discussed below.
2.2 Classic issues with spreadsheets
Very few people can say that they have never strug-
gled with their data. For the most part, those using raw
data to run calculations and make decisions will cer-
tainly have experienced various problems, one of the
most likely is the existence of many data files and the
uncertainty as to which is correct and most recent.
Other commonly encountered problems relate to a
lack of confidence in the data result in the following
questions:
• How do I know that there are no repeating or
overlapping intervals?
• Do I have any anomalous intervals (FROM > TO)?
• Do I have data integrity? (An example of poor
integrity would be where a drillhole name is stored
differently in two different sheets.)
• Are the same codes being used throughout for data
fields such as lithology? (e.g., G, GR, granite and
Granite might all mean the same thing but will not
be returned in a search.)
• Is it possible for more than one person to access the
data simultaneously?
• Can I delete or edit a drillhole name without having
to refer to numerous sheets? Similarly with editing
or deleting intervals.
• How easy is it to combine data sets captured at dif-
ferent intervals? (e.g., run data and domain data
captured during geotechnical logging.)
Finally there is a limit to the number of records that
can be stored in a spreadsheet. An individual drillhole
may be logged in a spreadsheet but will be added to
the other drillholes in the project. To accommodate
the growing amount of data and to avoid the uncer-
tainty presented with a multitude of spreadsheet files,
a relational database would be the tool to use when
spreadsheets become unmanageable.
2.3 Relational databases
A database where the data is stored based on its rela-
tionship to other data in the same database is termed
130
a “relational database”. Data needs only be entered
once and can be retrieved in any number of formats.
Deleting or editing information like a drillhole name
need only be done once. Microsoft Access is a rela-
tional database and its use eliminates the problems
associated with spreadsheets as discussed above.
To appreciate why a relational database is impor-
tant, it helps to look at drillhole data, which for many
conjures the image of a single large table of fields and
records displaying much information about the drill-
holes. This is a superb way of viewing the data but
not an efficient method of storing and managing it as
inherent weaknesses are introduced. Some weaknesses
in storing data in this manner are:
• Duplicate data can occur.
• Repetition of certain data is introduced which is a
waste of storage space. (e.g., Collar data may be
repeated for multiple records.)
• Empty cells exist where there is no value for a
particular field. This results in wastage of storage
space.
• There is no cascade delete or edit. (e.g., a drillhole
deleted in one sheet might still occur in another.)
• Filtering and presenting the data is limited.
(e.g.,viewing data from specific holes or joining
data collected over different intervals.)
A relational database overcomes these issues by
introducing concepts such as tables and fields; rela-
tionships amongst the data fields; primary keys and
normalised tables.
2.4 Database design
A desktop user can make use of Microsoft Access to
efficiently create a powerful relational database appli-
cation for manipulating data. A relational database can
be designed with the goal of collecting geotechnical
or other geoscientific data, and data input forms can
be generated for collecting the data. Access provides
user-friendly wizards that can assist in getting started
or in searching for data in an existing database.
For small projects with limited budget, Microsoft
Access can provide a technically sound solution to
the problems associated with managing and storing
geotechnical data. “If there is a lot of data, SQL Server
is the better choice. SQL Server also supports more
users and traffic.” (Chung 2004) SQL server is also
ideal for combining several Access databases. Figure 1
shows the different data transition paths that could be
followed. A project might start with Excel and migrate
to Access and migrate further to a server based system
or else it could utilize a server system from the onset.
As stated by Chung (2004): “When an Access applica-
tion is created initially, the features needed in the future
cannot be anticipated.” Optimal database size with
Microsoft Access is potentially 750 MB or 500 000
records. As the database grows in size, it becomes
 SPREADSHEET

• easy to use
• available
• well known
• affordable
• suitable for logging individual holes
DATA ACQUISITION • becomes unmanageable with large volumes of data

MICROSOFT ACCESS
GEOTECHNICAL

• more functionality than spreadsheet

• affordable
• some programming skills required
• provides an avenue for quick development
• suitable for small organisations or projects
• data stored based on relationships
• the need to design a data model exists
• not designed for high volume multi-user environments

SERVER BASED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• capable of handling high volume multi-user environments

• server level RDBMS that incorporates the industry
standard, SQL
• ideal for complex and demanding applications
• client-server configuration allows for the manipulation of
large, multiple databases
• the need to design a data model still exists

Figure 1. The advantage and shortcomings of different digital capture systems.

inefficient, especially when performing calculations
which can be time consuming.
If geotechnical data is the only type of data to be
managed then the structure of the database need not
be overly complex but just address necessary fields
for collar and geotechnical data. If a database is likely
to be large (greater than 750 MB) and have the need
for multiple simultaneous users, as well as be able to
accommodate different aspects of the project’s data
then one needs to look for something more power-
ful than Microsoft Access. Microsoft’s SQL Server or
Oracle are both server-based relational database sys-
tems that can handle large amounts of complex data
and will therefore address the issues of size and num-
ber of users. The need to incorporate data such as
samples despatched to a lab; assay results; downhole
or surface geology and survey data will require major
changes to the existing structure of the database.
“If you decide to store the data for your solution in
a database or in another relational database, designing
the database structure (DATA MODEL) is likely to be
the most challenging part of building the solution.”
(Microsoft web site).
This therefore prompts the question: Is there a
commercially available product developed for the cap-
ture, management and storage of quality geoscientific
data in a database system that can cope with multiple
simultaneous users and handle a large volume of data
as well as having the capability to store other types of
data?
The acQuire data management system is such
a product which strives to eliminate the problems
encountered in the capture and management of geo-
scientific data and thus merits closer scrutiny.
3 THE ACQUIRE DATA MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
3.1 acQuire data model (ADM)
Central to the acQuire package is the acQuire data
model (ADM) which is designed to operate in the SQL
and Oracle environments. As alluded to earlier, design-
ing a database structure (or model) is likely to be quite
challenging, time consuming and possibly too specific
for future enhancements. The acQuire data model is a
set of database tables and relationships which relate to
each other in the best possible way, adhering to data
management best practices as well as what is logical
for retrieving and managing exploration and mining
data.
One of the many advantages of using a standard
model is the ease with which data can be transferred
among different sites as well as reducing the need for

131

Figure 2. The acQuire solution diagram (acQuire Technol-
ogy Solutions Pty Ltd, © 2006).
training and reliance on key personnel. Additionally,
a project may start using one area of the database,
such as surface sampling, then move to assay results
and despatch data and then move to drillhole geol-
ogy, geotechnical and structural data. The acQuire data
model is designed to incorporate all of this.
A schematic diagram of the acQuire data model is
provided with the software and illustrates the tables
that exist in the different sections of the model. Inher-
ent in the design are features such as a data loading
order; cascade update and delete; primary keys and
the relationships between fields. An understanding of
the model is necessary to work with the system and
training for managers and users is available.
The data loading order enforces data integrity, e.g.,
data cannot be entered into an interval that has not been
defined nor into a drillhole that likewise has not yet
been defined. The cascade update and delete function
assures that if data (e.g., HoleID) is edited, or deleted,
where it was defined then the change will be reflected
in all tables where that data appears without the user
having to search for all occurrences.
3.2 acQuire front end functionality
In addition to the ADM, acQuire has a front end with a
suite of tools used for inserting, manipulating, retriev-
ing and presenting data. Each project is different and
will make use of different tools while customizing
them for the individual needs. The interaction between
the data model, the front end and the application soft-
ware is illustrated in Figure 2. New products are added
with new versions of the software and existing func-
tionality may be enhanced. These tools can assist in
establishing a site-specific workflow.
acQuire licensing enables users to perform different
tasks, e.g., a manager licence will allow site-specific
fields to be created and validated in the database.
Likewise, a data entry license will allow the remote
132
capture of data into a “stub” of the database which
can be imported into the main database with little
effort. An acQuire security device is necessary to use
the software unless a network license is owned by the
company.
4 USING ACQUIRE TO COLLECT
GEOTECHNICAL DATA
Although acQuire is an “out of the box” system,
the implementation thereof requires careful planning
involving data managers, geologists and engineers.
AcQuire Technology Solutions (ATS), the vendors of
the acQuire product spend quite a bit of time in the
sales process scoping the solution with prospective
customers in order to provide adequate costing as well
as scheduling the implementation. A subset of exist-
ing data is also examined in order to assess how long it
will take to migrate it to acQuire if needed. Questions
to be considered are:
• How many users are there and what will they be
doing (data collection, data analysis etc)
• What is the state of the current data, and how much
of it needs migrating to acQuire?
• What are the current workflows and what needs to
be set up to emulate this?
• Where is the site located and what are the commu-
nications between sites (if multiple sites) like?
The answers will determine the time, effort and cost
involved.
There are some major mining companies, such as
Anglo American and Rio Tinto who have standardised
on the use of acQuire at exploration and mine sites.
This means that similar collection interfaces exist and
personnel have applicable knowledge when arriving at
a new site. Data can be transferred from site to a central
or “main database” at head office or at exploration
offices. As with all systems, an acQuire system needs
to be managed and some level of acQuire expertise is
required.
If an acQuire system has already been established
and one wishes to add the geotechnical component,
much of the “ground work” in terms of business pro-
cedures and workflows has already been completed.
Geotechnical parameters can be added to the database
and collection interfaces altered. Once the data is
entering the database it can be viewed or extracted
with any of the existing data.
4.1 Logging and mapping
acQuire has the capability to create a data collec-
tion interface which can be used remotely on a PDA
or a laptop. The interface is exported from the main
database, ensuring that the business rules built into the
database are applied at the remote site where logging

Figure 3. Proposed data collection workflow using the
acQuire system.
is taking place. Data collection for the loggers is sim-
plified with the use of drop-down lists providing them
with valid choices for the particular field. It must be
noted that the logging interface creates a temporary
access database on the remote machine and installing
SQL server is not required.
When exporting an interface from the main
database it is possible to export a blank interface or
to include existing drillholes for the reference of the
logger. It is also possible to export a subset of valida-
tion fields which is useful when data is specific to a
particular project. Project-specific business rules can
be built into the interface initiating the first phase of
quality control.
The iterative process of logging with the acQuire
interface is shown in Figure 3. Saving the file to an
external device such as a memory stick or a portable
hard drive provides a backup in case the working file
is lost.
If the logger is expected to perform rudimentary
checks on the data collected it is beneficial if they can
visualise what has been logged, either in a table form or
else in a graphical log. acQuire has a log report object
133
that can be created in the main database and exported
with the interface for use by the logger as well as a
form object which displays the data in a table format.
4.2 Geotechnical parameters
4.2.1 Drill hole data
Aspects such as the site name and project number;
collar location of the drill hole; azimuth and dip of
drill hole; the dates of start and finish of the drilling
and the drilling company are collected once for each
drillhole. The size of drill core; the type of drilling
system used as well as the types of drilling-muds used
might also be captured. When logging is undertaken
on the drill rig, a performance sheet may be kept which
indicates the total drill time, stand-by time and depth.
Incorporating this data in the acQuire system, the
HoleID and any information about each individual
drillhole would be captured once and stored in the Col-
lar area of the model. A hole is uniquely defined by the
combination of HoleID and Project Code which allows
for the same HoleID to be used in different projects in
the database.
4.2.2 General geotechnical parameters
This stage of data collection involves the gathering
of a base set of geotechnical parameters, captured
with minimum interpretation. Parameters collected on
a drilling run basis include logging intervals, recov-
ery parameters and Rock Quality Designation (RQD)
in the case of rock. If the project were at an early
exploration phase, other aspects such as Intact Rock
Strength (IRS), total fracture and joint count would be
included for rock core; and type, strength, consistency
and colour for weak rock or soil.
Data collected over an interval will be initially
defined in the GeoInterval table with the value stored
in GeoDetails. One must note, however, that the tables
and relationships are the domain of the data adminis-
trator and are hidden to the user collecting the data.
When defining specific fields the database admin-
istrator needs answers to questions such as: “Will this
data be captured at an interval or at a single depth?”
and “Can I allow overlapping intervals for this data?”
as different permutations can be enforced.
4.2.3 Detailed geotechnical parameters
As the project advances and the level of study
increases, the required level of data collection must
also increase. The initial level of general geotechnical
parameters will be insufficient to implement rock mass
classification systems and undertake the more detailed
geotechnical studies (e.g., pit slopes and underground
excavations). For these studies, additional data on the
level of micro-defects; fill strengths; number of joint
sets, their orientation and the joint conditions in the
case of rock and additional parameters for soil logging
are required.
 This increased level of data acquisition is eas-
ily accommodated with the addition of fields to the
geology area of the acQuire data model.
4.2.4 Down-hole geophysical data sets
An additional data set that can be acquired during
the advanced exploration phase is the dataset from
the downhole acoustic and optical TeleViewer as well
as that from a full-wave form sonic probe. The geo-
logical features and discontinuity data sets, borehole
break-outs, as well the various determined strength
parameters will all need to be stored separately and
then later merged with the geotechnical logging data-
set to establish a representative geotechnical data set
to be used in the design process.
Again, this data acquisition can be accommodated
within the existing data model.
4.2.5 Field and laboratory testing
Accompanying the increased level of geotechnical data
is the collection of field- and laboratory-based test
results which include point-load tests, density, and
weathering tests as well as the plethora of soil and rock
geomechanical tests. The results of these tests need to
be stored at the appropriate interval in the database and
in acQuire this information would again be stored in
the GeoInterval and GeoDetails tables.
Although it is preferable at the onset of a project
to know all the data fields that are to be captured, the
design of the ADM and the tool for creating fields is
such that adding new fields to the database at any stage
is fairly straightforward for someone with some basic
acQuire training. The same logging interface can be
used but enhanced with the new data fields.
4.2.6 Calculations
Included in the acQuire tools is the concept of
derived and calculated fields which can be used for
Figure 4. Elements of good data QA/QC on site.
134
determining any of the derived parameters from the
initial set of basic geotechnical data. This can be
designed to include conversions of parameters as well
all the elements of the various rock and soil classifica-
tion systems. Calculated fields are static and store the
result of a calculation, whereas derived fields run the
calculation each time the particular field is referenced,
thereby optimising storage.
5 QA/QC PROCESSES
5.1 Field program
It is essential that the major part of the QA/QC function
should be undertaken during the initial geotechni-
cal logging. This can be achieved with thorough
conventional methods of training; a comprehensive
geotechnical logging atlas including pictorial stan-
dardised logging of representative core boxes; and by
using a very tight set of pick lists for each parameter to
be measured. These elements of on-site quality control
are illustrated in Figure 4. It is essential that the initial
data-set is of a very high quality before it is passed on
for post processing by personnel who have probably
not been to the site nor have no experience logging
core from the site.
What has been noted on a number of geotechnical
programs at various sites is that the geotechnical log-
gers do not have a feel for the data sets as a whole.
It is often a case of entering a selection on a pick list
with a view of a limited row of reference information.
In other cases the geotechnical information is loaded
daily into a database and is either used or stored off
site. This results in the logger having a very limited
view of the various parameter ranges of the drillhole
as a whole or even within the same interval.
A potential method of overcoming this is to pro-
vide on site QA/QC by including a number of graphs
that could be reviewed at regular intervals. The follow-
ing graphs are recommended for inclusion in the site
logging forms:
• RQD and Total Core Recovery (TCR) percentage
against the down-hole length;
• Intact Rock Strength, alteration intensity and rock
type against down-hole length;
• RQD percentage and FF/m against down-hole
length.
An illustrative example of these graphs can be
viewed in Figure 5.
Regularly reviewing these graphs will highlight
inconsistencies within the data set as well as allow-
ing corrections on-site where, in the worst case, the
Figure 5. An example of a Geotechnical downhole QA/QC
graph as produced by SRK Consulting using software devel-
oped by Sobek-Technologies.
Figure 6. Suggest office QA/QC practices prior to using the data set for engineering design.
135
core can be re-reviewed. acQuire allows the logger to
edit data within the same interface that the data was
initially collected.
5.2 QA/QC Factors in the main database
5.2.1 Correlation of datasets
Data gathered from the down-hole logging tools needs
to be merged with the data-set from the detailed
geotechnical logging. Business rules need to be estab-
lished for this merging process, for example where
depths of features differ, then the down-hole logging
depths take precedence over those captured in the
geotechnical log. In terms of features, however, that
captured by the geotechnical logger takes precedence.
Another example of the requirement for business
rules is in the case of intact rock strengths, where
values are determined empirically during logging,
from point load tests, from down-hole logging tools
and laboratory tests. Establishing these rules may
become complicated and may require the intervention
of experienced geotechnical personnel.
It is essential to maintain the integrity of the origi-
nal data and this is achieved in an acQuire database by
storing both collected and altered data. Figure 6 sum-
marizes the recommended practices prior to using the
data in the database.
5.2.2 Data integrity testing
Values may have been edited according to the business
rules and thus the graphs generated on site should be
re-generated and examined. In addition, another QC
graphs to be viewed at this stage include IRS, Joint
conditions and alteration intensity.
6 CONCLUSION
There is not one solution that will solve all data
collection situations but managing the strengths
of different products can give an organization the
competitive edge.
Many companies have a history of developing soft-
ware systems in-house which, while fulfilling certain
functionality, can become complicated as require-
ments evolve and develop a reliance on key personnel.
Should these individuals leave the company, mainte-
nance of the system becomes a concern. This can be
avoided with a standard product from a well estab-
lished vendor, like the acQuire data management
system where the software is maintained and devel-
oped on an ongoing basis by a company rather than a
specific individual.
The acQuire system does not currently fulfill all the
requirements for geotechnical data management but
through ongoing development of the application and
136
continued interaction with geotechnical personnel this
will become a system of choice for geotechnical data
management.
REFERENCES
Chung, L. 2004. Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server:
What’s Right in Your Organization? SQL Server technical
article.
Rengers, N., Hack, R., Huisman, M., Slob, S. &
Zigterman, W. 2002. Information Technology applied to
engineering geology. In van Rooy & Jeremy (eds.), Engi-
neering Geology for Developing Countries – Proceedings
of 9th Congress of the International Association for Engi-
neering Geology and the Environment, Durban, South
Africa.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Characterising the in situ fragmentation of a fractured rock mass using

a discrete fracture network approach

S.F. Rogers & D.K. Kennard

Golder Associates Ltd., Vancouver, BC, Canada

W.S. Dershowitz
Golder Associates Inc., Redmond, WA, USA

A. van As
Rio Tinto Technical Services, Milton, Qld, Australia

ABSTRACT: The prevalence of block and panel caving mines is predicted to increase as easy access deposits
exploited with open pit mining are worked out and mining of deeper deposits is required to meet metal demand.
With the caving process from block and panel caving mines relying strongly upon the natural fracture network of
the rock mass, there is an associated need for improving the characterization of the in situ fragmentation. In-situ
fragmentation is defined as the blocks that are naturally present in the rock mass before any mining activity occurs.
In the various forms of block and panel caving, the in-situ fragmentation of the rock mass strongly influences
cave initiation, cave propagation, and the draw of ore. Increasingly discrete modelling methods are being used
to address the challenges of characterising the in-situ fragmentation. However many of these approaches are
constrained by the need to simplify the fracture system down by using some rather unrealistic assumptions.
For instance the use of infinite ubiquitous fracturing are clearly properties not observed widely in nature but
commonly implemented. The recent increase in the common application of borehole imaging tools and advanced
photogrammetry to accurately describe the orientation, extent and geotechnical character of the discontinuities
in a rock mass now provide the data to do better. With our increasing ability to image and quantify the rock mass
structure, more accurate models of the actual rock mass are available for rock engineering design purposes. The
use of realistic fracture network models offers a number of advantages over existing methods: the probability of
complete block formation can be determined rather than just identifying the possibility. The detailed geometry
of identified blocks can be defined in terms of mass, volume and shape as well as the associated rock bridges that
are preventing full block formation. The stochastic nature of the discrete model means that multiple realisations
can be generated and therefore all of the properties of the model defined in terms of the likelihood of occurrence.

1 INTRODUCTION secondary fragmentation. These parameters in turn

Block and panel cave (BPC) mining will become more
prevalent in the future as the need to exploit deep, large
ore bodies increases. BPC is also being applied to rel-
atively strong rock masses whose caveability would
be considered marginal. These mining methods typ-
ically require large capital investments to be made
before the benefits of their low cost production can
be realised, thereby increasing the amount of detailed
engineering study required to support the mine design.
Because ore production from BPC mines rely primar-
ily on the original natural fracture network in the rock
mass and natural secondary fragmentation processes,
defining the in situ fragmentation is key to understand-
ing caveability, cave propagation mechanisms, and
dictate practical aspects of mine design such as draw-
point size and spacing, equipment selection, draw
control, production rates, dilution rates.
The level of understanding of the mechanism by
which the rock mass fails through the extension of
existing fractures and the propagation of new ones
as a result of both shear and tensile failure during
caving is generally acknowledged to be poor. Whilst
there is considerable focus on this critical aspect of
cave design, it is a fundamental issue of rock mechan-
ics with applications to a wide range of surface and
underground rock engineering. It is recognized that
the most likely route to understanding the fragmen-
tation process is through an accurate description of
the pre-caving in situ fragmentation of the rock mass

137
(Brown 2002). Two broad technological steps make
this goal far more achievable now than the in the past.
Firstly improvements in our ability to image, quantify
and therefore characterize the rock mass resulting from
improvements in data acquisition techniques such as
photogrammetry, lidar, borehole televiewers etc. Sec-
ondly through the use of discrete modeling methods
that can take this site investigation data, turning it into
accurate descriptions of the rock mass fracture system
that can be interrogated in order to define such prop-
erties as block size, block stability and rock bridge
dimensions.
This paper describes some of the current efforts
in utilizing rock mass data from modern acquisition
methods and how that is processed and utilized in
a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) model to better
describe the rock mass structure.
2 DISCRETE FRACTURE NETWORK
TECHNOLOGY
2.1 Introduction
Discrete fracture network (DFN) modelling methods
have existed for some time now, but it is only in the
last few years with the wider availability of compu-
tation power that they have gained in prominence.
Early interest in the DFN approach was associated with
modelling of groundwater through natural fracture
systems, work largely driven by the various nuclear
water isolation projects worldwide (Dershowitz 1992).
Subsequently they also found application in the oil
and gas industry for modelling fractured hydrocar-
bon reservoirs (Dershowitz et al. 1998). However they
are increasingly being identified as useful tools for
addressing some of the geomechanical problems that
are encountered when designing structures in frac-
tured rock masses. The advantage of DFN models
is that they are better at describing local scale prob-
lems because of their ability to capture the discrete
fracture properties more accurately than larger scale
continuum approaches. Of great value also is their
ability to provide clear and reproducible route from
site investigation data to modelling because real frac-
ture properties are being maintained throughout the
modelling process.
DFN models seek to describe the heterogeneous
nature of fractured rock masses by explicitly rep-
resenting key elements of the fracture system as
discrete objects in space with appropriately defined
geometries and properties (Rogers et al. 2006). By
building geologically realistic models that combine the
larger observed deterministic structures with smaller
stochastically inferred fractures, DFN models capture
both the geometry and connectivity of the fracture net-
work, the geometry of the associated intact rock blocks
and also the nature of intact rock bridges connecting
138
fractures. By defining fracture properties (e.g. fracture
size and orientation) both stochastically and determin-
istically, models can be readily built and sampled mul-
tiple times in order to help constrain the likely nature
of the fractured rock mass. They are therefore ideally
suited to addressing a wide range of both geomechan-
ical and hydraulic problems associated with fractured
rock masses.
2.2 DFN parameters
When attempting to define the in situ fragmentation of
a rock mass, the main fracture properties that need to
be defined in order to build a DFN model are fracture
intensity, fracture spatial model, fracture orientation
and fracture size.
2.2.1 Fracture intensity
Fracture intensity is typically defined either from 1D
data such as boreholes or scan lines or from 2D trace
mapping upon surfaces such as benches or tunnel
walls. Care needs to be taken in the use of all of these
data as they are highly directionally biased. Increas-
ingly the preferred method of controlling fracture
intensity in a DFN model is through direct replica-
tion of the observed fractures. In this way, fractures
are generated within the model until the number of
fractures intersected by a borehole or trace plane are
reproduced by the model.
2.2.2 Fracture spatial model
Many of the existing methods of discrete modelling
assume that fractures are ubiquitous, therefore having
an equal likelihood of occurrence. If it is assumed that
fractures are ubiquitous, this fails to capture the fact
that fractures distribute themselves according to some
form of spatial model, generally associated with the
geological process that caused their formation. How
fractures distribute, strongly controls how they form
blocks and in particular the size distribution of those
blocks.
A number of possible spatial models exist in nature.
For instance often the intensity of fractures is observed
to cluster around key structures such as faults, with
a diminishing intensity with distance from the fault.
An alternative is the observation that fractures often
tend to clump together (the Fractal Model) rather than
being considered as independent Poisson events. In
strongly layered systems, fracturing may be constant,
but it is often layer bounded with spacing controlled
by bed thickness or other geomechanical properties of
the rock. See Figure 1.
2.2.3 Fracture orientation
Fracture orientation as with fracture intensity is gen-
erally defined from either borehole imaging data, face
mapping or increasingly from advanced photogram-
metric methods. Processing of fracture orientation

Figure 1. Some example spatial models that can be used
to describe the distribution of fractures within a rock mass.
1. Random (Poisson) distribution, 2. Clumped (Fractal) dis-
tribution, 3. Clustered around faults and 4. Regularly spaced
layer bound fractures.
data allows it to be organized into distinct fracture
sets with defined statistical properties, allowing the
stochastic reproduction of these data within the DFN
model. Alternatively where orientation data have a
highly dispersed orientation that doesn’t support this
straight forward statistical approach, an alternative
method of “bootstrapping” can be used. This is a
statistical method based upon multiple random sam-
pling with replacement from an original sample to
create a pseudo-replicate sample of fracture orien-
tations. Figure 2 shows an example of a dispersed
data set reproduced using a bootstrapping technique.
The dark dots are simulated fracture orientations
and the light squares are from borehole televiewer
data.
2.2.4 Fracture size
Many of the existing discrete fracture modeling meth-
ods assume fractures to be infinite in length, resulting
in an erroneous definition of block geometry. Increas-
ingly it appears that fracture persistence is a critical
control on whether a rock mass readily forms into
3D blocks or a series of incomplete blocks with
varying degrees of rock bridge preventing full block
formation. Observations of fracture length generally
represent a truncated measurement of the true length
of a fracture and these will usually need to be corrected
for inclusion within a DFN model (e.g. Dershowitz
1995, Zhang & Einstein 1998, Mauldon 1998). This
139
Figure 2. Simulation of fracture orientation data using the
bootstrapping technique. Dark dots are simulated orientations
and light squares are real borehole data used to bootstrap off.
can be done using a simulated sampling technique
where fractures of known size are adjusted until the
distribution of truncated lengths observed on an equiv-
alent sample match the size distribution observed in
reality.
2.2.5 Fracture termination
The chronology of fracture formation and the extent
to which certain sets terminate against each other is
another critical input into the potential for full block
formation. Fracture networks with a higher percent-
age of terminations of one set against another generally
have a greater potential to form blocks with fewer rock
bridges retaining the block to the adjacent rock mass.
DFN models generally allow the input of a termina-
tion percentage as one of the input parameters for a
fracture set.
2.3 DFN summary
The process of building a DFN model involves 4 main
stages: data analysis; conceptual model development;
model building and validation. These activities are
seen within Figure 3 as the “validation loop”. This is a
refining process of testing the developed DFN model
against various validation data sets such as borehole
or mapping fracture data in order to ensure a good fit
between the simulated and actual fracture data. The
analysis of the data and conceptualization of the frac-
ture system needs to be constantly updated until the
validation is optimized and this can often be a long
term process with an early conceptual model being
found to be inadequate as new data are acquired and
new understanding developed. However once the level
of validation achieved is satisfactory, then the DFN
model is available for use.
Building a DFN model comprises more than sim-
ply deriving the statistical properties of the fracture
system. As such a DFN model is not just a statistical
description but an ordered geologically realistic repre-
sentation of the distribution, interaction and geometry
of rock mass fractures. Figure 3 shows this work flow
as well as some of the key 2D and 3D geomechanical
applications of DFN models.
Main Data Sources
Geophysics Borehole data
Data
Well Testing Mapping/Imaging
Validation Loop
Analysis
Geological
Model
Conceptual Fracture Model
Conceptualisation
DFN Model
Validation
Application
2D Applications
1.Step path analysis
2.Rock Bridge Quantification
3.Equivalent property calculation
Export 2D/3D fracture model
to numerical codes
Figure 3. Generalised work flow for the development and
application of a DFN model.
3 DFN MODELS AND THE ASSESSMENT OF
IN SITU FRAGMENTATION
Many discrete fracture modeling methods make some
simplifying assumptions about the prevailing fracture
network such as the presumptions of fracture inde-
pendence, infinite fracture length and the ubiquity of
occurrence. As detailed in the section above these are
properties of a fracture network that are spatially vari-
able yet can be measured. As such any attempt to
accurately characterize the fracture network on the way
to determining a rock masses in situ fragmentation
needs to capture these and other critical parameters.
To illustrate how the assessment of the 3D in situ frag-
mentation is critically sensitive to the description of
the fracture network, an example is presented below
showing 3 very different outcomes from a DFN model
based upon similar data. Table 1 below summarizes
the input parameters into the model.
Data Analysis
The models comprise 3 sets of fractures that are
& DFN Inputs broadly orthogonal. There is a large low angle set dip-
ping to the southeast plus two variably sized steeply
dipping fracture sets striking WNW-ESE and NE-SW.
Model
The basic difference between the 3 models is how over-
Validation all fracture intensity and fracture size (expressed as
the equivalent radius of a disc) varies. The volumet-
ric fracture intensity (known as P32 and expressed as
3D Applications total fracture area per unit volume) remains the same in
all models but model 1 has relatively small fractures,
1.Block Identification model 2 intermediate and in model 3, the fractures
2.Block Volume
3.Block Kinematics extend the width of the modeling volume and so are
4.Rock Bridge Quantification
5.Pre-Conditioning evaluation effectively infinite. Figure 4 shows the 3 models built
6.Fracture Connectivity
7.Flow simulation in the FracMan® DFN code (Dershowitz et al. 1998).
8.Equivalent property calculation
To reiterate, the overall intensity of fracturing within
the models is identical, it is just that the area of fractur-
ing is distributed as many smaller fractures in model 1
and as a fewer larger structures in model 3. The easiest
way to visualize the in situ fragmentation of these
models to simulate the undercutting (effectively the
precursor to block caving) and to examine the sim-
ulated roof of the undercut for the nature of the 2D
fragmentation. See Figure 5.

Table 1. Summary of input parameters used for FracMan DFN Model.

Parameter Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Model Dimensions (m) 50 × 50 × 70 m

Fracture Set 1 Fisher Distribution 302/82 k = 30
Orientation Set 2 Bivariate Normal Distribution 292/01 k1 = 20, k2 = 10
Set 3 Bivariate Normal Distribution 189/05 k1 = 20, k2 = 10
Fracture Intensity (m2 /m3 ) Set 1 = 0.25 Set 2 = 0.5 Set 3 = 0.25
(For all models)
Fracture Set 1 50 m constant 50 m constant 50 m constant
Radius (m)† Set 2 LN 2.5,2.5, min = 1 LN 5,5, min = 2.5 100 m constant
Set 3 LN 2.5,2.5, min = 1 LN 5,5, min = 2.5 100 m constant

† LN = log normal distribution, min = minimum size truncation

140

Figure 4. 3 FracMan DFN realizations with equal properties
apart from fracture size. Model volume is 50 × 50 × 70 m.
Stereoplot represents orientation model used for model.
Others models have the same distribution but a different
frequency.
Figure 5. Fracture trace maps from the roof of a simulated
undercut, view looking upwards for the three models.The bot-
tom right image shows one of the trace maps in situ, viewed
from above.
141
Comparing the three traces maps above it is clear
that the size of fractures has a dramatic impact on
the block forming potential of the three fracture sys-
tems given the equivalence of all other properties.
Consider model 1 that despite having many small frac-
tures, forms few fully enclosed 2D blocks. This is in
stark contrast to model 3 that with its system of long
fractures forms a virtually complete network of fully
enclosed 2D blocks. Of course to determine the full
in situ fragmentation of the rock mass, a more com-
plex analysis of the fracture network is required. This
is achieved by taking the 2D trace map and construct-
ing rock blocks by identifying those fractures which
form closed two-dimensional shapes in the trace map,
forming trace maps of those shapes and repeating the
process until all fractures participating in fracture trace
maps have trace maps of their own. The block faces
identified from this are processed using an “unfolding”
algorithm to generate the minimum volume polyhe-
dron which connects to the starting point of the block
search (Dershowitz & Carvalho 1996). The proper-
ties of the identified rock blocks such as volume and
size are subsequently computed by a process of three-
dimensional tessellation. Figure 6 shows the 3D blocks
determined from model 2 and model 3 that are con-
nected directly to the under cut. Obviously the in situ
fragmentation would be defined for the whole DFN
model but is visualized here at a single layer for clarity.
No 3D blocks are formed on the undercut for model
1 with its higher frequency of shorter fractures. From
an in situ fragmentation perspective, this rock mass
comprises a single large super block (of the same order
of magnitude as the model volume) albeit with a high
degree of internal weakness as a result of the high
frequency of fractures.
Figure 6 shows how fully formed 3D blocks in
model 2 occupy approximately 50% of the modelled
undercut. With the relatively short fractures of model
2, simple block formation is poorly developed because
of the number of free unconnected fractures resulting
in this modelled rock mass being dominated by super
blocks, a continuous volume of incomplete semi con-
tiguous blocks held rigidly by the presence of intact
rock bridges. In contrast, fully formed 3D blocks in
model 3 occupy approximately 90% of the modelled
undercut with the unformed (darker) area around the
edge representing a modelling edge effect only. In this
case the long fractures and therefore high degree of
connectivity have ensured almost perfect block for-
mation. In this case, the rock mass comprises a series
of contiguous fully formed blocks with less rigidity as
a result of the limited number of intact rock bridges.
An interesting aspect of the use of a fully defined
and unrestricted DFN modeling approach (i.e. no
enforced simplifying assumptions) is that the blocks
that are formed can be made up of an unlimited num-
ber of fractures. As can be seen from Figure 7, the

Figure 6. Identification of simple 3D blocks in FracMan
directly connected to the undercut horizon of models 2
and 3. Upper images show 3D visualization of blocks and
lower images are viewed directly from above looking towards
undercut horizon.
Figure 7. Realistic 3D blocks formed from unrestricted
DFN modeling illustrating the wide variety of block shapes
possible. Dark block kinematically unstable and lighter
blocks are kinematically stable.
shape of many of the blocks is in fact quite exotic.
This allows the far more realistic definition of block
geometry than can be achieved with a more restrictive
approach. The shape of in situ blocks can have a pro-
found effect upon the continued fragmentation of the
rock mass and upon block movement and modification
during caving and so the accurate characterization of
this property can be critical.
In Figure 7, as these blocks were directly connected
to the undercut horizon, they have also been tested for
kinematic stability with those unstable blocks being
seen as darker coloured than those blocks found to
be stable which are coloured lighter. What can also be
seen is that the blocks often exist as composite arrange-
ments of contiguous blocks whose individual state of
stability may be quite different. However these blocks
142
Figure 8. Distribution of size and number of 3D blocks from
models 2 and 3.
may behave as a single volume if a combination of
appropriate clamping stresses or tensile strength exists
(Brown 2002). Thus defining the geometry is only a
start to understanding how the rock mass will actually
behave.
The full block formation data for the models
described above are shown in Figure 8 where the cumu-
lative frequency graphs of block size are shown for
model 2 and model 3. What is clearly seen is that model
3 has approximately 2.5 times more fully formed 3D
blocks than model 2 with the average (P50) block size
being approximately twice as big for model 3 as model
2 (∼4.5 m3 v ∼8.5 m3 ). This really reinforces the fact
that in order to achieve useful modelling of the rock
mass fragmentation, it relies on both accurate and none
simplified geometric parameters.
A key observation that can be drawn from these
results is that when the fracture network is modelled
using a realistic length distribution to describe fracture
size, the number of blocks formed appears relatively
limited. This is in contrast to models using exten-
sive and sometimes unconstrained fracture lengths
that result in a very high probability of block forma-
tion. Increasingly rock engineers report that this is the
case with the propensity of a rock mass to form fully
defined 3D blocks often being quite limited (Elmo
2006). Simply comparing the 2D trace maps seen in
Figure 5 for model 1 (real) and model 3 (excessive
length) shows how the more realistic description fails
to form 2D blocks.
A real strength of the DFN approach is the stochastic
generation method that allows the Monte Carlo simu-
lation of a rock mass in order to allow better assessment
of the likely range of fragmentation that could be
achieved with a single realisation. Thus caving design
parameters that are sensitive to in situ fragmentation
size can be selected with reference to a particular level
of confidence in order to manage the uncertainty of the
defined fragmentation. Of course creating an accurate
model of the in situ fragmentation of a rock mass is
only a step on the road to the full understanding and
modelling of the caving fragmentation problem. How-
ever workers are realising that an accurate description
of the rock mass structure does provide a better start-
ing point for modelling progressive fragmentation and
rock failure (Pine et al. 2006).
4 SUMMARY
DFN modelling clearly has applications to the def-
inition and assessment of the in situ fragmentation
of a rock mass. The in situ fragmentation of a rock
mass is fundamentally defined by the fracture net-
work and so using tools such as FracMan to create
detailed descriptions of the observed fracture system
is the logical starting point. Without the need to restrict
how the fracture network is modeled and with the well
developed tools for describing the fracture system by
a range of quantifiable parameters, using a genuinely
realistic discrete description of the rock mass, DFN
models appear to provide an excellent method for in
situ fragmentation characterization.
REFERENCES
Brown, E.T. 2002. Block Caving Geomechanics. JKMRC
Monograph Series in Mining & Mineral Processing No. 3.
Dershowitz, W. 1992. The role of the Stripa Phase 3 Project
in the development of practical discrete fracture model-
ing technology. In Proc., Fourth International NEA/SKB
Symposium, Stockholm. Paris: OECD/NEA, pp. 237–258.
143
Dershowitz, W.S. 1995. Interpretation and synthesis of dis-
crete fracture orientation, size, shape, spatial structure and
hydrologic modelling. In Myer et al. (eds.), Proc Fractured
and Jointed Rock Masses, Lake Tahoe.
Dershowitz, W.S. & Carvalho, J. 1996. Key-block tun-
nel stability analysis using realistic fracture patterns. In
NARMS 96.
Dershowitz, W.S., LaPointe, P., Eiben, T. & Wei, L. 1998. Inte-
gration of Discrete Feature Network Methods with Con-
ventional Approaches. Society of Petroleum Engineers,
Paper 49069.
Dershowitz, W., Lee, G., Geier, J. & LaPointe, P.R. 1998. Frac-
Man: Interactive discrete feature data analysis, geometric
modelling and exploration simulation. User Documenta-
tion. Seattle, WA: Golder Associates Inc.
Elmo, D. 2006. Evaluation of a hybrid FEM/DEM approach
for determination of rock mass strength using a combi-
nation of discontinuity mapping and fracture mechanics
modelling, with particular emphasis on modelling of
jointed pillars. PhD Thesis, Camborne School of Mines,
University of Exeter U.K.
Pine, R.J., Coggan, J.S., Flynn, Z.N. & Elmo, D. 2006. The
development of a new numerical modelling approach for
naturally fractured rock masses. Rock Mech. Rock Engng.
39(5): 395–419.
Rogers, S.F., Moffitt, K.M. & Kennard, D.T. 2006. Probabilis-
tic slope and tunnel block stability analysis using realistic
fracture network models. In Proc. 41st U.S. Symposium on
Rock Mechanics, Golden, CO. ARMA/USRMS, 06-1052.
Mauldon, M. 1998. Estimating mean fracture trace length
and density from observations in convex windows. Rock
Mech. Rock Engng. 31: 201–216.
Zhang, L. & Einstein, H.H. 1998. Estimating the mean trace
length of rock discontinuities. Rock Mech. Rock Engng.
31: 217–235.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

3D simulation and aggregation of fracture network

M. Cravero
CNR IGAG – Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Torino, Italy

F. Piana, S. Ponti, S. Tallone & G. Balestro

CNR IGG – Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT: A conceptual model for the aggregated 3D geometrical simulation of distinct fracture systems
of complex blocky rock masses is proposed. Simulations are performed within a bounded generation vol-
ume, internally subdivided into distinct generation regions where representative “fracture ensembles” of each
main structural feature of the geological model are stochastically generated. The geometry and position of the
boundaries between the generation regions are deterministic constraints given by the geological model. The
aggregated 3D simulation of the several geological objects that form part of the model is performed by means
of FracMan code. The simulation gives satisfactory results but shows that the fracture intensity parameter P32
strongly depends on the wedge-shape geometry of the generation regions. This fact, that could induce spatial
heterogeneities in the simulated fracture network, deserves further analyses.

1 INTRODUCTION tectonic structures, structural domains or other enti-

It is known that the characterization of fracture systems
in complex rock masses can be unsuitable for use if it
is not supported by a geological model that could allow
to understand the relationships between fracture sys-
tems. These relationships must be taken into account
in constructing synthetic models of the fracture net-
work, which can be derived from the knowledge of the
geological setting of the study area, as well as its tec-
tonic evolution through the geological times. In other
words, a geological model is needed.
The likelihood of a geological model, even in the
case where it is based on both local and regional
knowledge and supported by proper geological maps at
different scales, depends largely on uncertainty asso-
ciated with the interpretation of the individual field
observations, limitations imposed by a lack of expo-
sure of the rocks and variations of the fault density for
different types of datasets (Nicol et al. 1996); these
aspects are often enhanced by the geologist’s personal
bias. Nevertheless, geological models are essential
to achieve representation of geological discontinu-
ity which is useful for the simulation of complex,
interconnected fracture networks for different kinds
of application.
A geological model can be defined as a concep-
tualization that consists of several geological objects
(in the followings referred as “conceptual geologi-
cal objects”) that may be rock units, sedimentary or
ties useful to give a synthetic description of the study
rock domain. Each conceptual geological object of the
geological model has a peculiar structural association
and/or fracture ensemble (Cravero et al. 2006).
Simulations of fracture network should be con-
ducted separately for the different-scale geological
objects, since fault and fractures, although generally
regulated by power-law distributions (Heffer et al.
1990, Cowie et al. 1995, Pickering et al. 1995), can
suffer distribution and clustering variations at different
scales due to sampling bias. Aggregations of simulated
fracture system can be subsequently performed within
the geometrical constraints given by the general geo-
logical model in order to reproduce the actual fracture
network of a rock domain. Such a methodology was
used for the 3D quantitative analysis and simulation of
fractures in rocks and is described in the followings.
2 GEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
2.1 Regional stratigraphic and tectonic setting
The study area is located in the Ligurian Alps (NW
Italy) where metamorphic units of the Alpine chain
were thrust onto crustal units not affected by Alpine
metamorphism (Insubric-Adriatic domain) and onto
Oligocene sedimentary units of the so-called Piemonte
Tertiary Basin (Roure et al. 1990, Biella et al. 1997,
Gelati & Gnaccolini 1988) (Fig. 1).

145
Figure 1. Geological sketch map of NW Italy. The study
area is placed some kilometers South of Acqui Terme, on the
geological boundary between the Oligocene-Miocene sedi-
mentary succession of the Tertiary Piemonte Basin (TPB)
and the Alpine metamorphic rocks of the Voltri Unit. Dotted
lines indicate the depth in meters of the base of Pliocene sed-
iments. PTF: Padan thrust front; IL: Insubric Line; AM: Alto
Monferrato; SVZ: Sestri Voltaggio zone.
Figure 2. Geological sketch map of the study area. Leg-
end: a) bedding and/or foliation attitude, b) normal faults, c)
strike-slip faults, d) thrust faults, e) survey sites.
In the study area (Fig. 2), a NW–SE thrust ramp
made up of metamorphic units of Ligurian Alps,
3 DEFINITION OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND
bounded at the base by a km-scale reverse shear
GEOMETRICAL MODELS
zone (Grognardo thrust zone) overrode Oligocene sed-
imentary rocks (Piana et al. 2005). The metamorphic
Reconstructing the geological evolution of a region
units are made up of metaophiolites and metasedi-
provides a general knowledge framework from which
ments (Voltri Unit) and poly-metamorphic continental
a local geological model suitable for geo-engineering
crust slices (Valosio Crystalline Unit; Forcella et al.
applications can be defined. This model counts
1973). The Voltri and Valosio units underwent a
macroscale structural features (defined by concep-
polyphase tectono-metamorphic evolution that gen-
tualizations), each one characterized by a specific
erated regional transpositive foliations deformed by
fracturing state (“fracture ensemble”, Cravero et al.
several folding phases.
2006).
The sedimentary terrigenous succession (Gelati &
Gnaccolini 1980) is made up of conglomerates and
3.1 Macroscale structural features
sandstones (Molare Formation), Oligocene marls
(Rocchetta Formation); biocalcarenites and glaucony- In the case of fracture simulation, the understand-
rich arenites (Visone Formation, and terrigenous ing of the brittle tectonic evolution allowed us to
turbidites (Cortemilia Formation). Among these individuate the main macroscopic structural features
lithostratigraphic units, only the Voltri and Valosio (i.e. not completely exposed structural features whose
Crystalline units, Molare Fm. and Rocchetta Fm. have identification depends on interpretative reconstruc-
been here considered for fracture simulations. The tions; Hobbs et al. 1976), that represent the conceptual
post-metamorphic tectonic evolution of the study area geological objects of the model (Fig. 3).
was marked by two main deformation events. The The knowledge of the geometrical relations between
older one induced the development of penetrative brit- the geological objects allows to create a simplified
tle fabrics in both the sedimentary and metamorphic geological model on which a geometrical model for
units in response to the activity of the Grognardo fracture simulation is created (Fig. 3). This geometri-
thrust zone (Piana et al. 2005). The younger one is cal model defines the generation volume for fracture
related to transtensional tectonics which gave rise to simulation. In particular, it gives the volumetric and
well-developed normal and strike-slip fault systems. geometrical deterministic constraints for stochastic

146
Figure 3. Geological model (left block) and related geometrical model (right block).
fracture generation processes, in the sense that it
defines the spatial extension of the generation regions
(see section 5).
3.2 Geological model
The structural features of the geological model are:
– the Grognardo Thrust Zone: a km scale, NNW-
SSE striking shear zone well exposed south of
Acqui Terme (Fig. 2). It consists of fault-bounded
domains made up of folded and sheared metamor-
phic rocks, pervasively displaced by all-scale brittle
contractional shear zones and reverse faults.
– the NW–SE transtensive fault system: intercon-
nected normal and left-lateral faults that cut off
the Grognardo thrust zone and induced a pervasive
fracturing of both the sedimentary and the meta-
morphic units (Fig. 2). These faults also reactivated
and steepened the Grognardo thrust zone, so that the
original lozenge-type geometry of it was partially
obliterated.
– “ground fracture net” for each litostratigraphic
units. This term here means: a) the fracture sys-
tems sub-parallel to metamorphic foliation and/or
sedimentary layers of each litostratigraphic units,
whose development is generally due to jointing
in response to general extensional conditions and
b) the regular, well-diffused fracture and faults
originated by widespread regional tectonic events.
The previously described main macroscopic structural
features have different characteristics in each of the
above cited four lithostratigraphic units and different
related fracture ensembles.
147
3.3 Fracture ensembles and structural association
Since each conceptual geological object has its own
structural association, the characterization of the
related fractures could be performed referring to its
particular structural association. However, the concept
of structural association, intended as “combinations of
structures and/or structures and rocks that are found
to occur repeatedly in many parts of the world and
in rocks of different ages”, (Hobbs et al. 1976) has
a marked genetic meaning, related to the dynamics
and kinematics of the geological deformational events.
In the case of fracture simulation processes, when
input data are obtained from observations on lim-
ited (although representative) outcrops, the use of the
structural association concept is not suitable since the
genetic relationships between fractures are not all easy
to understand. Consequently, we preferred to use a new
concept called “Fracture Ensemble” (FE) (Cravero
et al. 2006), to indicate groups or families of fractures
l.s.(including joints, fracture cleavages, veins, faults
and shear zone) that comprehends fractures that could
be genetically and/or geometrically related to a sin-
gle geological object. Consequently, since the fracture
ensembles roughly correspond to the structural associ-
ations, they are not casual instances, but their presence
and features are expected to be regularly repeated at
all scales within the rock mass.
3.4 Geometrical model for stochastic fracture
generation
The geometrical model contains six distinct gener-
ation regions (Fig. 3). These regions represent the
above-described main structural features (geological
objects), each one characterized by a peculiar frac-
ture ensemble recognized on the field. In each region
fractures have been stochastically generated starting
from input field data of each single fracture ensem-
ble. The geometrical relations between the regions are
the deterministic constraints given by the geological
model.
The geometrical model here appointed for the
numerical simulation of fracture network contains six
aggregated but distinct fracture ensembles listed as
follows:
– transtensive fault systems in Molare Fm. arenites
(generation region 1 – site 1);
– transtensive fault system in Rocchetta Fm. marls
(generation region 2 – site 4);
– reverse faults in Voltri unit (generation region 3 –
site 1);
– reverse faults and ground fracture net in Voltri unit
(generation region 4 – site 6);
– reverse faults in Valosio unit (generation region 5 –
site 10);
normal faults and ground fracture net in Valosio unit
(generation region 6 – site 5).
4 INPUT DATA: CHOICE OF SAMPLING
WINDOWS AND RECOGNITION OF
FRACTURE ENSEMBLES
In this work, original fracture data have been taken
from sites representative of the real architecture of
each geological object that forms a part of the geolog-
ical model. For each survey site the main geological
objects were individuated, and the pertinent fracture
ensembles (FE) identified and described.
The geological model gives the main rules for: a)
the choice of the survey sites where input data have
to be gathered; b) the individuation of the “fracture
ensemble” for each conceptual geological object (i.e.
aggregation or separation of observed fractures to
constitute different FEs) and the interpretation of the
geometrical and/or genetic relationships between the
fractures of a single fracture ensemble and between
distinct fracture ensembles.
– Rules for the choice of survey sites: these are deter-
mined by the knowledge of the macroscale and
mesoscale structures of the study region. Measure-
ment sites have been chosen in order to ensure
that most of the fracture ensembles and relative
combinations could be input data.
– Rules for the individuation and interpretations of
fracture ensembles: these rules are determined by
the knowledge of the sequence of the tectonic
events which occurred throughout geological times
in a region. This allows fracture ensembles, that
are well-diffused in each rock unit (or in all)
148
to be distinguished, from distinct fracture ensem-
bles related to each particular geological object or
deformational event (see also Cravero et al. 2006).
It should be pointed out that both kinds of the
above stated rules should be applied at the same time,
since they come from our knowledge of earth spatial
heterogeneities and earth evolution through times,
respectively.
Data sets of each FE report the measured values
of the coordinates, length, orientation and inclination
(dipdir, dip) of each fracture. These values are needed
for 3D fracture pattern analysis and simulation. Since
the purpose of this work was to perform only geomet-
rical simulations, other fracture descriptors such as
joint opening, infilling, fracture morphology, rough-
ness etc... were not compiled for fracture geometrical
modelling.
5 AGGREGATED 3D SIMULATION OF
FRACTURE SYSTEMS
In agreement with the geological model shown in Fig-
ure 3, a geometrical model is defined for aggregate 3D
simulation. The aggregate simulation represents the
more recurrent geometrical relationship between the
fracture systems that characterize the different rock
units and macroscale structures of the study region.
The model does not describe any specific local geom-
etry, but it represents the prototype geometrical rela-
tions between the main geological objects. It consists
of a generation volume (total height 44 m) bounded
on its top and bottom by two ideal horizontal planes
(25.5×42 m2 ) and includes to SSW dipping shear-
zones (region 3 and 5) that represents the deformation
related to the Grognardo thrust zone. The shear-zones
are confined within two inclined planes (25×50 m2 )
whose reciprocal distance and size is chosen in order to
suitably simulate the sampling windows. Two regions
(region 1 and 2) are present between the lower shear-
zone and lower horizontal plane. These regions are
separated by an intermediate horizontal plane that rep-
resents the stratigraphic contact between Molare and
Rocchetta formations. The Voltri formation is con-
fined between the two shear zones (region 4), while
the upper region 6 represents the Valosio crystalline
unit. The fracture networks generated in the distinct
simulation regions refer to field data collected in five
sampling windows whose geometrical features are
summarized in Table 1. Each window describes a pecu-
liar FE, although each single window usually contains
more than one fracture ensemble.
The choice of the survey window size is of great
importance since the value of µl is very sensitive to
window size as shown in the previous work by the
authors. It is known that the ideal size of outcrop sur-
face window should be at least equal to 50 m2 for
Table 1. FEs, size and attitude of the sampling windows Table 2. Mean set attitudes and dispersion parameter.
(sw) for each simulation region (sr). NF: normal faults; RF:
reverse faults. Subscripts refer to the geological formations: Fisher orientation
Mo: Molare; Ro: Rocchetta; Va: Valosio; Vo: Voltri. distribution Dip dir [◦ ] Dip [◦ ] KF [-]

L DipDir 1 Set 1 183 71 300

sw sr [m] H [m] [◦ ] Dip [◦ ] FE Set 2 49 68 300
2 Set 1 10 71 500
1 1 6 4 260 88 NFMo Set 2 187 68 500
3 2 8 2 100 80 NFRo 3 Set 1 33 31 300
1 3 4 1.2 260 88 RFMo Set 2 162 33 300
4 4 5.5 1.8 195 80 (RF+D)Vo Set 3 103 32 300
10 5 2.5 1.1 200 70 RFVa 4 Set 1 81 54 5
5 6 10.5 2 150 85 NFVa Set 2 243 70 5
Set 3∗ 170 82 23
5 Set 1 194 3 13
6 Set 1 95 87 100
Set 2 245 73 37
mean fracture tracelength of the order of one meter. ∗
Nevertheless is not always possible to respect this : diffused foliation
indication because of the actual dimension of the
outcrop. In the present work the simulated survey
windows reported in Table 1 are equivalent both in Table 3. Mean µr , standard deviation σr of the fracture
radius; Pdf truncation tr of the fracture radius.
attitude and in size to the surveyed outcrop windows
except for windows 3 and 5 which are smaller than the Log-normal
corresponding surveyed outcrop windows (the actual distribution µr [m] σr [m] tr [m]
size being 6×4 m2 and 6.5×4.1 m2 , respectively). This
is due to the fact that the thickness of the simulated 1 Set 1 0.70 0.60 /
shear-zone regions where these windows are located Set 2 0.61 0.43 /
is smaller than the real one chosen for data collection. 2 Set 1 0.74 1.14 /
Therefore the simulated windows 3 and 5 are suitably Set 2 0.63 1.41 /
rescaled to fit the simulation regions. 3 Set 1 0.88 0.98 0.2÷2
The descriptors are the fracture set attitude (DipDir, Set 2 0.62 0.24 0.2÷2
Set 3 0.47 0.25 0.2÷2
Dip) according to Fisher distribution, the fracture 4 Set 1 0.90 0.70 /
radius (r) according to LogNormal distribution and Set 2 0.90 0.70 /
the intensity P32 giving the best fit between surveyed Set 3∗ 0.26 0.03 /
and simulated intensities P21 and P22 (Dershowitz & 5 Set 1 0.32 0.18 /
Herda 1992). 6 Set 1 0.39 0.16 /
The statistical analysis of the outcrop data is per- Set 2 0.71 0.64 /
formed through FRACMAN package (Dershowitz
∗
et al. 1998) and consists of joint sets separation, : diffused foliation
and characterization made through ISIS module, and
evaluation of the fracture radius from trace length dis-
tribution through FRACSIZE module. The simulated The intensity coefficient P32 and the fracture termi-
trace network obtained through geometrical stochastic nation percentage coefficient T% have been reported
modeling of the discrete features of the rock mass is in Table 4. P32 is obtained as best fit parameter from
compared with that measured at the survey sites. The 3D simulations. It should be noted that the estimated
Monte Carlo simulation is based on statistical mod- P32 intensities of Molare and Rocchetta formations
els whose applicability is controlled through goodness are strongly lower than those evaluated in the previous
of fit tests as Chi-Square and Kolmogorov-Smirnov work by the authors. This fact might be attributed to the
test (FracWorks XP, Golder Associates 2006). All the geometry of the simulation regions that influences the
descriptors are reported in the Tables 2–5. probability of locating fractures of a given size within
Table 2 shows mean attitudes and related standard wedge shaped regions. The induced non uniformity of
deviations for each joint set and the dispersion coeffi- fracture size distribution influences the P32 parameter.
cient for the Fisher distribution used in the statistical This fact is unexpected and will be the focus of further
analysis. Table 3 reports mean and standard deviation research.
of fracture radius for each joint set assuming LogNor- The comparison between the fracture intensity of
mal distribution except for diffused foliation (Set 3, the observed and simulated windows is shown in
region 4) where homogeneous distribution is assumed. the Table 5 where the coefficients P21 and P22 are

149
Table 4. P32 Intensity and termination percentage T% of This result could be generalized performing a para-
fractures. metric analysis, by varying the geometrical and the
statistical descriptors as the generation volume shape
Regions T% P32
and size, survey window size, µr and σr , but this goes
1 Set 1 0 0.55 beyond the aim of the present work.
Set 2 20 0.5 Figure 4 shows the 3D fracture modeling and
2 Set 1 0 0.16** the simulated trace networks in survey windows for
Set 2 40 0.16** each region separately. Figure 5 shows the aggregate
3 Set 1 0 0.2 simulation.
Set 2 30 0.1 It should be noticed that few fracture disks (i.e. few
Set 3 30 0.07 percent of the total number of fractures within each
4 Set 1 0 0.25 region) having radius 10–20 times greater than µr are
Set 2 20 0.25
generated in the simulated regions. This fact reproduce
Set 3∗ 20 0.1***
5 Set 1 0 0.03 the actual fracture network of the study rock masses,
6 Set 1 0 0.1**** where a great number of small fractures are always
Set 2 20 0.2**** present in some of the rock units, whilst few large
fractures extend across the whole rock mass. In order
∗ to correctly describe this texture σr values should be
: diffused foliation; ** suggested value: 0.13;
***: suggested value 0.3 comparable or even greater with µr values, as shown
****:suggested values 0.13 and 0.26, respectively in Table 3.

Table 5. Intensities P21 and P22 of the observed and 6 CONCLUSIONS

simulated windows.

2D survey and simulated The paper proposes a conceptual model for the aggre-
windows P21 [#/m2 ] P22 [m/m2 ] gated numerical simulation of distinct fracture ensem-
bles related to the main geological structural features
1 Obs 2.4 2.2 of a complex region made up of blocky rock masses. A
Sim 2.3 2.6 suitable geological model gives the rules to impose the
2 Obs 2.41 2.03 geometrical relations between the different rock units.
Sim 3.5 4.0 A geometrical model was defined at the decametric
3 Obs 3.6 3.3 scale to perform aggregated simulation of the fracture
Sim 3.8 3.2
4 Obs 4.1 2.1
network. The size of the model is compatible with the
Sim 2.7 2.53 scale of the sampling windows where data were col-
5 Obs 2.4 1.28 lected. It is important to underline that the validity of
Sim 3.27 1.0 the geometrical model at greater size can be extended
6 Obs 1.71 1.29 by suitable rescaling of the descriptors through scaling
Sim 1.24 0.88 law, and it will be the goal of future researches.
3D quantitative analysis of fractures in rocks was
presented, based on geological study, statistical anal-
ysis and simulation of the fracture networks. Analysis
and 3D simulation were performed on the basis of data
reported for each sampling window. These coeffi- surveyed in five sites located in different rock units
cients are directly computed from the statistics of the characterized by specific fracture ensembles. The sites
simulated sampling windows. Discrepancy between are representative of the main geological objects of the
observed and simulated parameters can be partially study area.
improved by slightly changing the parameter P32 . Aggregated 3D simulation was performed by means
Using the values suggested in Table 4 the following of FRACMAN code: inside each region fractures were
parameters are obtained: (i) decreasing P32 of 0.03 in stochastically generated within deterministic bound-
region 2, P21 and P22 decrease of 1.2; (ii) increasing aries imposed by the geological model, on the basis of
P32 of 0.2 in region 4, P21 and P22 increase of 1.71 and the knowledge of cross-cutting relations between the
0.46, respectively; (iii) increasing P32 of 0.03 for the main structural features.
set1 and of 0.06 for the set2 in region 6, P21 and P22 The simulation showed that the intensity parameter
increase of 0.33 and 0.75, respectively. In the present P32 strongly depends on the geometry of the regions.
analysis the rate of change of the coefficients P21 and In fact, the probability of locating fractures of a given
P22 is about one or two orders of magnitude larger size within wedge shaped regions depends on the posi-
than the one of P32. tion of fracture themselves. The induced spatial non

150
Figure 4. 3D fracture modeling and simulated trace networks in survey windows.

151

Figure 5. Aggregate 3D simulation.
uniformity of fracture size distribution influences the
P32 parameter. This is a problematic fact that deserves
further analyses, in order to evaluate the influence of
the shape and width of the wedge-shaped region on
the geometrical properties of the simulated fracture
network.
REFERENCES
Biella, G, Polino, R., De Franco, R., Rossi, P.M., Clari, P.,
Corsi, A. & Gelati, R. 1997. The crustal structure of
the western Po plain: reconstruction from the integrated
geological and seismic data. Terra Nova 9: 28–31.
152
Cowie, P.A., Sornette, D. & Vanneste, C. 1995. Multifractal
scaling properties of a growing fault popolation. Geoph.
J. Int. 122: 457–469.
Cravero, M., Piana, F., Ponti, S., Tallone, S., Balestro, G.
& Morelli, M. 2006. Analysis of fracture patterns con-
strained by suitable geological model. In Proceedings
of the 41st U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium, Golden,
Colorado.
Dershowitz, W. & Herda, H.H. 1992. Interpretation of frac-
ture spacing and intensity. In Tillerson & Wawersik (eds.),
Proc. 33rd U.S. Symp. on Rock Mechanics, Santa Fe, New
Mexico, pp. 757–766.
Dershowitz, W., Lee, G., Geier, J., Foxford, T., LaPointe, P.
& Thomas, A. 1998. FRACMAN – User Documentation,
Golder Assoc. Inc., Seattle (WA).
Forcella, F., Mottana, A. & Pasquare, G. 1973. Il massiccio
cristallino interno di Valosio. Mem. Soc. Geol. It. 12: 485–
528.
Gelati, R. & Gnaccolini, M. 1988. Sequenze deposizionali in
un bacino episuturale, nella zona di raccordo tra Alpi ed
Appennino settentrionale. Atti Ticinensi di Scienze della
Terra 31: 340–350.
Golder Associates 2006. Fracworks XP.
Heffer, K.J. & Bevan, T.G. 1990. Scaling relationships in
natural fractures. J. Struct. Geol. 13: 735–738.
Hobbs, B.E., Means, W.D. & Williams, P.F. 1976. An Outline
of Structural Geology. New York: Wiley, 571 pp.
Nicol, A., Watterson, J., Walsh, J.J. & Childs, J.J. 1996. The
shapes, major axis orientations and displacement patterns
of fault surfaces. J. Struct. Geol. 18: 235–248.
Piana, F., Tallone, S., Cavagna, S. & Conti, A. 2005. Thrust-
ing and faulting in metamorphic and sedimentary units
of Ligurian Alps: an example of integrated field work and
geochemical analyses. Int. J. Earth Sc. (Geol. Rundasch.):
DOI 10.1007/s00531-005-0040-z.
Pickering, G., Bull, J.M. & Sanderson, D.J. 1995. Sampling
power-law distributions. Tectonophysics 248: 1–20.
Roure, F., Polino, R. & Nicolich, R. 1990. Early Neogene
deformation beneath the Po plain: Constraints on the post-
collisional Alpine evolution. Mem. Soc. Geol. France N.S.
156: 309–322.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Discrete fracture network modeling for carbonate rock

W.S. Dershowitz & P.R. La Pointe

Golder Associates Inc., Redmond, Washington, USA

ABSTRACT: The discrete fracture network (DFN) approach is attractive for applications in which the geometry
and properties of discrete fractures play a significant role in hydraulics, geomechanics, and resource assessment.
This paper describes the development of approaches to address the particularities of carbonate geologies, includ-
ing karstic features, layer boundary and through-going fractures, correlations between fracture intensity and
bedding thickness.

1 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Preferential vug porosity at fracture

The discrete fracture network (DFN) method has been
used extensively for carbonate rocks since at least
1988 (Dershowitz & Doe 1988). This paper describes
recent developments to improve the realism of DFN
models, and their application to practical engineering
problems. The following areas are addressed
• Karstic Features
• Bedding Controlled Fractures
• Fracture Termination Modes
Following the discussion of the implementation of
DFN models for carbonate rocks, site characterization
issues are addressed
2 KARSTIC FEATURES
intersections
Solution enhanced porosity at fracture intersections
can be very significant for flow through carbonate
rocks, as well as fluid storage within the rock.
While effective hydraulic apertures for fractures in
carbonate rocks can be on the order of 0.05 mm
to 1 mm, fracture intersections enhanced by solution
can have apertures at the scale of 10 to 30 mm or
even larger (Fig. 1). If connected, these fracture inter-
section enhanced aperture “worm holes” can serve as
1-D flow conduits over extensive distances. For exam-
ple, such “worm holes” have been hypothesized to
explain km scale 1-D solute transport observed at the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee.
The significance of solution enhanced porosity at
fracture intersections can be seen from the “cubic law”
relation between fracture aperture and transmissivity,

Carbonate rocks typically contain enhanced porosity

caused by acid solution of carbonate minerals. The
formation of these “vugs” generally requires flowing
water, and as a consequence vugs have a tendency
to form on fracture surfaces, or at fracture intersec-
tions. Within the DFN approach, these fracture related
vugs can be implemented as a local change to the frac-
ture aperture pattern, with higher apertures (mm to
meter scales) at locations where vugs occur. Vugs also
occur which are related to flow through the matrix
porosity of carbonate rocks, without a spatial relation-
ship to fracture patterns. Depending on scale, these
vugs can be implemented in DFN approaches as an
enhancement to the rock matrix porosity, or as a sep-
arate class of discrete features, with their own spatial
process.
In which Tf is fracture transmissivity (m2 /s), e is
aperture (m), and a and b are empirical coefficients
(Dershowitz et al. 2003). The flux Qf [m3 /s] relates to
transmissivity [m2 /s] linearly with the effective flow
width Wf [m] and hydraulic gradient i [m/m].
Where Cf is “fracture conductance” [m3 /s]. Assum-
ing a fracture of scale Wf = 100 m, and aperture
0.001 m, according to the “cubic law” for water at stan-
dard temperature and pressure (a = 0.011, b = 0.333
in equation 1), the flux Qf for a unit gradient i = 1

153

Figure 1. Solution enhanced fracture intersections.
would be 0.07 m3 /s. In contrast, a single fracture inter-
section with solution enhanced aperture e = W = 0.02
would carry a flux Qf of 0.12 m3 /s for the same unit
gradient i = 1!.
This solution enhanced fracture intersection aper-
ture has been shown to play a key role in carbonate oil
reservoirs such asYates, Texas (Wadleigh 1998). Solu-
tion enhanced fracture intersections can be modeled in
the DFN approach as a 3D network of discrete 1D con-
ductors of given conductance Cf , with the geometry
of these conductors defined by the fracture intersec-
tion. Where the contrast between fracture intersection
conductance and fracture transmissivity is sufficiently
high, the fracture transmissivity can be ignored or
included in the matrix permeability, as in the DFN
model of Watanabe et al. (1994).
Alternatively, the fracture intersection enhanced
porosity can be modeled directly by defining a fracture
aperture (or transmissivity) pattern on fractures with
appropriate enhancement where fractures intersect.
This approach is illustrated in Figure 2.
Fracture aperture enhancement can also be imple-
mented using a stochastic continuum approach to
apply vug apertures to fracture planes.This can be done
according to, for example, empirical, fractal or Kriging
154
Figure 2. Fracture intersection zones for modeling “Worm
Holes”.
Figure 3. Empirical process for solution enhanced aperture
on fracture planes. Pattern is defined by density of solution
enhancement (1/m2 ), area distribution for vugs, aspect ratio
distribution for vugs, and aperture ratio distribution for vugs.
methods. An empirical method developed specifically
for carbonate rocks defines the aperture distribution
according to
a) the areal frequency rate λk of karstic features rep-
resented as a number per unit area of fracture
surface;
b) the distribution of maximum solution enhanced
aperture; or
c) the distribution of the radius of the karstic enhanced
zone.
According to this process, solution enhanced
regions or vugs are then assigned to each fracture plane
according to a Poisson process with the rate λk , and
the enhanced aperture and radius can then be assigned
(Fig. 3).
2.2 Vug porosity independent of fracture
planes
Enhanced vug porosity has been observed to occur on
fracture planes in a variety of geologic settings. Where
vug porosity is not related to a pre-existing fracture
system, this approach can be used, by assigning,
a) the volumetric frequency rate λk of karstic features
represented as a number per volume of rock ,
b) the distribution of vug radius
c) the distribution of the radius of the vug aspect ratio
(generally in the y and z directions)
Within the DFN approach, vugs not related to frac-
tures can be simulated individually as discrete 3D or
Figure 4. Conformal generation of bedding surfaces.
2D features, or used to adjust the effective rock matrix
porosity and permeability.

3 BEDDING CONTROLLED FRACTURES

In carbonate rocks, it is common to find fracture

sets with orientation controlled by bedding orientation
and intensity controlled by bedding thickness. For the
DFN approach, an approach has been developed which
facilitates realistic fracture generation.

3.1 Bedding planes

Most DFN models define fractures within a framework
of “rock domains”, which are volumes in which frac-
turing is either statistically homogeneous or follows a
quantified spatial trend (such as a decrease with depth,
or a systematic rotation in a particular direction).
In carbonate rocks, there is a need for an addi-
tional component, which is the individual bedding
plane surfaces. In the field these can be characterized
statistically as
• a distribution of the bed height (for example expo-
nential with prescribed mean)
• a process of bed heights (for example, a Markov
process, in which the height of each successive bed
is conditional on the height of the previous bed)
• a known bed height sequence (h1 , h2 , h3 …), as
observed in outcrops or boreholes
The DFN model then uses this information to define
bedding surfaces conformally between the surfaces
defining the top and bottom of each rock domain
(Fig. 4).
These bedding planes may also be defined as
hydraulically or geomechanically significant discrete
features, depending on local site conditions. In many
cases, bedding planes are treated in the same ways as
discrete fractures, with aperture distributions defined
based on a vug porosity process as described in
Section 2.
Figure 5. Fracture orientations defined in frame of bedding
surfaces.
3.2 Fracture orientation
Fracture orientation in carbonate rocks tends to consist
of joint sets sub parallel and sub-perpendicular to bed-
ding planes, plus faults that are orientated obliquely to
bedding. For the case of joint sets parallel and sub-
perpendicular to bedding surfaces, the orientation of
these can be defined as distributions relative to the
local pole of the bedding surface (θs,φs), where θs rep-
resents the trend (clockwise from north) of the local
pole to the bedding surface, and φs represents the dip
(downward from horizontal) of the local pole to the
bedding surface (Fig. 5).
3.3 Fracture intensity
In carbonate (and many other sedimentary rocks
including coal and sandstone) rocks, there is a con-
siderable body of literature supporting the correlation
of fracture intensity with bed height (see for exam-
ple Hobbs 1967, Huang & Angelier 1989, Price &
Cosgrove 1990, Wu & Pollard 1995), although there
are published examples where this rule does not hold.

155
Figure 6. Correlation of fracture intensity with bedding
height.
The correlation between intensity P10i (fractures per
meter for layer i) and bedding height Hi for that layer
(meters), can be generalized to the form
Where a and b are empirical coefficients. From Wu
& Pollard (1995), the coefficient a can be taken as 0.8
to 1.5, and the coefficient b as 1. However, for any
particular site, it may be more realistic to assign a and
b using a truncated statistical distribution to allow for
variability.
Thus, the distribution of b can be defined by a
truncated distribution which varies between 0 (no cor-
relation to height) and 2 (a quadratic correlation). The
distribution of a is then adjusted to obtain the measured
mean fracture spacing for each layer.
Figure 6 illustrates a stochastic DFN model with
fracture intensity P10 correlated to bed height Hi using
b uniformly distributed between 0 and 2.
4 FRACTURE TERMINATION MODES
The geomechanical and hydraulic properties of frac-
tured carbonates depend to a significant extent on
the interconnectivity of the networks defined by the
combination of fractures, bedding planes, and solution
features.
For DFN modeling, this requires that each set of
fractures have an assigned distribution of termination
modes
• Percentage terminating at the upper bedding surface
• Percentage terminating at the lower bedding surface
• Percentage terminating at the upper rock domain
(stratigraphic or lithological) surface
• Percentage terminating at the lower rock domain
surface
• Percentage terminating at intersections with frac-
tures of other sets within the same bedding layer.
Given these percentages, the carbonate DFN model
can be generated accurately reflecting the connectivity
156
Figure 7. Carbonate DFN Model with termination mode
and intensity varying with bedding.
of the fracture system. Where solution enhancement is
found to occur at fracture intersections, that frequency
can be defined by
• Percentage solution enhancement for “T” frac-
ture/bedding intersections
• Percentage solution enhancement of “X” frac-
ture/bedding intersections
• Percentage solution enhancement for “T” frac-
ture/fracture intersections
• Percentage solution enhancement of “X” frac-
ture/fracture intersections
A carbonate DFN model with varying termination
modes is illustrated in Figure 7.
5 SITE CHARACTERIZATION
Site characterization for carbonate rocks must be
designed to specifically address the issues above. Frac-
ture characterization in many geological environments
focuses on data to define distributions of fracture ori-
entation, size, and intensity. This is not sufficient in
carbonate rocks. Site characterization for carbonate
rocks must also define:
• the occurrence and properties of solution features,
• the correlation of bedding with intensity and orien-
tation, and
• the termination modes of fractures with bedding,
strata, and other fractures.
To obtain the information necessary for understand-
ing carbonate fracture networks, we recommend the
following information be collected from outcrops:
1. Percentage of fracture intersections which are solu-
tion enhanced (by set)
2. Frequency (1/m2 ) and size (m2 ) distribution of vugs
not related to fracturing
3. Frequency (1/m) and size (m) of vugs occuring on
fracture planes but not at fracture intersections
4. Relative aperture of solute enhanced fracture aper-
tures (by set)
5. Percentage terminations on upper and lowerbed-
ding surfaces
6. Percentage termination on upper and lower rock
domain (lithologic) surfaces
7. Percentage termination at fracture intersection
(by set)
8. Bedding height distribution
9. Fracture intensity (1/m) for each bed, recorded with
bed height to support statistical correlations
The following information should be obtained from
borehole images or core:
1. Fracture orientation and apparent aperture
2. Vug enhancement of fractures (% of visible trace
length, occurrence of apparent 1-D channels at
fracture intersections (1/m)
3. Vugs not related to fractures (frequency (1/m), size
distribution (m2 ))
4. Identification of bedding surfaces, to support anal-
ysis of fractures by set by bedding
6 CONCLUSIONS
Discrete fracture network modeling of carbonate
rocks is significantly different from modeling for
other geologies. Given the increasing importance
of fractured carbonate rocks for oil and gas and
water resources, new procedures are needed. These
157
procedures provide a quantitative approach to descrip-
tion of the geometry and connectivity of solu-
tion features, fractures, and bedding, with their
correlations.
REFERENCES
Dershowitz, W.S, Doe, T.W., Uchida, M. & Hermanson, J.
2003. Correlations between fracture size, transmissivity,
and aperture. In Culligan et al. (eds.), Soil Rock America,
Proceedings of the 12th Panamerican Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, pp. 887–891.
Dershowitz, W.S. & Doe, T.W. 1988. Practical applications
of discrete fracture approaches in hydrology, mining, and
petroleum extraction. In Proceedings, International Con-
ference on Fluid Flow in Fractured Rocks, Atlanta, pp.
381–396.
Hobbs, D.W. 1967. The formation of tension joints in sedi-
mentary rocks: an explanation. Geol. Mag. 104: 550–556.
Huang, Q. & Angelier, J. 1989. Fracture spacing and its
relation to bed thickness. Geology. Magazine 126(4):
355–362.
Price, N.J. & Cosgrove, J.W. 1990. Analysis of Geological
Structures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wadleigh, E. 1998. Fracture Images Showing Karsted Frac-
ture Intersections. Midland TX: Marathon Oil Co.
Watanabe, K., Tanaka, T., Uchida, M. & Iwasaki, H. 1994.
Fracture network analysis based on the geologic model
of channels, Part 2: Analysis of the tracer migration test
carried out in the Kamaishi mine, Japan. Journal of the
Japan Society of Engineering Geology 35(4): 2–12
Wu, H. & Pollard, D.D. 1995. An experimental study of the
relationship between joint spacing and layer thickness.
Journal of Structural Geology 17(6): 887–905.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Analysis of block removability in rock excavation by

probabilistic approach

G. Chen, H. Li & W. Zhou

Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

ABSTRACT: In this study, the probabilistic analysis is applied to evaluate the removability of a rock block.
The approach to directly apply probability integration involves complex mathematics and is often formidable
for the solution. In order to overcome this limitation, the first-order second-moment (FOSM) approximations of
the probabilities are utilized. The technique simplifies the computation significantly and allows for the analysis
of relatively complex stability problems. Two different random variable distributions are applied in the study,
namely the Beta distribution and the Fisher distribution. Monte Carlo simulations are also conducted in the
study for comparison. A case study is presented for the occurrence probability of a removable block. The study
indicates that the two distributions give the same general trend in the occurrence probability of a removable
block but slightly different probability values. The study also reveals that with the same mean values of random
variables, the block removable probabilities differ significantly if the dispersions of the random variables are
different. The conventional methods considering only the mean values may not provide accurate determination
of rock block removability.

1 INTRODUCTION excavation stability analysis. A critical step in the anal-

The stability of rock excavations depends on many fac-
tors, such as mechanical properties of rock masses,
orientations and properties of rock discontinuities,
hydrological conditions, excavation geometries, and
others. In an excavation stability analysis, these param-
eters are acquired by either in-situ investigations
and/or laboratory tests. Because of the complex nature
of rock masses, these parameters do not usually appear
to be uniquely valued, but vary over a certain range.
With the conventional limit equilibrium analysis, the
average values of these parameters are used and a fac-
tor of safety, a deterministic number, is computed to
indicate the stability of an excavation. This determin-
istic description of excavation stability, however, does
not take into account of the uncertainties involved.
It is, therefore, frequently insufficient or inaccurate
and, sometimes, misleading. The uncertainty associ-
ated with rock excavation stability has been brought
to the attention of some investigators (Chen et al. 1997,
1998, Tyler et al. 1991, Hatzor & Goodman 1992,
Rethati 1988, Piteau 1977). Many have concluded
that employing probabilistic analysis to determine the
stability of a rock excavation may provide a better
understanding of rock excavation behaviors and lead
to more rigorous designs of rock excavations.
The block theory developed by Goodman &
Shi (1985) has been successfully applied for rock
ysis is the determination of the key blocks – unstable
removable blocks. In the original formulation of the
block theory, however, the determination of the key
blocks is based upon deterministic input data values,
the most critical ones being the orientation of dis-
continuities and their strength properties. It is well
accepted that the orientation of rock discontinuities
in a rock mass follows certain random distributions.
The average values of these random distributions are
applied in the block theory for the identification of key
blocks. Parametric analyses are frequently performed
to compensate the limitation of the deterministic anal-
ysis. However, a better and possibly more accurate
understanding of the rock excavation stability can be
achieved if probabilistic analysis is conducted to deter-
mine the likelihood of a key block occurrence and its
failure probability.
In this study, analysis is conducted to identify
random distribution patterns of rock discontinuity
parameters. Probabilistic analysis is applied to eval-
uate the likelihood of a key block occurrence and its
failure probability based on the given distribution of
the discontinuities in the rock mass and the properties
of the discontinuities. The computation of the proba-
bilities requires integration over the entire domain of
the parameter values as integration variables. Direct
integrations involve complex mathematical opera-
tions. This complexity often becomes formidable for

159
the solution. In order to overcome this limitation, occurrence probability of a removable block is now
the first-order second-moment approximation of the converted to one that determines the probability of the
probabilities is utilized in this study. The technique block’s JP completely falls outside of the circle. As
simplifies the computation significantly and allows shown in Figure 1, for a JP to extend into the excava-
for quick and reasonably accurate estimation of the tion circle, some corners are the first points to reach
probabilities. This paper presents the basic model for into the circle. The probability of a block being remov-
the analysis of key blocks and introduces the proce- able can, therefore, be further simplified to one that
dure for probability estimation. A case study is given determines the probability of the JP’s corners fall out-
in the paper to illustrate the proposed procedure for side of the excavation circle. There are a number of
probabilistic analysis and to demonstrate the effects corners for any given JP. In many cases, there will
of random variable distributions on the likelihood of a be one corner that is most likely to extend into the cir-
removable block occurrence. cle, which often dominates the forming of a removable
block. In this paper, it is assumed that only one corner
has a relatively high probability to extend into the cir-
2 ROCK BLOCK REMOVABLE cle of the excavation plane. The other corners of the JP
PROBABILITY are all outside of the circle and have much lower prob-
ability extending into the circle and their significance
Based on the block theory, a key block is a finite remov- on the forming of a removable block can be neglected.
able block that is unstable without support. In this The focus of this study is, therefore, on the probability
paper, to estimate the occurrence probability of a key of one particular corner being outside of the circle of
block, a two-step approach is taken. First, the probabil- the excavation plane and making the block removable.
ity of a rock block becomes removable is determined The probability of more than one corner being outside
and based on the strength properties of the discontinu- of the circle requires further analysis and will be dealt
ities forming the block, the block failure probability with in the next step of the study.
can then be estimated. A corner point of a JP on the stereographic projec-
According to the block theory, the necessary and tion represents an edge of a rock block in the space.
sufficient condition for a block to be removable is: Whether or not a corner point falls outside of a circle
on the projection indicates if or not the edge is below
the plane represented by the circle. Any edge of a rock
block is the intersection line of two joint planes. In
the analysis of the removability of a rock block as pre-
where JP is the joint pyramid and BP is the block
sented in the block theory, only the orientations of joint
pyramid, which is the intersection of the joint pyramid,
planes need to be considered and, therefore, all joints
JP, and the excavation pyramid, EP. An equivalent
are modeled with planes passing through the origin
statement of the above condition is that for a block to
be removable, the block formed by joint planes alone
is infinite and the block formed by joint planes and
free surfaces together is finite.
Figure 1 displays the stereographic projection of
4 discontinuity planes and an excavation plane, each
represented by a circle on the projection. These dis-
continuity planes are actual data collected from a field
study with known distributions. The mean values are
used for the stereographic projection in the figure. The
joint pyramids, i.e. JPs, are identified with associated
codes. The excavation space is below the excavation
plane, representing a mine stope under the hanging
wall, and the rock mass is above the plane. There-
fore, EP on the projection is the area inside of the
circle of the excavation plane. Based on the block the-
ory, the JPs that fall completely outside the circle of
the excavation plane are removable blocks and those
removable blocks that will slide out of the rock mass
without support are key blocks.
Assuming the joint planes are randomly distributed
in the rock mass, the JPs will have certain probability
to fall either in- or outside the circle of the excava- Figure 1. Stereographic projection of 4 joint planes and an
tion plane, partially or completely. The problem of the excavation plane (dashed line).

160
(0, 0, 0). A pair of joint planes passing through the
origin can be defined as:
where α1 and α2 are the dip angles for the joint planes
1 and 2; and β1 and β2 are the dip directions for the
two planes respectively. Since the dip angles and the
dip directions are random variables, the six param-
eters given by these angles are also random variables
that define two randomly distributed planes in the rock
mass.
The intersection line of these two planes is a
line passing through the origin (0, 0, 0) and can be
defined as:
And, p = sin α1 cos β1 cos α2 − cos α1 sin α2 cos β2
q = cos α1 sin α2 sin β2 − sin α1 sin β1 cos α2
r = sin α1 sin β1 sin α2 cos β2
− sin α1 cos β1 sin α2 sin β2
where p, q and r are direction numbers defining
the orientation of the line. The variable t is a refer-
ence variable and varies in the range of 0 < t < ∞
or −∞ < t < 0, depending on which side of the half
spaces of a plane the line is pointing to. The direction
numbers, p, q and r, are random variables defined by
the parameters of the two random joint planes as given
above. The excavation plane can be expressed:
where α and β are the dip angle and the dip direction
of the plane respectively. The excavation plane is con-
sidered a fixed plane and the plane parameters A, B
and C are deterministic numbers. With the excavation
plane defined, whether or not the joint block with the
edge defined by Equation 1 is removable depends on
whether or not the edge is below the excavation plane.
This is indicated on the stereographic projection with
the JP’s corner falls outside of the circle represent-
ing the excavation plane. Therefore, the probability
that the block is removable can be defined as:
Here it is assumed that the reference number t
may take any value in the range of 0 < t < ∞. It
can be shown without difficulty that for a given
value of t, e.g. t = to , if: A(pto ) + B(qto ) + C(rto ) < 0,
then: A(pt) + B(qt) + C(rt) < 0 for all the possible val-
ues of t. This applies to the reversed inequality as well.
161
Based on the above analysis, the reference number t is,
therefore, assigned a value of 1 to facilitate the math-
ematic manipulation. The probability that the block is
removable is then expressed as:
Since the parameters p, q and r are all nonlinear
functions of multi random variables, α1 , α2 , β1 and
β2 , applying direct integration to compute the prob-
ability is formidable. An approximation technique
with a simplified computation procedure has to be
adopted in order to determine the probability of a block
being removable. In this study, the First Order Second
Moment (FOSM) approach is employed.
3 DISCONTINUITY ORIENTATION
DISTRIBUTIONS
The orientations of discontinuity planes are defined
by dip directions and dip angles. Figure 2 shows the
pole plot of a typical rock joint set on a stereographic
projection that contains 112 data points. The plot indi-
cates that both the dip directions and the dip angles are
randomly distributed over a range.
A histogram of the dip angle distribution is plotted
in Figure 3. In the previous study, based on the observa-
tion of the histogram, the beta distribution was applied
for both the dip angle and dip direction distributions.
The beta distribution is bounded on both ends of the
data range and can model random variable distribu-
tions with skewness on either side of the mean values.
The density function of the beta distribution is given as:
where B(q, r) is the beta function. This function is
bounded between finite limits of a and b. Its skew-
ness is determined by parameters q and r. Depending
Figure 2. Pole plot of a typical rock joint set.
 Dip Angle Distribution for the Joint Set
30

25

20
Frequency

15

10

0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2
Dip Angle (radian)

Figure 4. Performance function (after Ang & Tang 1984).

Figure 3. Dip angle distribution for the joint set in Figure 2.

on the values of q and r, the distribution can be sym-
metric about the mean value, skew to the lower value
side or skew to the higher value side.
An important contribution was made by Fisher
(1953), who proposed the well known Fisher Distribu-
tion model. Fisher assumed that the probability, P(θ),
that an orientation value selected at random from the
population makes an angle of between θ and θ + dθ
with the true orientation is given by:
where K is a constant that define the shape of the distri-
bution and η is a coefficient. In this study, a modified
Fisher distribution is applied to model the distribution
of the dip angle and the dip direction. In this modi-
fied version, the coefficient η is evaluated to satisfy
the following probability density function conditions:
form and the close-formed solution may not exist. In
order to overcome this difficulty, the First Order Sec-
ond Moment, i.e. the FOSM approximation technique
is employed to estimate the removable probability of
a block. The FOSM method is delineated below.
For practical problems of rock excavation stability,
the available information is frequently limited to the
means and variances of parameters that are regarded as
random variables, that is, the first and second moments
of the random variables. Under this condition, the
estimation of the probability of a block being remov-
able is limited to a formulation based on the first
and second moments of the random variables, i.e. the
second-moment formulation.
Based on removable probability as given in Equa-
tion 4, the performance function g can be defined
as:

If g > 0, the rock block is not removable and the rock

excavation being studied is in the safe state. Whereas
if g < 0, the block is removable and the excavation is in
the potential failure state. Since p, q and r are functions
By numerical integration and curve fitting, the of several random variables, g is also a function of
value of η is estimated to be: those random variables, i.e.:

The equation g(x) = 0 defines the boundary

where A and B are constants evaluated by curve fitting.
between the region of safe state and that of failure
For 10 ≤ K ≤ 85, the estimated values are: A = 0.6655
state. When g(x) is a linear function, g(x) = 0 is a flat
and B = 0.2864.
plane in an n-dimensional space. For n = 2, the plane
is reduced to a straight line as shown in Figure 4.
The distance from g(x) = 0 line to the origin (Fig. 4)
4 FIRST-ORDER-SECOND-MOMENT
is defined as the safety index β, which can be estimated
APPROACH FOR PROBABILITY
by the following equation (Ang & Tang 1984):
ESTIMATION

The probability as given in Equation 4 involves

random-variable parameters p, q, and r, which are
functions of random variables, α1 , α2 , β1 and β2 . The
calculation of the probability, therefore, requires mul- where:
tivariable integration, which is in a very formidable µx1 , µx2 – the mean values of the random variables;

162

Figure 5. Nonlinear function and tangent plane (after Ang
& Tang 1984).
σx1 , σx2 – the standard deviations of the random
variables.
If the random variables have normal distributions,
the probability can then be estimated by the standard
normal distribution as below (Ang & Tang 1984):
For non-normal distributions, such as the beta dis-
tribution used in this study, transformations can be
performed to obtain equivalent normal distributions.
The mean value and the standard deviation of the
equivalent normal distribution for a random variable
Xi can be estimated as:
where:
µNXi , σXNi – the mean value and standard deviation of the
equivalent normal distribution for Xi;
fXi (xi∗ ), FXi (xi∗ ) – the original PDF and CDF of the
random variable Xi evaluated at xi∗ ;
φ( − ), ( − ) – the PDF and CDF of the standard
normal distribution.
If the performance function g(x) is nonlinear, as in
the case presented in this study, the equation g(x) = 0
is a curved surface in the space. Figure 5 shows the
curve of g(x) = 0 in a two-dimensional space. The
curve can be either convex or concave as shown in
the figure. To calculate the exact probability of
g(x) < 0 for this nonlinear performance function, it
generally requires complex integrations. For practi-
cal purposes, approximation to the exact probability is
necessary. According to Shinozuka (1983), the point
(X∗ ) on the failure surface g(x) = 0 with the minimum
distance to the origin is the most probable failure point.
Taking a Taylor series of the function at (X∗ ) and trun-
cating at the first-order term produce a tangent plane
163
at (X∗ ). This tangent plane to the failure surface may
then be used to approximate the actual failure surface
and the safety index β may be evaluated as in the lin-
ear case. This first-order approximation of g(x) = 0
at X∗ = (X∗1 , X∗2 , …X∗n ) is expressed as (Ang & Tang
1984):
The most probable failure point is (Shinozuka
1983):
where α∗i is evaluated by:
All the derivatives are evaluated at (X∗ ) and the
solution of g(X∗ ) = 0 yields β. The value of β can
be evaluated by going through several iterations with
a simple numerical algorithm proposed by Rackwitz
(1976) and the probability of failure is then estimated
by Equation (11). Due to the linear approximation of
the nonlinear function, the failure probability is either
slightly overestimated or underestimated depending
on convexity of the function, but in most cases a
sufficiently accurate approximation can be obtained.
With the FOSM approximation, probabilistic anal-
yses for more complex and practical problems can
be performed without much difficulty. By adopting
this approach, a FORTRAN90 program is developed
employing the algorithm proposed by Rackwitz (1976)
to estimate the removable probability of rock blocks.
In order to verify the accuracy of the FOSM pro-
cedure for the problem specified and the numerical
algorithm applied in the program, a series of 20 test
runs with made-up data, are conducted and compared
with Monte Carlo simulations with the same test data.
The Monte Carlo simulation for each test case is run
for 100,000 trials, which takes considerably longer
time than FOSM estimation. As shown in Figure 6,
excellent agreement is achieved between the two esti-
mations. It is, therefore, concluded that the program
RBK.F90 produces reasonably accurate estimates of
block removable probabilities.
5 A CASE STUDY OF ROCK BLOCK
REMOVABLE PROBABILITY
A case study is conducted employing the Fortran 90
program mentioned above. The set of data that were
Table 1. Orientation parameters for joint planes and hang- 1
ing wall – Beta distribution.

Removal Probability of
Beta Distribution
0.8
Mean Beta Distribution Parameters Fisher Distribution

Block 1111
(dip/dip 0.6
direction) a b q r HW Dip Direction = 40

0.4
J1 41◦ /121◦ 27◦ /86◦ 69◦ /149◦ 3.0/9.0 7.0/7.0
J2 75◦ /231◦ 52◦ /212◦ 92◦ /246◦ 6.0/7.0 4.0/5.0
0.2
J3 53◦ /283◦ 40◦ /275◦ 74◦ /292◦ 6.0/8.0 9.0/11.0
J4 57◦ /318◦ 46◦ /298◦ 75◦ /332◦ 9.0/13.0 14.0/9.0
0
HW 15◦ /40◦ n/a n/a n/a n/a 0 5 10 15 20
Hanging Wall Dip Angle (deg)

Table 2. Orientation parameters for joint planes and hang- Figure 6. Removable probability with different hanging
ing wall – Fisher distribution. wall dip angle.

Mean Fisher Distribution Parameters relatively close to the circle representing the hang-
(dip/dip ing wall. When point I moves out of the HW circle,
direction) mean K Block 1111 becomes removable. The same applies
to I’ for Block 1001. It can also be noticed that the
J1 41◦ /121◦ 41◦ /121◦ 45/60 probability of I moving into the HW circle is comple-
J2 75◦ /231◦ 75◦ /231◦ n/a mentary to the probability of I’ moving into the same
J3 53◦ /283◦ 53◦ /283◦ n/a
circle, which indicates that the removable probabil-
J4 57◦ /318◦ 57◦ /318◦ 85/80
HW 15◦ /40◦ 15◦ /40◦ n/a ity of Block 1111 is complementary to the removable
probability of Block 1001, i.e.:

acquired from an actual field study as illustrated in Fig-
ure 1 is used for this case study. The numerical values
of the data set are presented in Tables 1 and 2. Both the
Beta distribution and the modified Fisher distribution
are applied to the dip angles and dip directions.Tables 1
and 2 include the estimated distribution parameters
by curve fitting. The excavation surface represents a
hanging wall (HW) in an underground stope with a
dip angle of 15◦ and dip direction of 40◦ . The exca-
vation surface is considered a fixed plane and the
orientation parameters are deterministic values. The
excavation space is below the surface and the jointed
rock mass is above the surface.
As shown in Figure 1, two blocks, i.e. Block 1001
and Block 1111, are of interest for removable probabil-
ity study. They both have a relatively even chance to be
either removable or non-removable (tapered) and are,
therefore, the focus of the study. The other blocks iden-
tified in the stereographic plot are either almost certain
removable or almost certain non-removable and are not
included in the following analyses.
As shown in Figure 1, the intersection line of Joints
1 and 4 forms an edge of Block 1111 in the upper
side of the hanging wall (circle with dashed line), as
indicated by I and a star in the stereographic plot.
The intersection line also forms an edge of Block
1001 in the lower side of the hanging wall, as indi-
cated by I’ and a star. These two points representing
the upper and lower halves of the intersection line are
Running the program with the parameters provided
in Tables 1 and 2 produces 0.021 (with Beta distri-
bution) and 0.033 (with modified Fisher distribution),
respectively, for the removable probability of Block
1111. Based on Equation 16, the removable probability
of Block 1001 is, therefore, 0.979 and 0.967.
Parametric study is also conducted by running the
program for various scenarios, including change of
HW plane orientations and change of the degree of
random variable dispersions. When reducing the dip
angle of the HW plane, assuming it can be precisely
controlled by mining excavation, the removable proba-
bility of Block 1111 increases while, in the same time,
the removable probability of Block 1001 reduces. Fig-
ure 6 shows the variation of removable probability for
Block 1111 over a range of the HW dip angles. The
comparison of the two different distributions applied
in the study indicates that, the removable probabilities
estimated by the two distributions are essentially the
same, only a slight difference around HW dip angle
equal 6◦ to 8◦ .
It is interesting to note that with an approximately
7◦ dip angle for the HW, the removable probability of
Block 1111 is around 0.5. With this orientation of the
HW, the intersection line of Joints 1 and 4, represented
by the point I on the stereographic plot, is on the cir-
cle representing the HW. At this point, Block 1111
has 50/50 chance to become removable. When the
HW plane is almost horizontal, Block 1111 has a high

164
 0.2
Removal Probility of Block
0.15
1111
0.1
0.05
HW Dip Angle = 15
0
10 20 30
Hanging Wall Dip Direction (deg)
Figure 7. Removable probability of Block 1111 with Dif-
ferent hanging wall dip direction.
probability to become removable. If other information
indicates that Block 1111 may potentially cause large
volume of roof caving, the result of this analysis sug-
gests that the HW should be excavated with a greater
dip angle whenever possible.
When changing the dip direction of the HW plane
while keeping its dip angle at a fixed value, the
removable probability changes too. Figure 7 shows the
removable probability of Block 1111 as a function of
HW dip direction with the dip angles fixed at 15◦ . The
results reveal that the removable probability of Block
1111 decreases significantly when the HW dip direc-
tion turns more towards the east. If removable Block
1111 is to be avoided, a design should take into account
of this factor.
For varying dip directions, the probability estima-
tion with Beta distribution is lower than that with
Fisher distribution. This indicates that the distribution
function is of significance. In order to have an accu-
rate estimation of the removable probability, a reliable
data collection is essential. A sufficiently large data set
with reasonable measurement accuracy may permit a
confident estimation of the removable probability.
The key advantage of the probabilistic analysis is
that it takes consideration of uncertainties in the input
data, which can not be disclosed by the deterministic
analysis. In order to investigate the impact of the dis-
persion of the input data on the removable probability
of rock blocks, the parameter K in the modified Fisher
distribution, which defines the shape or the dispersion
of the density function, is varied over a range while
maintaining the mean value constant. For the deter-
ministic analysis, only mean values are used and the
change of random variable dispersion makes no dif-
ference. In the study, the K values for all the random
variables are changed simultaneously. As illustrated
in Figure 8, the removable probability of Block 1111
changes considerably when the dispersion of the input
random data changes. The random variable distribu-
tion plays significant role in the removable probability
of a rock block.
0.25
Removable Probability of
0.2
Beta Distribution
Block 1111
Fisher Distribution 0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
40 50
K
Figure 8. Removable probability of Block 1111 with differ-
ent random variable dispersions.
6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this study, probabilistic analysis is applied to eval-
uate the likelihood of a key block occurrence and its
failure probability with given distribution of the dis-
continuities in the rock mass and the discontinuity
properties. Due to the complexity of direct integration,
the FOSM approximation is applied for the estimation
of the probability.
It is assumed in this study that, the corner points
on the stereographic projection, representing edges
of rock joint blocks, may dominate the removable
probability of joint blocks. Based on this assumption
and with the FOSM approximation, the probabilis-
tic analysis of the occurrence of a removable block
is successfully performed. Two different distribution
functions are applied in the study, namely the Beta
and the modified Fisher distribution functions. The
results of the analysis indicate that the dispersion of the
joint orientation data plays an important role in deter-
mining the removability of a joint block. Since using
only the mean values of the orientation data, the deter-
ministic method is not able to reflect the uncertainties
in the analysis. The deterministic analysis, therefore,
may not provide complete and accurate results for
decision making. The study also reveals that there is
difference in the estimation of removable probability
of rock blocks with different random variable distri-
bution functions, although not very significant. This
indicates that the distribution function is of signifi-
cance. In order to have an accurate estimation of rock
block removable probability, a reliable data collec-
tion and analysis to achieve accurate random variable
distribution model is essential.
REFERENCES
Ang, A.H.S. & Tang, W.H. 1984. Probability Concepts in
Engineering Planning and Design,Vol. II. NewYork: John
Wiley & Sons.
165
Baecher, G.B. & Christian, J.T. 2003. Reliability and
Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering. New York: John
Wiley & Sons.
Chen, G., Ke, J., Jia, Z. & Wang, W. 1998. Probabilistic anal-
ysis of rock slope stability with first-order approximation.
International Journal of Surface Mining and Reclamation
12(1): 11–17.
Chen, G., Jia, Z. & Ke, J. 1997. Probabilistic analysis of
underground excavation stability. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 34(3–4): Paper 051,
6 pp.
Fisher, R. 1953. Dispersion on a sphere. Proceedings of the
Royal Society of London A217: 295–350.
Goodman, R.E. & Shi, G.H. 1985. Block Theory and Its
Application to Rock Engineering. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Hatzor, Y. & Goodman, R.E. 1992. Application of block the-
ory and the critical key block concept in tunneling: two
166
case histories. In Proc. Int. Soc. Rock Mech. Conf. on
Fractured and Jointed Rock Masses, Lake Tahoe, pp.
632–639.
Piteau, D.R. & Martin, D.C.1977. Slope stability analysis and
design based on probability techniques at Cassiar mine.
CIM Bulletin, March: 139–150.
Rackwitz, R. 1976. Practical probabilistic approach to design.
Bulletin 112, Comite European du Beton, Paris, France.
Rethati, L. 1988. Probabilistic Solutions in Geotechnics. New
York: Elsevier Science Publishing Co.
Shinozuka, M. 1983. Basic analysis of structural safety. J. of
Structural Division, ASCE 109(3): 721–740.
Tyler, D.B., Trueman, R.T. & Pine, R.J. 1991. Rock-
bolt support design using a probabilistic method of
key block analysis. In Roegiers (ed.), Rock Mechan-
ics as a Multidisciplinary Science. Rotterdam: Balkema,
pp. 1037–104.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Accounting for local roughness in geostatistical simulation of

fracture surface topography

H. Saito
University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
(Presently: Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology, Tokyo, Japan)

G. Grasselli
Lassonde Institute, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A.M. Ferrero
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Parma, Italy

ABSTRACT: Flow and transport through fractures has been well characterized by their orientation and equiv-
alent hydraulic aperture sizes. A recent study on colloid transport by Boutt et al. (2006), however, showed that the
micro-roughness geometry of the fracture surface has a major impact on the macroscopic fluid flow and trans-
port behavior in rock discontinuities. Modeling of flow and transport through fracture systems can be ultimately
improved not only by accurate prediction of fracture networks but also by incorporating information regarding
the surface topography. This study proposed a geostatistical methodology that takes roughness characteristics
into account to estimate the fracture surface topography. The fracture surface roughness was summarized by
how it behaves locally using so-called “local roughness pattern” that indicates whether or not the heights of
adjacent locations are greater than that of a given location. By incorporating two additional components, the
minimization of the local error variance and the reproduction of the local roughness characteristics, into the
objective function of simulate annealing, the fracture surface topography downscaling was improved compared
to standard geostatistical methodologies.

1 INTRODUCTION transported particles not only to better chemically

Fluid flow through rock fractures cannot be character-
ized by flow based on the parallel plate model except
when the aperture (or separation distance between
the two fracture walls) is large relative to roughness
(Thompson & Brown 1991). When the surface rough-
ness is taken into account, fluid flow is deviated from
the well-known cubic law and channel flow can be
observed (Brown 1987). A recent study on colloid
transport by Boutt et al. (2006) also has revealed that
a significant tailing in the breakthrough curves and
a sensitivity of the breakthrough to flow direction in
the fracture can be related to the micro-roughness
geometry. Colloids, simulated as microspheres, were
observed to be trapped in low velocity zones inside the
fracture. The numerical solution by Boutt et al. (2006)
suggested that the presence of roughness creates areas
of recirculation (trapping zones) where microspheres
could be trapped. These trapping zones result in vol-
umes of fluid where the high residence-time can allow
interact with the surface but also better conditions
to sediment on the surface. Modeling of flow and
transport through fracture systems therefore can be
ultimately improved not only by accurate prediction of
fracture networks but also by incorporating informa-
tion regarding the roughness of the surface topography.
Although we can readily measure the surface topogra-
phy of a fracture surface, we would often benefit from
methodologies for estimating the surface topography
at a much smaller scale than the one provided by the
measurement system. Several attempts have been done
in the past using standard geostatistical methodologies
relying heavily on semivariograms to characterize the
surface roughness and to reproduce the surface topog-
raphy (Marache et al. 2002, Lanaro 2000). However,
semivariogram is not highly accurate in characteriz-
ing local roughness as it generally provides correlation
at much larger scale. To characterize fracture surface
topography, we need to quantify variations in asperity
heights at a scale of interest.

167

Figure 1. Picture of the quarry where we digitized the
fracture surface utilized for this study (inside the white box).
In this study, we proposed a novel approach to sum-
marize the local roughness using a so-called rough-
ness pattern, which characterizes how the topography
behaves locally. We implemented the reproduction of
the distribution of the roughness pattern as one of the
objective functions in a standard simulated annealing
(SASIM) methodology.
The measured fracture surface topography was used
as a reference to calculate the target probability distri-
bution of the local roughness pattern. Conditioning
data were sampled from the reference topography
on much coarser grid nodes. The proposed approach
(SASIM) was compared against two traditional geosta-
tistical approaches, ordinary kriging (OK) and sequen-
tial Gaussian simulation (SGSIM), in downscaling the
surface topography into a scale of interest.
2 FRACTURE SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY
2.1 Topography data
The surface topography used in this study is extracted
form in-situ surface data that have been acquired on
a 0.05 m resolution grid during a recent experimental
work aimed to characterize a quarry of gneiss located
in Ossola valley, Italy. The lithotype is a metamorphic
rock with a very jointed structure that it is easy to iden-
tify both in situ and on smaller specimens. The rock
surfaces chosen for this study were exposed during a
quarry excavation (Fig. 1) and have been measured by
close range photogrammetry. There are high elevation
areas oriented slightly off from vertical at the left bot-
tom corner of the surface, while the right-hand-side
of the surface has lower elevation areas (Fig. 2). The
direction of the trend is, in general, vertical but slightly
off to clockwise.
As the purpose of this study is simply to demon-
strate the proposed methodology, a topography image
in a coarser resolution was created by sampling from
168
Reference surface topography(m)
5 height
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
4 0.01
0
-0.01
-0.02
-0.03
3 -0.04
-0.05
y(m)
2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
x(m)
Figure 2. Fracture surface topography used as reference for
this study. It has a 0.05 m resolution.
the reference topography. Downscaling methodologies
were then applied to reconstruct the topography in the
same resolution as the reference topography.
2.2 Local roughness
In this study, we propose an approach to character-
ize the roughness of the fracture surface topography
so-called “roughness distribution” and “local rough-
ness pattern,” definitions of which are later introduced
in this section. Like remote sensing images, fracture
topography data are readily provided as pixel-based
images when surveys are conducted by means of a
laser scanning technique. At any given pixel, there-
fore, an asperity height z from a reference level is
assigned along with x and y coordinates, leading to
a 3-dimensional view of the fracture surface. In this
study, the “local” roughness is characterized by com-
paring the heights of pixels right next (i.e., adjacent)
to a given pixel to the height of that pixel.
Any given pixel at uc (not located along the image
edge) is surrounded by 8 adjacent pixels, among which
4 pixels share one of four sides of the pixel, while 4
pixels are located at four corners of the pixel. The local
roughness pattern is then defined as how adjacent pix-
els behave, in more concrete words, as a summary of
whether or not the heights of adjacent pixels are higher
than that of the central pixel. In this study we do not
consider the absolute differences in heights between
those pixels. For mathematical convenience, an indi-
cator transform can be defined at any adjacent pixel
ui as:

Figure 3. A schematic diagram that shows how the central
pixel uc and its surrounding adjacent pixels, u1 to u4 are
defined.
Figure 4. 16 possible roughness patterns are shown. Grey
pixels have higher elevations than that of the central black
pixel, while white pixels are lower than the black one.
where zc is the height of the central pixel uc . In the rest
of this paper, for simplicity, only 4 adjacent pixels that
share sides of the central pixel are considered (Fig. 3).
The concept and methodology shown in this paper can
readily extended to 8 adjacent pixels and further.
As there are two outcomes for each adjacent pixel,
either 0 or 1, there are a total of 24 = 16 possible com-
binations of indicators corresponding to the central
pixel uc . To repeat, this combination is referred to as
the local roughness pattern. We assigned arbitrary 1
thought 16 to the roughness pattern depending upon
which adjacent pixels are higher than the central pixel
as shown in Figure 4. It must be mentioned that the
way we assigned the local roughness pattern numbers
does not affect the final result of the study.
Once the local roughness pattern is defined, the
whole image can be searched to obtain the distri-
bution of each roughness pattern. This distribution
169
0.2
0.15
Probability
0.1
0.05
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Roughness Pattern
Figure 5. Pattern distribution obtained for the reference
topography. Numbers correspond to those in Figure 3.
(or histogram), referred to as “roughness distribution,”
is described by a frequency table, which lists the fre-
quency of the occurrence of each roughness pattern.
The frequency of occurrence of a given roughness pat-
tern, pi , denoted f (pi ) is then defined as the number
of occurrence divided by the total number of pixels.
As mentioned before, the roughness pattern is not
limited to those in Figure 3 but can be extended in a
very flexible way. For example, instead of using only 4
adjacent pixels, we can use surrounding 8 pixels, which
results in a total of 256 possible outcomes. Rough-
ness patterns can also be categorized in much smaller
number of groups depending upon their physical simi-
larities and characteristics. For example, the roughness
patterns 2 and 12 in Figure 4 appear when there is a
slope from top to bottom, while the roughness pat-
terns 5 and 15 represent the slope from bottom to top.
Therefore, instead of counting the number of the occur-
rence of each roughness pattern, a combined number
of occurrences for similar patterns, such as 2 and 12,
can be recorded as a pattern of a top-to-bottom slope.
By grouping roughness patterns based on its physical
attribute, we can readily reduce the possible outcomes
of the roughness patterns.
2.3 Roughness of reference fracture surface
topography
The concept of the local roughness introduced in the
previous section is demonstrated using the reference
topography data (Fig. 2). Figure 5 shows the probabil-
ity distribution of the roughness patterns obtained for
the reference topography. There are two distinct peaks
of the patterns 7 and 10, while the patterns 4 and 13
have the next highest probability values among others.
As can be seen in Figure 4, the patterns 4, 7, 10, and
13 all have slopes in one of four diagonal directions.
It may not be too surprising that 50% of locations have
one of these 4 patterns as they seem to be more natu-
rally occurred compared to patterns such as 1, 6, 11,
and 16. It has to be mentioned, however, that the prob-
ability of having the pattern 16 is much greater than
the other three patterns. The rest of the patterns have
either three white or grey pixels out of four adjacent
pixels, which may be not found a lot on the natural
rock surface topography.
To investigate if this probability distribution is
somehow unique to a given rock type or fracture sur-
face, we divided the reference surface into quarters
(i.e., 2.5 × 2.5 m squares) and computed the pattern
distribution for each square. The result (not shown
here) indicated that, despite slight differences among
four distributions, the probability distributions are
similar. Thus, we assumed that the pattern distribu-
tion is more-or-less unique to the fracture surface.
It is, therefore, important to take the pattern distri-
bution into account on the reproduction of asperity
heights.
In the rest of this study, the pattern distribution
obtained from the reference fracture surface topog-
raphy was used as the known target distribution. In
practice, the target distribution can be readily obtained
from the preliminary investigation using small rock
joint samples collected at the study site.
3 GEOSTATISTICAL THEORIES
Geostatistics provides a set of statistical tools for incor-
porating the spatial and temporal coordinates of obser-
vations in data processing. Geostatistics can be used to
analyze, not only sparsely sampled observations, but
also exhaustively available spatial information, such as
remotely sensed information (e.g. Saito et al. 2005).
More recently, geostatistics was used to increase the
spatial resolution of satellite images (Pardo-Iguzquiza
et al. 2006)
3.1 Geostatistical estimation
Consider the problem of estimating the value of an
attribute z (e.g., height) at an unsampled grid node
u, where u is a vector of spatial coordinates. The
information available consists of values of the vari-
able z at N grid nodes ui , i = 1,2,…, N discretizing the
image. This section reviews one of the most commonly
used geostatistical interpolation algorithms, ordinary
kriging (OK).
Ordinary kriging provides a model of the unsam-
pled value z(u) as a linear combination of neighboring
observations:
170
where λα (u) is the ordinary kriging weight assigned
to datum z(uα ) and the weights are computed using
the following system of (n(u)+1) linear equations (i.e.,
ordinary kriging system):
where µOK (u) is the Lagrange parameter, C(uα -uβ )
is the data-to-data covariance function and C(uα -u)
is the data-to-estimation point covariance function.
The kriging weights are chosen so as to minimize the
error variance under the constraint of unbiasedness.
The covariance function C(h) is one of the essential
parameters in geostatistics and is related to the semi-
variogram γ(h) under the condition of second order
stationarity as:
The semivariogram is a measure of the variability
of the attribute values obtained at two locations as a
function of the separation vector between those two
locations. In practice the experimental semivariogram
is computed as half the average squared difference
between the values of data pairs,
where N (h) is the number of data pairs for a given sep-
aration vector h and z is the attribute. A model is then
fit to the experimental semivariogram so that semivar-
iogram values across a continuous range of separation
distances can be derived. The choice of the model
is limited to functions that ensure a positive definite
covariance function matrix of the left-hand side of the
kriging system (3). Often the spatial correlation varies
with direction, and such a case requires one to com-
pute semivariograms in different orientations and fit
anisotropic semivariogram models. Details of model
fitting can be found in Deutsch & Journel (1998) and
Goovaerts (1997).
3.2 Geostatistical simulation
Unlike estimation, geostatistical stochastic simulation
does not aim at minimizing a local error variance
but focuses at reproduction of statistics, such as the
sample histogram or the semivariogram model in addi-
tion to honoring sample data values. Among many
available simulation techniques, sequential Gaussian
simulation (SGSIM) is one of the most commonly
used techniques because of its flexibility and ease in
generating conditional realizations.
 Consider the simulation of the continuous attribute
z at N grid nodes u j conditional to the data set {z(uα ),
α=1,…,n}. Sequential simulation amounts to model-
ing the conditional cumulative distribution function
(ccdf) as:
then sampling it at each of the grid nodes visited along
a random path sequentially. To ensure reproduction of
the z-semivariogram model, each ccdf is made con-
ditional not only to the original n data but also to
all values simulated

at previously
 visited locations.
Other realizations z (l ) u j , j = 1, . . . , N , l  = l  ,
are obtained by repeating the entire sequential drawing
process.
In SGSIM the series of conditional cdfs are deter-
mined using the multiGaussian formalism. Sequential
Gaussian simulation typically involves a prior trans-
form of the z-data into y-data with a standard normal
histogram, which is referred to as a normal score
transform. The simulation is then performed in the
normal space, and the simulated normal scores are
back-transformed in order to identify the original
z-histogram.
3.3 Simulated annealing
Simulated annealing (SA), developed as an optimiza-
tion algorithm, is another technique to generate condi-
tional stochastic realizations (e.g. Deutsch & Journal
1988). The optimization process aims to systemati-
cally perturbing an initial realization so as to decrease
the value of the objective function. Although there
are many possible implementations of SA (Deutsch &
Cockerham 1994), in this paper, the procedure com-
monly taken is used as follows (e.g. Goovaerts 1997):
(l)  
(1) Create an initial realization {z(0) uj , j = 1, . . . ,
N } by freezing data values at their locations and
assigning to each unsampled grid node a z-value
drawn at random from the corresponding ccdf
model F uj ; z| (n) .
(2) Compute the initial value of the objective func-
tion, O(i = 0) with M components, corresponding
to that initial realization
where:
Each component Om is standardized by its ini-
tial value Om (0). The relative importance of each
171
component is controlled by the weights λm that
sum to unity.
(3) Perturb the realization by selecting randomly a
location uj and replacing the current value by a
new value randomly drawn from the ccdf.
(4) Assess the impact of the perturbation on the repro-
duction of target statistics by recomputing the
objective function, Onew (0), accounting for the
modification of the initial realization.
(5) Accept all perturbation that lower the objective
function. Unfavorable perturbations are accepted
according to the value of a negative exponential
probability distribution
Prob {Accept ith pert.}
where t(i) is the “temperature” at the i-th pertur-
bation. The idea is to start with an initially high
“temperature” t(0), which allows a large propor-
tion of unfavorable perturbation to be accepted at
the beginning of the simulation. As the simulation
proceeds, the “temperature” is gradually lowered
so as to limit discontinuous modification of the
stochastic image. Two important issues are the
timing and magnitude of the “temperature” reduc-
tion, which defines the annealing schedule. In this
study, following Goovaerts (2000), a fast anneal-
ing schedule was used (e.g. Deutsch & Cockerham
1994).
(6) If the perturbation is accepted, update the ini-
(l)  
tial realization into a new image {z(1) uj ,
j = 1, . . . , N } with objective function value
O(1) = Onew (0).
(7) Repeat steps from 3 to 6 until either the target low
value Omin = 0.001 is reached or the maximum
number of attempted at the same “temperature”
has been reached three times.
(l  )  
Other realizations {z(1) uj , j =1, . . . , N }, l   = l,
are generated by repeating the whole process starting
from different initial realizations.
4 OBJECTIVE FUNCTIONS
Most commonly used target statistics in SA have been
the sample histogram and the semivariogram models
(Goovaerts 1998). The histogram is usually expressed
in terms of the cumulative distribution, F(z) where the
range of variation of z is discretized by a series of K
threshold zk . Similarly, the semivariogram model γ(h)
is usually limited to a specified number S of the lags.
When these target statistics are formulated as opti-
mization problems, the objective function Oh and Og
corresponding to the histogram and the semivariogram
model, respectively, becomes,
and
where F̂ (zk ) is the cumulative frequency distribu-
tion calculated from the realization, and γ̂ (hs ) is
the semivariogram value at lag hs calculated from the
realization.
Recently Goovaerts (1998) showed that the geo-
statistical estimation process can be formulated as an
optimization problem, in which an objective function
is minimized. As a result, the estimation criterion is
readily incorporated into simulated annealing. In the
least-squares criterion, the value of z at uj is estimated
by minimizing the quadratic function of the estimation
error [e(uj )]2 , referred to as a loss (Goovaerts, 1997),
   
where the estimation error is e uj = z uj − z ∗ uj ,
and z*(uj ) is the estimate. Because actual value z(uj )
is unknown, the actual loss cannot be computed.
However, themodel of uncertainty at the location uj
(i.e., ccdf, F u j ; z| (n) ) allows one to calculate the
expected loss as
this expected loss is minimal if z*(uj ) is the expected
value (i.e., mean or E-type estimate) of the ccdf at uj .
The expected loss corresponding to the E-type esti-
mate is then the variance σ 2 (uj ) of the ccdf. The set
of N optimal estimates at N grid nodes uj is the E-
type estimate. Then the corresponding global expected
loss, which is the sum of the N local expected losses,
is minimal and equal to the sum of the variance of
the N ccdfs. Therefore the objective function Oe to be
minimized in this process is
and is equal to zero for the optimal estimation.
This study is the first attempt to take the rough-
ness pattern into account in one of the target statistics
that is going to be reproduced during the optimization
process. As shown in Section 2.2, the roughness distri-
bution is the frequency distribution F(pi ) similar to the
histogram. Unlike the histogram, the roughness distri-
bution has a finite number of bins that is the number of
possible roughness patterns. The objective function Op
172
Figure 6. Conditioning surface topography data. The spatial
resolution is 0.25 m.
corresponding to the roughness distribution is, then,
formulated as
 
where F̂ pi is the cumulative frequency distri-
bution of the roughness pattern calculated from the
realization.
5 SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY DOWNSCALING
Surface topography downscaling amounts at geosta-
tistically estimating or simulating asperity heights at
finer grid nodes conditioning to topography data in
a much coarser resolution. In this study, the impact
of taking the surface roughness pattern into account
on the downscaling (or sharpening) of the surface
topography was investigated.
5.1 Conditioning data
The conditioning initial topography data were sam-
pled from the reference topography (Fig. 2), which
was obtained in 0.05 m resolution, in a coarser reso-
lution (i.e., 0.25 m). Figure 6 shows the conditioning
surface topography image. Figure 7 shows experimen-
tal semivariograms with an anisotropic model fitted in
major (80◦ counter-clockwise from E) and minor (170◦
counter-clockwise from E) directions as they showed
clear anisotropy. The major direction agrees well to the
vertical trend shown in Figure 2. The model includes
a nugget effect (0.00003) and a spherical model with
a sill of 0.0004, a range of 6 m, and an anisotropy ratio
of 0.3.
 Figure 8. Estimated fracture surface topography using ordi-
nary kriging.

Figure 7. Directional experimental semivariograms com-

puted in two directions (80◦ and 170◦ counter-clockwise
from E) from conditioning surface topography data with
anisotropic spherical semivariogram models fitted.

5.2 Downscaling Performance

Three different geostatistical methodologies (OK,
SGSIM, and SASIM) were compared in downscaling
of the surface topography. In the objective function
used in SASIM, in addition to the standard com-
ponents of the reproduction of semivariogram and
histogram, two more components were considered: the
minimization of the local error variance (Eq. 13) and
the reproduction of the roughness distribution (Eq. 14).
The relative weight for the optimal estimate criteria
(i.e., minimization of the local error variance) was five
times greater than the rest to avoid overweighting to Figure 9. Estimated fracture surface topography using
the reproduction of the roughness distribution. More sequential Gaussian simulation.
study is needed to optimize these relative weights.
Predicted (or downscaled) asperity heights were Using three downscaled topography images, the pat-
then compared to the reference topography to calcu- tern distributions were calculated. Figures 8–10 show
late prediction errors (mean square error and mean downscaled surface topography images obtained using
absolute error). The reproduction of the roughness OK, SGSIM, and SASIM, respectively. As expected,
distribution was also investigated. OK estimates of asperity heights are very smooth com-
pared to other simulated results. This smoothing effect
may not be desirable since it could lead to underes-
6 RESULTS DISCUSSION: DOWNSCALED timate the impact of the surface roughness on fluid
TOPOGRAPHY flow and transport through the fracture. On the other
hand, while SASIM result reproduces the general (or
As we are interested in characterizing the local rough- global) trend quite well, both simulated results show
ness of the fracture surface, we analyzed not only the much noisier topography images (Figs. 9 & 10). This
spatial feature of the realization but also the local feature is common for stochastic realizations as they
roughness characteristics of the downscaled images. focus more on the reproduction of target statistics and

173

Figure 10. Estimated fracture surface topography using
simulated annealing.
0.2 Target
OK
SGSIM
SASIM
Probability
0.1
0 ated so that the uncertainty in the spatial distribution
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
RoughnessPattern
Figure 11. Pattern distributions calculated from downscaled
topography images with the target distribution.
not on minimizing local error variances. SASIM repro-
duce global features much better than SGSIM because
it incorporates the estimation criteria (Equation 14) in
one of the objective function components.
Figure 11 shows calculated roughness distributions
along with the target distribution obtained from the ref-
erence topography. There are some interesting features
observed:
1. The result of OK has similar peaks with the ref-
erence distribution, while some specific patterns
have very small probabilities of the occurrences.
Probably because of the smoothing effect, some
roughness patterns seem to be unlikely to happen
locally. However, in general, the pattern distribution
calculated from OK estimates follows the trend of
174
Table 1. Prediction errors.
Methodology MSE MAE
OK 2.83e−5 3.98e−3
SGSIM 1.08e−4 8.02e−3
SASIM 5.07e−5 5.28e−3
the target distribution despite some overestimations
in the patterns 14 and 16.
2. As for SGSIM, due to increase in noisiness in the
simulated image, the local roughness was basically
randomized leading to almost equal probabilities of
the occurrences for the patterns 2 though 15. The
patterns 1 & 16 that are a tip and a dip have surpris-
ingly high probability values. Apparently SGSIM
is not an appropriate methodology for downscaling
of fracture surface topography images in terms of
the local roughness reproduction.
Because the reproduction of the target pattern dis-
tribution was implemented in the objective function,
the pattern distribution of the SASIM result per-
fectly matches to the target distribution. The proposed
SASIM approach, therefore, not only can reproduce
the global trend but also can replicate the local rough-
ness characteristics. This approach should be desirable
as long as the target pattern distribution is available.
Another attractive feature of SASIM compared to
kriging is that SASIM is stochastic simulation. There-
fore, although only one realization is presented in this
paper, multiple equiprobable realizations that repro-
duce the exact target pattern distribution can be gener-
can be assessed.
Differences among three approaches are also
assessed using estimation errors: mean square (MSE)
and absolute (MAE) errors are summarized in Table 1.
It is not surprising that OK outperforms other two
approaches in terms of prediction errors because
it aims to minimize local error variances. What is
more important here is that SASIM results in much
smaller prediction errors than SGSIM. From the
analysis of prediction errors, the superiority of the
proposed SASIM methodology over SGSIM is also
demonstrated.
7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates the first attempt to account for
local roughness information in geostatistical simula-
tion of the fracture surface topography. The roughness
of the surface topography was characterized by a so-
called “local roughness pattern” that summarizes how
the topography behaves locally. This pattern has a
finite number of outcomes allowing one to calculate
the probability of the occurrence of each roughness
pattern. This probability distribution is referred to as
pattern distribution.
The reproduction of the pattern distribution became
one of the objectives in a proposed simulate anneal-
ing (SASIM) technique. The objective function also
includes the component of optimal estimation criteria
which allows pursuing both estimation and simulation
characteristics.The proposed SASIM was compared to
standard geostatistical methodologies, ordinary krig-
ing and sequential Gaussian simulation, in down-
scaling of the fracture surface topography. Results
show that the proposed SASIM can reproduce both
global and local features of the surface topography
while keeping estimation errors much smaller than
those obtained with one of the standard geostatistical
simulation techniques.
One of the downsides of the technique is that one
needs to have a target pattern distribution prior to
applying the technique. As the pattern distribution may
be more-or-less unique to the rock type, one can con-
duct thorough preliminary investigation with a rock of
interest to obtain the target distribution.
Further improvements are needed for a statistically
more robust determination of relative weight param-
eters for the different components in the objective
function. We envisage applying the proposed method-
ology for improving our capabilities in predicting
water flow and transport phenomena during large scale
simulations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The first author acknowledges the financial support
by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad.
REFERENCES
Boutt, D.F., Grasselli, G., Fredrich, J.T., Cook, B.K. &
Williams, J.R. 2006. Trapping zones: The effect of frac-
ture roughness on the directional anisotropy of fluid flow
and colloid transport in a single fracture. Geophys. Res.
Letters 33: L21402.
175
Brown, S.R. 1987. Fluid flow through rock joints: The
effect of surface roughness. J. Geophys. Res. 92(B2):
1337–1347.
Deutsch, C.V. & Cockerham, P.W. 1994. Practical considera-
tion in the application of simulated annealing to stochastic
simulation. Math Geology 26(1): 67–82.
Deutsch, C.V. & Journel, A.G. 1998. GSLIB: Geostatistical
Software Library and Users Guide. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Deutsch, C.V. & Wen, X.H. 1998. An improved perturba-
tion mechanism for simulated annealing simulation. Math
Geology 30(7): 801–816.
Goovaerts, P. 1997. Geostatistics for Natural Resources
Evaluation. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Goovaerts, P. 1998. Accounting for estimation optimality
criteria in simulated annealing. Mathematical Geology
30(5): 511–533.
Goovaerts, P. 2000. Estimation or simulation of soil proper-
ties? An optimization problem with conflicting criteria.
Geoderma 3–4: 165–186.
Grasselli, G., Wirth, J. & Egger, P. 2002. Quantitative three-
dimensional description of a rough surface and parameter
evolution with shearing. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 39:
789–800.
Lanaro, F. 2000. A random field model for surface roughness
and aperture of rock fractures. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
37: 1195–1210.
Marache, A., Riss, J., Gentier, S. & Chilès, J.-P. 2002. Char-
acterization and reconstruction of a rock fracture surface
by geostatistics. Int. J. Num. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 26:
873–896.
Pardo-Igu’zquiz, E., Chica-Olmo, M. & Atkinson, P.M. 2006.
Downscaling cokriging for image sharpening. Remote
Sensing of Environment 102(1–2): 86–98.
Saito, H., Coburn, T.C. & McKenna, S.A. 2005. Geostatis-
tical noise filtering of geophysical images: Application
to unexploded ordinance (UXO) sites. In Proceedings of
Geostatistics Banff, pp. 921–928.
Thompson, M.E. & Brown, S.R. 1991. The effect of
anisotropic surface roughness on flow and transport in
fractures. J. Geophys. Res. 96(B13): 21923–21932.
 Rock Mass Classification,
Characterization & Behaviour
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
Future directions for rock mass classification and characterization –
Towards a cross-disciplinary approach

N. Barton
Nick Barton & Associates, Oslo, Norway

ABSTRACT: Rock mass classification has come to be associated with the selection of a rock mass quality class
on the basis of prior classification or rating of various rock mass parameters. The presence of a tunnel or slope or
similar is implied, and the disturbance to local rock mass characteristics, caused by the excavation disturbed zone,
is supposed to be captured in the local rock class, as support will be chosen. Rock mass characterization reflects
a broader mission to describe the character of a rock mass where a future project is likely to be realized, but
no excavation presently exists, except of borehole scale. In this paper, cross-disciplinary examples of rock mass
classification and characterization are selected from various civil engineering construction projects, making much
use of seismic velocity for emphasizing the links between rock quality, deformability, permeability and velocity,
and for helping to distinguish between classification and characterization. However these terms obviously overlap
in common usage.

1 INTRODUCTION velocity, permeability, and deformability will be used

to illustrate possible future trends.
Rock mass classification has come to be associated
with the need to select a rock mass class on the
2 THE EXCAVATION DISTURBED ZONE
basis of prior classification or rating of various rock
mass parameters. Most frequently, classification is
The cross-hole seismic description of the site for a
used in association with tunnel support, and also as
future ship lock shown in Figure 1 (diagram a) can
a basis for payment. It may also reflect a need for
be considered one form of characterization of the site.
pre-treatment. Implicit here is the existence of the tun-
The RQD, RMR and Q-values of the two cores would
nel, and the effect this may have on the expected rock
be essential supplementary data. Ideally, core or sub-
mass response, in particular that within the EDZ. All
sequent borehole logging should be oriented due to
of the above may also apply to rock slopes, but here
kinematic stability assessment needs.
post-treatment is more likely.
Subsequent cross-hole seismic between supple-
Rock mass characterization reflects a broader mis-
mentary holes shows the increasing development of
sion to describe the character of a rock mass where
an EDZ actually much better than our rock mass
a future project is likely to be realized. Besides rock
quality description with one or more of the stan-
dard measures (e.g. RQD, RMR, Q or GSI), it should
also include site characterization fundamentals such
as rock stress, water pressure, permeability and seis-
mic velocities. Ideally each of the above should be
measured as a function of depth and azimuth, and of
course reflect lateral variation and variation in specific
domains.
Various simple index parameters of the matrix and
joint sets can also considered characterization, like
UCS and the JRC-JCS roughness-strength character
that can be estimated during core logging. A Schmidt Figure 1. Cross-hole site characterization (left), and mon-
hammer and short ruler are sufficient equipment itoring of ship-lock excavation stages. There is a one-year
here. Cross-disciplinary characterization involving Q, delay between diagrams c) and d). Savich et al. (1983).

179
Figure 2. Cross-hole seismic performed at a pressure tunnel
by Kujundzíc et al. (1970). Mean velocities of 3.5, 5.5 and
4.5 km/s are seen in the visible EDZ, in the invisible EDZ,
and in the undisturbed zone.
classification would be capable of, and the 1 year
delay between c) and d) would be hard to emulate with
(predicted) reductions of RQD, RMR and Q.
Nevertheless, in principal we should be able to
characterize this site, and classify support needs using
the above parameters. An iterative element arises if,
through our choice of a conservative rock class, we
support in two stages: at half-depth and at full-depth.
The former would influence the latter, and both would
perhaps prevent the degradation seen with 1 year of
delay in the right-hand diagram.
An EDZ of partially different character is illustrated
in Figure 2, again involving cross-hole seismic, but
with both improved and reduced velocity as a result of Figure 3. Sectors where shearing may affect the details of
excavation. The tangential stress concentration raises EDZ classification. Mohr-Coulomb solutions from Shen &
the maximum velocity by almost 1 km/s about 1 m into Barton (1997), and an early UDEC-BB model from Chris-
the wall of this 5 m diameter tunnel, and the ‘negative’ tianson (1985).
aspect of the EDZ reduces the velocity by a similar
amount. Mean velocities were 3.5, 5.5 and 4.5 km/s, quality, if we do not take the stress level into account.
the latter in the undisturbed rock mass. Joints that are more tightly closed by the tangential
In the present context we should refer to 4.5 km/s stress are likely to result in higher deformation mod-
as the simple seismic characterization of the site, per- ulus due to higher normal stiffness, each of these
haps corresponding to a Q-value of 10, or less than 10 contributing to the 1 km/s increase in seismic (P-wave)
if the depth is greater than 25 m or so (see later). The velocity. Yet we must acknowledge that rock quality
3.5 km/s ‘EDZ-result’ should be predictable by a cor- per se has not improved, unless we link this with stress
rect application of the SRF operator in the Q-system, level.
and perhaps by D in GSI. One would perhaps need to There might perhaps be reduced permeability at 1 m
be conditioned or trained to assume a reduced RQD depth in the four sectors where shear stresses do not
for the EDZ, as an additional measure of conserva- arise, and potentially increased permeability in the sec-
tive classification, for subsequent selection of support tors that may suffer some shearing, mostly close to
needs. the excavation. The regular existence of shear stress
We see immediately that there is a potential haz- in four sectors is illustrated in Figure 3, in the clas-
ard in using the seismic velocity as a measure of rock sic Mohr-Coulomb solutions given by Shen & Barton

180
(1997), and also by simple UDEC-BB models of cir-
cular tunnels, from Christianson (pers. comm. 1985).
The case shown is with equal horizontal and vertical
stress, nevertheless generating shear stress.

3 EXTRAPOLATING QUALITY USING

SEISMIC VELOCITIES

The richness of seismic and index test data for under-

standing the characteristics of a site are very well illus-
trated in the Japanese studies for the Honshu-Shikoku
Bridges, that are reproduced in part, in Figure 4.
The Japanese Highways rock mass classification at Figure 4. Rock mass velocities linked to rock class in the
the lower end of the quality scale, mostly in Ter- Japanese Highways scheme, with extension into the low class
tiary granites, is particularly well demonstrated, with (DL , DM , and DH ). Honshu-Shikoku Bridges investigations,
a selection of index data including water content (SW ), mostly in weathered Tertiary granites. Ishikawa et al. (1995).
porosity (n), and density.
Foundation sizes as large as 50 × 50 and even 100 ×
100 m in plan, yet requiring resistance to contact pres-
sures as high as 1 and 2 MPa, were needed beneath
the sea. Seismic-velocity based methods were used
for extrapolating in situ deformation tests performed
more readily on land, to offshore sites using down-hole
pressuremeter and velocity logging. These would be
examples of characterization. With subsequent expo-
sure of such foundations in drained caisson construc-
tions, classification would be needed to ‘distribute’the
previously determined velocity-deformation data per
rock class.
Seismic characterization of an interbedded marl-
sandstone sequence at a dam site in Italy was described
by Oberti et al. (1979), using both cross-hole and
sonic logging in three vertical boreholes. A rather
good comparison was noted, with velocities oscillat-
ing, according to rock layer, between 4.0 and 5.5 km/s
within the 30 m measured depth. However, a need
to relate velocity to deformability was also required
as part of the characterization, and in Figure 5 we
may note an interesting problem of EDZ classification,
with modulus depending on direction of loading and
on depth of measurement, and all the measurements
apparently affected by an EDZ.
A supplementary question we may ask is whether
our frequently used RQD, RMR and Q parameters
would be able to capture the differences seen in
Figure 5.
The anisotropic (orthotropic) marl-sandstone
sequence exposed in the gallery provided deforma-
tion moduli varying from about 13 to 27 GPa, and
Figure 5. Classification of the EDZ of an exploratory
sonic velocities varying from about 4 km/s to 4.6 km/s, gallery using plate-loading, sonic logging, and MPBX
apparently at the lower end of the pre-gallery charac- recordings to relate results to specific depths. Oberti et al.
terization results, which ranged from 4.0 to 5.5 km/s. (1979).
However, here we need to be careful, as there is
a velocity-stress correction that has not yet been the frequently used rock mass quality descriptors
addressed. (the Q-system) to relate to seismic velocity, start-
In the remainder of this paper we will concen- ing with shallow refraction seismic and also utilizing
trate attention on the possibilities of using one of RQD. An excellent starting point is the extensive

181
Figure 6. Shallow refraction seismic at predominantly hard
rock sites in Scandinavia. Sjøgren et al. (1979) combined
113 km of seismic profiles and 2.9 km of core logging to
derive these mean trends.
Figure 7. Mean RQD and joint (‘crack’) frequency trends
as a function of shallow seismic refraction measurements for
predominantly hard, low porosity rocks. Data derived from
Sjøgren et al. (1979) with the addition of a Q-scale from
Barton (1995).
investigations presented by Sjøgren et al. (1979),
who used shallow refraction seismic profiles (totalling
113 km) and local core logging results (totalling
2.9 km of core) to derive the following mean trends
for hard rocks shown in Figure 6.
Using a slightly liberal smooth extrapolation (dot-
ted lines in Fig. 7), we can present this data in graphical
form, and also add the Barton (1995) addition of a
Q-value scale. The latter was derived by trial and
error, following several years of collecting refraction
seismic velocity data at sites where core (and rock
exposures) had been Q-logged, often by the author, or
by colleagues.
For the velocity-Q links that follow, a useful first
step is to ‘linearize’ the velocity-quality relation, with
appended RQD and joint frequency (λ m−1 or F
m−1 ) data. The simple initial relation VP ≈ 3.5 + log
Q (km/s) may be noted. Note that the data and linkages
shown in Figures 6–8 all apply to shallow refraction
seismic in essentially hard rock sites with low matrix
porosities.
A more generalized relation between Q and velocity
is shown in Figure 9. This development was described
in Barton (2002), and it has been demonstrated in
182
Figure 8. Hard rock, shallow seismic refraction, mean
trends from Sjøgren et al. (1979). The Q-scale was added
by Barton (1995), using the shallow hard rock correlation
Vp ≈ 3.5 + log Q, where VP is in km/s.
Figure 9. An integrated empirical model for linking Q-value
(via Qc ) to P-wave velocity, depth, matrix porosity, and
deformation modulus. Barton (2002, 2006).
numerous contexts in Barton (2006). It will be noted
that Q has been normalized in order to better correlate
with a wider variety of weaker (and stronger) rocks.
In essence Q is adjusted to smaller or larger values,
termed Qc , depending on whether the rock matrix has
lower or higher uniaxial compression strengths than
100 MPa.
It is important in rock mechanics modelling to allow
for the increased moduli of deformation with depth
or stress level, that will have been determined by
site characterization, using seimic velocity, Q-logging,
and these empirical correlations. There will be other
changes with depth, especially in the context of high-
level nuclear waste isolation, due to thermal over-
closure of joints. The thermal expansion coefficient
of the rock mass is never the same as for the intact
rock material, because of this effect, contrary to recent
assertion. Barton (2007a).
Figure 9 shows that velocity-depth adjustment
(+ve) and velocity-porosity adjustment (−ve) are
provided, based on a wider collection of seismic cross-
hole tomography data from several countries, also
from weaker porous rocks such as chalks and chalk
marls. Deformation modulus estimates based on plate
loading and back-calculation of shaft and tunnel defor-
mation monitoring are also appended on the right
hand side, with an adjusted scale (Emin ), for poorly
explained lower values of modulus not sufficiently
captured in site description, but presumably connected
with the EDZ problem, as demonstrated in Figure 5.
Figure 10. The depth-velocity trends for different Qc val-
A comparison of tunnel support pressure needs from ues. Barton (2006). VP – depth gradients (s−1 ) tend to be
the independently-derived Barton et al. 1974 support in double-figures in the top 25 m due to ‘Q-jumping’. This
pressure formulation, with the deformation modulus should be borne in mind when interpreting the results of VP ,
scale of Figure 9, suggests inverse proportionality so as not to over-estimate the rock quality or Q-value.
between support pressure and deformation modulus
(Barton 2002). This is presumably logical, but the
simplicity is nevertheless surprising.
Here we see the ability to cross-check rock mass
characterization predictions of increased or decreased
moduli with depth or rock quality, with the subsequent
classification needs for selecting rock support class.

4 VELOCITY-DEPTH GRADIENTS

In Barton (2006), a large number of velocity depth pro-

files are given, based on a wide review of geophysics
literature. It is common to read that the upper 50 m of
the weathered crust are considered the most difficult to
characterize in seismic investigations, and in fact the
strong velocity gradients considerably affect the mod-
els of velocity needed at greater depths. By chance this
complex near-surface 50 m commonly impacts dam
foundations, shallow tunnels and portals, and deep
foundations for bridges and large buildings.
In Figure 10 a velocity-depth diagram has been
derived from the empirical model data of Figure 9,
that provides individual velocity-depth gradients for
specific Qc rock classes, where Q = Qc in the case
of UCS ≈ 100 MPa. This diagram helps to explain
why faulted rock ahead of a deep tunnel may some-
times be ‘invisible’ or of such ‘high’ velocity, like
4 km/s that it is misinterpreted (Barton 2006) during
characterization performed ahead of the tunnel.
Such ‘high’ velocities may subsequently cause tun-
nel collapse, or trap TBM. In fact such rock is still
probably displaying an important contrast to the sur-
rounding rock mass. In the case of soft rock, acoustic
closure probably will prevent such differentiation.
In general, ‘Q-jumping’ will be experienced when
progressing downwards to greater depth, i.e. rock qual-
ities tend to improve, giving steeper VP – depth (s−1 )
gradients. This will partly be a function of reduced
Figure 11. Rapidly increasing P-wave velocities in
sub-ocean basalts to at least 500 m depth, due to reduc-
ing matrix and joint-related porosity, increasing age, and
increased hydrothermal sealing of tectonic joint structures.
Wide aperture velocity profiling (WAP) data from Kappus
et al. (1995).
weathering and clay content in discontinuities, and
partly due to changed rock types. In all probability,
this will also apply to another ‘Q’ factor, the seismic Q
or inverse of attenuation that geophysicists have used
for at least 40 years to describe their concept of ‘rock
quality’, specifically seismic quality. So seismic Q, or
Qseis (to distinguish it from Qrock ), will also be found
to ‘Q-jump’ in the upper tens of meters. Numerous
examples of Qseis from different depths, and from dif-
ferent disciplines and effective stress levels, are given
by Barton (2006).
An example of Q-jumping in basically one (basaltic)
rock type to a depth of 1000 m is given in Figure 11.
This is from a mid-ocean East Pacific Rise ‘wide aper-
ture profile’ from Kappus et al. (1995). This exotic
location is only chosen because of the rarity of mea-
surements to such depth in one rock type. However

183
there is a structural complication of pillow lavas, dykes
and sills within these young basalts.
The ‘Q-jumping’ was interpreted by Barton (2006)
by plotting the rapidly increasing velocities with depth,
specifically in the first 500 m depth. Reducing poros-
ity, increased age, and increasing hydrothermal sealing
of joints and fractures seems to be the cause of the
interpreted rock quality improvements.
5 PERMEABILITY FROM Q AND QH20
Pre-measurement estimation of permeability from
rock mass characterisation at any given depth in a rock
mass, based on core-logging is never easy, and may
indeed be inadvisable, since there are potential prob-
lems such as flow-channels within the joint planes that
have suffered erosion or solution-effects. There are
also joints that may be clay-sealed, therefore having
both low permeability and low Q-value.
For hard, low porosity, jointed rock masses with-
out clay, the approximate Lugeon scales shown in
Figure 12 may have some practical merit, when ‘out
in the field’ in a tunnelling situation, and needing,
for example, to assess pre-grouting needs from clas-
sification. Table 1 shows a collection of potential
inter-relationships derived from this figure, where
‘proving them wrong’ is also useful, as anomalies
may thereby be uncovered and test-needs identified.
Where clay is present, a greater level of sophistication
is needed than that shown in Table 1, or in this figure.
Figure 12. An extension of Figure 9 to include very approx-
imate estimates of Lugeon value, strictly for the case of rock
masses without clay-filling of the joints (and therefore suf-
fering flow-blockage). For a more general case, the modified
term QH2O is used. This is shown in Figure 13. Note the
‘type-curves’ in the above figure for e.g. ‘massive rock’ and
‘jointed rock’. There are likely to be type curves for seismic Q
as well.
184
It is noted in recent work from Sweden (Svensk
Kärnbränslehantering AB 2006) that the permeabili-
ties at the Laxemar site in the range 10−4 to 10−9 m/s,
show the mean, depth-variation given in Table 2. The
results are based on 100 m test scales (in other words
smoothed data, in relation to that obtained with close
packer-spacing).
Strictly considering the smoothed data, there is a
certain implicit indication of improved rock quality
with depth (not just stress-closure effects), which of
course is supported by detailed Q-logging of cores
from similar deep boreholes. Since stress levels are
also increasing with rock quality, it is likely that other
rock mechanics characterization data will also vary
with depth, and indeed with direction.
Table 3 shows the previously described L ≈ 1/Qc
approximation for clay-free rock masses, and a more
logical relation with permeability-in-general, that is
obtained by a modified Q-calculation. The modifica-
tion involves the inversion of Jr/Ja to the form Ja/Jr,
whereby clay filling will result in an increase of QH2O
(and a reduction of the permeability estimate), with
increase in roughness or discontinuous jointing giving
a similar effect (Fig. 13).
Table 1. A set of inter-related geotechnical approximations
that are useful when assessing results in the field. Note:
Qc = Q × σc /100. Barton (2002, 2006).
Qc 0.1 1 10 100
Lugeon 10 1 0.1 0.01
K(m/s) ≈ 10−6 10−7 10−8 10−9
Vp (km/s) 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5
Table 2. Smoothed permeability data from the Laxemar site
in Sweden (Svensk KärnbränslehanteringAB 2006). Extreme
values, even at 600–800 m depth sometimes range from at
least 10−6 to 10−11 m/s.
K m/s 10−4 10−5 10−6 10−7 10−8 10−9
Depth ≈20 m ≈30 m ≈50 m 100 m 300 m 900 m
Table 3. The two versions of ‘Q-permeability’ estimation. It
should not need to be emphasised that both are approximate.
Both are presently based on limited test data.
1) L ≈ 1/Qc (1 Lugeon ≈ 10−7 m/s ≈ 10−14 m2 for
water at 20◦ C) (hard, jointed, clay-free, rock masses)
Qc = RQD/Jn × Jr/Ja × Jw/SRF × σc /100
(standard equation, normalized by σc /100)
2) General case, with depth/stress allowance, and
consideration of joint wall strength JCS
QH2O = RQD/Jn × Ja/Jr × Jw/SRF × 100/JCS
K ≈ 0.002/(QH20 D5/3 ) m/s
 Figure 13 shows the depth-dependence that is
presently built into the permeability estimate. As in
the case of the Qc -depth curves in Figure 10, one will
usually experience curve-jumping as quality improves
at depth. QH2O will tend to increase with depth, like Qc .
Example of QH 2O estimation: Weak, well-jointed
rock at 100 m depth with a low assumed joint-wall-
compression-strength JCS of 10 MPa:
(Quite low permeability despite the extensively jointed
nature of this rock mass, due to nearly closed, com-
pressible, clay-coated joint walls).
This model can be extrapolated to many kilometers
depth by those familiar with the operations of SRF
in the Q-system of characterization. Permeabilities as
low as 10−12 m/s can be predicted where continuous
jointing is essentially absent (for Q > 1000). Natu-
rally, where SRF attains high classification ratings
in stress-fractured EDZ, where there was previously
highly stressed massive rock, a low value of QH2O
would be predicted, giving an assumed much increased
estimate of permeability in such an EDZ. Whether
water is present in such massive rock masses at depth
is another question (discussed in Barton 2007c).
Figure 13. Depth-dependent permeability estimation using
QH2O concept. (Table 3, equation 2). As in the case of the
Qc -depth curves in Figure 11, one will usually experience
curve-jumping as quality improves at depth. QH2O will tend
to increase with depth, like Qc . So actual gradients may be
steeper than these.
185
6 ROCK MASS VARIABILITY AND ITS
EXPRESSION
Widely contrasting rock mass qualities that may chal-
lenge both the civil and mining professions are shown
in Figure 14. The highly jointed, clay-bearing and
weathered core is from a project that has not been com-
pleted during ten years of trying. The second project
may not be started for at least ten years. The first
should already have been passing high-speed trains,
the other may have high-level nuclear waste some time
in the future. They are both from the same country, but
may have six orders of magnitude contrast in Q-value.
The contrasting stiffness and strength of intact rock
and wet clay from a fault zone is easy to visualize.
One may be crushed by one and drowned in the other.
There are sad and multiple examples of both in the
tunnelling and mining industry. They merit a widely
different quality description.
The six-orders-of-magnitude range of Q is a partial
reflection of the potentially enormous variability of
geology and structural geology. It is probably because
of the relative sensitivity of a classification that can
show wide numerical variation (i.e. 10−3 to 103 , or an
even wider range using Qc = Q × σc /100), that corre-
lation with a very varied geologic and hydro-geologic
reality is achieved, using rather simple correlations.
Some of course would claim that the correlations are
too simple. Without this range of Q (approx. 106 ) or
Qc (approx. 109 ), correlation would anyway be more
complex.
Consider for example a case from Hong Kong,
where borehole investigations at a sewage tunnel
project showed a ‘record’ intact core length of 57 m.
Yet the same tunnel had an undiscovered regional fault
Figure 14. The contrast shown by these two core boxes
suggests orders of magnitude differences in quality. Quantita-
tive descriptions of shear strength and deformation modulus
would vary by orders of magnitude as well.

Figure 15. Two of the most important components of Q in
rock mass classification are the number of joint sets, and the
joint roughness. The general level of over-break and ease of
carrying out classification in tunnels are also fundamentally
affected by these two parameters. In block caving in min-
ing, the ratio Jn/Jr may be fundamental for initiation of such
mechanisms.
Figure 16. A station cavern showing the need of
pre-injection for both water control, and for reduction of
over-break. The simple ratio of Jn/Jr (about 9/1.5) is suffi-
cient to explain over-break. Values more or less than 6 are
often discriminatory.
width of similar dimensions, and delayed tunnelling
by months. Clearly it is inadequate to quote respective
RQD values of 100% and 0%, just as RMR values of
95 and 5 also seem inadequate, though of course have
a more specific meaning. Respective seismic veloc-
ities of 6.5 km/s and 1.5 km/s, or permeabilities of
10−12 m/s and 10−4 m/s are much more descriptive of
the differences. In the opinion of the writer, respective
186
Q-values of 2000 and 0.002 also come closer to the
real differences of conditions.
A particularly good illustration of the simplicity
of some Q-system operations is the accuracy with
which the simple ratio of Jn/Jr (the number of joint
sets divided by the joint roughness) can predict the
onset of over-break, or indeed the possibility of block-
caving in mining. This is discussed in some detail in
Barton (2007b), and is illustrated in simple terms in
Figures 15 and 16. Of course, the ratio Jr/Ja represent-
ing the friction coefficient may modify this simplicity,
as clay-fillings may ‘convert’a higher Jr value to some-
thing essentially unstable – if there are sufficient joint
sets present.
7 INPUT DATA FROM CLASSIFICATION
A long time ago, in the late 1960’s, there was a move
in some rock mechanics circles to try to move beyond
the confines of continuum modeling, and focus on
the possible effects of jointing on the performance
and reinforcement needs of rock excavations, be they
tunnels, slopes or dam abutments.
Thanks to the late 1960’s modeling developments
of Goodman and his colleagues with joint elements in
FEM codes, followed by Cundall in the early 1970’s,
first with µDEC, then UDEC and later with 3DEC,
this focus could be fulfilled by an increasing number of
rock mechanics practitioners around the world. How-
ever, utilizing these codes correctly, with realistic input
data, needs experience, time and therefore budgets to
match. Ironically, input data for some continuum codes
seems now to be considerably more complex than for
discontinuum codes, as suggested in Figure 17.
GSI-based Hoek-Brown formulations for ‘simple’
geotechnical input data for the rock mass, shown in
Figure 17, such as deformation modulus, cohesion and
friction angle, appear to have reached ‘black-box’ lev-
els of complexity, which seems to be detrimental to
the idea of rock engineering, if engineering judge-
ment is still to be exercised in this rewarding field
of engineering.
Presumably as a result of time and budgetary
pressures, and also the developing need to model
large-scale mining problems, there has been a marked
trend for using ‘convenient’ continuum codes, which
also have particularly good graphics representation of
results. Simple software packages for handling the
complex input data calculations (e.g. Fig. 17) are
also provided, so that a smart user might theoretically
need only limited understanding of rock mechanics
principles to use the codes ‘successfully’.
The writer has often used the ‘Chinese method’ of
rapidly left-thumbing from the back of a consultant’s
report to the front, whereby the coloured appendices
of endless stress distributions and deformation pat-
terns, can be read almost as in a film. Does all this
Figure 17. The extraordinarily complex formulæ (left), for developing input data for some recent continuum models, and
comparison to some of the less developed, and equivalent Q-based formulæ (right). There is no possibility to have any feel
for the influence of local rock quality on the rock mass compression strength, friction angle or cohesion, when formulations
require software, rather than estimation for their evaluation. The formulæ on the left can no longer be considered ‘empirical’,
with the exception of the first equation for estimating modulus.

‘colour’ represent anything real? Would the numerical
modelers know how to input a neglected clay seam –
without ‘smoothing-it-out’ in a continuum approxi-
mation? Would the complex estimates of c’ and φ’ in
Figure 17 change very much?
8 CC AND FC: THE COHESIVE AND
FRICTIONAL COMPONENTS OF QC
In Figure 17, simple Q-based equations for ‘c’ and
‘φ’ are shown, that are actually found to be composed
of each ‘half ’ of the Qc -formulation. They have the
advantage of not requiring software for their calcula-
tion – they already exist in the calculation of the Qc
value. By chance, or because case records were defin-
ing lack of cohesion and/or friction, they appear to give
realistic estimates.
cohesive component:
frictional component:
Examples of these rock mass component strengths
are given inTable 4, for a range of possible Q-values for
increasingly jointed rock masses. The P-wave veloc-
ity and (pseudo-static) deformation modulus estimates
are from the central diagonal, near-surface (25 m
depth) inter-relationships given in Figure 9.They could
equally well be quoted for greater depths, if more
relevant to the case.
Plate loading tests taken to such high stress levels
that rock mass failure occurs are rare. However, mea-
surement of P-wave velocity at such sites may allow
tentative extrapolation to other sites through a com-
mon rock mass quality estimate. Such data can then
be a source of tentative rock mass strength (σcmass )
estimation.
Table 5 suggests compressive (and cohesive)
strengths in rock masses somewhat higher than those
usually assumed. They also show some implicit vari-
ation from the values set up in Table 4 (from specific
Q-parameter combinations), but reinforce the idea of
potentially very high cohesive strengths (e.g.10’s of
MPa) in competent rock masses. This table of val-
ues seems to imply very different values of cohesion
to some of the earlier RMR-based estimates of cohe-
sion for rock masses, where ‘c’ was generally given as
<1 MPa for a wide range of RMR. (Bieniawski 1989).
Examples of rock masses with particularly low CC
and particularly low FC values are shown in Figures 18
and 19. These require relatively more shotcrete and
relatively more bolting, respectively. The original
Q-system case records have apparently reflected these
different needs, and the Q-parameter ratings developed
by trial-and-error over a period of several months have

187
Table 4. Five hypothetical rock masses with reducing quality from top to bottom of the tabulation. Note the difference between
Q and Qc due to normalization by σc /100. The sensitive, logical values of FC and CC already exist in the Qc calculation, requiring
no further empiricism. Note that ‘MPa’ has been added to the CC term. This is necessarily preliminary, but it seems to be
realistic.

RQD Jn Jr Ja Jw SRF Q σc Qc FC ◦ CC MPa Vp km/s Emass GPa

100 2 2 1 1 1 100 100 100 63◦ 50 5.5 46

90 9 1 1 1 1 10 100 10 45◦ 10 4.5 22
60 12 1.5 2 0.66 1 2.5 50 1.2 26◦ 2.5 3.6 10.7
30 15 1 4 0.66 2.5 0.13 33 0.04 9◦ 0.26 2.1 3.5
10 20 1 6 0.5 5 0.008 10 0.0008 5◦ 0.01 0.4 0.9

Table 5. Plate load tests driven to failure, with correspond-

ing velocity and modulus data for the different rock masses.
Savich et al. (1974).

Velocity Vp (km/s) 2.3 3.7 4.0

Modulus Emass (GPa) 1 3 15
Rock mass σcm (MPa) 4 20 50

Figure 19. Example of a rock mass with low FC, that would
result in a rock mass classification that required selection of
rock bolts rather than shotcrete. Block sizes are up to several
meters.

different sectors, due to anisotropy of stress and

Figure 18. Example of a rock mass with particularly low
CC, that would result in a rock mass classification that
required selection of shotcrete rather than bolts. (e.g. Barton
et al. 1974). Block-sizes are down to a few centimeters.
apparently given the possibility of realistic CC and FC
values. In many ways this is remarkable good fortune.
9 CONCLUSIONS
1. Rock mass classification and rock mass charac-
terization have been distinguished in this paper
by considering the rating of rock conditions in
an excavation, and before excavation, respec-
tively. Links to seismic velocity have been used
to illustrate this distinction.
2. The excavation disturbed zone that should be clas-
sified by standard measures of rock quality, such
as RQD, RMR or Q presents a challenge, as
velocity and deformability may be different in
structure.
3. The wide range of Q-values (0.001 to 1000)
reflects to some degree the very wide range of
geological conditions, and is probably responsi-
ble for the fact that empirical equations based on
the Q-value or on Qc are particularly simple.
4. The Q-parameters Jn and Jr are very useful for
evaluating over-break potential and also cavability
in mining. When Jn/Jr ≥ 6, significant overbreak
will tend to occur, unless limited by timely support
close to the excavation face. A modifying factor
is of course the ratio Jr/Ja representing frictional
strength.
5. An integration of the Q-value with seismic and
permeability data has been developed because
there is a limit to how many boreholes can be
drilled, how many cores can be logged, and how
many permeability tests can be performed. The
ability to extrapolate these ‘point sources’of infor-
mation helps to project rock quality classes along a
tunnel, to different parts of a large cavern or mine,
and to different localities of a future project.

188
 6. Due to the effect of increased stress at greater
depth, it must be expected that deformation modu-
lus and seismic velocity will both increase. Even-
tual sonic logging or cross-hole tomography ahead
of a tunnel face may therefore give a higher veloc-
ity than the rock quality may suggest. Failure is
possible.
7. Steep velocity-depth gradients, and a trend for
steep permeability-depth gradients in most near-
surface rock masses can be related to specific
estimates of rock quality. It is generally found that
‘Q-jumping’ or improved quality with depth is
needed to match the increasing velocities and the
reducing permeabilities.
8. The most simple approximation for permeabil-
ity is that the number of Lugeon: L ≈ 1/Qc. This
is strictly for the case of clay-free, jointed, low
porosity rock masses. A more generally applica-
ble approximation using the term QH2O , uses an
inverted Ja/Jr term and 100/JCS to give a better
link to permeability.
9. Input data for continuum codes, with links to GSI,
have recently acquired remarkable complexity and
require software for evaluation of the strength
components c and φ. Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-
Brown strength criteria may need to be modified
to the form ‘c then tan φ’for more correct determi-
nation of so-called ‘plastic zones’, since cohesion
will tend to be degraded before friction is fully
mobilized, due to different magnitudes of strain,
especially when massive rock fails.
10. The terms CC and FC from the Qc calculation
show promise in giving a direct preliminary esti-
mate of the magnitudes of rock mass cohesive
and frictional strength. Logic would suggest that
these components should also not be added in an
eventual failure criterion.
REFERENCES
Barton, N. 1995. The influence of joint properties in
modelling jointed rock masses. Keynote Lecture, 8th
ISRM Congress, Tokyo. Rotterdam: Balkema, vol. 3,
pp. 1023–1032.
Barton, N. 2002. Some new Q-value correlations to assist in
site characterization and tunnel design. Int. J. Rock Mech.
& Min. Sci. 39(2): 185–216.
Barton, N. 2006. Rock Quality, Seismic Velocity, Attenuation
and Anisotropy. London & Netherlands: Taylor & Francis,
629 pp.
189
Barton, N. 2007a. Thermal over-closure of joints and rock
masses and implications for HLW repositories. In Proc.
of 11th ISRM Congress, Lisbon. In Press.
Barton, N. 2007b. Rock mass characterization for excavations
in mining and civil engineering. In Proc. of Int. Work-
shop on Rock Mass Classification in Mining, Vancouver.
In Press.
Barton, N. 2007c. Some fundamental aspects of reser-
voir and crustal permeability and strength. In Eberhardt
et al. (eds.), Proc. of 1st Canada-US Rock Mech. Symp.,
Vancouver. This Volume.
Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of rock masses for the design of tunnel support.
Rock Mechanics 6(4): 189–236.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering rock mass classifica-
tions: A Complete Manual for Engineers and Geologists
in Mining, Civil and Petroleum Engineering. J. Wiley,
251 pp.
Ishikawa, K., Ochi, H. & Tadaka, S. 1995. Rock mass
classification of weathered granite and evaluation of
geomechanical parameters for bridge foundation of large
scale structure in the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Author-
ity. In Rock Foundation; International Workshop on Rock
Foundation, Tokyo. Rotterdam: Balkema, 169–176.
Kappus, M.E., Harding, A.J. & Orcutt, J.A. 1995. A baseline
for upper crustal velocity variations along the East Pacific
Rise at 13o N. J. Geophys. Res. 100(B4): 6143–6161.
Kujundzíc, B., Jovanovic, L. & Radosavljevic, Z. 1970.
Solution du revêtement d’une galerie en charge par appli-
cation d’injections à haute pression. In Proc. 2nd ISRM
Congress, Belgrade. Belgrade: Privredni pregled, vol. II,
Theme 4–66.
Oberti, G., Carabelli, E., Goffi, L. & Rossi, P.P. 1979. Study of
an orthotropic rock mass: experimental techniques, com-
parative analysis of results. In Proc. 4th ISRM Congress,
Montreux. Rotterdam: Balkema, vol. 2, pp. 485–491.
Savich, A.I., Koptev, V.I. & Zamakhaiev, A.M. 1974. In situ
ultrasonic investigation of failure of limestone. In Proc.
3rd ISRM Congress, Denver. Washington, DC: National
Academy of Sciences, vol. IIA, pp. 418–423.
Savich, A.I., Mikhailov, A.D., Koptev, V.I. & Iljin, M.M. 1983.
Geophysical studies of rock masses. In Proc. 5th ISRM
Congress, Melbourne. Rotterdam: Balkema, vol. 1, pp.
A19–A30.
Shen, B. & Barton, N. 1997. The disturbed zone around tun-
nels in jointed rock masses. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
34(1): 117–125.
Sjøgren, B., Øfsthus, A. & Sandberg, J. 1979. Seismic clas-
sification of rock mass qualities. Geophys. Prospect. 27:
409–442.
Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB 2006. Data report for the
safety assessment SR-Can. TR-06-25, 246 pp.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
Rock mass classification challenges

D. Milne
Department of Civil and Geological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

ABSTRACT: Rock mass classification developed as a tool to allow engineers and geologists to assess tunnel
stability and support requirements during tunnel advance. In some circumstances little time or information is
available for assessing rock mass conditions so classification systems developed to be a quick and easily used tool.
Rock mass classification is a very attractive term for engineering design because it provides a single number
to represent the rock mass. This single number has been related to rock mass properties such as unconfined
compressive strength (UCS) and Young’s modulus, as well as input for Mohr – Coulomb and Hoek–Brown
failure criteria. Rock mass classification is a key component to many currently used empirical and numerical
design methods and provides the engineer with a much needed tool to directly relate field data and observations
with design methods. Classification systems have significantly advanced rock mechanics, however, their ease
of use may also be hindering continued advance in the field.

1 INTRODUCTION Factors commonly used in rock mass characterization

Rock mass classification has evolved to satisfy several
often contradictory goals:
1. A quick easily used field tool to assess tunnel
stability and support requirements.
2. An accurate assessment of rock mass properties for
underground tunnel design, open stope design as
well as the design of surface excavations.
3. A repeatable assessment of rock mass properties.
The original goal of determining tunnel stability and
support requirements meant that classification sys-
tems developed as a complete design package and
included some measure of the environmental condi-
tions driving instability. These factors included the
Stress Reduction Factor (SRF) used in the Q classi-
fication system (Barton 1974) and joint orientation
correction used in the RMR systems (Bieniawski
1976). When classification systems are used as input
for numerical or empirical design methods that already
take into account these factors, they should not be
included in the rock classification system. To differen-
tiate between these applications of rock classification,
the term rock mass characterization was introduced
to signify that the factors assessing environmental
conditions driving instability were not included (Palm-
strom et al. 2001). There is some debate over whether
groundwater conditions should be included in rock
mass characterization, since it is not an intrinsic prop-
erty of the rock mass. As a general rule, any factors
known to influence stability should be included either
in the rock characterization or in the design process.
are discussed in this paper.
Some of the most commonly used rock classifi-
cation systems include the Rock Quality Designation
(RQD) (Deere et al. 1967), forms of the Rock Mass
Rating system (RMR) developed by Bieniawski (1973,
1976, 1979, 1989) and the Norwegian Geotechnical
Institutes’Q system (Barton et al. 1974).The RQD sys-
tem is a measure of joint spacing and is incorporated as
part of both the Q and RMR systems. More recently the
Geological Strength Index (GSI), which has evolved
from the RMR system, is being used (Hoek et al. 1995).
The Q, RMR and GSI systems are discussed.
2 DATA ACCURACY FOR ROCK
CLASSIFICATION
Most of the commonly used classification systems are
based on four general rock mass properties:
1. Strength of the intact rock
2. Strength of discontinuities in the rock mass
3. Size and geometry of intact rock blocks between
discontinuities
4. Groundwater conditions
Some classification systems ignore rock strength
and groundwater conditions with the understanding
they will be assessed later in the design process.
One of the goals of classification systems was that
they be a quick assessment of rock mass conditions for
support design and stability assessment. A second goal
of rock classification is to obtain repeatable results.

191
The repeatability of rock classification can be achieved
by assessing the rock mass in very broad, general cat-
egories at the cost of precision, or by assessing the
parameters that make up rock classification systems
with qualitative measurements, at the cost of speed
and ease of use.
Rock classification systems are now used for much
more than a quick assessment of support requirements
for an advancing tunnel. They are used for detailed
assessments of stope dilution and the overall stress
related stability of underground openings as modelled
using Hoek–Brown failure criteria (Hoek & Brown
1980). For detailed stope dilution or numerical mod-
elling studies, rock classification does not have to be a
quick, easily used tool. Substantial resources are often
allocated to stope reconciliation and numerical mod-
elling studies. The characterization of the rock mass,
which is an integral part of any design study, deserves
adequate attention.
Many mines and most Civil Engineering projects
collect a significant amount of data on the rock mass.
Unfortunately, due to the original application of rock
classification systems, it is often difficult to apply
this data to obtain a more precise estimate of rock
mass properties. In the case of the condition of dis-
continuities, the RMR76 and GSI systems divides this
property into five categories ranging from very rough
unweathered surfaces to highly weathered, slicken-
sided surfaces with soft clay coatings or infillings.
Many modifications or additions have been made to
classification systems to make use of more quantitative Figure 1. Blocky rock mass.
descriptions or measurements of rock mass condi-
tions (Milne et al. 1991, Cai et al. 2004). One of the
goals of the GSI system, however, has been to rely coupled with a very basic assessment of the engineer-
more on qualitative descriptions of the rock mass. In a ing properties of the rock mass. The Q’ classification
discussion paper on the development of the GSI clas- value can be refined the most with additional detail
sification system, Hoek (2002) states, “It was also describing discontinuity surface conditions.
felt that a system based more heavily on fundamen- Additional data can be gathered to assess the rock
tal geological observations and less on ‘numbers’ was mass shown in Figure 1 and significantly more data
needed.”. than is represented in Tables 1 to 3 are often available
Figure 1 shows a surface exposure of an igneous at mine sites. An example of some of the data often
rock mass. Using the Q, RMR76 and GSI classification available follows:
values, without the influence of environmental factors, • Lab testing providing estimates of UCS, E and υ
it is interesting to observe how the estimated classifi- • Lab testing providing estimates of ϕ and c on
cation values change with additional data. Tables 1, 2 discontinuity surfaces
and 3 show the changes in the estimated classifica- • Estimates of discontinuity length and continuity
tion values that are possible with the addition of more • Small and large scale estimates of 1 metre and 10 cm
detailed data on the rock mass. Table 1 shows the range JRC values and joint amplitude on each joint set
in classification values based on the photo in Figure 1, • Intact block size distribution based on line mapping
a hammer test to estimate UCS, scratching the discon- data
tinuity surface and a knowledge of the site geology.
The influence of additional data from Joint Roughness Case 1 – Available Data
Coefficient (JRC) (Barton & Choubey 1977) esti- • Figure 1.
mates of the discontinuity surfaces and area mapping • The joint surfaces cannot be scratched with a
information are shown in Tables 2 and 3. fingernail.
As shown in Tables 1 to 3, the GSI value can be • Rock requires more than 1 blow from of a geological
determined based on an understanding of site geology hammer to break.

192
Table 1. Assessed classification values from very limited data.

Description GSI RMR76 ’ Q

UCS 50–100 MPa 7

Jr 0.5 to 3.0
Discontinuity Strength Harder than a fingernail Good to very good 20–25 = = 0.25 to 3.0
J a 1.0 to 2.0
Discontinuity Spacing 0.2 to 1.0 m Blocky 10 to 20 Jn = 9
RQD 90 to 100%
RQD 90 to 100% 20 = = 10 to 11
Jn 9
Groundwater Dry 10 Jw = 1.0
Classification Value 75 to 85 67 to 82 0.3 to 44

Table 2. Assessed classification values from limited data.

Description GSI RMR76 ’ Q

UCS 50–100 MPa 7

Jr 1.5 to 3.0
Discontinuity Strength Rough JRC < 10 Good to very good 20 = = 0.75 to 3.0
J a 1.0 to 2.0
Discontinuity Spacing 0.4 m spacing & 3 joint sets Blocky 20 Jn = 9
RQD 90%
RQD 90% 17 to 20 = = 10
Jn 9
Groundwater Dry 10 Jw = 1.0
Classification Value 75 to 85 74 to 77 8 to 30

Table 3. Assessed classification values from basic field data.

Description GSI RMR76 ’ Q’

UCS 50–100 MPa 7

Jr 1.5
Discontinuity Strength Planar, hard & clean surfaces Good to very good 20 = = 1.5
J a 1.0
Discontinuity Spacing 0.4 m spacing & 3 joint sets Blocky 20 Jn = 9
RQD 90%
RQD 90% 17 to 20 = = 10
Jn 9
Groundwater Dry 10 Jw = 1.0
Classification Value 75 to 85 74 to 77 15

Case 2 – Additional Data Case 3 – Additional Data

• Area mapping to give average discontinuity set
spacing and orientations:
– Joints/m3 = Jv = 9 joints / m3 RQD = 115 – 3.3
Jv (Palmstrom 1985).
– Average joint spacing ≈ 0.4 m and 3 discontinu-
ity sets are apparent.
• Joint surfaces appear rough (10 cm JRC estimated
to be greater than 10).
• Joint surfaces are clean and hard
• Discontinuities are rough and planar (1 metre JRC
less than 10)
This data cannot be used to improve rock clas-
sification estimates based on the established rock
classification guidelines. Different practitioners have
linked some of this data to some classification param-
eters, however, there is no widely recognized, standard

193
approach for incorporating this data. Mine managers
and project managers for civil engineering structures
do not usually pay for the collection of technical data
for the good of science. Much of this more detailed
rock mass information is now collected to satisfy
aspects of due diligence in engineering practice. If the
value of detailed rock mechanics data cannot be shown
to directly influence design, engineers and geologists
will eventually stop collecting it.
There are many possible reasons why detailed quan-
titative data is not used for rock classification and
design. These possible reasons include:
• The rock mass is too complex and variable to real-
istically quantify rock mass properties accurately
• Detailed rock mass properties do not signifi-
cantly influence rock mass performance and design
requirements.
• Detailed rock mass properties do not influence rock
mass performance enough to justify the cost of
collecting and interpreting the data.
• Detailed rock mass properties are best assessed
through back analysis
• Detailed rock mass properties are best ana-
lyzed with more sophisticated numerical modelling
approaches that do not require rock mass classifi-
cation values for input.
• Rock classification systems developed as quick
easy tools to assess stability during tunnel advance
and have not adapted to their new applications
or to the availability of more detailed rock mass
information.
Empirical and numerical design methods need to
develop better links between measurable lab and field
properties of the rock mass and input data for design.
This section highlighted difficulties in applying accu-
rate rock mechanics data for rock classification. The
next section discusses how this data is used in rock
classification.
3 ASSESSMENT OF ROCK MASS
CLASSIFICATION PARAMETERS
Classification systems have developed by comparing
quantified rock mass properties with the behavior of
engineering structures in the rock mass. Experience
gained in the 1970s, primarily in underground tun-
nels, determined the relative influence of various rock
mass properties on rock mass classification value.
Table 4 summarizes these weighting values expressed
as a per cent of the total range in classification val-
ues. It is interesting to note that the Q system looks
at unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and stress
as a combined term. This adjusts the influence of
UCS under different stress conditions. The assignment
of a weighting, or degree of influence to rock mass
194
Table 4. Influence of rock mass properties on rock classifi-
cation (after Milne & Hadjigeorgiou 2000).
Classification system
Q’ Q GSI RMR76
Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS)
% of total range 0 0 0 16%
Block Size
% of total range 41% 33% 50% 35%
Discontinuity Surface Friction
% of total range 38% 30% 50% 33%
Groundwater
% of total range 21% 17% 0 16%
Stress or UCS/Stress Ratio
% of total range 0 20% 0 0
properties allows the rock mass to be represented as a
single number, ideal for design applications.
Setting a weighting or degree of influence on rock
mass properties under all loading conditions is a sig-
nificant flaw in classification systems. The UCS of the
intact rock is a significant factor governing rock mass
performance if the strength of the rock is close to the
stresses induced in the rock mass. This recognized in
the Q’ and GSI systems that assess rock strength in
the design process and in the Q system that considers
UCS as a ratio of induced stress. The influence of other
factors such as discontinuity surface friction and intact
block size may also be effected by loading and envi-
ronmental considerations, but this is not accounted for
in classification systems.
A great deal of insight concerning factors influ-
encing stability can be learned from empirical design
methods.The following sections briefly review the fac-
tors found to influence the stability and performance
of drifts, pillars and open stopes. These applications of
empirical design are highlighted because they repre-
sent a wide variation of stress conditions and scale. The
rock mass data that have proven to influence the perfor-
mance of these varied engineering structures indicate
different rock mass properties are critical to stability
under different failure modes and scales.
3.1 Tunnel roof design
Both the Q classification system and the RMR76 sys-
tems were originally developed to assess the stability,
stand-up time and support requirements of tunnels.
Most of the rock mass properties, environmental con-
ditions and project related features are combined in
some fashion to determine an empirical tunnel design.
The success of these empirical design methods implies
that the rock mass properties considered in rock mass
classification, and their relative weightings, accurately
reflect tunnel performance.
3.2 Pillar design
There are many empirical pillar design approaches.
Commonly used empirical pillar design methods
include those developed by Hedley & Grant (1972),
Hudyma (1988) and Lunder (1994). Lunder (1994)
produced a compilation of work conducted in hard
rock that resulted in an empirical design graph that
included case histories from over 17 mines with a wide
range of rock mass properties. It is interesting to note
that none of the hard rock empirical design approaches
used any rock mass classification assessment as a fac-
tor influencing stability. The design methods rely only
on the unconfined compressive strength of the rock,
the pillar geometry and the stress induced in the pillar
for estimating stability.
The data for these design methods were primar- Figure 2. Design approach developed for the George Fisher
ily collected from hard rock mines in Canada. Rock Mine (after Capes et al. 2005).
mass classification was considered in the develop-
ment of the systems, and in one case (Hudyma 1988),
rock classification values for the rock ranged from
RMR76 values of 62 to 78. For an intact rock strength
of 100 MPa, this range in classification values would
correspond to the following range in unconfined rock
mass strength values based on m and s failure criteria
(Hoek et al. 1995).

Lower bound RMR = 62

Upper bound RMR = 78 Figure 3. Foliated hanging wall rock (after Capes et al.
2005).

upon a modified version of the Q classification sys-

The over 100% variation in calculated unconfined
rock mass strength associated with the range in rock
mass classification values, was not a factor in develop-
ing this and other pillar design relationships. The fact
that the intact rock UCS is the only property used in
hard rock empirical pillar design may be partially due
to the relatively small pillar size (scale effect) which
may reduce the influence of the rock mass properties.
3.3 Stope hanging wall design
There are several empirical techniques used for esti-
mating the stability and dilution of large stope hang-
ing walls. The most commonly used design methods
are the Stability Graph (Potvin 1988) and Dilution
Graph (Clark 1998), (Fig. 2). These design tech-
niques have gained widespread application and rely
tem. This modified Q, or Q’ includes the rock mass
factors representing discontinuity spacing, number
of discontinuities, discontinuity strength and ground
water conditions. Coupled with this modified rock
mass classification term are three parameters used to
account for induced stress, orientation of critical dis-
continuities with respect to the opening and a final
factor to account for the orientation of the surface
being designed.
This general stability design approach has been
applied to assess hanging wall stope dilution (Clark
1998). A site specific study has been conducted at
the Xstrata Zinc George Fisher mine near Mount Isa
Australia (Capes 2005). Based on the collection of case
history data, it was found that rock mass behaviour
could be correlated to measured RQD. Figure 2 shows
the design graph used for predicting stope dilution.
The overriding influence of RQD on stability can be
partially explained in Figure 3 which shows a highly

195
foliated rock mass with structure oriented parallel to
the hanging wall. Hanging wall failure can usually be
attributed to a buckling beam type failure and the foli-
ation spacing is critical for this failure mechanism.
An RQD change from 15% to 50% would correspond
to a foliation spacing change from 3 cm to 6 cm. This
change in RQD results in a three fold change in Q’, for
a possible change in predicted dilution depth from 1.0
to 2.0 metres. If the joints were clean and unaltered, the
addition of a minor coating of chlorite on the joint sur-
faces would make a greater difference to the Q’ classi-
fication value than the change in foliation spacing. Due
to the failure mode it is unlikely that the addition of
joint surface alteration would make as significant a dif-
ference to the rock mass performance as the reduction
in foliation spacing noted. At this operation, the scale
of the stoping coupled with the spacing of discontinu-
ities makes RQD strongly influence opening stability.
4 ROCK CLASSIFICATION AND
ENGINEERING SCALE
The effect of scale has long been recognized as an
important factor in rock mechanics. Different rock
mass properties are used for design at different scales
of engineering structures. The stability of petroleum
production wells, frequently with diameters in the
order of 0.3 metres, are generally assessed based on
intact rock properties (Hawkes 2007). Discontinuity
spacings in fractured sedimentary rocks in the vicinity
of these production wells can easily be in the order of
0.3 times the well diameter. Rock mass classification
systems are used to assess the stability of tunnels that
frequently have spans in the order of 4 metres. In com-
petent igneous rock masses the discontinuity spacings
can be in the order of 0.3 times the tunnel span.
It is interesting to note that open stopes, which
can have dimensions of up to 100 metres of so, are
theoretically assessed based on the same rock mass
classification values as a tunnel. Even in a competent
rock mass, discontinuity spacings are usually less than
0.03 times the minimum stope hanging wall dimension
compared to tunnels that can have a fracture spacing
of 0.3 times the tunnel span. Intuitively a competent
rock mass volume in the immediate vicinity of a tun-
nel should have a higher strength than a much larger
volume of the same rock mass in the immediate area
of a stope hanging wall. This influence of scale is
not recognized in the application of classification sys-
tems, however, it is often indirectly taken into account
by experienced engineers and geologists. With the Q
classification system applied to mining, substantial
196
mapping is done over a wide area. This makes it
possible for even widely spaced discontinuities to be
considered as joint sets for the assessment of Q.
For tunneling applications, the Q classification
value is primarily based on discontinuities observed
in a section of tunnel. Widely spaced discontinuities,
especially if they are near parallel to a tunnel, will often
not be treated as discrete joint sets. This results in a ten-
dency for higher Q values to be assessed for tunneling
situations as compared to open stoping situations.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Rock mass classification systems were developed
from quick, easily used systems designed to give sup-
port guidelines during tunnel advance. They are now
often used as input for more sophisticated numerical
and empirical design models and the effort applied to
using classification values should be matched by the
effort taken to obtain rock classification values. Clas-
sification systems should be adapted to take advantage
of the most detailed, representative rock mass data
available such as the intact block size distribution and
detailed surface roughness descriptions.
Rock mass classification systems are designed to
give the engineer a single number to use for estimat-
ing strength property and behavior of a rock mass.
Weighting systems were developed so a change in dis-
continuity spacing or discontinuity surface conditions
could be equated to have the same influence on tun-
nel stability. Weighting systems may not be universally
applicable to all possible rock mass loading conditions.
Rock mass properties follow a continuum from lab-
oratory sized intact rock samples to volumes of rock
containing many thousands of blocks of rock bounded
by discontinuities. Potvin (1988) introduced a term to
assess the ratio of intact block size and underground
opening dimension for the design of cable bolt support.
This term, or one based on the block size distribu-
tion and hydraulic radius, may be useful in determining
if intact rock properties, rock mass properties, or some-
thing in between, should be used to represent rock mass
properties at various scales of engineering design.
An improved understanding of rock mechanics
relies on the best possible assessment of the properties
of the rock mass. The influence of rock mass proper-
ties such as the intact block size distribution, intact
block geometry as well as discontinuity conditions
may vary based on the loading conditions and poten-
tial failure mode of the pertinent engineering structure.
The accurate measurement of rock mass properties and
the comparison of individual rock mass properties to
the stability and performance of engineering structures
through extensive empirical studies will improve the
calculation and application of rock classification for
design.
REFERENCES
Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of jointed rock masses for the design of tunnel
support. Rock Mechanics 6: 189–236.
Barton, N. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics 10: 1–54.
Bieniawski, A.T. 1973. Engineering classification of jointed
rock masses. Transaction of the South African Institution
of Civil Engineers 15: 335–344.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classification of jointed
rock masses. In Bieniawski (ed.), Exploration for Rock
Engineering. Johannesburg: Balkema, pp. 97–106.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1979. The geomechanics classification in
rock engineering applications. In Proc. 4th Int. Cong. Rock
Mech. ISRM, Montreux, vol. 2, pp. 41–48.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass Classifica-
tions. John Wiley & Sons, 251 pp.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P., Uno, H., Tasaka, Y. & Minami, M.
2004. Estimation of rock mass deformation modulus and
strength of jointed hard rock masses using the GSI sys-
tem. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 41: 3–19.
Capes, G., Milne, D. & Grant, D. 2005. Stope hanging-
wall design approaches at the Xstrata Zinc, George
Fisher Mine, North Queensland, Australia. In U.S. Rock
Mechanics Symposium, Fairbanks.
Clark, L. 1998. Minimizing dilution in open stope mining
with a focus on stope design and narrow vein longhole
blasting. MSc. Thesis, University of British Columbia,
316 pp.
Deere, D.U., Hendron Jr., A.J., Patton, F.D. & Cording, E.J.
1967. Design of surface and near surface construction in
rock. In Fairhurst (ed.), Failure and Breakage of Rock.
New York: Society of Mining Engineers of AIME, pp.
237–302.
197
Hedley, D.G.F. & Grant, F. 1972. Stope and pillar design for
the Elliot Lake uranium mines. Can. Inst. Min. Metall.
Bull. 65: 37–44.
Hawkes, C. 2007. Personal Communication.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: Inst. Min. Metall., 527 pp.
Hoek, E., Kaiser, P.K. & Bawden, W.F. 1995. Support
of Underground Excavations in Hard Rock. Rotterdam:
Balkema, 215 pp.
Hoek, E. 2002. Discussion paper: A brief history of the devel-
opment of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. Rocscience
web site: http://www.rocscience.com.
Hudyma, M.R. 1988. Rib pillar design in open stope mining.
MASc thesis, University of British Columbia, 177 pp.
Lunder, P.J. 1994. Hard rock pillar strength estimation an
applied empirical approach. BASc thesis, University of
British Columbia, 146 pp.
Milne, D., Germain, P., Grant, D. & Noble, P. 1991. Field
observation for the standardization of the NGI classifica-
tion system for underground mine design. In International
Congress on Rock Mechanics, Aachen. A.A. Balkema.
Milne, D. & Hadjigeorgiou, J. 2000. Practical considerations
in the use of rock mass classification in mining, In GeoEng
2000, Melbourne.
Palmstrom,A. 1985.Application of the volumetric joint count
as a measure of rock mass jointing. In Proceedings of
the International Symposium on Fundamentals of Rock
Joints, Bjorkliden, pp. 103–110.
Palmstrom, A., Milne, D. & Peck, W. 2001. The reliability of
rock mass classification used in underground excavation
and support design. ISRM News Journal 6(3): 40–41.
Potvin,Y. 1988. Empirical open stope design in Canada. Ph.D.
thesis, University of British Columbia, 350 pp.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Automatic Drilling Process Monitoring (DPM) for in-situ characterization of

weak rock mass strength with depth

Z.Q. Yue, J. Chen & W. Gao

Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

ABSTRACT: This paper introduces a new in-situ technique for characterizing rock mass mechanical strength
and the associated spatial distribution in the ground. The technique involves automatic drilling process monitoring
(DPM). Case examples are given to show the original DPM data and analyzed results in a weathered rock mass.
The drilling machines in the examples are pneumatic rotary-percussive drilling machines with down-the-hole
hammers. The DPM data can directly show the in-situ rock mass drilling resistance strengths and their spatial
distribution along the drillhole in the ground. The DPM is a simple, reliable and practical tool for furthering
the practice and knowledge of rock mechanics and engineering in the underground environments comprising
weathered soils and rocks.

1 INTRODUCTION • Orientation of discontinuities

• Groundwater conditions.
Characterization of rock mass quality has been an
Specifically, the RQD is a geometrical estimate of
important area of research and development in rock
the rock mass quality in depth from drill core logs
mechanics since Ritter (1879) attempted to formalize
and is equal to the percentage of the total length of
an empirical approach to tunnel design. For more than
solid core pieces, each greater than 100 mm between
100 years, a number of rock mass classification meth-
natural fractures, with respect to the total length of
ods have been developed and adopted to quantify rock
core run. The UCS is commonly measured with labo-
mass quality in rock engineering design (for example,
ratory testing of intact rock specimens from site. The
tunnel and cavern support design). They include the
joint and other discontinuity parameters are usually
Rock Quality Designation Index (Deere et al. 1967),
measured on exposed rock mass surfaces and/or cores.
the Rock Structure Rating (Wickham et al. 1972), the
The groundwater and in-situ stress conditions are nor-
Rock Mass Rating (Bieniawski 1973, 1976, 1989), the
mally measured on the exposed rock surfaces and in
Rock Tunnelling Quality Index (Barton et al. 1974,
drillholes.
Barton 2006), the Basic Quality and the Host Rock
It is evident that the mechanical strength of the rock
Rating (Lee et al. 1996).
mass in the ground is of the utmost importance in
An examination of these methods indicates that sim-
assuring the safety and serviceability of rock engi-
ilar parameters are used in all the methods in describ-
neering projects. Therefore, the ultimate goal of all
ing rock mass quality. These parameters include the
the rock mass classification methods is to integrate
rock quality designation (RQD), uniaxial compressive
all the rock characteristic parameters and experience
strength of intact rock (UCS), rock structural con-
to derive a quantitative value. This quantitative value
ditions (block size, frequency of joints), conditions
is, in fact, an average measure of the rock mechanical
of joints (spacing, size, aperture, infilling, rough-
strength within a specific spatial region of rock mass
ness), orientation of the joints relative to opening axis,
in the ground. As a result, initial and detailed esti-
groundwater conditions and in-situ stresses. For exam-
mates of support requirements for new projects can be
ple, the Rock Mass Rating System adopts the following
made using the average measure with respect to past
six parameters.
experience in rock engineering.
• UCS However, it is definitely not an easy task to accu-
• RQD rately measure all the parameters in the field, to
• Spacing of discontinuities correctly assess the calculated result, and to success-
• Condition of discontinuities fully predict the design requirements although the

199
calculation and application procedures of the rock
mass classification methods can be simple and sys-
tematic.
For successful application of the methods, special-
ists with sound experience and excellent education
are normally required to measure and evaluate the
parameters of rock mass quality since these param-
eters are site-dependent and variable from one site to
another, and because the natural materials have forma-
tion and evolution histories of millions to billions of
years. Besides, such design approach usually results
in a regular pattern arrangement of reinforcements for
a specific spatial region in the rock mass.
Failures occur in rock engineering projects because
of lack of sound understanding of the ground mechan-
ical conditions or due to unforeseen geological
(mechanical) conditions in the ground.
This paper is intended to present a simple yet prac-
tical approach to in-situ measure and characterize
the rock mass strength quality in the ground. It is
believed that this approach can provide new factual
and mechanical parameters to enhance the current
rock mass classification methods in the following
areas. This approach is based on the automatic drilling
process monitoring (DPM) of the drilling works in
real time during ground investigation and construction
with various drilling machines.
2 DRILLING PROCESS MONITORING
2.1 Drilling in rock engineering
Drilling in rock engineering usually have two main
purposes. One is to obtain rock cores to explore the
ground conditions. The rock cores can be used to con-
struct the ground rock mass profile, calculate the RQD,
provide intact rock specimens for testing the Rc , and
measure the conditions of rock discontinuities such
as joints below ground surface. Besides, the drillhole
itself can be used as an access for further in-situ testing
in the ground.
The other purpose is to drill a hole in the ground for
installation of reinforcement and drainage. No intact
samples can be obtained from such production drilling
works.
Consequently, drilling a hole in the ground with a
machine is a common, necessary and important oper-
ation in rock engineering during ground investigation,
construction and operation stages.
2.2 Drilling machines
In Hong Kong, the common drilling equipment for
the first purpose of recovering rock cores from the
ground is hydraulic rotary drilling machines. On the
other hand, the common tools for the second purpose of
drilling production holes in the ground are pneumatic
200
rotary-percussive drilling machines with down-the-
hole (DTH) hammers. Different drilling machines can
commonly share a basic drilling process. The basic
drilling process includes the following aspects:
• Translational and rotational movements of the drill
rod and bit about the vertical axis,
• Application of thrust and toque on the drill rod and
bit,
• Connection and disconnection of drill rods in series,
as well as
• Stoppage.
It is well recognized that the drilling process is
related with many factors. These factors include
• Mechanical properties of rock mass;
• Groundwater region;
• External loads such as thrust and torque on the drill
bit;
• Drillhole diameter;
• Flushing media and methods of drilling;
• Efficiency of operation;
• Design and condition of drilling machines and drill
bit; and
• Drilling length.
Therefore, it is necessary to differentiate the contri-
butions of the factors and to isolate the factual data on
the mechanical properties of the drilled rock masses
and the groundwater regions.
2.3 Instrumented drilling or measurement while
drilling in depth sequence
Drilling itself can be considered as a measurement of
the ground conditions. Therefore, some researchers
and engineers attempted to characterize the ground
rock mass conditions via the measurement of the
drilling parameters. Techniques such as instrumented
drilling and measurement while drilling were devel-
oped to acquire the electrical data of the drilling
parameters such as penetration rate, thrust pressure,
rotation pressure, rotational speed, etc. In all these
methods, the drilling parameter data were acquired
at a pre-selected depth increments such as 5, 10, 25,
50, 100 or 300 mm. Such methods can cause signifi-
cant random errors in the recorded drilling parameters.
Consequently, it became difficult to differentiate the
effects of the factors affecting the drilling process and
to isolate the mechanical properties of the rock mass.
Detailed discussions can be found in Yue et al. (2004).
2.4 Automatic drilling process monitoring in time
sequence
Over the last ten years, the authors have launched
and carried out a major research project on the devel-
opment of an in-situ technique for weathered rocks
with special application to soil nailing technology

Figure 1. Drilling a soil nail hole in a slope with a pneu-
matic rotary-percussive drilling machine with down-the-hole
hammer equipped with a DPM device in Hong Kong.
(Yue et al. 2001, 2004, 2006). The authors have
invented, developed and verified an automatic digi-
tal drilling process monitoring (DPM) methodology
to quickly characterize rock mass mechanical strength
in the ground. The DPM methodology includes a
hardware system for in-situ automatic monitoring and
recording of drilling parameters in real time sequence
and a software package for analyzing and presenting
the monitored digital data in time series.
The hardware system is a portable, flexible, reliable
and economic in-situ technique. It can be easily and
non-destructively mounted onto any existing drilling
machines for characterizing rock mass mechanical
strength in real time, as shown in Figure 1. The soft-
ware package can be used to identify and present the
full drilling process and the net drilling process in time
sequence. It can further identify and present the zones
of rock mass with different weathering grades, ground-
water regimes and hole collapsing during drilling
along the drillhole depth.
So far, more than 600 production holes have been
monitored and analyzed throughout the full drilling
process in time sequence during the construction of
soil nailing in weathered rock slopes in Hong Kong.
The drilling machines are the type of pneumatic rotary-
percussive drilling machines with DTH hammers. The
authors also have monitored and analyzed the full
drilling processes in time sequence for more than ten
drillholes during ground investigation in weathered
rocks. Lam & Siu (2004) evaluated this methodology
at a slope from the examination of the full drilling pro-
cess in real time sequence of 111 soil nail holes from 7
to 13 m deep and considered that the ground conditions
201
inferred by the DPM were reasonably valid. In partic-
ular, the DPM can identify the location of intact rock.
3 CASE STUDY A
3.1 General
In Hong Kong, use of the soil nail technique started
in 1985 when soil nails were adopted as a pre-
scriptive measure to treat deeply weathered zones in
sound rock (Yue et al. 2004). Since 1995, soil nails
have been extensively adopted to upgrade substandard
man-made slopes in Hong Kong.
There are at least two types of drilling works
associated with the soil nailing. The first is to drill
holes in the ground for ground investigation, includ-
ing in-situ testing and sampling with hydraulic rotary
drilling machines. The second is to drill holes for the
installation of temporary soil nails for pullout test-
ing and for the installation of permanent soil nails
with pneumatic rotary-percussive drilling machines.
Consequently, many holes are drilled in the ground.
This geotechnical construction practice has pro-
vided us with a golden opportunity to initiate and
develop and invent the DPM methodology for quan-
titative characterization of geomaterial mechanical
strengths and their distribution along drill hole depth
in the ground.
3.2 The original DPM data
In this section, a case study is given to show the orig-
inal DPM data for drilling a soil nail hole in a slope
in Hong Kong. The slope surface was covered with
a thin layer of sprayed concrete. Beneath the sprayed
concrete, there is another thin layer of fill soil. The fill
soil was overlying above a thick completely decom-
posed granite soil (CDG). The CDG was underlain
by highly, moderately to slightly decomposed granite
(HDG, MDG or SDG).
Figure 2 presents the original DPM data in real-time
for drilling a soil nail hole in the slope with a pneumatic
rotary-percussive drilling machine associated with a
down-the-hole hammer. Details are:
• Figure 2a is the complete time-history of the move-
ment of the chuck position on the beam with respect
to a fixed point on the slope.
• Figure 2b is the complete time-history of the cor-
responding percussion pressure punching the DTH
hammer in the real time series.
• Figure 2c is the complete time-history of the corre-
sponding downward thrust pressure pushing the rod
downward.
• Figure 2d is the complete time-history of the cor-
responding upward thrust pressure lifting the rod
upward.
 (a) 1.4 Time of Full Drilling Process (hour:minute:second)
10:32:00 11:13:39 11:55:19 12:36:59 13:18:39 14:00:19 14:41:59
1.0
Chuck Position (m)

Drill Bit Position (m)

0.6 4
8
0.2
12
-0.2 16
10:32:00 11:13:39 11:55:19 12:36:59 13:18:39 14:00:19 14:41:59 20
Time of Full Drilling Process (hour:minute:second)
24
(b) 1.0
Percussion Pressure (MPa)

0.8 Figure 3. The complete time-history of the drill bit depth in

a soil nail hole.
0.6
0.4 • Figure 2e is the complete time-history of the corre-
0.2 sponding forward rotation pressure rotating the rod
clockwise.
0.0
• Figure 2f is the complete time-history of the corre-
10:32:00 11:13:39 11:55:19 12:36:59 13:18:39 14:00:19 14:41:59
Time of Full Drilling Process (hour:minute:second)
sponding reverse rotation pressure rotating the rod
anti-clockwise.
(c)
1.0
Downward Thrust (MPa)

As shown in Figure 2, the travel distance of the

0.8 chuck position can be found about 1.0 m, which indi-
0.6 cates the length of the drill rod is 1.0 m. Furthermore,
0.4 the following major drilling process can be observed:
0.2 (a) From 10:32:00 to 11:46:55, the machine was
0.0 drilling.
10:32:00 11:13:39 11:55:19 12:36:59 13:18:39 14:00:19 14:41:59 (b) From 11:46:55 to 13:06:04, the drilling machine
Time of Full Drilling Process (hour:minute:second)
was stopped during lunch.
(d) 1.0 (c) From 13:06:05 to 14:16:07, the drilling machine
Upward Thrust (MPa)

0.8 was again drilling into the ground.

0.6
(c) From 14:16:08 to 14:37:41, the drilling machine
was retrieving the rods from the hole.
0.4
0.2 3.3 Drill bit position with real time
0.0
10:32:00 11:13:39 11:55:19 12:36:59 13:18:39 14:00:19 14:41:59
From the original DPM data in Figure 2, the drill bit
Time of Full Drilling Process (hour:minute:second) position in the soil nail hole with the full drilling pro-
cess in real time can be derived. Figure 3 shows the
(e) 1.2
complete time-history of drill bit position in the hole
Forward Rotation (MPa)

1.0 every half second from the beginning to the end. The
0.8 above four major drilling processes can be more clearly
0.6 observed from Figure 2.
0.4 Furthermore, the drill bit position in the hole within
0.2 the first major process (a) from 10:32:00 to 11:46:55
0.0 can be further classified into the following three sub-
10:32:00 11:13:39 11:55:19 12:36:59 13:18:39 14:00:19 14:41:59 zones:
Time of Full Drilling Process (hour:minute:second)
(f) 1.2 • Sub-zone a1 is from 10:32:00 to 10.50:40
1.0 • Sub-zone a2 is from 10:50:41 to 11:17:03
Reverse Rotation (MPa)

• Sub-zone a3 is from 11:17:03 to 11:46:55.

0.8
0.6 The drill bit position during the fourth major pro-
0.4 cess (retrieving rods from the hole) (d) from 14:16:08
0.2 to 14:37:41can also be further classified into the
0.0 following three-sub-zones.
10:32:00 11:13:39 11:55:19 12:36:59 13:18:39 14:00:19 14:41:59
Time of Full Drilling Process (hour:minute:second) • Sub-zone d1 is from 14:16:08 to 14:22:57
• Sub-zone d2 is from 14:22:58 to 14:37:43
Figure 2. The DPM data for the whole drilling process in • Sub-zone d3 is from 14:37:44 to 14:37:41.
real-time series in forming a soil nail hole in the slope.

202
3.4 Drill bit depth with net drilling time

Percussion Pressure

0 0.4 0.8 1.2

The full drilling process shown in Figures 2 and 3
include the following seven drilling operations:

(MPa)
• Drill bit advancing into new geomaterials at the
bottom of the hole

20
22
24
10
12

16
18
14
0

2
4
6
8
• Pulling back the drill rod without flushing Drill Bit Depth (m)

Forward Rotation
• Pushing the drilling rod without flushing

0 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 0 0 0.4 0.8 1.2

Pressure (MPa)
• Tightening the drilling rod for connection of two
drill rods at the coupler
• Untightening the drilling rod for disconnection of
two drill rods at the coupler
•

20
22
24
10
12

16
18
14
Stoppage when the drilling machine is not being

2
4
6
8
Drill Bit Depth (m)

Downward Thrust
used

Pressure (MPa)
• Flushing the debris from the hole.
Criteria have been developed to automatically dif-
ferentiate the seven drilling operations from the orig-
inal DPM data (Yue et al. 2004). For the results

20
22
24
10
12

16
18
14
2
4
6
8
in Figures 2 and 3, the drill bit advance has been Drill Bit Depth (m)
identified and shown in Figure 4.
3
Average Drilling Rate

In Figure 4, the drill bit depth with respect to the

net drilling time is plotted. Besides, the associated per-
2

cussion pressure, downward thrust pressure and the

(m/minute)
1

forward rotation pressure are plotted with respect to

the bit depth. Furthermore, the average drilling rate
0

20
22
24
for each of the identified linear zones from the curve

10
12

16
18
14
0

2
4
6
8
Drill Bit Depth (m)
of the drill bit depth versus the net drilling time is also
90

plotted against the drill bit depth. In total, there are

fourteen linear zones. A total of 23 drill rods (tubes)
were used to drill a soil nail hole 22.98 m in length.

23th tube
80

Each rod is 1.0 m long. Table 1 gives the depth and

thickness of each of the fourteen zones.

22th tube
From Figures 2 to 4 and Table 1, the following major
70

21th tube
material strength zones can be obtained with regards
to the geomaterials encountered by the drilling along
20th tube
60

the hole.
• Zone A from 0 to 0.24 m beneath the surface: Is at
Net drill time (Minute)

19th tube

the surface and a thin sprayed concrete of 0.24 m

50

thick.
18th tube

• Zone B from 0.24 to 0.87 m: Is a weak soil zone and

40

could be a thin layer of loose fill of 0.63 m thick.

17th tube
15th tube

• Zone C from 0.87 to 9.09 m: Is a thick CDG soil

14th tube

zone.
16th tube
30

• Zone D from 9.09 to 15.19 m: Is a thick MDG and

has five thin layers of CDG and HDG seams.
• Zone E from 15:19 to 22.98 m: Is a thick and
20

Zone 2: 2.36 m/min

Zone 3: 0.60 m/min

Zone 8: 0.40 m/min

Zone 6: 0.93 m/min
Zone 7: 0.19 m/min
Zone 1: 0.22 m/min

Zone 4: 1.00 m/min

Zone 5: 0.44 m/min

Zone 11: 0.22 m/min

Zone 9: 0.20 m/min
Zone 10: 0.84 m/min

Zone 13: 0.37 m/min

Zone 14: 0.14 m/min
Zone 12: 1.29 m/min

uniform SDG.
13th tube
9th tube
8th tube
7th tube
6th tube

12th tube
5th tube
4th tube
10

3rd tube
tube

11th tube
10th tube

4 FURTHER RESULTS
2nd
0 0

4.1 Detailed material strength profiling in slope

1st tube

20
22
24
10
12

16

18
14
2

6
4

Stabilization of a slope with soil nailing usually
involves the design and installation of a regular pat-
tern arrangement of soil nails in the slope. As a result,
the automatic monitoring of the drilling works for the
Drill Bit Depth (m)
Figure 4. DPM results in identifying the zones of constant
drilling rates and the associated zones of uniform geomaterial
resistance to drilling along the soil nail hole in slope.

203
 Table 1. Linear zone depths and associated drilling rates and drilling pressures and their statistical data. (Note: CLC = coefficient of linear correlation, SD = Standard deviation).
Zone information Average drilling rate Downward thrust pressure (MPa) Forward rotation pressure (MPa) Percussion pressure (MPa)

Starting Ending Zone rate

No. depth (m) depth (m) thickness (m) (m/min) CLC Mean SD SD/Mean Mean SD SD/Mean Mean SD SD/Mean

1 0.00 0.24 0.24 0.222 0.918 0.463 0.199 42.98% 0.032 0.028 87.50% 0.518 0.123 23.75%
2 0.24 0.87 0.63 2.363 0.967 0.438 0.069 15.75% 0.412 0.201 48.79% 0.540 0.099 18.33%
3 0.87 1.13 0.26 0.600 0.981 0.428 0.087 20.33% 0.656 0.168 25.61% 0.691 0.183 26.48%
4 1.13 9.09 7.96 1.003 1.000 0.563 0.148 26.29% 0.705 0.085 12.06% 0.729 0.198 27.16%
5 9.09 9.49 0.40 0.444 0.996 0.486 0.126 25.93% 0.664 0.101 15.21% 0.736 0.236 32.07%

204
6 9.49 10.07 0.58 0.928 0.992 0.622 0.068 10.93% 0.640 0.068 10.63% 0.773 0.070 9.06%
7 10.07 10.55 0.48 0.188 0.995 0.827 0.088 10.64% 0.501 0.175 34.93% 0.916 0.067 7.31%
8 10.55 10.83 0.28 0.395 0.995 0.775 0.086 11.10% 0.651 0.144 22.12% 0.846 0.079 9.34%
9 10.83 11.45 0.62 0.199 0.999 0.614 0.132 21.50% 0.509 0.142 27.90% 0.919 0.052 5.66%
10 11.45 11.66 0.21 0.840 0.993 0.484 0.061 12.60% 0.500 0.099 19.80% 0.852 0.102 11.97%
11 11.66 14.54 2.88 0.218 0.999 0.609 0.094 15.44% 0.458 0.040 8.73% 0.898 0.064 7.13%
12 14.54 14.97 0.43 1.290 0.949 0.307 0.160 52.12% 0.478 0.052 10.88% 0.642 0.089 13.86%
13 14.97 15.19 0.22 0.372 0.996 0.556 0.125 22.48% 0.619 0.039 6.30% 0.793 0.079 9.96%
14 15.19 22.98 7.79 0.142 1.000 0.584 0.094 16.10% 0.410 0.075 18.29% 0.878 0.057 6.49%

Figure 5. Results of the DPM data along three soil nail holes
in a cut slope comprising completely decomposed granite
(CDG) with corestones (after Lam & Siu 2004).
soil nailing can be used to establish detailed profiles
of the geomaterial strengths of the weathered rocks
in the slope. Figure 5 shows an example of the geo-
material profiling results with DPM in Lam and Siu
(2004). Particularly, the core material in the slope,
mainly comprising CDG, can be clearly identified.
4.2 Comparison with cores
The DPM zoning results have been compared well
with the coring results. Figure 6 shows a comparison
of the DPM zoning results along a soil nail hole and
the percentage of the total core recovery in an inclined
drillhole in a weathered tuff slope. The horizontal dis-
tance between the soil nail hole and the drillhole is
12.25 m and the drillhole is 1.5 m higher than the soil
nail hole. The declination angles of the two holes are
equal 15˚ to the horizontal direction.
The DPM zones 1 and 2 are completely decomposed
tuff, which correspond the total core recovery is about
0%. The DPM zones 3 and 6 are highly decomposed
tuff. The DPM zones 4 and 5 are respectively moder-
ately and slightly decomposed tuff. The DPM zones 3,
4 and 5 correspond well with the total core recovery
in the adjacent inclined core hole.
4.3 DPM for rock mass quality characterization
Forming holes in the ground with an air-driven rotary-
percussive drilling machine equipped with a DTH
hammer requires detaching material from the cut face
and removing the detached material from the hole,
205
Figure 6. Comparison of DPM zoning results in a soil nail
hole with the percentage of total core recovery in an adjacent
inclined drill hole in weathered tuff rock slope.
which in fact is a mechanical failure process of the soil
or rock material in the ground. The automatic drilling
process monitoring can provide additional factual data
for in-situ characterization of rock mass mechanical
strength in depth along the hole.
From the results in Figures 2 to 6, one can observe
that the full drilling process in real time, the aver-
age drilling rates and the associated drilling dynamic
parameters can be used to clearly delineate and charac-
terize the weathered rock mass strength and its spatial
distribution in the ground. Consequently, the data can
be used as a new parameter for a detailed and uni-
form characterization of rock mass quality in both
micro-scale and macro-scale of spatial distribution.
5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the DPM technique and its typical results
have been presented to show the digital results in real
time series for the complete history of the drilling pro-
cess in forming a hole in a slope. The hole is later used
to install a soil nail for slope stabilization. In partic-
ular, the DPM zoning of the weathered rock strength
distribution is based on the finding that the curve of
the drill bit depth advancement versus the net drilling
time has distinct linear segments. Each linear segment
can represent a zone of geomaterial with homogeneous
mechanical strength. It is expected that the DPM tech-
nique will prove to be a simple, reliable and practical
tool to directly and quickly characterize the mechani-
cal strength of a rock mass and its spatial distribution
in the ground.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work was substantially supported by a grant from
the Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Spe-
cial Administrative Region, China (Project No. HKU
7137/03E). The authors also acknowledge in-kind sup-
port from the Geotechnical Engineering Office and
Housing Department of the Government of the Hong
Kong SAR, Halcrow, Maunsell, Fugro, and Soils and
Materials Eng.The coauthors J. Chen and W. Gao thank
The University of Hong Kong for financial support
during their Ph.D. studies.
REFERENCES
Barton, N, Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classifica-
tion of rock masses for the design of tunnel support. Rock
Mechanics 6(4): 189–239.
Barton, N.R. 2006. Integrating Q-logging with seismic
refraction, permeability, pre-grouting, tunnel and cavern
support needs, and numerical modeling of performance.
In Cavern and Tunnel Engineering, Proc. of the 26 Annual
Seminar, Geotechnical Division of HKIE, pp. 9–32.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1973. Engineering classification of jointed
rock mass. Trans. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng. 15: 335–344.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass Classifica-
tions. New York: Wiley, 251 pp.
206
Hudson, J.A. (ed.) 1993. Comprehensive Rock Engineer-
ing: Principles, Practice, and Projects, vol. 3, Oxford:
Pergamon Press.
Lam, J.S. & Siu, C.K. 2004. Evaluation of application
of drilling process monitoring (DPM) techniques for
soil nailing works. Technical Note, TN3/2004, Standards
and Testing Division, Geotechnical Engineering Office,
HKSAR Government.
Lee, C.F., Wang, S.J. &Yang, Z.F. 1996. Geotechnical aspects
of rock tunnelling in China. Tunnelling and Underground
Space Technology 11(4): 445–454.
Ritter, W. 1879. Die Statik der Tunnelgewölbe. Berlin:
Springer.
Yue, Z.Q., Lee, C.F., Law, K.T., Tham, L.G. & Sugawara, J.
2001. HKU drilling process monitor and its applications
to slope stabilization. In Proc.,Annual Conference –Works
Bureau and Ministry of Construction on the Develop-
ment and Co-operation of the Construction Industry of
the Mainland and Hong Kong, vol.2, pp. II35–II46.
Yue, Z.Q., Lee, C.F., Law, K.T. &Tham, L.G. 2004.Automatic
monitoring of rotary-percussive drilling for ground char-
acterization – illustrated by a case example in Hong Kong.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Science 41: 573–612.
Yue, Z.Q., Gao, W., Chen, J. & Lee, C.F. 2006. Drilling process
monitoring for a wealth of extra factual data from drill-
hole site investigation. In Proc. of the 10th International
Congress of the International Association of Engineer-
ing Geology, Nottingham. Paper number 5–746, 10pp.
(CD-ROM).
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

RDi – A new method for evaluating of rock mass drillability

S.H. Hoseinie & M. Ataie

Faculty of Mining Engineering & Geophysics, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

H. Aghababaei & Y. Pourrahimian

Faculty of Mining Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

ABSTRACT: In open pit mining drilling, like the other stages of mining, has a close relationship with the rock
mass. The drilling process and its results are affected by various parameters of the rock material and rock mass.
The effects of rock materials have been emphasized in various studies, however a lack of perfect knowledge
of rock mass structural parameters may lead to unpredictable results. This paper presents a new classification
system for specifying Rockmass Drillability index (RDi). For this purpose, six parameters of rock mass, including
texture and grain size, hardness, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), joint spacing, joint filling (aperture) and
joint dip, have been investigated by physical modelling and rated. In this system, for each rock mass a rating
from 7 to 100 is assigned. A higher rating represents a good-quality rock mass from the view point of drilling.
Finally, considering the RDi rating, the drilling rate may be predicted at one of five modes; slow, slow-medium,
medium, medium-fast and fast.

1 INTRODUCTION
In open pit mining, drilling, as the initial stage of the
exploitation operations, has a significant role in the
other stages of exploitation. Considering high operat-
ing costs and expensive machinery, a full recognition
of the parameters involved in drilling, and an effort to
optimize exploitation methods, is necessary. Finally,
effective drilling result in effective blasting, the desired
fragmentation and the effective control of operating
costs.
Drilling, like the other exploitation stages, has a
direct and close relation to the rock mass; this would
be affected by the characteristics of the rock material
as well as the rock mass. Therefore, recognition of
the drilling environment and in situ rock mass prop-
erties would be a great help in choosing the type of
drilling system, the number of drilling rigs and the
mine production rate.
In discussion about the effects of rock material
properties on the drilling process, many investiga-
tors have described the rock behavior, using var-
ious parameters (Akun & Karpuz 2005, Aliha &
Aiatolahy 2005, Bickel & Kuesel 1982, Bieniawski
1989, Clark 1979, Drake 2004, Ersoy & Waller
1995a, b, Funy 1981, Ghasemi et al. 2005, Hoseinie
et al. 2006, in press, Jung et al. 1994, Jimeno et al.
1995, Kaiser & McCreath 1994, Kahraman 1999,
Kahraman et al. 2000, Miranda & Mello-Mendes
1983, Osanloo 1998, Ostovar 2000, Pathinkar & Misra
1980, Protodyakonov 1962, Rabia & Brook 1980,
Rao & Misra 1998, Serradj 1996, Singh 1969, 1990,
Singh et al. 1998, 2006, Thuro 1997, Tanaino 2005,
Wijk 1991, Wilbur 1982, Zhu 1988). Among past stud-
ies, Wilbur’s classification system is the best known.
For the first time, Wilbur classified rock masses for
drilling purposes by the use of Moh’s hardness, tex-
ture, fracture and structure of rock mass. This system
has been based on rating the parameters and can predict
drilling quality and speed.
Due to the complex conditions of the rock mass,
different definitions may be arrived at. Thus, qualita-
tive classification in some cases may bewilder the user.
By investigation of the rock texture, the rock condition
also becomes complicated, even without reference to
grain size.
In this paper, considering the past studies, especially
Wilbur’s classification system, and adding the joint
properties to the classification system, a new quan-
titative view of the rock mass and its drillability has
been gained.
Considering and reviewing the studies which have
been done up to now, the important rock mass param-
eters which affect the drilling are listed as follows:
1 Origin of rock formation (Drake 2004, Jimeno et al.
1995, Osanloo 1998, Ostovar 2000).
2 Hardness (Ersoy & Waller 1995b, Jimeno
et al. 1995, Kahraman et al. 2000, Li 2000,

207
 Osanloo 1998, Rao & Misra 1998, Serradj 1996,
Thuro 1997, Ung et al. 1994, Wilbur 1982).
3 Texture of rock – shape and size of rock grains
(Ersoy & Waller 1995b, Jimeno et al. 1995, Rao &
Misra 1998, Wilbur 1982).
4 Porosity (Osanloo 1998, Rao & Misra 1998, Thuro
1997).
5 Density (Hoseinie et al. 2006, Osanloo 1998, Rao
& Misra 1998, Kahraman et al. 2000).
6 Abrasiveness (Drake 2004, Ersoy & Waller 1995b,
Osanloo 1998, Rao & Misra 1998, Thuro 1997).
7 Elasticity and plasticity (Jimeno et al. 1995,
Kahraman et al. 2000, Osanloo 1998).
8 Uniaxial Compressive Strength – UCS, Point load
index and Schmidt hammer (Drake 2004, Ersoy &
Waller 1995b, Jimeno et al. 1995, Kahraman et al.
2000, Osanloo 1998, Rao & Misra 1998, Serradj
1996, Singh et al. 1998, Thuro 1997).
9 Tensile strength (Kahraman et al. 2000, Rao &
Misra 1998).
10 Rigidity (Osanloo 1998).
11 P-wave velocity (Kahraman et al. 2000).
12 Rock mass specification – joints, cracks and
bedding (Drake 2004, Ersoy & Waller 1995b,
Hoseinie et al. 2007, in press, Jimeno et al. 1995,
Kahraman 1999, Kahraman et al. 2000, Osanloo
1998, Ostovar 2000, Singh et al. 1998, Thuro 1997,
Wilbur 1982).
13 RQD (Osanloo 1998).
An important issue in rock classification is the
selection of the parameters that are of the greatest sig-
nificance. Thus, an attempt to present a classification
system for assessing rock mass drillability using all
parameters, in is not desirable in the light of this rule
of engineering.
In the present classification system (RDi), the three
following basic rules have been considered;
1 The least possible number of parameters is used for
classification.
2 Preventing the use of equivalent parameters.
3 Rock mass classification should be field applied
(less need for laboratory studies).
Considering these three above-mentioned rules,
texture and grain size, Uniaxial Compressive Strength
(UCS), Moh’s hardness, joint spacing, joint filling
(aperture) and joint dip have been selected and used
for assessing the Rockmass Drillability index (RDi).
Of course, if uniaxial compressive strength could
not be tested in the field, there would be no prob-
lem to use the point load index and Schmidt hammer
results as an equivalent value of UCS for this classifi-
cation system. In order to rate the six given parameters,
it should be considered that the properties relating
to the rock material (texture & grain size, UCS and
Moh’s hardness) are more important than the structural
parameters (joint spacing, joint dip and joint filling)
208
of the rock mass. This is related to the direct contact of
the drill bit with the rock material and the substantial
effect of the physical properties of rock on the penetra-
tion rate of the drilling system. Thus, in the proposed
classification system (RDi) the distinctions related to
the rock material have been given more weight than
the joint specification. In the Rockmass Drillability
index (RDi), it has been assumed that the total rating
of a rock mass is 100 as a maximum which represents
the best condition of the rock mass in terms of drilling
rate. Thus in such rock masses, drilling would be more
efficient.
Hoek & Brown (1994) have realized that a classifi-
cation system must be non-linear in order to classify
poor rock masses realistically. Thus, in the RDi sys-
tem, to rate the various values of each parameter, the
highest weights have been rated for the best mode
(fast drilling). Ratings of medium-fast, medium, slow-
medium and slow are respectively 70%, 50%, 25% and
10% of the best mode (numbers have been rounded).
By order of the above rating, the RDi classification
system becomes non-linear.
Considering the importance of each parameter and
the effect of each one on the rock mass drillability
index, the general structure of the RDi classification
and method of weighting the parameters has been
illustrated in Figure 1.
2 RATING OF INTACT ROCK PARAMETERS
IN RDI CLASSIFICATION
2.1 Texture and grain size
Rock texture, as well as grain size, is one of the
important properties of rock material that greatly
affects drilling output. When the rock grains are finer
and the texture is denser, the speed of drilling and
hence Rockmass Drillability (RDi) decreases. In the
Wilbur classification, rock texture has been properly
classified. In the RDi classification, considering the
Wilbur classification, dimensions of grains relative
to each texture have also been added to the previous
comments in order to decrease error during classi-
fication, as well as turning qualitative descriptions
of textures into quantitative ratings. Mentioning the
dimensions of grains when describing texture would
certainly decrease personal intervention in classifica-
tion. Table 1 shows a way of rating the rock mass with
respect to texture in the RDi classification system.
2.2 Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS)
Uniaxial compressive strength is one the engineer-
ing properties of rocks. Rock material strength is
used as an important parameter in many rock mass
classification systems. Using this parameter in a clas-
sification is necessary because the strength of the
rock material constitutes the strength limit of the
 Parameters Texture &
of rock material Grain size 15

UCS 22

40
Rock Moh’s
18
Mass hardness

100
Joints
spacing 18
Parameters of rock
mass structure

Joints dip 12 45

Joints
Rock mass
filling 15 Drillability
(Aperture)
index (RDi)

Figure 1. General structure of (RDi) classification and rating of parameters.

Table 1. Rating of rock texture and grain size. Table 2. Rating system for rock mass strength (UCS).

Texture Grain size (mm) Rating UCS (MPa) Description Rating

Porous — 15 1–25 Very low strength 22

Fragmental (semi dense) 5< 10 25–50 Low strength 16
Granitoid (medium grained) 2–5 7 50–100 Average strength 11
Porphyritic Matrix: 0.05–1 4 100–200 High strength 6
Grain: 2–5 >200 Very high strength 2
Dense (small to very small) 0.05–1 1

rock mass (Bieniawski 1989). Uniaxial compressive
strength may be representative of the density, poros-
ity, elasticity and plasticity of the rock. Rock with low
porosity will have high density as well as high com-
pressive strength. Compressive strength in comparison
with density has a better capability to describe how the
rock functions during the drilling process (Moomivand
2005). Since the compressive strength of rock material
is divided into five classes on the basis of Bieniawski
classification (Bieniawski 1973), this method has also
been used instead of the ISRM method in the RDi
system. Table 2 shows the method of rating the rock
compressive strength in the RDi classification system.
2.3 Hardness
Hardness can be interpreted as the resistance against
penetration. Rock hardness is the first strength that is
to be overcome during drilling. After penetration of the
drill bit into the rock, continuing operation is simple.
Higher hardness, as well as abrasiveness, decreases
drilling penetration rate and drill bit life.
Hardness is a good index for some parameters like
that of the constituent minerals, cohesive forces, shape
and size of grains, homogeneity and water content
of the rock. Considering the importance of hardness
in penetrating rock material, its weighting has been
considered the most important property of the rock
material after uniaxial compressive strength (UCS).
Since one can easily use Moh’s classification system
of hardness in the field, in the RDi classification sys-
tem, like the Wilbur classification system, this index
has also been used for classifying rocks.
In the RDi classification, the proposed method
of Jimeno et al. (1995) for rating hardness is used
(Table 3).

209
Table 3. Rating system for rock mass hardness (Mohs).
Moh’s hardness Description of hardness Rating
1–3 Very soft – soft 18
3–4.5 Comparatively soft 13
4.5–6 Comparatively hard 9 0.5–1 m
6–7 Hard 4 0.15–0.5 m
>7 Very hard 1 0–0.15 m
3 RATING OF ROCK MASS JOINTING IN RDI
CLASSIFICATION
Specification of the rock mass and its general structure
has a very determining role in the drilling process and
its efficiency. The penetration rate of the rock mass
has a direct relationship with its mass structure. Up
to now, many scientists have emphasized the effects
of rock mass structure on its drillability. In the clas-
sification of Wilbur (1982), rock mass structure has
been considered in a proper way. In this system, for
describing the rock mass, expressions like “massive”,
“sheets”, “laminated”, “seamy” and “blocky” have
been used.
Using qualitative parameters and comments, how-
ever, has great application in the investigation of the
rock mass, but practically, because of personal ideas
about rock mass conditions, this would face many
problems. Jimeno et al. (1995) have referred to rock
mass joints and classification in respect of structure
and strength, while Ostovar (2000) has investigated
tectonic effects on drilling. The important specifica-
tions of joints that affect rock mass drillability are
spacing, dip, filling and aperture.
Drilling in jointed rock masses is more difficult than
drilling in intact zones (Jimeno et al. 1995, Ostovar
2000). Drilling in zones with extreme jointing, due to
the small blocks as well as open joints, faces many
problems. Jamming of the drill bit and decrease of
penetration of the drilling system, as well as efficiency,
is among the more evident phenomena of drilling in
jointed rock masses.
3.1 Joint spacing
Spacing may be considered as the important character-
istic of a joint system. Drillability and the penetration
rate in the rock mass depend on joint spacing (Osto-
var 2000). Discontinuity spacing, which is linked to
the reciprocal of discontinuity frequency, is widely
used as a measure of the “quality” of a rock mass for
classification schemes (Priest, 1993). The decrease of
spacing results in reduced drilling environment conti-
nuity and also decreased drilling efficiency as well as
penetration rate.
Instability of the drilled hole wall can result from
a tighter joint spacing as well as the existence of
210
Table 4. Rating system for joint spacing.
Spacing∗ Rating
>2 m 18
1–2 m 13
9
5
1
∗
The rock masses which have rule-abiding cleavage
and sheets, because of the drilling easiness, rate of 12
is assumed for spacing.
random joints along the drill hole. The existence of
more than one set of joints, as well as random ones,
can cause the drilling condition to become critical.
The most critical state, in respect of drilling, would
occur when the rock mass has a blocky state (with
small blocks). In rock masses with joint spacing of
10–50 cm, there is less difference in the penetration
rate of the drilling system. So, one can predict that
when spacing increases to over one metre, rock mass
behaviors would approach the behavior of continuous
rock environments. Considering the results obtained
from three years of field studies in several mines,
the method of rating the rock mass joint spacing for
determining the drillability index (RDi) is shown in
Table 4.
3.2 Joint filling (aperture)
Joint aperture, amount and size of filling are the spec-
ification of joint spacing that extremely affects the
penetration of the drilling system. Closed cracks and
joints have no important effect on a decrease of drilling
penetration rate. The existence of open joints, due to
the escape of flushing air and decreased ejection of
drill cuttings, leads to the reduction of penetration rate,
and jamming of the drilling system.
The existence of filling material in the space of
open joints causes an extreme reduction of the pen-
etration rate of drilling. In the case of a joint with
weak filling, the drill bit tends to follow the dip of
the joint while passing through the filling material.
While encountering the hard surface of the joint, the bit
was observed to partially recover its original direction
(Singh et al. 1998). Experimental studies show that,
in rock masses with smaller size of fillings, drilling
problems may increase. By reducing filling dimen-
sions to the limit of flushing particles, these particles,
instead of breaking move into the space between the
drill bit and the rock under the pressure of flushing
air. Particles remaining in the space between the drill
bit and the rock leads to the reduction of penetration
rate and loss of energy. The method of rating joint fill-
ing in the classification system (RDi) is illustrated in
Table 5.
3.3 Joint dip
Joints cause diversion of the hole, reducing drilling
load and ultimately reducing the penetration rate of the
drilling system. In open joints with filling materials,
contact of the hole with the joints is a cause for fill
Table 5. Rating system for joint filling.
material falling into the hole during and after drilling.
This occurrence causes the jamming of the drill bit
during drilling, and filling of the hole after drilling.The
results of field studies suggest that, with the increase
of angle between the joint surface and the direction of
the hole, penetration rate of the drilling system and the
rock mass drillability would increase. The method of
rating joint dip is illustrated in Table 6.

Dimension of fillers∗ Rating

4 PREDICTION OF DRILLING RATE USING
Closed joints without Filler (aperture 0–2 mm) 15 ROCK MASS DRILLABILITY INDEX (RDI)
>20 mm 10
12–20 mm 7 On the basis of field and laboratory studies, in total,
9–12 mm 4 the new proposed classification system (RDi) could
2–9 mm 1
be presented for predicting and calculating a rock
* mass drillability index according to Table 7. Finally,
For the joints filled with soil and very fine powders, the rate
of seven is assumed for the fillers. considering the obtained value of RDi from the final
classification table, one can qualitatively predict the
penetration rate of drilling in the rock mass according
Table 6. Rating system for joint dip. to Table 8.
The angle between joint & borehole axis Rating
5 A CASE STUDY – SUNGUN COPPER MINE
70◦ –90◦ 12
55◦ –70◦ 8
35◦ –55◦ 6
In order to study the practical ability of the suggested
20◦ –35◦ 3 classification system (RDi), a case study was made on
0◦ –20◦ 1 the drillability of the Sungun copper mine’s rock mass.
In this study, the Sungun copper mine’s rock masses

Table 7. Rock mass Drillability index (RDi) classification.

Texture Porous Fragmental Granitoid Porphyritic Dense

Grain size — >5 mm 2–5 mm Matrix: 0.05–1 mm 0.05–1 mm

Grain: 2–5 mm
Rating 15 10 7 4 1
Hardness 1–3 3–4.5 4.5–6 6–7 >7
Rating 18 13 9 4 1
UCS(MPa) 1–25 25–50 50–100 100–200 >200
Rating 22 16 11 6 2
Joints spacing1 >2 m 1–2 m 0.5–1 m 0.15–0.5 m 0–0.15 m
Rating 18 13 9 5 1
Joint filling Closed joint >20 mm 12–20 mm 9–12 mm 2–9 mm
(Aperture)2 0–2 mm
Rating 15 10 7 4 1
The angle between joint & 70◦ –90◦ 55◦ –70◦ 35◦ –55◦ 20◦ –35◦ 0◦ –20◦
Borehole axis
Rating 12 8 6 3 1

1
The rock masses which have rule-abiding cleavage and sheets, because of the drilling easiness, rate of 12 is assumed for
spacing.
2
For the joints filled with soil and very fine powders, the rate of seven is assumed for the fillers.
For investigation of parameters as to the joints system, in case of more than one set of joints, specification of dominant joint
set are classified.
In case of the joints sets with the same importance, for each set of joint one RDi is obtained and the mean of RDi rates is the
standard of judgment.
For marginal values, the rate related to the lower class is appropriated.

211
 Table 8. Qualitative prediction of penetration rate of drilling in the rock mass using RDi.

RDi 7–20 20–40 40–60 60–80 80–100

Prediction of drilling speed Slow Slow-medium Medium Medium-fast Fast

Table 9. Result of field studies in Sungun copper mine using Rock mass Drillability index (RDi).

Drilling Speed of DTH

Site Texture & Moh’s Joints Joints filling Joints dip condition drilling
No. Grain size Hardness UCS Spacing (Aperture) (α)∗ RDi (RDi) (m/min)

1 Porphyritic 4 74 30 cm Closed joint 30 51 Medium 0.8

2 Dense 6 81 10 cm 10 mm 90 33 Slow-medium 0.42
3 Granitoid 4 78 25 cm Closed joint 10 52 Medium 0.64
4 Granitoid 4 93 60 cm Closed joint 60 63 Medium-fast 1.51
5 Dense 6 66 20 cm 10 mm 25 28 Slow-medium 0.45

Table 10. Result of field studies in Sungun copper mine using Wilbur classification.

Site no. Moh’s hardness Texture Fracture Formation Drilling condition (Wilbur)

1 4 Porphyritic Brittle Massive Medium

2 6 Dense Sectile Blocky Slow-medium
3 4 Granitoid Brittle Massive Medium
4 4 Granitoid Brittle Massive Medium
5 6 Dense Sectile Blocky Slow-medium

were classified using the Rockmass Drillability index
(RDi) as well as the Wilbur classification system.
Five distinct blasting sites, with respect to mechan-
ical specification, were selected among the various
conditions of rock mass. Samples of the rocks in ques-
tion were provided and transferred to the mine’s rock
mechanics laboratory to test uniaxial compressive
strength. These samples were studied, using the param-
eters utilized in the RDi classification and the Wilbur
classification system. After rating and classifying
selected sites, the drilling times of 241 blast holes were
recorded.
As a result from Table 9, the rock masses in ques-
tion, with respect to rock mass drillability, have been
grouped in the medium, slow-medium and medium-
fast class. Also, in respect of the Wilbur classifica-
tion system (Table 10), the rock masses have been
classified within the medium and slow-medium class.
From five blasting sites, in four cases of the RDi
classification system and the Wilbur classification sys-
tem, the same results have been gained. But in one case
of RDi classification system, the drilling speed was
predicted as higher than that from the Wilbur method.
compressive strength (UCS), joint spacing, joint fill-
ing (aperture) and joint dip, have been investigated
and rated for assessing the Rockmass Drillability index
RDi. In this system, for each rock mass, a rating from
7 to 100 is assigned. A higher rating represents a
good quality of the rock mass from the view point of
drilling.
Although the RDi classification system is recom-
mended for rotary drilling and DTH, one can, with
comprehensive studies, adjust the RDi to different
drilling systems.
The results of investigation by the authors reveal that
with an increase of the Rockmass Drillability index
(RDi), the speed of DTH drilling also increases.
The suggested classification system (RDi) predicts
the drilling rate qualitatively. Comprehensive stud-
ies on quantitative prediction of the drilling rate are
needed to change the RDi classification to a quantita-
tive system.Thus, at the time being, at five large copper
and iron mines in Iran, a comprehensive research
project is in progress to develop the RDi system
quantitatively. The results of these researches and a
quantitative prediction formula will be presented soon.

6 CONCLUSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As presented in this paper, six parameters of rock mass, The authors wish to acknowledge the full financial
including texture and grain size, hardness, uniaxial support provided by Sahand University of Technology.

212
Grateful thanks are recorded to Dr. H. Afshin
(Faculty of Civil Eng. Sahand Uni. of Tech) and
Dr. M. Ataei (Faculty of Mining Eng. & Geo-
physics, Shahrood Uni. of Tech.). The co-operation of
Mr. Karbasi, Mr. Mohamadzade and Eng. Gheybi is
also acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Akun, M.E. & Karpuz, C. 2005. Drillability studies of
surface-set diamond drilling in Zonguldak region sand-
stones from Turkey. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 42:
473–479.
Aliha, M.R. & Aiatolahy, M.R. 2005. Application of frac-
ture mechanism optimizing of rock cutting in drilling
operation. In Proceedings Iranian Drilling Symposium,
Arak, Iran.
Bickel, J.O. & Kuesel, T.R. 1982. Tunnel Engineering Hand-
book. van Norstrand Reinhold Company.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass Classifica-
tions. Wiley.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1973. Engineering classification of jointed
rock masses. Trans. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng. 15: 335–344.
Clark, G.B. 1979. Principles of rock drilling. Colorado School
of Mines Quarterly 74: 91–93.
Drake, R. 2004. Bench drilling techniques and equipment
selection manual. Ingersol-Rand Company.
Ersoy, A. & Waller, M.D.1995a. Textural characterization of
rocks. Engineering Geology 39(3–4): 123–136.
Ersoy, A. & Waller, M.D. 1995b. Prediction of drill-bit per-
formance using multi-variable linear regression analysis.
Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy,
Section A: Mining Industry 104: A101–114.
Funy, R. 1981. Drilling (Surface Coal Mining Technology).
NDC Publishers.
Ghasemi, A.M., Memmarian, H. & Mehinrad, A. 2005 Inves-
tigation of factors affecting drill bit abrasion in percussive
drilling. In Proceedings Iranian Drilling Symposium,
Arak, Iran.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1994. Practical estimation of rock
mass strength. Int. J. of Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(8):
1165–1186.
Hoseinie, S.H., Pourrahimian, Y. & Aghababaei, H. 2006.
Analyzing and physical modeling of joints dipping
effects on penetration rate of rotary drilling in open
pit mines. In 15th International Symposium on Mine
Planning and Equipment Selection (MPES2006), Torino,
pp. 1007–1013.
Hoseinie, S.H., Pourrahimian, Y. & Aghababaei, H. 2007.
Physical modeling of joint’s spacing and filling
effects on drilling efficiency in mines. Journal
of Mining Engineering, Iranian Society of Mining
Engineering.
Jung, S.J., Prisbrey, K. & Wu. G. 1994. Prediction of
rock hardness and drillability using acoustic emission
signatures during indentation. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Science & Geomechanics
Abstracts 31(5): 561–567.
Jimeno, C.L., Jimeno, E.L. & Carcedo, F.J.A. 1995. Drilling
and Blasting of Rocks. Rotterdam: A.A Balkema.
Kaiser, P.K. & McCreath, D.R. 1994. Rock mechanics
considerations for drilled or bored excavations in hard
213
rock. Tunneling and Underground Space Technology 9(4):
425–437.
Kahraman, S. 1999. Rotary and percussive drilling prediction
using regression analysis. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Science 36: 981–989.
Kahraman, S., Balci, C., Yazici, S. & Bilgin, N. 2000.
Prediction of the penetration rate of rotary blast hole
drilling using a new drillability index. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science 37:
729–743.
Li, X., Rupert, G., Summers, D.A., Santi, P. & Liu, D.
2000. Analysis of impact hammer rebound to estimate
rock drillability. Rock Mechanics Rock Engineering 33(1):
1–13.
Miranda, A. & Mello-Mendes, F. 1983. Drillability and
drilling methods. In Proceedings 5th Congress of the Int.
Soc. of Rock Mechanics, Melbourne, pp. 195–200.
Moomivand, H. 2005. Development of a method for blast-
hole pattern design in surface mines. In Proceedings 2nd
Iranian Open Pit Mines conference, Sarcheshmeh Copper
Complex, Kerman, Iran, pp. 159–168.
Osanloo, M. 1998. Drilling Methods. Tehran: Sadra
Publishers.
Ostovar, R. 2000. Blasting in Mines, 4th edition. Tehran, Amir
Kabir University of Technology, Jahad Daneshgahy Pub.
Pathinkar, A.G. & Misra, G.B. 1980. Drillability of rocks in
percussive drilling from “energy per unit volume” as deter-
mined with a microbit. Journal of Mining Engineering 32:
1407–1410.
Priest, S.D. 1993. Discontinuity Analysis for Rock Engineer-
ing. Chapman & Hall.
Protodyakonov, M.M. 1962. Mechanical properties and drill-
ability of rocks. In Proceedings of 5th U.S. Symposium on
Rock Mechanics, Minnesota, pp. 103–118.
Rabia, H. & Brook, W. 1980. An empirical equation for
drill performance prediction. In Proceedings 21st U.S.
Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Missouri, pp. 103–111.
Rao, K.U.M., & Misra, B. 1998. Principles of Rock Drilling.
Rotterdam: Balkema.
Serradj, T. 1996. Method of assessment of rock drillabil-
ity incorporating the Protodyakonov index. Transactions
of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Section A:
Mining Industry 105: A175–A179.
Singh, D.P. 1969. Drillability and physical properties of
rocks. In Proceedings of the Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Sydney, pp. 29–34.
Singh, S.P. 1990. Rock drillability comparison by different
methods. In Proceedings 2nd Int. Symposium on Mine
Planning and Equipment Selection, Calgary. Rotterdam:
A.A Balkema, pp. 489–494.
Singh, S.P., Ladouceur, M. & Rouhi, F. 1998. Sources,
implication and control of blasthole deviation. In 7th Inter-
national Symposium on Mine Planning and Equipment
Selection. Rotterdam: A.A Balkema, pp. 391–397.
Singh,T.N., Gupta,A.R. & Sain, R. 2006.A comparative anal-
ysis of cognitive system for the prediction of drillability
of rocks and wear factor. Geotechnical and Geological
Engineering 24: 299–312.
Tanaino, A.S. 2005. Rock classification by drillability. Part 1:
Analysis of the available classification. Journal of Mining
Science 41(6): 541–549.
Thuro, K. 1997. Drillability prediction – geological influ-
ences in hard rack drill and blast tunneling. Geol. Runsch.
86: 426–438.
Ung, S.J., Prisbrey, K. & Wu, G. 1994. Prediction of rock
hardness and drillability using acoustic emission signa-
tures during indentation. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Science 31(5): 561–567.
Wijk, G. 1991. Rotary drilling prediction. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science 28(1):
35–42.
214
Wilbur, L. 1982. Rock Tunnel Engineering Handbook.
Bickel & Kuesel (eds.), Van Norstrand Reinhold Com-
pany, pp. 123–207.
Zhu, S.T. 1988. Experimental study of drillability for rotary
rock bits. In Proceeding International Symposium on Mine
Planning and Equipment Selection, Calgary. Rotterdam:
A.A Balkema, pp. 375–381.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Rock slope design using Slope Stability Rating (SSR) – Application and
field verifications

A. Taheri & K. Tani

Department of Civil engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan

ABSTRACT: SSR (Slope Stability Rating) classification system is a new rating system which has been pro-
posed in Iran to study the stability of fractured rock slopes of non-structurally controlled failures. In this system,
the stability can be evaluated by means of slope design charts. In this study the system is reviewed using 46
slope cases from Iran and Australia. Using the above mentioned design charts, the recommended stable angle for
each slope was compared with the current slope conditions. This comparison showed that, in the design charts,
increasing of stable excavation angle by slope height reduction is partly large in the cases that the height of
slope is less than 100 meters. In addition the design curves overestimate stable design angle especially for flatter
slopes. As a result of this work, the modified SSR system rock slope design charts for maximum excavation
angle (FS = 1.0) and also for some conservative excavation angles (FS = 1.2, 1.3, 1.5) are presented.

1 INTRODUCTION was proposed (Romana 1993). But application of this

Estimates of rock slope stability are required by the
civil and mining engineering industry for a wide vari-
ety of projects. Of importance in this regard is the
evaluation of slope stability at the feasibility, exca-
vation or operating stages. In these projects, it is
necessary to make use of classification systems to
estimate the stable angle of a required or existing slope.
Many rock mass classification systems have been
developed over 100 years since first attempt were made
to formalize an empirical approach to tunnel design.
Some of classification systems like RMR (Bieniawski
1973) and Q (Barton & Lunde 1974) have gained broad
acceptance in the civil and mining industry, while oth-
ers, such as those suggested by Terzaghi (1946) and
Palmstrom (1996) are specific to underground open-
ings. All of these rock mass classification systems
have been applied successfully in tunneling and under-
ground mining, but most of them have limitations and
shortcomings, when it comes to rock slope problems.
These limitations are mainly related to application of
them in closely jointed rock masses and the lack of
proposed suitable design charts to estimate the stable
angle of a required slope. It should be noted, however,
that the use of rock mass classifications developed
particularly for underground works, may lead to unsat-
isfactory results when applied to near-surface applica-
tions such as rock slopes. By developing the RMR
classification systems, a geomechanical classification
for slopes in rock, named “Slope Mass Rating (SMR)”
system in closely jointed rock masses and large-scale
rock slopes has considerable limitations. These lim-
itations concern the lack of discontinuity orientation
parameter, which is an inherent shortcoming of RMR
in this geotechnical condition. Another attempt was
made to use the MRMR system for evaluating the sta-
bility of rock slopes (Haines &Terbrugge 1991). Based
on case histories from South Africa, design charts for
rock slope problems were proposed. But as this system
was basically introduced in the underground mining
industry, its application in rock slope design seems to
be questionable. During past years several researchers
have tried to propose empirical design charts. Recently
by using the GSI system, some design charts were pre-
sented (Douglas 2002). But since some of the major
slope stability parameters are not included in GSI sys-
tem, the application of this method in rock slope design
is conditional and limited to particular cases.
So to meet the need of engineers who are looking
for an empirical method to evaluate the stability of
the large-scale rock slopes before applying sophisti-
cated design methods, a new system with the relevant
design charts is introduced and modified by using case
histories from Iran and Australia.
The Geological Strength Index (GSI) was devel-
oped by Hoek et al. (1997) and is based upon the
visual impression on the rock mass structure. To pro-
vide a more quantitative numerical basis for evaluating
the GSI, this classification system was modified by
Sonmez & Ulusay (1999) (Fig. 1).

215
 estimated from RMR input parameters. The suggested
RMR ratings for roughness, weathering and infilling
(Rr, Rw & Rf) are used for this purpose. Accordingly,
each input parameter shown in the right upper margin
of the table in Figure 1, is used to obtain the total rat-
ing of the surface conditions, SCR. Block size is an
extremely important indicator that must be considered
in any proposed rock mass classification. To determine
this indicator volumetric joint count, Jv , has been sug-
gested, which is defined as the sum of the joints per
meter for each joint set present, to be used for the
description of structure of the rock mass.

2 SSR CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

The SSR (Slope Stability Rating) classification system

Figure 1. Modified GSI classification (Sonmez & Ulusay
1999).
To address the lack of parameters to describe dis-
continuity surface conditions and rock mass structure,
Sonmez & Ulsay (1999) suggested the introduction of
two terms: “Structure rating, SR” based on volumetric
joint count (Jv ) and “surface condition rating, SCR”,
(Taheri et al. 2006a) is a new rock mass classification
system which has been proposed in Iran to study the
stability of fractured rock slopes with non-structural
control failures (Table 1). This system is proposed
based on the modified GSI, described earlier, and
the Non-linear Hoek-Brown failure criterion. In SSR,
besides the Geological Strength Index (GSI), five more
parameters have been taken into account. The SSR val-
ues of a rock mass can be determined from Table 1,
by summing the rating value of all the parameters.
It should be mentioned that the rating values of the
second parameter (UCS) in Table 1 are different from
the old version (Taheri et al. 2006b) and have been
modified in this study.
3 SSR SLOPE DESIGN CHARTS
To provide a useful tool for the preliminary design of
rock slopes, several stability analyses were performed

Table 1. Rock mass classification with SSR (Slope Stability Rating) system for preliminary evaluation of slope stability.

Parameter Range to values

1 Modified GSI (Refer to Fig. 1)

Rating 0–100
2 Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa) 0–10 10–25 25–50 50–100 100–150 150–200
Rating 0 7 18 28 37 43
3 Rock type (Refer to Table 2) Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6
Rating 0 4 9 17 20 25
4 Slope excavation method Waste Poor Normal Smooth Pre- Natural
damp blasting blasting blasting splitting slope
Rating −11 −4 0 6 10 24
5 Ground- Groundwater level Dry 0–20% 20–40% 40–60% 60–80% 80–100%
water from slope toe
* 100
Slope height
Rating 0 −1 −3 −6 −14 −18
6 Earthquake Horizontal 0 0.15 g 0.20 g 0.25 g 0.30 g 0.35 g
force acceleration
Rating 0 −11 −15 −19 −22 −26

216
Table 2. Rock groups defined for SSR rating system. 400
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
375
350
Group Rock type Name of rocks 325
300
275 Slope angle

Height (m)
250
1 Sedimentary Clay Shale, Mudstone, 225
Claystone & Marl 200
175
Igneous Highly weathered, sheared, 150
or altered rocks 125
100
2 Metamorphic Schists & Mylonites 75
3 Sedimentary Limestone Shale, Dolomite, 50
25
Limestone, Chalk & Siltstone 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Metamorphic Slate, Phyllites & Marble SSR
4 Sedimentary Anhydrite & Gypsum
Igneous Tuff, Basalt, Breccia, Figure 2. Rock slope design chart, based on SSR values of
Dacite & Rhyolite the rock masses (F.S = 1.0).
5 Sedimentary Breccia, Greywacke,
Sandstone & Conglomarate Table 3. Summary of slope data from case studies in Iran.
Metamorphic Hornfels
Igneous Dolerite, Obsidian, Andesite,
Norite & Agglomerate Slope
6 Igneous Granite, Granodiorite, Height angle
Diorite & Gabbro Case SSR (m) (deg) Stability

Gole-Gohar 76 60 60 Stable
mine
using the limit equilibrium code, CLARA. Based on Iran-Kuh 92 184 55 Stable
mine 52 140 34 Stable
the studied slopes, several rock slopes were assumed 57 40 71 Failed
with heights ranging from 25 to 400 meters and slope Choghart 76 35 67 Stable
face angles from 30 to 70 degrees. Different discon- mine
tinuity and intact rock properties, slope excavation Angooran 76 63 35 Stable
methods and environmental characteristics such as mine
groundwater and earthquake force were considered. Karoon III 83 180 45 Failed
The SSR value was determined for each of the studied hydropower
slopes, with various geometry and safety factors, as Emarat mine 58 110 50 Stable
well. Four design charts were prepared for factors of 59 35 67 Stable
safety 1.0, 1.2, 1.3 & 1.5. Figure 2 shows the chart asso-
ciated with the F.S = 1. The design charts for different
factors of safety have similar shapes but different Another database of rock slopes from Australia was
positions in which, as the factor of safety increases, also studied in this work. Table 4 summarized these
curves shift to the right side to provide more conser- case records (Douglas 2002). Thirty-seven cases were
vative designs. These charts provide the relationships selected from thirteen open pit mines. Each mine may
between the safe slope angles and slope height, at dif- have several stable/unstable slopes denoted as a, b, c,
ferent factors of safety, as a function of the calculated etc. The rating of rock mass structures which is rep-
SSR values for the rock masses. resented by GSI, were determined by Douglas (2002).
In this database there are two groundwater conditions,
dry and moderate pressure, for which the correspond-
4 FIELD VERIFICATIONS ing rating was determined. Furthermore, since the
database is based on slopes in mining operations, the
Considering fields of application of the SSR sys- rating for normal blasting (production blasting) is allo-
tem, it is important that the system be validated for cated to all. UCS and rock type rating were obtained
the intended use. For this purpose, the system was based on the information which made available by
reviewed using several slope sites. Table 3 represents Douglas (2002) and finally the SSR values were cal-
the geometrical and stability conditions of 6 slope culated for each case. It should be mentioned that in
sites from Iran which had been studied previously both database the slopes were studied in static condi-
to propose the SSR system. Base on the information tion which implies the zero rating for earthquake force
obtained in the site investigations, the SSR values of parameter.
the slopes were determined. Amongst the 9 cases stud- The two databases from Iran and Australia are com-
ied, there were two unstable slopes; others are in a bined into one database and presented in Figure 3. The
stable condition. database consists of 46 slopes, of which 28 were stable

217
Table 4. Summary of slope data from case studies in
400
Australia. 375
350
325
300
Height Slope angle 275

Height (m)
250
Case SSR (m) (degree) Stability 225
200
175
1a 53 70 49 Stable 150
125
1b 50 41 50 Failed 100
75
1c 53 41 55 Failed 50
1d 54 46 55 Failed 25
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
1e 52 57 49 Failed
SSR
2a 59 58 50 Stable
2b 58 60 48 Stable
2c 60 60 52 Stable Figure 3. Relationship between SSR and height in the
3a 38 20 39 Failed combined database.
3b 38 40 32 Stable
3c 38 60 31 Stable 400
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
4a 54 70 44 Failed 375
350
4b 53 120 35 Failed 325
4c 54 120 38 Failed 300 Slope angle
275
4d 58 150 31 Stable
Height (m)
250
4e 58 150 35 Stable 225
200
5a 67 250 42 Failed 175 Failed,<30
150
5b 67 107 37 Stable 125
Failed, 35-40
Failed, 40-45
5c 67 80 38 Stable 100 Failed, 45-50
75 Failed, 50-55
6a 53 70 45 Failed 50 Failed, >70
6b 53 95 45 Failed 25
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
7 61 38 39 Stable
8 133 200 65 Stable SSR

9a 49 78 32 Stable
9b 49 50 34 Stable Figure 4. Comparison of failed cases in database with
9c 49 77 37 Failed original design charts (FS = 1).
9d 49 60 40 Failed
10a 84 97 36 Stable
10b 70 157 48 Stable into two parts in which the stable slopes located in the
10c 70 60 53 Stable lower part of the curve and the unstable ones in the bor-
11 62 110 48 Failed derline and upper part. In addition none of the curves
12a 43 29 39 Stable should cross each other and they have appropriate
12b 43 37 28 Stable
12c 43 30 40 Failed
distance to the next one when put next to each other.
12d 34 45 26 Failed As we can see in Figure 5f, due to the lack of enough
13a 120 40 75 Stable slope cases with slope angles in the range of 55–70
13b 120 90 80 Stable degrees, an average design curve was drawn for this
group of data. In Figure 6, the design curves were put
next to each other and compared with old SSR design
charts in Figure 7. The dash lines show the modified
and 18 had failed. All failures were non-structural, i.e. charts and the original design charts are represented
a thoroughly fractured rock mass. by the solid lines. This comparison shows that, the
To study the consistency of original design charts curvature of the design charts, representing an increase
with the database, a comparison of the failed case of slope excavation angle versus slope height reduction
records and SSR design chart on the verge of failure is large in the cases where the height of the slope is less
(FS = 1) is presented in Figure 4. A general observa- than 100 meters. In addition the analysis-based design
tion shows that, several of the cases do not confirm charts overestimate the stable design angle, especially
the design curves. Original design curves would have for flatter slopes.
indicated the use of steeper slopes. This difference could be explained by several fac-
So by dividing the slope cases of the database tors. Firstly, it is known that none of the stability
into groups of slopes with similar slope angles, some analysis methods can take into account all the param-
design curves were drawn in Figures 5a-f and com- eters which influence the stability of rock slopes.
pared with the original curves. Two principal criteria Similarly the previous study (Taheri et al. 2006b) suf-
have been taken into account for drawing these curves. fered from the same problem as the original design
The first one is that each curve should divide the area curves are based on stability analysis by the limit

218
 400 400
375 30 35 375 40 45
350 Failed,<30 350 Failed, 35-40
325 325 Failed, 40-45
300 Failed, 35-40 300
Failed, 45-50
275 275
Height (m)

Height (m)
Stable, <30 250
250 Stable, 35-40
40-45
225 30-35 225 Stable, 45-50
Modified
Stable, 30-35
200 200
175 175
150
150
125
Original
125 Original Modified
100 100
75 75
50 50
25 25
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

SSR SSR
(a) 30-35 degrees (c) 40-45 degrees
400 400
375 35 40 45 50
375
350 Failed, 35-40 350 Failed, 40-45
325 325
Stable, 30-35 Failed, 45-50
300 300 Modified
275 Stable, 35-40 275 Failed, 50-55
Height (m)

Height (m)
250 250 Stable, 45-50
225
35-40
225 45-50
200 200
175 Modified 175 Original
150 150
125 Original 125
100 100
75 75
50 50
25 25
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
SSR SSR
(b) 35-40 degrees (d) 45-50 degrees
400
375 50 55
Figure 5a–b. Comparison of original design charts with the 350 Failed, 45-50

database, and proposal of modified design charts. 325 Failed, 50-55

300
Stable, 45-50
275
Height (m)

50-55
250 Stable, 50-55
equilibrium method. In this method the materials 225 Modified
200
are assumed to have soil-like behavior, circular fail- 175
Original
150
ure shape and shear failure mechanism; water table 125
is taken as the indicator of groundwater. However 100
75
these assumptions are acceptable in the design of 50
25
large-scale, non-structurally controlled rock slopes, 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
but ignorance of some of the parameters, such as the SSR
effect of discontinuities on the shape and position of (e) 50-55 degrees
the failure surface, softening effect of the groundwater
400 70
55
and the effect of other failure mechanisms are unavoid- 375
350 Failed, 50-55
able.This ignorance could partly be responsible for this 325
Failed, >70
300
inconsistency. Secondly, determination of the shear 275 Stable, 50-55
Height (m)

strength of rock mass by the non-linear Hoek-Brown 250

225
Stable, 60-70 55-70
failure criterion using GSI is accompanied with some 200 Stable, 70-80
175 Original
uncertainties which can lead to overestimated designs. 150
125 Modified
Thirdly, although the original design curves are based 100
75
on stability analysis, the SSR system has been devel- 50
oped based on rock slope cases from Iran, which could 25
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
differ in their geotechnical conditions from the new SSR
database which is mostly based on open pit mines (f) 55-70 degrees
from Australia. So to reduce the uncertainties in the
preparation of the original design charts and make Figure 5c–f. Comparison of original design charts with the
them more practical and reliable for design in slope database, and proposal of modified design charts.
stability problems with a wide range of properties,
some modifications in the original design curves are this modification the curvature of the design curves
necessary. were decreased and they were shifted to the right side
For this reason the new design charts for maxi- to be more conservative. Furthermore, as mentioned
mum excavation angle (FS = 1) have been modified in section 3, the design charts at different factors of
on the basis of slope cases presented in Figure 8a. In safety have similar shape and definite distance with

219
 400 400
375 375
350 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
350
325 325

30-35
35-40
300

40-45

50-55

55-70
45-50
300
275
Slope angle

Height (m)
275
250
250
Height (m)

225
225
200
200 Slope angle
175
175 150
150 125
125 100
100 75
75 50
50 25
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
SSR
SSR
(a) F.S=1

400
Figure 6. Modified design curves base on the database. 375
350 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
325
300
275
Slope angle

Height (m)
400
375 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 250
350 225
200
325
175
300
150
35-40
30-35

40-45
45-50

55-70

275 Slope angle

50-55
Height (m)

125
250 100
225 75
200 50
175 25
150 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105
125
100 SSR
75 (b) F.S=1.2
50
25 400
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 375
SSR 350 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
325
300
Figure 7. Comparison between modified design curves with 275 Slope angle
Height (m)

250
original design curves. 225
200
175
150

the design charts at unity factor of safety. So accord- 125

100
ing to the changes which were made on the original 75
50
design charts (FS = 1.0), the same modifications were 25
40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110
applied to the design charts with other factors of safety.
SSR
The results of the modified design charts for safety fac-
(c) F.S=1.3
tors of 1.2, 1.3 and 1.5 are presented in Figures 8b–d
400
respectively. 375
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
350
It must be stressed that some of the slopes will 325
be structurally controlled and therefore the rock mass 300
275
Height (m)

rating system will not be applicable for some slope 250 Slope angle
225
designs. Therefore empirical slope design using slope 200
175
stability rating (SSR) should only be considered after 150
any potential structurally controlled failures have been 125
100
investigated. Also as the proposed rating system is 75
50
mostly concerned with overall (large-scale) stability, 25

it should be used only in cases where some local 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115

instabilities are acceptable. SSR

(d) F.S=1.5

5 CONCLUSIONS Figure 8. Modified rock slope design chart, based on SSR

values of rock masses.
• Rock mass classification systems developed in
recent years for slope stability problems have some non-structurally controlled anticipated failures, the
limitations, especially in analyzing the stability of Geological Strength Index (GSI) has been found to
slopes in closely jointed or crushed rock masses. be a useful and reliable tool.
• In order to establish a modified rock classification • SSR (Slope Stability Rating) is a new rating system
system for assessing the stability of rock slopes with which has been proposed to study the stability of

220
 fractured rock slopes with non-structurally con-
trolled failures.
• By calculating the SSR value of a rock mass, the
safe slope face angle can be determined by using
the proposed slope design charts. In these charts,
the safe slope angles have been plotted against slope
height and SSR value of rock masses.
• The system was reviewed on the basis of a database
consisting of 46 rock slopes from Iran and Australia.
The modified rock slope design charts are proposed
for maximum excavation angle (FS = 1) and also
for some conservative excavation angles (FS = 1.2,
1.3, 1.5).
REFERENCES
Barton, N. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classification
of rock masses for the design of tunnel support. Rock
Mechanics 6(4): 186–236.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1973. Engineering classification of jointed
rock masses. Trans. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng. 15: 344–355.
Douglas, K.J. 2002. The shear strength of rock masses. Ph.D
Thesis, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Haines, A. & Terbrugge, P.J. 1991. Preliminary estimation
of rock slope stability using rock mass classification sys-
221
tems. In Proc. 7th Int. Congress Rock Mechanic, Aachen,
vol.2, pp. 887–892.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of
rock mass strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 3(8):
1165–1186.
Palmstrom, A. 1996. Characterizing rock masses by the Rmi
for use in practical rock engineering, part 1. Tunnelling
and underground Space Technology 11(2): 175–188.
Romana, R. 1993. A geomechnical classification for slopes:
slope mass rating. In Hudson (ed.), Comprehensive Rock
Engineering.
Sonmez, H. & Ulusay, R. 1999. Modification to the geologi-
cal strength index (GSI) and their applicability to stability
of slopes. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 36: 743–760.
Taheri, A. & Taheri, A. 2006. Rating system for preliminary
design of rock slopes. In 41st Japan Geotech. Soc. Conf.
JGS, pp. 2245–2246.
Taheri, A., Taheri, A. & Tani, K. 2006. Modified rock
mass classification system for preliminary design of rock
slopes. In Rock Mechanics in Underground Construction,
4th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium.
Terzaghi, K. 1946. Rock defects and loads on tunnel sup-
port. In Proctor & White (eds.). Rock Tunneling with
Steel Suports. Youngtown, OH: Commercial Shearing and
Stamping Company, vol 1, pp. 17–99.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A new geomechanical evaluation system for slopes: SFi system

U. Jeong, W.S. Yoon & J. Park

Nexgeo Inc., Seoul, South Korea

B.H. Han
Samsung Corporation, Seoul, South Korea

H-J. Park
University of Sejong, Seoul, South Korea

J.W. Choi
Nexgeo Inc., Seoul, South Korea

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a new geomechanical classification for slopes, the SFi (Slope Failure Index)
system based on the detailed examination of more than 700 road cuts. The SFi system adopts different evaluation
codes based on the different geotechnical conditions. In the SFi system, the rock masses are divided into five
types on the basis of strength parameters, soil depth and block size ratio: Discontinuous jointed rock mass
(JRM), continuous heavily fractured rock mass (HRM), continuous competent rock mass (CRM), continuous
incompetent rock mass (IRM) and soil-like mass (SLM). Parametric studies were performed to determine the
factors causing instability and controlling the failure processes. The factors can be classified into internal and
external factors. Internal factors can be subdivided into main and sub factors. The basic SFi value is evaluated
from the summation of the main factors and multiplication of sub factors. Subsequently, the total SFi value is
defined as the sum of basic SFi values and the ratings of external factors. The SFi is a useful tool not only for
the preliminary assessment of slope stability but also for estimation of failure dimension. It also provides some
simple rules between instability modes and the required support measures.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. Failure factors of cut slopes, modified from

Mazzocola & Hudson (1996).
Failure modes in cut slopes are triggered by com-
binations of several failure factors for each ground Factors Classes Details
condition. In practical application, the factors affect-
External factors Artificial Excavation method
ing slope instability are classified into internal factors
conditions Support &
induced by the slope material itself and external factors reinforcement
related to surrounding conditions (Table 1). Artificial loading, etc.
Slope instability factors play a different role on Slope Orientation
slope behavior depending on the ground conditions. geometry Dimension
In the case of moderately weathered and jointed rock Upper slope
masses, orientations of discontinuities have a critical geometry, etc.
effect on the slope instability, whereas frequency (or Internal factors Natural Rainfall
density) of joints is more important than the orien- conditions Groundwater
tation in highly weathered or fractured rock masses conditions
(Singh 1973, Hoek & Bray 1981, Einstein et al. 1983, Earthquake activity, etc.
Goodman & Kieffer 2000). This is an important exam- Geological Rock types
conditions Weathering grade
ple which shows that factors affecting slope instability
Discontinuity
can vary with the ground conditions (Yoon et al. 2002). Geological
In this paper, we present a new geomechanical clas- Structures, etc.
sification for slopes, the SFi (Slope Failure Index)

223
Table 2. Behaviour characteristics of slope failures studied.
Behavior
Failure mode characteristics Remarks
Surface failure (S) Soil-like Surface erosion, skin
continuous flow, piping and other
behaviour surface movements
Circular failure (C) Rotational slide and
flow
Wedge failure (W) Fracture Translational slide
triggered
Plane failure (P) discontinuous
Toppling (T) behaviour Topple
Rock fall (F) Fall
system which adopts different evaluation codes based
on the different geotechnical conditions. The SFi sys-
tem is based on the detailed examination of more than
700 road cuts having various geological conditions.
2 FAILURE MODE OF CUT SLOPE
From the geotechnical point of view, earth materi-
als in the near surface can be divided into rock and
soil masses. In general, rock masses are considered
as a combination of ‘intact’ rocks and discontinuities
whereas soil masses are products or by-products of
rock masses. It implies that slope failures result from
the combination of complex parameters such as mate-
rial and discontinuity strength, weathering grade of
parent rocks, discontinuity frequency and orientation.
Therefore, it is very important to identify the failure
mode in that the behavioural mode of failure represents
the mechanism of failure.
The kinematics of a slope failure is a one of the
principal criteria for classifying the types of failure.
The types of slope failure on the basis of kinematics
have been well established since Varnes (1978) and
Hoek & Bray (1981). In this paper, failure modes of
the slopes are divided into 5 types: surface erosion
(including piping), circular, wedge and plane sliding,
toppling, and rock falls.
These failure modes can be classified into dis-
continuous and continuous behavior based on the
failure mechanism (Table 2). Wedge and plane slid-
ing, toppling and rock fall correspond to discontinuous
behavior. Surface erosion and circular sliding belong
to continuum failures, which are a function of the
material properties of the continuum.
3 MATERIAL CONDITIONS OF CUT SLOPES
3.1 Failure with soil depth and ratio (SR)
The materials which comprise a cut slopes can be
classified into soil and rock masses. From the careful
224
1
S
C
Relative frequency
0.8
W&P
T&F
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Soil depth ratio (SR)
Figure 1. Relationship between the soil depth ratio (SR) and
failure modes. S: surface failure, C: circular failure, W&P:
wedge and plane failures, T&F: toppling and rock fall.
field examination of the road cuts along the National
Highway in Korea, soil depth is one of the most impor-
tant parameters to classify soil-like masses and rock
masses. In this research, the thickness (depth) of ‘soil’
comprises not only cover soils including residual soil
(RS), alluvium and colluvium soil but also completely
weathered (CW) rock (Geological Society 1977, Lee
& Freitas 1989).
Figure 1 shows the relationship between slope fail-
ure mode and soil depth ratio (SR) defined as the ratio
of the soil depth and slope height. When a SR value is
greater than 0.4, wedge failures (including planar fail-
ures) which are the most common failure mode along
discontinuities in rock slopes do not occur. Therefore,
the SR value can be used as a criterion to distinguish
soil-like masses from rock masses. A slope with a SR
value greater than 0.4 can be regarded as a soil mass
showing a continuum behavioral mode, where a SR
value lower than 0.4 can be treated as a rock mass. For
this reason, we suggest 0.4 is the critical SR value for
distinguishing soil-like masses from rock masses with
respect to potential slope failure modes.
3.2 Failure with material conditions
Even if the SR value is less than 0.4, continuous soil-
like movements are still possible in some rock slopes.
Where the SR values are smaller than 0.2, most of slope
failures show wedge- and plane-sliding types of dis-
continuous rock slope movement (Fig. 1). Slopes with
a range of SR values from 0.2 to 0.4 show compos-
ite failure modes, both continuous and discontinuous
behavior.
Hoek & Bray (1981) suggested that soil-like circu-
lar failures could occur in highly jointed rock masses
with small blocks size separated by discontinuities. To
evaluate the stability of the cut slopes, Hoek & Brown
(1980) and Hoek (1994) suggested that rock masses
behave like a continuous soil-like mass if the block size
 0.4 Soil depth ratio Block size Classification of
SR ratioBR Ground condition
Soil depthratio (SR)

0.3 SR<0.4 0.01<BR<0.2

JRM
Jointed rockmass
0.2 BR<0.01
HRM
Highly fractured rockmass
0.1 BR>0.2
MRM
Massive rockmass
SR>0.4
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 SLM
Soil like mass
Block size ratio (BR)
Figure 3. Classification of slope ground condition. JRM:
Figure 2. Relationship between ground behavior and the jointed rock mass, HRM: highly fractured rock mass, MRM:
BR and SR parameters of rock masses. Filled circle: circular massive rock mass, SLM: soil-like mass.
failure, open circle: other failures.

is sufficiently small in comparison with the dimension the ground. According to him, continuous rock masses
of the slope. occur as:
In the case of slopes, the relations between block 1. Slightly jointed (massive) rocks with a continuity
size (or discontinuity intensity) and slope height can factor CF < approx. 5; or
be expressed by the block size ratio (BR) as shown in 2. Highly fractured and crushed rocks, where CF >
Equation (1). approx. 100
And, discontinuous rock masses have CF factors
between the above values.
where BR = block size ratio; Ib = block size index; In case of a slope, a CF value greater than 100 and
H = slope height lower than 5 corresponds to 0.01 and 0.2 BR values
In equation (2), the block size in slope can be respectively.
expressed by the block size index (Ib ) as follows (ISRM
1978):
4 SFi SYSTEM

The SFi system (Slope Failure index) is the evalua-

where S1, S2 and S3 = mean spacing of 1st, 2nd and
3rd joint set.
Figure 2 shows relationship between the failure
modes and the BR value of rock masses where the
SR value is less than 0.4. For a rock slope (SR < 0.4),
when BR is greater than 0.01 (highly fractured rocks),
failure modes in slopes are limited to wedge sliding,
falls and topples. In this case, the orientation and shear
strength of discontinuities play an important role in
the behavioral modes of slopes. When BR is less than
0.01, however, the behavior of the cut slopes shows
circular sliding (filled circles in Fig. 2) as in soil-like
continuous masses. The BR value of 0.01, therefore,
is the critical value to distinguish the continuous rock
masses from discontinuous rock masses.
Palmstrom (1996) divided the ground condition of a
tunnel into continuous and discontinuous ground in his
rock mass classification (RMi-system) with the con-
sideration of scale effect. He defined continuity factors
(CF) as the ratio of block diameter (Db) formed by
discontinuities to tunnel diameter (Dt) and divided the
rock masses into continuous and discontinues. He sug-
gested different evaluating systems in stability analysis
and support with the consideration of continuity of
tion system to estimate slope instability on the basis
of the behavioral mode of failure and ground condi-
tions. The main characteristic of this system is that
it adopts different evaluation factors with different
ground conditions for analyzing the instability of the
slopes.
The failure prediction for cut slopes using SFi
system is carried out following procedure:
Step 1. Classification of ground condition with
behavioral characteristics
Step 2. Evaluation of internal failure factors and
determination of basic SF indices
Step 3. Evaluation of external failure factors and
determination of total SF indices
Step 4. Determination of total SF indices and
failure assessment
4.1 Classification of ground condition (Step 1)
Ground conditions of cut slopes can be classified using
the SR and BR ratios. Figure 3 shows the criteria of
ground conditions of cut slopes. This classification of
ground conditions has been applied to evaluate slope
stability by Yoon et al. (2001, 2002).

225
 1 Table 3. Rating of internal failure factors in JRM.
S
C Joited rock mass: JRM
Relative frequency

W&P
T&F Main internal factors
ψj for sliding 30◦ -ψs <30◦ >ψs
0.5 ψj for toppling 90◦ –80◦ −80◦ –60◦ >−60◦
M1 60 40 20
θ for sliding <20◦ 20◦ –40◦ >40◦
θ for toppling 160◦ –200◦ 140◦ –160◦ <140◦
200◦ –220◦ >220◦
M2 40 30 20
0 Sub internal factors
JRM HRM MRM SLM
friction angle <30◦ 30◦ –40◦ >40◦
roughness slickensided smooth-S.R. rough
Figure 4. Relationship between failure modes and slope S1 1 0.9 0.8
ground conditions. JS/JL <0.05 0.05–0.1 >0.1
S2 1 0.9 0.8
The SR values play a leading role in dividing ground rock strength <25 MPa 25–100 MPa >100 MPa
conditions into two groups: continuous soil-like mass weathering HW MW SW-Fresh
(SLM) and rock mass. When SR value is greater than S3 1 0.9 0.8
0.4, the ground condition of the slope can be con-
sidered as SLM. Failure modes of this ground mass
are mainly circular sliding and surface erosion by Table 4. Rating of internal failure factors in HRM.
continuous behavior mechanism.
If the SR value is less than 0.4, ground condi- Highly fractured rock mass: HRM
tions are separated by the BR value into discontinu-
ous jointed rock masses (JRM) and continuous rock Main internal factors
masses. Additionally, continuous rock masses are sub- joint spacing <6 cm 6–20 cm >20 cm
divided into highly fractured rock masses (HRM) and RQD 0 0–50 >50
massive rock masses (MRM). If the BR value of rock M1 60 40 20
masses ranges from 0.01 to 0.2, the ground condition is No. of joint set >3 3 <3
assigned to JRM. In addition, if the BR values of rock M2 40 30 20
masses are less than 0.01 and greater than 0.2, the Sub internal factors
ground conditions are assigned to HRM and MRM, friction angle <30◦ 30◦ –40◦ >40◦
respectively. roughness slickensided smooth-S.R. rough
S1 1 0.9 0.8
Figure 4 shows the failure modes of individual
β 30◦ –ψs 0–30◦ −45◦ –0
ground conditions of failed cut slopes in the study S2 1 0.9 0.8
areas. The most frequent failure modes of JRM slopes rock strength <25MPa 25–100 MPa >100 MPa
are discontinuous movements such as wedge and weathering HW MW SW-Fresh
plane sliding while continuous movements are mainly S3 1 0.9 0.8
confined to SLM slopes. In HRM slopes, both discon-
tinuous and continuous movements occurred in almost
equal proportion. These results indicate that continu- previous accomplishments for slope failure are con-
ity of ground movement is JRM, HRM and SLM in cerned to improve the SFi system (Hoek & Bray 1981,
ascending order. Einstein et al. 1983, Bieniawski 1984, Barton et al.
1985, Cundall & Hart 1993, Mazzoccola & Hudson
4.2 Evaluation of internal factors (Step 2) 1996). Tables 3–8 show the main and sub factors of
each ground condition and their ratings.
The internal factors that induce slope instabilities are The basic SFi value is calculated by the summation
the geological conditions of the slopes and their dimen- of the main factors (M1 and M2) and multiplication of
sion. Internal factors of SFi-system are made up of 2 sub factors (S1, S2 and S3) (Equation 1):
main factors (M1 and M2) and 3 sub factors (S1, S2
and S3) with the 5 types of ground condition.
Factor analyses are carried out to determine the
main and sub factors of the slope instability and to Main factors range from a minimum value of 40 to
develop the evaluation code of the systems. This a maximum of 100 and the sub factors range from 0.5
procedure covers statistical analysis of the sampled to 1.0. Basic SFi values indicate the potential for slope
slopes and analytical study of each factor. In addition, failure. The probability of slope failure increases with

226
Table 5. Rating of internal failure factors in IRM. Table 8. Notations in rating sheet of internal failure factors.

Incompetent massive rock mass: IRM Notions

Main internal factors ψs: dip angle of slope

rock strength 5 MPa 5–15 MPa >15 MPa ψj: dip angle of joint(or intersection).
M1 60 40 20 If θ > 180◦ , ψj has (−) sign.
slope >1:1 1:1.5–1:1 <1:1.5 θ: angle between dip direction of joint (or intersection)
M2 40 30 20 and dip direction of slope
Sub internal factors JS/JL = joint spacing/joint trace length
planar θ < 20◦ 20 < θ < 40◦ etc. β: base plane angle of rock block
structure ϕ < ψj < ψs ϕ < ψj < ψs ϕ: friction angle
S1 1 0.9 0.8 SM: swelling minerals
slope height >20 m 10–20 m <10 m Ps: swelling pressure
S2 1 0.9 0.8 Id: slaking durability index
SM >50% 10–50% <10%
Ps >2 MPa 0.1–2 MPa <0.1MPa
slaking durability Id1 < 85 85–95 Id1 > 95
Id2 < 60 60–85 Id2 > 85 increase in the SF index. This value has a range from
S3 1 0.9 0.8 20 to 100.

4.3 Evaluation of external factors determination of

Table 6. Rating of internal failure factors in CRM. adjustment value (Step 4)
In practical application of the SFi system, the factors
Competent massive rock mass: CRM affecting slope instability are classified into internal
factors induced by material itself, and external fac-
Main internal factors tors (E1, E2,..,En) by surroundings. External factors
strongly moderately
rock type anisotropic anisotropic isotropic
are rain fall data, ground water condition, earthquake
M1 60 40 20 potential, external loading, degree of reinforcement
slope height >60 m 60–40 m <40 m and method of excavation (Crawford & Curran 1982,
M2 40 30 20 Anderson & Howes 1985, Swindells 1985, Romana
Sub internal factors 1993). These factors play a critical part in some cases
planar structure θ < 20◦ 20 < θ < 40◦ etc. according to the material condition, and can be adopted
ϕ < ψj < ψs ϕ < ψj < ψs differently with the condition of slopes. Table 9 is an
S1 1 0.9 0.8 example of the criteria and its ratings which can be
slope >1:0.35 1:0.35–1:0.5 <1:0.5 considered as an external factor in general cases. It
S2 1 0.9 0.8 is possible to adopt different ratings with the ground
rock strength 25–100 MPa 100–200 MPa >200 MPa condition of the cut slopes.
S3 1 0.9 0.8 The external factors can be calculated as a sum-
mation of each external factor (E1, E2, E3, …En) and
considered as an adjustment value of the basic SF index
Table 7. Rating of internal failure factors in SLM. (Equation 2).

Soil like mass: SLM

Main internal factors The adjustment value indicates the degree of insta-
loose sand medium sand dense sand bility of the slope induced by external conditions, and
soil condition soft clay medium clay stiff clay the possibility of failure increases with the increase
M1 50 40 30 of the adjustment value. The adjustment values have
slope >1:1 1:1.5–1:1 <1:1.5 a range of −40 to 40 in this case with the exception
M2 50 40 30
of SLM.
Sub internal factors
soil depth >10 m 5–10 m <5 m
S1 1 0.9 0.8 4.4 Determination of final SF index and their
slope height >20 m 10–20 m <10 m evaluation (Step 5)
S2 1 0.9 0.8
natural slope ψs > 30◦ 10 < ψs < 30◦ ψ s < 10◦ The final SF index (total SF index) is determined as the
S3 1 0.9 0.8 sum of basic SF value (step 2) and the adjustment value
(step 3): Total SF index = basic SF index + adjustment

227
 Table 9. Rating of external failure factors for determination of adjustment value.

E1 rainfall or ground water condition

mm/hour 0 0–10 10–20 20–30 >30

mm/day 0 0–50 50–100 100–150 >150
mm/2day 0–50 50–100 100–150 150–200 >200
water table dry 1/3 of H 1/2 of H 2/3 of H saturated
rating −5 0 5 10 15
SLM rating 0 −5 10 15 20

E2 method of excavation

method no presplitting smooth blasting or deficient

cutting blasting mechanical blasting
rating −10 −5 0 5 10

E3 support and reinforcement

method heavy medium light protection no support

rating −15 −10 −5 0 5

E4 drainage system

description very good good medium poor very poor

rating −10 −5 0 5 10
Adjustment value = E1 + E2 + E3 + E4 + . . . . . . + En

100 1000
Failure dimension index (Fd)

80
800
Frequency

60
600
40

400
20

0 200
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
a) SFi value
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
120
SFi value
100
Figure 6. Relationship between Slope failure dimension and
80
SFi value

SFi-Value.
60
with the number of external factors and their ratings.
40 Therefore, the ranges of the maximum and minimum
20 SF index can differ depending on the situation and
condition of the cut slopes.
0
b) Unfailed slope Failed slope 4.5 Application of SFi systems
Figure 5. Relationship between Slope failure frequency and To evaluate and validate SFi systems, we applied the
SFi-Value. SFi systems to more than 700 cut slopes. The relation-
ships between slope failure and SFI value indicates
value. The calculated total SF index represents the that slope failure frequency and dimension are closely
slope failure index with the combination of internal related to SFI value (Figs. 5, 6). Based on the statistical
and external factors and indicates the probability of analysis, we suggest a classification for slope failure
slope failures. The value of the total SF index varies using the SFi value (Table 10).

228
 Table 10. Classification for slope failure class using the SFi value.
SFi
value >80 80–60
Failure class I II
Stability completely unstable
unstable
Failures large medium
failure failure
5 CONCLUSION
This paper presents a new geomechanical classifica-
tion for slopes, the SFi (Slope Failure Index) system
based on the detailed examination of more than 700
road cuts. Because the SFi system adopts different
evaluation code based on the different geotechni-
cal conditions, it can be applied to various slope
conditions.
The SFi is a useful tool not only for the preliminary
assessment of slope stability but also for estimation of
failure dimension. It also provides some simple rules
between instability modes and the required support
measures.
REFERENCES
Anderson, M.G. & Hows, S. 1985. Development and appli-
cation of a combined soil water-slope stability model.
Q. J. Eng. Geol. 18: 225–236.
Barton, N., Bandis, S. & Bakhtar, K. 1985. Strength, defor-
mation and conductivity coupling of rock joints. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 22: 121–140.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1984. Rock Mechanics Design in Mining
and Tunneling. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 272.
Crawford, A.M. & Curran, J.H. 1982. The influence of
rate- and displacement-dependent shear resistance on the
response of rock slopes to seismic loads. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 19: 1–8.
Cundall, P.A. & Hart, R.D. 1993. Numerical modelling of
discontinua. In Hudson (ed.), Comp. Rock Eng., vol. 2,
pp. 227–236.
Einstein, H.H., Veneziano, D., Baecher, G.B. & O’Reilly, K.J.
1983. The effect of discontinuity persistence on rock slope
stability. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr.
20: 227–236.
Geological Society 1977. The description of rock masses for
engineering purposes. Q. J. Eng. Geol. 25: 355–388.
Goodman, R.E. & Kieffer, D.S. 2000. Behavior of rock in
slopes. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering 126: 675–684.
Hoek, E. 1994. Strength of rock and rock masses. ISRM News
Journal 2: 4–16.
229
60–40 40–20 <20
III IV V
partially stable completely
unstable stable
small occasionally no failure
failure failure
Hoek, E. & Bray, J. 1981. Rock Slope Engineering. London:
Institute of Mineral and Metallurgy, pp. 309.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavation in
Rock. London: Institute of Mineral and Metallurgy, 521pp.
ISRM 1978. Suggested methods of quantitative description
of discontinuities in rock masses. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 15: 319–368.
Jeong, U.,Yoon, W.S., Choi, J.W. & Kim, J.H. 2005. Influence
of weathering depth and fracture intensity to cut slope
movement. Geosciences Journal 9: 47–52.
Lee, S.G. & De Freitas, M.H. 1989. A revision of the
description and classification of weathered granite and
its application to granite in Korea. Quarterly Journal of
Engineering Geology 22: 31–48.
Mazzoccola, D.F. & Hudson, J.A. 1996. A comprehensive
method of rock mass characterization for indication nat-
ural slope instability. Quarterly Journal of Engineering
Geology 29: 37–56.
Palmstrom, A. 1996. Characterizing rock masses by the RMi
for use in practical rock engineering. Tunnelling and
Underground Space Technology 11: 175–188.
Romana M. 1993. A geomechanical classification for slopes:
Slope Mass Rating. In Hudson (ed.), Comp. Rock Eng.,
vol. 3, pp. 575–599.
Singh, B. 1973. Continuum characterization of jointed rock
masses: Part 1-The constitutive equations. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science & Geome-
chanics Abstracts 10: 311–335.
Swindells, C.F. 1985. The detection of blast induced fractur-
ing to rock slopes. In Int. Symp. on the role of Rock Mech.,
pp. 81–86.
Yoon, W.S., Jeong, U., Choi, J.W. & Kim, J.H. 2001. A new
index system for slope failure based on ground charac-
teristic: RSFi system. In Proceedings of the Young Asian
Geotechnical Engineer Conference, Seoul, pp. 163–168.
Yoon, W.S., Jeong, U., Choi, J.W., Kim, J.H., Kim. W.Y. &
Kim, C.S. 2002. Slope failure index system based on
the behavior characteristics: SFi-system. Journal of the
Korean Geotechnical Society 18: 23–37.
Varnes, D.J. 1978. Slope movement types and processes.
In Schuster & Krizek (eds.), Landslide: Analysis and
Control. Special Report 176. Washington, D.C.: Trans-
portation Research Board, National Research Council,
pp. 11–33.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Establishing a site specific mining geotechnical logging atlas

B.A. Murphy & J.R. Campbell

SRK Consulting, Vancouver, Canada

ABSTRACT: In many instances geotechnical training and the generation of geotechnical logging procedures
is undertaken using a generic application of accepted rockmass classification systems. These logging procedures
regularly neglect to take into account the site specific rockmass characteristics and interpretations that are integral
to the undertaking of a quality assured assessment of the rockmass conditions. In addition, the regular practice
of fly in and fly out (FIFO) schedules and high personnel turnover leads to numerous quality control aspects
related to the inconsistent acquisition of geotechnical data. Discussed is the approach and benefits of establishing
a site specific detailed geotechnical logging atlas. This atlas should include aspects such as descriptions and
photographic references to specific types of discontinuity characteristics for the various lithologies; rock strength
testing and sampling procedures, as well as the reference logging of site representative boxes of core. Three case
study examples are included in the paper. Also discussed will be the tailoring of a site-specific geotechnical
data acquisition program relative to the level of study being undertaken, from exploration through to the final
feasibility.

1 INTRODUCTION logged based on specific geotechnical requirements

Geotechnical logging programs, as with geology log-
ging programs, can be susceptible to quality control
issues within the data set. These quality control issues
typically arise from poorly-defined nomenclature and
incorrect or inconsistent logging procedures at a site.
Errors can be further exacerbated by the FIFO sched-
ules of loggers at remote sites as well as the high
turnover of personnel related to the current positive
mining market.
The creation of logging procedures manuals for
quality control is not a new approach, but existing
manuals tend to be generic documents. These docu-
ments are often carried without modification from one
project to the next. This paper advocates the estab-
lishment of a site specific geotechnical logging atlas
that achieves the consistent field determination of
geotechnical parameters.
This system takes into account the level of the
applicable study; the specific characteristics of the
mineralization context; the likely mining methods as
well as the specific rock mass characteristics that may
affect the mining method selection. By considering
all these aspects, the “blanket approach” of unfocused
detailed geotechnical data acquisition programs could
be avoided. In the absence of a site-specific, tailored
approach, the logging exercise may be a high cost, time
consuming process.Additionally, this would also avoid
the case where earlier drill holes should have been
prior to sampling, but were not.
This paper discusses the process of establishing a
site specific atlas. Also included are three case studies
where the geotechnical logging program was tailored
to focus on specific geotechnical aspects related to
future likely mining methods.
2 ASSESSING THE SPECIFIC
REQUIREMENTS OF A GEOTECHNICAL
CORE EVALUATION PROGRAM
To assess the key elements and tailor the require-
ments of the geotechnical logging program, the fol-
lowing aspects, need to be considered prior to and in
association with, a dedicated site visit (Fig. 1):
– Current level of study
– Mineralization context
– Likely mining methods
– Distinctive orebody/country rock characteristics.
The first three aspects listed above are discussed
within this section and the final aspect is considered
later in a separate section.
Once these project attributes are well understood
it is possible to tailor the exploration program to
limit the collection of superfluous data and focus the
requirements specific to the context. The implication
thereof is discussed in more detail below.

231
Figure 1. Elements to be considered when evaluating and setting up the guidelines of a site specific geotechnical logging
program.
2.1 Level of study of the current program
To customize the level of geotechnical information
required, it is important to understand both the study
level and short and long term geotechnical objectives.
Once these factors are understood, the geotechnical
drilling program should be optimized to focus on areas
of geotechnical significance. Such areas should target
ground to be exploited (e.g. pit perimeter, deeper sec-
tions only of drill holes for open stoping), In addition to
obtaining relevant, high resolution geotechnical data,
this customized approach will potentially save time
and money over the duration of the project evaluation.
From the outset of any exploration program it is
important to undertake a minimum level of geotech-
nical data acquisition on all drill holes. This should
include the following parameters for each drilling
interval: RQD (rock quality designation), TCR (total
core recovery), IRS (intact rock strength: strong,
weak and % weak) and weathering/alteration type and
intensity.
As the project advances through the various levels
of study, the coverage and resolution of the repre-
sentative geotechnical data needs to intensify. Table 1
endeavors to generically quantify the minimum level
of required geotechnical data based on the level of
study and the type of mining method that may be
employed. These requirements can then be further tai-
lored to the specific deposit type and context related
requirements.
2.2 Mineralization context and country rock
attributes
To make a reasonable assessment of the potential range
of mining methods and focus the geotechnical logging
program, the mineralization context and country rock
232
attributes need to be well understood. Listed below
are a number of contextual aspects that need to be
considered prior to formulating a geotechnical logging
program:
– Orebody depth and geometry
– Orebody and country rock strengths
– Nature of the overlying rock mass and overburden
material
– Influence of major geological structures
– Weathering/alteration characteristics of the ore-
body and country rock
– Hydrogeology and possible permafrost impacts.
Understanding the context of the deposit will facili-
tate a selection of the range of possible mining methods
as well as the specific aspects of the rockmass that need
to be focused on during the geotechnical evaluation.
2.3 Likely mining methods
At an early stage of the project evaluation, an initial
engineering judgment should be made on the likely
range of mining methods that are being considered.
This would be based not only on the context of the
mineralization and country rock but also on the poten-
tial economic value of the ore and on environmental
considerations.
Aspects such as the potential orebody geometry,
strength characteristics and depth are initially consid-
ered to determine the likely range of mining methods.
It is important to consider whether the mining sce-
nario would involve an open pit, underground or a
combination of both.
If an underground method is to be used, it is neces-
sary to discern whether a caving, self supported (open
stoping/room and pillar) or supported method (back-
fill) will be employed. Based on the likely mining
 Table 1. Typical requirements for geotechnical logging programs based on mining method and level of study.
Likely mining Core related – Key geotechnical Pre-feasibility/feasibility following a
mMethod aspects Exploration stage project positive scoping study

Open Pit Slope stability – waste and ore Basic Geotechnical Information In all drill holes:
Rock mass strength Recovery, RQD, Rock Strength All basic geotechnical information requirements
Discontinuity orientation and strength and alteration/weathering intensity Point load testing program
Overburden characteristics and strength for each drilling interval. In all drill holes within potential pit slope areas:
Hydrology and hydrogeology Detailed major structural feature Detailed discontinuity information for the full hole length.
Structural Geology and fault strengths information In representative drill holes:
General hydrogeology information Overburden characteristics including laboratory testing
during drilling. Detailed discontinuity information including full orientation of thereof
High resolution dry core Laboratory testing intact rock strengths and discontinuity
photographs shear strengths
Detailed photographs of possible Shear strength tests on fill material within the influential
major structure intersections. major structural features.
Detailed hydrogeology information and testing.
Caving Method Cavability In all drill holes:
Block, Fragmentation All basic geotechnical information requirements
Panel, Waste/overburden Characteristics and Detailed discontinuity information
Sublevel strength Cemented joint frequency and strength

233
Ore characteristics and strength Micro-defect frequency and strength
Hydrogeology Point load testing program.
Structural Geology and fault strengths In representative drill holes:
Stress Field Detailed overburden logging and laboratory testing
Full orientation of discontinuities (orientation tool / televiewer)
Laboratory testing of representative orebody and country rock samples
Detailed hydrogeology information and testing.
Self Supported Orebody strength/pillar strength In all drill holes:
Partial Extraction Detailed understandingh of Immediate All basic geotechnical information requirements
Room and Pillar HW and FW rock mass characteristics Detailed discontinuity information (∼20 m above HW to end)*
Backfill Supported Hydrogeology Cemented joint frequency and strength (∼20 m above HW to end)*
Cut and Fill Structural Geology and fault strengths Micro-defect frequency and strength (∼20 m above HW to end)*
Bench and Fill Stress Field Point load testing program.
Overhand *distance above orebody HW increase if a HW infrastructure
Underhand is proposed.
In representative drill holes:
Full orientation of discontinuities (orientation tool/televiewer)
Laboratory testing of representative orebody and country
rock samples
Detailed hydrogeology information and testing.
Figure 2. Practices during core logging that can affect rock mass parameter determinations.
methods, the geotechnical program can be structured
to determine the required, more detailed geotechnical
parameters in specific areas, and not just on a ‘blan-
ket approach’. This is anticipated to generate time and
cost savings throughout the geotechnical evaluation
program.
3 MINERALIZATION CHARACTERISTICS –
INFLUENCES ON THE INTERPRETATION
OF GEOTECHNICAL PARAMETERS
THROUGH CORE LOGGING
Depending on the deposit type, the interpretation of
certain aspects can substantially affect the interpreta-
tion of the rockmass classification values. Figure 2
summarizes typical practices during core logging
which can adversely affect rockmass parameter deter-
minations. Specifically, the following represent typical
geotechnical parameters where a customized approach
may be required.
– Alteration/weathering;
– Rock strength;
– Foliation/jointing/bedding/cemented jointing; and
– Micro-defects (e.g. veining, cemented matrix).
Although the themes presented above are often
captured using traditional rock mass classification
systems, complications typically arise from technical
misapplication and user error (lack of training, etc).
We plan to illustrate that with proper parameter
evaluation, field staff can collect extremely valuable
information required for future evaluation studies.
3.1 Intact Rock Strength (IRS)
3.1.1 Sampling bias
This can occur where strong and weak sections exist
within the same interval. The tendency is to sample the
234
stronger material thus leaving the weaker unrecorded
thereby overestimating the strength. This bias has been
addressed by Laubscher (1990) where the percentage
of both strong and weak rock is recorded.
3.1.2 Rock strength anisotropy
The rock strength can be substantially different parallel
and perpendicular to features such as foliation, schis-
tocity and micro-defects. It is therefore important to
collect strength data in multiple orientations.
3.1.3 IRS determination methodologies
IRS can be determined from empirical measurements,
Schmidt Hammer and point load estimations and lab-
oratory testing. As the level of study advances the
methodology of estimating the IRS requires improve-
ment and calibration.
3.1.4 Soft rock/soil strength determination
Commonly, field-staff classify weak rocks or soils as
an R0 rating without applying the weaker S1 – S6
empirical strength evaluation. With weaker materials,
the S1 – S6 evaluation should be applied otherwise a
substantial level of detail will be lost.
3.2 Rock Quality Designation (RQD) and joint
spacing
3.2.1 Machine and handling breaks
The logging guidelines should ensure that the impact
of drilling and handling breaks are removed from the
estimation of discontinuity counts.
3.2.2 Drilling direction bias
The impact of drilling bias on the determination of
the number of joint sets, joint spacing and the RQD
needs to be well understood. Evaluation programs
should include a number of drill holes drilled in
multiple orientations to ensure that all joint sets are
intersected. If available, the geotechnical drill pro-
gram must be evaluated against surface mapping at an
early stage to estimate the potential impact of drilling
orientation bias.
3.2.3 Weaker rock RQD estimations
High RQD measurements and low joint counts in
weaker rock masses such as kimberlite lead to unrep-
resentative high rock mass classification rating values.
The impact of the rock strength on rockmass strength
determinations should be understood early on and
the geotechnical evaluation program tailored to eval-
uate potential variations in this strength at a higher
resolution. This may contribute significantly to the
excavation designs and the related extraction levels
within the mining method stage of the evaluation.
3.2.4 Joints and cemented joints
Cemented joints have a higher tensile strength than
open joints, but the type and nature of the cementing
material influences just how much stronger these are.
Often when undertaking core logging, it is difficult to
discern whether a discontinuity in the ground repre-
sents an open joint or a cemented joint. A reasonable
approach is that if a cemented joint is open in the core,
then it is reasonably weak and the joint be counted as an
open joint feature. This approach may be reconsidered
for certain underground mass mining techniques (e.g.
caving) where the relative amount of cemented joints
and open joints may significantly affect the design
layout. The above aspects are addressed in detail by
Jakubec & Laubscher (2000).
3.2.5 Fabric
At the data collection stage it is essential that the
impact of fabric on rock mass strength is well under-
stood. For this reason, the number of fabric parallel
breaks need to be separated from the total joint count.
Depending on the orientation of the fabric and the
prevailing stress field, excavation performance can be
substantially better than that determined from a rock
mass classification based on empirical design that
included fabric counts in the total joint count. This
approach can be executed not only in oriented core,
but in unoriented core as a relative indicator.
3.3 Joint conditions
3.3.1 Joint fill type and strength
Unless strict, site specific guidelines are established,
the fill type and joint strength determination is sub-
jective and large variations in these parameters will
be generated by various loggers. Additionally, field
staff must understand the influence of weathering on
joint strengths once the rockmass has been exposed. If
the effect is recorded, the geotechnical evaluation pro-
grams should include further evaluation of this aspect.
235
3.3.2 Joint roughness and aperture
As is the case with fill strength, site specific exam-
ples and guidelines need to be established to avoid
large variations in the estimation of these parameters
and the subsequent impacts on the rock mass strength
determination.
3.3.3 Joint condition averaging over a
domain/interval
A serious flaw in many geotechnical logging programs
is the averaging or estimation of the joint parameters.
Inappropriate weighting of the weakest or strongest
parameters over a domain/interval may also be prob-
lematic. Depending on the joint set orientation, it may
or may not play and important role in defining the
stability of an excavation. It is thus important that
the joint conditions of the individual sets be assessed
separately. This will allow the use of the appropriate
parameters for the most influential joint set, based on
an excavation orientation.
3.4 General aspects
3.4.1 Logging intervals
Decisions need to be made whether the logging is
undertaken on a run by run (drilling interval) or domain
(section of core with the same geotechnical character-
istics) basis.An important aspect to keep in mind is that
domain logging must be undertaken by experienced
geotechnical personnel.
Typically, the preference is to log the basic gen-
eral geotechnical parameters (RQD, core recovery and
IRS) on a run by run basis and then to determine the
more detailed geotechnical parameters over a user-
defined domain basis. The length of these domains
should be limited to a maximum of 9–15 m. Otherwise,
severe over-averaging can be incurred and the resolu-
tion and accuracy of the data set may be dramatically
reduced.
If triple split tube logging is undertaken at the drill
rig, then all parameters should be logged on a run by
run basis, within the split-tube, prior to placing the core
in the core box. Additional logging, such as geology,
may be completed at an alternate location.
3.4.2 Major structures
From the outset of any geological or geotechnical pro-
gram, the logging of major structures needs to be
undertaken diligently as these measurements will play
a significant role in the later structural interpretation
of the deposit. Elements such as intersection length,
orientation, brittle/ductile characteristics, shear sense
indicators, fluid flow and fault zone characteristics
(gouge, fracture frequency, nature) should be eval-
uated. The nature of any gouge material within the
fault zones should be documented as cohesive or non-
cohesive and a level of soil logging classification
applied.
3.4.3 Poor drilling practices
Tight controls and documentation of the drilling prac-
tices should be maintained throughout all drill pro-
grams. This is especially relevant in weaker rock
masses where penetration rates, core recovery and core
quality should be evaluated and consistently recorded
within the database.
4 ELEMENTS OF GOOD SITE SPECIFIC
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING ATLAS
Generally, a detailed geotechnical site specific logging
atlas would be established once a project has success-
fully moved through a positive scoping study. Gener-
ation of the atlas should be complemented by three to
four days of site review by an experienced geotechnical
practitioner. The content and structure of the logging
atlases have continually evolved though internal expe-
rience generated from previous and ongoing drilling
programs (J. Jakubec, pers. comm.).
An important aspect to keep in mind when estab-
lishing a list of geotechnical parameters is to consider
type of classification system to be used for the initial
empirical designs. Depending on the type and range
of excavations being considered, the methodologies
could include the use of multiple classification sys-
tems (e.g. Bieniawski 1976, 1989) RMR for slope sta-
bility, Laubscher (1990), RMR and Laubscher (2000)
IRMR/MRMR for caving, Barton’s Q (1974) for stope,
caving and tunnel excavation design). Although there
are multiple correlation formulae between classifica-
tion systems (Milne et al. 1998), it is important that
the values be derived independently. The use of these
general formulae can lead to erroneous simplification
and inadequate weighting of important parameters. For
this reason, the list of determined geotechnical param-
eters should be sufficient to evaluate the required
classification systems from first principles.
To establish an effective site specific geotechni-
cal logging atlas, the following aspects should be
included:
– Geotechnical Program Context and Objectives:
Summary notes should be generated on the min-
eralization context, potential mining methods and
geotechnical program objectives. Using this infor-
mation, the more critical geotechnical aspects
should be identified.
– Data Capture Practices: The structure of the input
forms and applicable methodology should be high-
lighted. Detailed back-up procedures need to be
established.
– General Logging Process Definition: A step-by-
step list of procedural requirements, including
the handling, logging, photography, sampling and
storage of the drill core should be established.
236
Figure 3. Reference marked-up and logged boxes to indicate
good logging practices.
– Photography Guidelines: The methodology by
which to photograph cores within split tubes, core
boxes as well as detailed photographs of specific
geotechnical features, should be provided. All pho-
tographs, taken with consistent lighting, should
include a scale and colour chart. This approach will
generate photographs of consistent resolution and
quality for future reference.
– Geotechnical Feature Reference Slides:A compiled
group of detailed photographs highlighting typical
geotechnical features (observed in drill core, out-
crop, etc) should be established. As additional fea-
tures are encountered, they should be photographed,
classified and implemented to the reference section
of the logging atlas.
– Logging Parameter Definitions: Detailed refer-
ences on the methodology for assessing geotech-
nical parameters should be made readily available
to logging staff.
– Major Structures: Clear documentation identifying
such structural aspects as brittle/ductile characteris-
tics, shear sense indicators and infill material types
should be documented for reference.
– Core orientation procedures: Procedural docu-
ments (including troubleshooting) describing the
specific orientation hardware(s) should be made
available to field staff.
– Logged Boxes Reference Slides: Reference slides
should include a set of photographs of logged/marked
boxes (Fig. 3) of the various representative geotech-
nical conditions that are encountered at the site.
These photos serve as a reference template during
logging.
– Geotechnical Testing: Operational procedures for
the specific hardware (e.g. Schmidt Hammer, point
load tester) used on the site as well as a set of ref-
erence slides to classify successful tests, especially
for point load tests should be supplied.
– Sampling Procedures: Notes should be included
detailing sampling objectives, procedures and
proper preservation of samples prior to testing.
 Once the atlas is finalized, it should be pre-
sented to the geotechnical logging team including
senior geological/geotechnical personnel for review
and discussion. It is important that senior site geo-
logical/geotechnical personnel buy into the proposed
program as they form a critical part of the QA/QC
process. The final document should then be printed
in colour and a number of copies retained within the
core shack and drill site (if applicable). In addition,
a set of laminated reference charts should be devel-
oped and clearly mounted where the logging is to be
undertaken. Figure 4. Alteration levels were classified for all kimberlites
and defined in the logging atlas.
5 CASE STUDIES
Additionally, an alteration code (“AA”) was entered
5.1 Ekati Diamond Mine – Alteration into the logging database if the alteration was moderate
Ekati diamond mine is located approximately 300 kilo- or intense for the purpose of rapid identification and
metres northeast of Yellowknife and 200 kilometers sorting. To aid logging staff, photographs and descrip-
south of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territo- tions of alteration levels were added to the logging
ries, Canada. The Ekati operation consists of five open manual (Fig. 4).
pits and three underground mines at various stages of
development. SRK Consulting has been involved in
the transition from open pit to underground mining 5.2 Quimsacocha Gold Project – Alteration and
at the Koala, Koala North and Panda kimberlite ore- defects
bodies (Jakubec et al. 2004). The kimberlite orebodies
Wholly owned by IAMGOLD Inc., the Quimsacocha
exhibit typical pipe geometries (diatreme and crater
gold project is located in southern Ecuador. The
facies) and are hosted in Archean granotoids.
epithermal gold deposit is hosted within quartz brec-
SRK was employed to geotechnically characterize
cias which have intruded intermediate volcanics. An
the kimberlite and granitoid host within the deeper lev-
underground scenario is the leading mining method
els of the Koala orebody. This work was undertaken as
option although the open pit option is still being
part of the underground feasibility study. As an ini-
explored. Target mining depths using the open pit
tial task, SRK developed a site specific geotechnical
scenario are approximately 150 m.
logging system. Using this system, over 70 drill holes
The project is currently advancing through Pre-
were geotechnically logged.
Feasibility and the need for advanced geotechni-
Using previous site experience and discussions with
cal data collection has recently increased. SRK was
Ekati staff, critical elements were highlighted with
employed to develop a site specific geotechnical log-
respect to the geotechnical character of the rockmass.
ging system and train technical staff in geotechnical
In addition to standard geotechnical concerns (e.g.
data collection.
structures, geology), alteration within the rockmass,
After discussions with IAMGOLD staff and vis-
specifically the orebody, was identified as the most
its to the project site, SRK devised a site specific
important parameter to geotechnically characterize.
geotechnical logging system which focused on several
The alteration within the Koala kimberlite was iden-
geotechnical aspects.
tified as the major variable in rockmass quality. Within
The rockmass at Quimsacocha is characterized by
the Koala pipe, alteration dramatically effects poros-
zoned alteration, with the orebody representing both
ity and rock strength with higher levels of alteration
the central core and highest rock strength within the
exhibiting the highest degrees of secondary porosity
zonation. Recognizing that rock strength was inher-
and weakest rock strength. A simple, but effective sys-
ently tied to the alteration zoning, SRK instituted
tem of classifying this alteration during core logging
alteration and micro-defect classification systems to
was introduced. The level of alteration observed in
characterize these important parameters (Fig. 5). To
both the kimberlite and country rock were graded on
aid logging staff, photos and descriptions of alteration
a relative scale from “none” to “intense”. The scale is
levels were added to a site-specific logging manual.
described below and depicted in Figure 4:
In terms of rockmass classification, primary alter-
– None (rating “0”) ation zoning, generated during epithermal mineral-
– Minor (rating “1”) ization, provides the basic geotechnical conditions
– Moderate (rating “2”) within the mineralized zone. These background con-
– Intense (rating “3”) ditions were classified using a system modified from

237

Figure 5. Within the logging atlas, alteration was classified
in terms of type and level of alteration. Note the correlation
between alteration type and rock strength.
Figure 6. Detailed photograph of sampled massive sulphide
core indicating the extent of micro-fracturing/defects.
IAMGOLD’s geology group. By using this system,
training was minimized and senior geologists were
able to confidently establish alteration levels based
on type (e.g. smectite, kaolinite) and intensity (minor,
moderate and intense). Using these data, an alteration
model is currently being constructed which will serve
as the most important tool for future geotechnical
studies (mine design, slope/underground stability).
In addition to alteration classification, SRK rec-
ommended that micro-defects within the rockmass
(veinlets, microbrecciation, and dissolution) also be
quantitatively assessed. Similar to the alteration clas-
sification, micro-defects are assessed based on their
weakening effect on the rockmass. Both intensity
(none, minor, moderate and intense) and type are being
classified by IAMGOLD geologists and geotechni-
cians. Obtaining information on micro-defects will
provide future workers with greater confidence at
several important stages including mining method
selection, stability and blasting.
238
Figure 7. Variations in point load strengths within the
massive and disseminated sulphide zones.
5.3 Voisey’s Bay – Defects
The Voisey’s Bay nickel deposit is located 350 km
north of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador,
Canada. Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company (VBNC) is a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Inco Ltd. and is respon-
sible for developing the Voisey’s Bay project. The
deposit is hosted within the Voisey’s Bay Intrusion
which is mafic in composition and is dominantly
composed of olivine gabbro and troctolite with vari-
able amounts of leucotroctolite, melatroctolite, olivine
norite, gabbronorite and ferrodiorite. Mineralization
occurs within a number of potential ore deposits
as either a massive sulphide or disseminated ore of
variable sulphide content.
The more massive sulphide ores of these deposits
can have relatively low IRS as a result of well devel-
oped micro-fracturing (see Fig. 6) and there is a
potential relationship between percentage sulphide
content and IRS within the disseminated sulphide zone
(Fig. 7). The impact of this low strength on rock mass
performance is not adequately reflected when eval-
uating using existing classification systems and it is
suggested that IRS would need to be a bigger portion
of the rock mass rating.
For this reason it was considered that there needed
to be a higher level of resolution of the IRS within
a narrow range as this may become a critical aspect
in the mine design. If engineering judgment during
the later design process warrants that IRS should have
a higher weighting in an engineered Rock Mass rat-
ing calculation to be representative of the rock mass
performance, then this detail may prove invaluable in
optimizing the chosen mining method.
Attempts to quantify the micro fracturing and relate
this to rock strength proved difficult and it was con-
sidered best to evaluate the variation in strength of
the sulphides on a regular basis using a Schmidt
hammer. In contrast to just empirically logging it as
a R3 (25–50 MPa) range with the occasional point-
load test, a sizeable data set would be set up with
a higher resolution. This detail could become very
important when defining geotechnical domains and
the associated mine design parameters.
Also of high importance to future mining methods
is the understanding of strength variations within a
potential orebody due to the varying sulphide con-
tent. Accordingly, the point load testing and UCS
testing program needed to be tailored to ensure that
representative sulphide ranges were tested.
6 CONCLUSION
In summary:
– Each site is geotechnically unique and should be
treated as such. Time and expertise must be invested
in order to obtain the highest, most relevant data
collected from drilling programs. Substantial time
and cost benefits can be realized through a cus-
tomized more focused geotechnical data gathering
program than a general ‘blanket’ approach.
– The site-specific logging atlas should be completed
only after a site visit where senior geotechnical
personnel are able to liaise with site personnel.
– Senior geological and geotechnical site staff should
be involved in initial orientation and training as they
play a major role in ongoing QA/QC.
– The most common geotechnical factors which must
be customized on a site specific basis include
alteration/weathering, rock strength, discontinuity
assessment and micro-defects.
239
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BHP Billiton Diamonds, IAMGOLD and INCO
(VBNC) have graciously permitted us to include case
study examples in this manuscript. We would like
thank J. Jakubec for his peer review and insightful
comments. We also extend our thanks to our field staff
who have greatly aided in developing our site specific
logging manuals.
REFERENCES
Barton, N.R., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering clas-
sification of jointed rock masses for the design of tunnel
support. Rock Mechanics 6: 189–236.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classification of jointed
rock masses. In Bieniawski (ed.), Exploration for Rock
Engineering. Johannesburg: Balkema, pp. 97–106.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass Classifica-
tions. John Wiley & Sons, 251 pp.
Jakubec, J., Long, L., Nowicki, T. & Dyck, D. 2004. Under-
ground geotechnical and geological investigations at Ekati
Mine – Koala North: case study. In 8th International
Kimberlite Conference Selected Papers, pp. 347–357.
Jakubec, J. & Laubscher, D.H. 2000. The IRMR/MRMR
Rock Mass Classification System for Jointed Rock
Masses. SME.
Laubscher, D.H. 1990. A geomechanics classification system
for the rating of rock mass in mine design. Journal of the
South African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy 90(10):
257–273.
Milne, D., Hadjigeorgiou, J. & Pakalnis R., 1998. Rock
mass characterization for underground hard rock mines.
Tunneling and Underground Space Technology 13(4):
383–391.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Rock mass strength with non-persistent joints

B.H. Kim, M. Cai & P.K. Kaiser

Geomechanics Research Centre, MIRARCO Inc., Laurentian University, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: Although tensile strength can often be neglected for weak or highly jointed rock masses, the
strength of rock bridges in moderately fractured and blocky hard rock masses contributes significantly to their
self-supporting capacity and should be considered in engineering design. This self-supporting capacity can often
be attributed to the distributed load bearing capacity of rock bridges separating joint segments and fractures. A
rock bridge provides an effective cohesion to the joint and a rock block cannot fall or slide until all the rock
bridges fail. In this study, we generate various combinations of geometric conditions of discontinuities using
UDEC. Non-persistent joints generated in the UDEC models are assigned distributed joint properties randomly.
A degradation model is developed in UDEC to simulate the combined failure process of intact rock and joints.
Equivalent rock mass strength considering joint persistence is obtained and compared to theoretical results. The
objective is to analyze how the joint persistence will increase the overall rock mass strength in jointed hard rock
masses, with the focus on the verification of a previously proposed approach to consider the influence of joint
persistence on the rock mass strength by the concept of equivalent block volume in the GSI system.

1 INTRODUCTION is affected by various non-persistent joints. Combina-

To provide a practical tool to estimate the rock mass
strength for use with the Hoek-Brown failure criterion
(Hoek & Brown 1980, 1988, Hoek et al. 2002), the
GSI system was introduced (Hoek et al. 1995). The
value of GSI ranges from 0 to 100. The GSI system
consolidates various versions of the Hoek-Brown cri-
terion into a single simplified and generalized criterion
that covers all of the rock types normally encountered
in rock engineering. A GSI value is determined from
the interlocking structure and joint surface conditions.
Although the importance of joint persistence on the
overall rock mass strength has long been identified,
the impact of joint persistence on rock strength is
under represented in most current rock mass classifi-
cation systems (Kim 2002). In addition, joints are often
assumed to be fully persistent for stability analysis of
tunnels or slopes. This oversimplification may lead to
an overestimation of the number of removable blocks
near the excavated face, resulting in excessive expen-
diture on rock support. On the other hand, if the joint
persistence characteristics are properly considered, the
block size can be accurately estimated, and safe and
economic design of the rock structure can be achieved.
For an optimum design of underground structures
in rock, it is therefore important to estimate the rock
mass strength that constitutes the rock mass as close
to reality as possible. For this purpose, using statis-
tical methods and numerical methods, such as UDEC
(Itasca 2004), we have studied how rock mass strength
tions of joint spacing, dip direction, dip angle, and
length have been statistically generated with the help
of orthogonal arrays using the experimental design
approach. Statistical analyses and numerical analysis
were then performed to elucidate the influence of joint
persistence on the overall rock mass strength.
2 JOINT PERSISTENCE AND GSI
2.1 Joint persistence
Fractures usually occupy only a part of the surface
extended by the joint plane to a given rock volume. Per-
sistence is the term used to describe the area extent or
size of a discontinuity within a plane (Brady & Brown
1992). In jointed rock masses, rock bridges exist due
to the non-persistent nature of joints. A rock bridge
is defined as a small bridge of intact rock separating
coplanar or non-coplanar discontinuities. Persistence
estimation can be done by comparing either the sum
of the trace length relative to a characteristic length of
a colinear scan line or the sum of individual joint sur-
face areas to the surface of a coplanar reference area
(Dershowitz & Einstein 1988). In practice, since the
true joint area is almost impossible to measure accu-
rately, the persistence is often estimated based on
the trace length. An illustration of persistent and
non-persistent joints is presented in Figure 1.
Consensus exists on the fact that rock bridges play
an important role in stabilizing a rock mass by their

241
 Non-persistent joints
Persistent joints
Figure 1. Illustration of joint persistence.
resistance to removable blocks. A rock block cannot
fall or slide from an excavation or slope until the appro-
priate rock bridges have failed. The rock bridge failure
involves the failure of the intact rock, which can be
an order of magnitude stronger than the rock mass
(Kemeny 2005). The importance of rock bridges or
non-persistent joints on the stability of rock slopes has
been studied among others by Einstein et al. (1983),
Nichol et al. (2002), Sjöberg (1996), and the effect of
rock bridges on the strength or deformation properties
of rock masses has been discussed by Kemeny & Cook
(1986), Shen et al. (1995), Kemeny (2003) and many
others.
If the joints are not persistent, the rock mass
strength is higher and the global stability is enhanced.
Diederichs & Kaiser (1999) demonstrated that the
capacity of a 1% rock bridge area equivalent to
100 cm2 per 1 m2 total joint area in a strong rock
(UCS > 200 MPa) is equivalent to the capacity of at
least one cablebolt. Consequently, the apparent block
volume should be larger for rock masses with non-
persistent joints. Cai et al. (2004) proposed that if
the joint lengths are only about 20% of the reference
length, the equivalent block size is about five times
larger than that with persistent joints. Thus, the pres-
ence of discontinuous joints has a significant effect
on the properties and behaviour of rock masses and
should be carefully considered for the engineering
characterization of rock masses.
The issue of joint persistency is important but, at
the same time, it is one of the most difficult issues to
be addressed in rock mechanics. In the present study,
we use the distinct element method, in combination
with the experimental design technique, to systemati-
cally investigate the effect of joint persistence on the
mechanical behaviour of jointed rock masses.
2.2 Block size and GSI value with non-persistent
joints
The rock mass classification systems, such as RMR
(Bieniawski 1973, 1976), Q (Barton et al. 1974), and
242
GSI (Hoek et al. 1995) systems, are based on accumu-
lated engineering experience and are excellent tools
to characterize the complicated mechanical properties
of in-situ rock masses during the design of rock struc-
tures. Since the mechanical and hydraulic behaviors of
jointed rock masses are dominated by their discontinu-
ities, most rock mass classification systems focus on
determining specific values which represent discon-
tinuity characteristics for design purposes. Because
there are so many elements or factors that influence the
engineering properties of rock masses, and the inher-
ent variability of the value is very large, it is almost
impossible to exactly reflect all factors into a rock
mass classification scheme. Consequently, the clas-
sification items and scores in most widely used rock
mass classification systems are based on the experi-
ence and subjectivity of the originators. In some cases,
certain assumptions are essential, which may lead to
inevitable errors in rock mass characterization. For
example, the Q and GSI rock mass classification sys-
tems do not consider joint persistence explicitly. Joint
persistence is only indirectly referred as ‘block inter-
locking’ in the GSI system, using descriptive terms. In
addition, joints are often assumed to be fully persis-
tent for the stability analysis of tunnels or slopes. This
oversimplification may lead to overestimation of the
size of the joints and hence the numbers of removable
blocks near the excavated faces, resulting in excessive
expenditure on rock support. Conversely, if the joint
persistence characteristics are properly considered, the
block size can be estimated accurately and a safe and
economic design of the rock structure can be achieved.
The GSI system is widely used in the design of
underground structures and rock slopes. Since it can
provide a complete set of design parameters, includ-
ing the strength of the rock masses, it is ideally suited
for design using numerical modeling tools. As an
alternative approach to the original system, which is
qualitative in nature, Cai et al. (2004) proposed a quan-
titative approach, using block volume and joint surface
condition factor, to utilize the GSI system. Once the
block volume (Vb ) and the joint surface condition
factor (Jc ) are known, the GSI value can be deter-
mined from the quantified chart or from the following
equation (Cai & Kaiser 2006):
where Jc is a dimensionless factor and Vb is in cm3 .
For jointed rock masses with non-persistent joints,
the equivalent block volume is calculated from (Cai
et al. 2004):
where si , γi and pi are the joint spacing, the angle
between joint sets and persistence factor respectively.
Correlation analysis was performed by the authors of
this paper to relate the block size generated from the
numerical tools (UDEC and 3DEC) to the ones calcu-
lated using Eq. (2), and good correspondence between
the two has been found (Kim et al. 2006).
Using Eq. (2), the effects of joint persistence on the
block size (area in 2D and volume in 3D) delineated
by discontinuous joint sets can be considered quan-
titatively. In this fashion, the interlocking due to the
presence of discontinuous joints is indirectly consid-
ered by increased block size in the GSI system. Using
this scheme, utilization of the GSI system for the esti-
mation of rock mass strength containing non-persistent
joints can be achieved. A few examples are presented
in the next section.
3 ROCK MASS STRENGTH WITH
NON-PERSISTENT JOINTS
3.1 Statistical analysis using experimental
design
Because the inherent variability of the spatial charac-
teristics of joints, (e.g., orientation, length, spacing,
etc.) is significant and the number of relevant param-
eters in determining a joint network is large, it is
impractical to run a parametric study by varying each
parameter individually. Therefore, in order to save time
but at the same time to honour the statistical distri-
butions of the parameters, it is necessary to develop
an experimental design to collect sufficient sample
data and develop a statistical analysis method to
draw accurate conclusions from the collected sample
data.
The specific questions that the experiment is
intended to answer must be clearly identified before
carrying out the experiment. One must also attempt to
identify known or expected sources of variability in
the experimental units since one of the main aims of
a designed experiment is to reduce the effect of these
sources of variability on the result.
The experimental design technique is used to assist
data acquisition, to decrease experiment error, and
to provide statistical analysis tools to describe the
degree of errors. Two basic principles guide statis-
tical experimental design: replication and random-
ness. Replication means that the same results can be
obtained by the same experimental conditions. Ran-
domness is required to ensure objectivity by putting
the experiment objects into different conditions or
by randomly arranging their experimental order. Fur-
thermore, it is necessary to have a homogeneous
experimental environment when applying probability
theory. The principle of orthogonal array design is
to eliminate the biasing effect due to other factors,
243
when the influence of a specific factor is investi-
gated. When there are many parameters to be studied,
the main effect of each parameter and some of the
reciprocal actions are estimated, while other recipro-
cal actions are disregarded to reduce the number of
tests. The benefit of orthogonal array design is that it
calculates the parameter changes from experimental
or field-mapping data, facilitates the easy preparation
of input data for analysis of variance, and allows the
consideration of many parameters in experiment or
simulation without increasing the test scale (Devore
2000, Mendenhall & Sincich 1995).
Let us assume that there is an orthogonal array
presented as L9 (34 ). This means that four factors or
parameters could be used in the experiment and there
are three stages in which the parameters can change
their values. Eighty-one experiments are required to
obtain results that are statistically significant and rep-
resentative. If the orthogonal array is used, however,
only nine experiments are needed.
In experiments, a treatment is something that
researchers administer to experimental units. For
example, in a rock mass with three joint sets each
set may have a different orientation. Treatments are
administered to experimental units by ‘level’, where
level implies an amount or magnitude. For example,
if the experimental units were given as 15◦ , 45◦ and
60◦ dip angle, those amounts would be three levels of
the treatment. ‘Level’ is also used for categorical vari-
ables, such as joint set A, B, and C, where the three are
different kinds of joint set, not different levels of the
same set.
For the application at hand, orthogonal arrays are
used to define the combination of joint spacing, dip
direction, angle, and length of different joint sets that
simulate discontinuous blocks with various shapes and
sizes.
3.2 Estimation of GSI and rock mass strength
with non-persistent joint using statistical
simulation
Various block sizes are generated by statistical simula-
tion using the Latin Hypercube method. First of all, the
generation of the blocks can be achieved considering
continuous and discontinuous joints based on Eq. (2),
then different GSI values with and without considering
the persistence were estimated using Eq. (1).
When the block size is calculated, the considera-
tion of the joint persistence obviously influences the
estimation of the GSI value. Fully persistent joints
allow the GSI value an opportunity to be underes-
timated while the classification is performed. Con-
sequently, the GSI estimated by discontinuous block
volume always presents higher values than the GSI by
continuous block sizes.
Figures 2 and 3 show respectively how the GSI
value and the rock mass strength are related to joint

Figure 2. Ratio of GSI vs. persistence factor.
Figure 3. Ratio of rock mass strength vs. persistence factor.
persistence. The persistence factors are assumed to be
0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9 for esti-
mation of the GSI value. The rock mass strength in
Figure 4 was calculated using an equation proposed
by Hoek et al. (1995).
In these figures, the data variation range for the
same persistence factor means that different joint spac-
ings are used to calculate block volumes. In other
words, upper bound data have wider joint spacings
than those in the lower bound data for the same joint
persistence factor.
According to these figures, a maximum of 30%
increase of the GSI value and approximately 50%
increase of the rock mass strength can be expected
if the joint persistences are drastically different. It is
obvious that the rock blocks tend to be underestimated
if joints are assumed to be persistent, as is the case in
most designs. This can lead to more removable blocks
than actually existed in-situ. In addition, a poor under-
standing of the rock bridge strength may lead to lower
rock mass strengths, and consequently, to excessive
expenditure on rock support.
In the next section, numerical simulations using
UDEC are performed to further verify the findings.
244
4 ESTIMATION OF ROCK MASS STRENGTH
WITH NON-PERSISTENT JOINT USING
NUMERICAL MODELLING
4.1 Introduction
The aim of this investigation is to understand how joint
persistence influences the overall rock mass strength.
UDEC has been chosen to model triaxial tests of frac-
tured samples with different joint persistence. In the
UDEC model, plane strain is assumed and the out-
of-plane thickness is 1 unit. One has to be aware that
there is no direct way to generate very short and iso-
lated joints in UDEC. However, the short joints can be
generated as different material properties are assigned
in the model. It is possible that short joints can be rep-
resented as through-going discontinuities with only a
certain section of the discontinuity allowed to slip. The
ends of the discontinuity are prevented from slipping
by setting the frictional resistance to a high value over
these regions. This approach has already been verified
using some simple examples (Itasca 2004).
Heterogeneity is an extremely important factor that
influences the rock mass strength. UDEC provides
user-defined functions like the FISH and random num-
ber generator which can be used to generate normal
and other distributions. Using these functions, spe-
cific FISH functions have been developed to generate
heterogeneous material and joints of varying lengths.
4.2 Validation of tool for the modeling
First of all, both the mean and the standard deviation
values in the random generator were adjusted to assign
normal distribution material properties randomly to
element zones. Figure 4 presents one example showing
the distribution of cohesion in the sample. Material
heterogeneity in the sample can be controlled by the
standard deviation.
Next, FISH functions were developed to generate
various length of joint based on Eq. (3).
where p: input parameter (for joint persistence), pa :
average of parameter, pSD : standard deviation of
parameter, N(0,1): random number by normal distri-
bution.
Material properties are assigned to individual seg-
ments of joint elements using Eq. (3). For example, if a
segment is a joint, then, its tensile strength is assigned
to zero. If a segment is rock, then the same material
properties (c and φ) as intact rock are assigned. In
addition, both normal and shear joint stiffness for the
rock segments are assigned to very high values to glue
the joint together. Figure 5 shows the histogram of
 Figure 6. The calibration results for a joint assigned differ-
ent material properties.

Table 1. Typical material properties (Hoek et al. 1995).

σci σcm
Type GSI (MPa) mi (MPa)

Massive/Strong 75.00 110.00 17.70 42.79

(MS)
Figure 4. An example of rock mass cohesion distribution Average 65.00 30.00 15.60 8.16
generated by the FISH functions. (AV)

Table 2. Input parameters for the rock mass strength.

γ K G coh σt
Type (MN/m3 ) (GPa) (GPa) (MPa) (deg) (MPa)

MS 0.027 20.08 12.05 4.32 41.97 −0.47

AV 0.027 28.11 16.87 9.35 42.78 −0.94

of the numerical model which contains different joint

Figure 5. An example of generated joint material using
FISH.
assigned zero tensile strength within a segment of joint
element for different joint persistences. Percentage in
the y-axis means a fraction of an amount expressed
as a segment number of hundredths of that amount. If
the joint persistence is high, then the percentage of the
assigned zero tensile strength is also high.
In order to verify this concept, i.e. where different
joint persistences are not generated by the element of
joints in UDEC, but are generated by the method which
assigns different material properties within a segment
of joint element, a model calibration was conducted.
Figure 6 presents the calculated stress and strain curves
dip angles. It is seen that calculated values were very
similar, irrespective of joint angle or the existence of
joints. It is appropriate to apply this concept for a sim-
ulation of the model which contains various lengths of
joints to represent different joint persistences.
Finally, FISH functions to simulate a servo-control
triaxial model were developed. Degradation of mate-
rial properties after failure was adopted in the func-
tions. While the model is simulated, all zones for intact
rocks within the model are scanned to identify whether
they are failed or not. If a zone is failed, all deformation
and strength values of the zone are degraded.
4.3 UDEC simulation
4.3.1 Calibration of the model
Based on typical rock mass properties suggested by
Hoek et al. (1995), several calculations were per-
formed to verify the developed FISH functions and
the degradation model in UDEC. Tables 1 and 2 show

245
Figure 7. Calculated rock mass strength using the degrada-
tion model.

Table 3. Input parameters for wing crack simulation.

Figure 9. Layout of the UDEC model.
γ K G coh σt
(MN/m3 ) (GPa) (GPa) (MPa) (deg) (MPa) simulation. It is further assumed that the crack can
be represented by a single through-going discontinu-
0.027 37.49 22.49 12.1 47.87 −2.64
ity with only the central section of the discontinuity
allowed to slip. The ends of the discontinuity are pre-
vented from slipping by setting the frictional resistance
to a high value over these regions.
In this figure, the crack propagation is represented
by a plasticity indicator in UDEC. It is confirmed that
the wing crack propagation process is dominated by
tensile fracturing.
From these simulations, it is concluded that the
developed degradation model is capable of simulating
the complete stress strain behaviour of jointed rock
masses and hence their peak and residual strengths.
In the next section, the strength of rock masses which
contain different persistent joints is investigated.

4.3.2 Rock mass strengths with different joint

Figure 8. Examples of wing crack propagation simulated
by the degradation model in UDEC.
typical mechanical properties of rock mass and input
parameters for the calculation of rock mass strength.
Figure 7 shows the calculated stress-strain rela-
tionships for massive strong and average quality rock
masses. The calculated rock mass strength for mas-
sive strong rock mass is 40.5 MPa, and the estimated
rock mass strength by Hoek-Brown’s equation is
42.79 MPa. For the average quality rock mass, the cal-
culated strength is 7.83 MPa and the estimated strength
is 8.16 MPa.
Next, wing crack propagations are simulated in
order to consider propagation of cracks while the
rock mass strength is calculated in the model. Table 3
shows the input parameters for the simulation of crack
propagation.
Figure 8 presents the simulation results of wing-
crack propagation. Plane strain is assumed in the
persistences
Simple models which contain joints with different joint
persistences were run in order to investigate the influ-
ence of joint persistence on the overall rock mass
strength. As an example, two models with joint persis-
tence factors 0.9 and 0.05 are built, using the method
described in section 4.1. The samples are loaded to
a hydrostatic state first, following by gradual con-
finement decrease. Figure 9 shows the layout of the
model for the simulation. Figure 10 shows both the
stress-strain curves and the crack propagation pat-
terns. The end points in the curves indicate the peak
strength of the samples. The peak strength for p = 0.05
is much higher than that the case for p = 0.9. In fact,
the behaviour of the sample with p = 0.05 is very close
to that of intact rock. The simulation results support
the notion by the GSI system that the strengths of rock
masses with non-persistent joints are higher. Due to
space limitation, other detailed simulation results will
be made available in future publications.

246

Figure 10. Stress-strain relationships of rock masses with
different joint persistence factors.
5 GENERAL REMARKS
In jointed rock masses, the non-persistent nature of
joints significantly contributes to the enhancement of
rock mass strength. A rock bridge is defined as a
small bridge of intact rock separating coplanar or non-
coplanar discontinuities. A rock bridge provides an
effective cohesion to the joint and a rock block cannot
fall or slide until all the rock bridges fail.
The GSI system is a rock mass classification
scheme which provides the Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-
Brown strength parameters as well as the deformation
modulus of jointed rock masses. However, there is no
direct way to consider the influence of joint persis-
tence in the system, although the importance of joint
persistence on the overall rock mass strength has been
identified.
In this study, the influence of rock bridges, defined
by the existence of non-persistent joints, on rock mass
strength is investigated using both statistical analysis
and numerical modelling approaches. FISH functions
are developed to randomly generate joints with vari-
ous lengths that follow given joint persistences in the
numerical model. Mechanical property degradation of
the intact rocks is also considered in the model.
It is concluded from the study that joint persistence
significantly affects the overall rock mass strength.
The developed FISH routines in UDEC are able to
simulate the gradual failure process of jointed rock
masses. Preliminary simulation results seem to sup-
port the approach by the concept of equivalent block
volume for the jointed rock masses with non-persistent
247
joints. The increase of block volume leads to the
increase of the GSI value, and hence the peak strength
of the rock mass.
REFERENCES
Barton, N.R., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of rock masses for the design of tunnel support.
Rock Mech. 6(4): 189–239.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1973. Engineering classification of jointed
rock masses. Trans S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Engrs. 15: 335–344.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classification in rock
engineering. In Proc. Symp. on Exploration for Rock
Engineering. Cape Town: Balkema, pp. 97–106.
Brady, B.H.G. & Brown, E.T. 1992. Rock Mechanics for
Underground Mining. London: Chapman & Hall, 569 pp.
Cai, M. & Horii, H. 1992. A constitutive model of highly
jointed rock masses. Mech. of Materials 13: 217–246.
Cai, M. & Kaiser, P.K. 2006. Visualization of rock mass clas-
sification systems. Geotechnical and Geological Engi-
neering 24: 1089–1102.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K., Uno, H., Tasaka, Y. & Minami, M.
2004. Estimation of rock mass strength and deformation
modulus of jointed hard rock masses using the GSI system.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41(1): 3–19.
Dershowitz, W.S. & Einstein, H.H. 1988. Characterizing rock
joint geometry with joint system models. Rock Mech. Rock
Engng. 21: 21–51.
Devore, J.L. 2000. Probability and statistics for engineering
and sciences. Duxbury: Thomson Learning.
Diederichs, M.S. & Kaiser, P.K. 1999. Tensile strength and
abutment relaxation as failure control mechanisms in
underground excavations. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. &
Geomech. Abstr., 36: 69–96.
Einstein, H.H. 1993. Modern Developments in Discontinuity
Analysis, the Persistence-Connectivity Problem. In Com-
prehensive Rock Engineering, Pergamon, pp. 193–213.
Einstein, H.H., Veneziano, D., Baecher, G. & O’Reilly, K.
1983. The effect of discontinuity persistence on rock slope
stability. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr.
20(5): 227–236.
Hoek, E., Carranza_Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion – 2002 edition. In Proc. 5th North
American Rock Mech. Symposium, Toronto, pp. 267–273.
Hoek, E., Kaiser, P.K. & Bawden, W.F. 1995. Support of
Underground Excavations in Hard Rock. A.A. Balkema,
215 pp.
Itasca, 2004. UDEC-Universal Distinct Element Code
(v. 4.0). Itasca Consulting Group Inc.
Kemeny, J.M. 2003. The time-dependent reduction of sliding
cohesion due to rock bridges along discontinuities: A frac-
ture mechanics approach. Rock Mech. Rock Engng. 36(1):
27–38.
Kemeny, J.M. 2005. Time-dependent drift degradation due to
the progressive failure of rock bridges along discontinu-
ities. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 42(1): 35–46.
Kemeny, J.M. & Cook, N.G.W. 1986. Effective moduli, non-
linear deformation and strength of cracked elastic solid.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 23(2):
107–118.
Kim, B.H., Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K. & Yang, H.S. 2006.
Estimation of block sizes for rock masses with
 non-persistent joints. Rock Mechanics & Rock Engineer-
ing: doi 10.1007/s00603-006-0093-8.
Kim, B.H. 2002. Revaluation of rock mass classification
using multivariate analysis and estimation of the support
on tunnel. Ph. D. Thesis, Chonnam Nat’l Univ.
Mahtab M.A. & Grasso P. 1992. Developments in Geotech-
nical Engineering, 72. Geomechanics principles in the
design of tunnels and caverns in rock, Elsevier.
Mendenhall, W. & Sincich, T. 1995. Statistics for Engi-
neering and Sciences. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall
International Inc.
Nichol, S.L., Hungr, O. & Evans. S.G. 2002. Large-scale
brittle and ductile toppling of rock slopes. Can. Geotech.
J. 39: 773–788.
Palisade 2001. @RISK. Palisade Corporation.
Reyes, O. & Einstein, H. 1991. Failure mechanisms of frac-
tured rock – A fracture coalescence model. In 7th ISRM
Congress, pp. 333–339.
248
Shen, B., Stephansson, O., Einstein, H. & Ghahreman, B.
1995. Coalescence of fracture under shear stresses in
experiments. J. Geophysical Research 100(B4): 5975–
5990.
Sjöberg, J. 1996. Large scale slope stability in open pit min-
ing – a review. Technical Report, Lulea University of
Technology, Division of Rock Mechanics, Lulea, Sweden,
229.
Song, J.J. & Lee, C.I. 2001. Estimation of joint length dis-
tribution using window sampling. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 38: 519–528.
Song, J.J., Lee, C.I. & Seto, M. 2001. Stability analysis
of rock blocks around a tunnel using a statistical joint
modeling technique. Tunnelling and Underground Space
Technology 16: 341–351.
SPSS Inc. 2004. SPSS 12.0KOR for Windows.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A modified approach for prediction of strength and post yield behaviour

for high GSI rockmasses in strong, brittle ground

M.S. Diederichs
GeoEngineering Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

J.L. Carvalho & T.G. Carter

Golder Associates Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: The GSI system for rockmass strength estimation based on the Hoek-Brown criterion has become
the industry standard for international tunnelling and is becoming popular in slope applications. This system is
based on the principle that structure within a rockmass (joints, fractures, joint surface alteration and degradation)
acts to reduce both the cohesion and frictional properties of the rockmass. Evidence suggests, however, that this
method overestimates the strength of some insitu rocks at high GSI (>75) and underestimates aspects of strength
in certain rocks for moderate GSI values between 65 and 75. This discrepancy is mostly observed in the class
of so-called hard rocks (granites, norites, chemical limestones, gneisses, quartzites, etc). While the recognition
of this problem is not new, this paper presents a new and robust approach to strength parameter estimation and
non-linear plastic analysis of this class of rocks in conventional models using the modified Hoek-Brown system
(a = 0.5). Theoretical background is briefly discussed and guidance for practical application is given. Finally
limitations are specified and appropriate decision support is given via a transition function between traditional
GSI characterization and this new approach.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Damage initiation and hard rock strength

This paper deals with hard rock (including but not lim-
ited to granitoids, gneisses, quartzites and non-foliated
mafics) of high rockmass quality (as defined for exam-
ple by the GSI system of Hoek & Marinos (2000),
as shown in Figure 1. For hard rock materials, exten-
sile crack initiation is the primary form of damage,
even under compression (e.g. Stacey 1981, Tapponier
& Brace 1976, Griffith 1921). Under low confinement,
the propagation of extension cracks lead to spalling
observed around hard rock openings at depth.
Lower bound in situ compressive strength for exca-
vations in hard rocks corresponds to an extension crack
damage initiation threshold that is a function of the
nature and density of internal flaws and heterogeneity.
This threshold (UCS*) is expressed relative to labo-
ratory Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCSi), and
can be as low as 1/3 for igneous rocks (Lajtai & Dzik Figure 1. Rockmass quality and GSI (after Hoek & Marinos
2000) and region of hard rock spalling (shaded).
1996) and as high as 1/2 for dense clastics (Pestman
& Van Munster 1996).
Numerous workers (Pelli et al. 1991, Martin et al. (UCS) at the excavation boundary exceeds 33% to 50%
1999, Brace et al. 1966, Wagner 1987, Castro et al. of the rock’s intact UCSi.
1996) have shown that failure, in massive hard rock Damage initiation also has minor sensitivity to con-
excavations, begins when the tangential stress limit fining stress as first described by Pelli et al. (1991).

249
Figure 2. (dashed line) Best fit to laboratory testing on gran-
ite samples (Martin 1997) using acoustic emission detection,
compared to other initiation criteria (after Diederichs 2000).
Figure 3. (top-left) Shear failure around a tunnel; (top-right)
spalling damage in hard rocks at high GSI; (bottom) mecha-
Martin (1994), and many others relate damage initia- nisms of crack initiation in hard rocks.
tion to a constant deviatoric stress limit (equivalent to
zero friction) while Brace et al (1966) and Diederichs
(2000, 2003) demonstrate that the slope of this thres-
hold is higher and is related to frictional characteristics
of minerals such that:

where A = 0.33 to 0.5 for most non-porous and non-

foliated rocks and B = 1.4 to 2.6. This range of B can
be explained using the open crack model of Griffith
(1924) or the frictional crack model for tension crack
initiation proposed by McClintock &Walsh (1963)
if, for example, the base friction angles (Horn &
Deere 1962) of smooth fracture or cleavage surfaces
in granitic minerals – quartz or feldspar (φ = 8 deg)
and clean biotite (φ = 14 deg), are considered (Fig. 2).
Other minerals types would give variations in A and B
(from those in Fig. 2).
Spalling behaviour occurs in hard rocks within a
lower range of confinement such as that in the vicinity
of a tunnel boundary. This mechanism differs from that
assumed throughout the rest of the GSI range (Figs. 3
and 4).
The mechanisms in Figure 3 can occur at low to
medium confining stresses. Once extension cracks
initiate, however, they can only propagate under con-
ditions of locally low confinement as demonstrated by
Hoek (1967) and Diederichs (2000, 2003). Spalling
results in localised and self-limiting failure as in
Figure 4 (right).
1.2 Rockmass strength and limitations of
Hoek-Brown empirical criteria
One of the most widely used empirical criteria for
scaling the unconfined strength of a rockmass and
Figure 4. (left) conventional shearing failure or squeezing
(courtesy of E. Hoek); (right) example of brittle spalling and
strainbursting in a deep mine opening.
estimating the confinement-strength relationship is the
Hoek-Brown criterion (Hoek & Brown 1980), recently
modified by Hoek et al. (2002). The generalised non-
linear form of the limiting stress criterion for jointed
rock masses is defined by:
where mb is the value of the Hoek-Brown “frictional”
constant for the rock mass, s and a are constants and σc
is the standard uniaxial compressive strength (UCSi)
of the intact rock pieces. For standard testing of intact
rock, mi is used instead of mb , s = 1 and a = 0.5. A
damage factor, D, is included to account for induced
disturbance. The constants mb , s and a are determined
for the rockmass using GSI (Fig. 1) as per Hoek et al.
(2002):

250
 It is suggested here, however, that this approach is of
limited reliability when used for undisturbed (D = 0)
hard rockmasses with GSI > 75 and may be of mixed
success for GSI = 65 to 75. At higher GSI in hard
brittle rock, the Hoek-Brown criterion does not ade-
quately account for brittle damage, crack propagation
and the inhibition of frictional strength development
Figure 5. Determination of damage initiation thresholds
in near-excavation environments. The GSI system is
for rock in compressive loading using strain and acoustic
based on the notion that a jointed rock mass is fun- emissions (after Diederichs et al. 2004).
damentally weaker in shear than intact rock. Confined
joints in good quality hard rock have little influence on
the spalling process. Therefore, the application of this
criterion to brittle failure has met with limited success
(Nickson et al. 1997, Martin et al. 1999). Pelli et al.
(1991) showed that in order to fit elastic Hoek-Brown
analyses to observed depths of failure, the value of mb
had to be reduced to very low values. The so-called
“m = 0” approach proposed by Martin et al. (1999) is
inappropriate for non-linear (inelastic) modelling as
tensile strength cannot be accounted for and post yield
response cannot be simulated correctly.

2 SPALLING PARAMETERS

The following procedure (Diederichs 2007) can be

used to model spalling failure in a Hoek-Brown
formulation (inelastic) with reference to Figure 5:
1. Determine UCS*, the onset of “Systematic Crack-
ing” (B in Figure 5), from acoustic emission or
radial strain data, and set aSP to 0.25.
2. Obtain a reliable estimate of tensile strength, T .
3. Calculate the appropriate sSP and mSP from:

Figure 6. (top) Spalling limits from numerical experimen-

where UCSi is the standard lab strength. For step 1,
above, the “First Crack” threshold (A) in Figure 5 can
be used (with aSP = 0.2 as per Diederichs 2007). This
is effective for 2D or 3D elastic analysis (Diederichs
2003) of complex geometries but will result in a
“worst case” prediction for failure in non-linear anal-
ysis, overestimating observed failure in most cases.
“Systematic Cracking” (B) from Figure 5 along with
aSP = 0.25 is preferred.
The damage initiation threshold thus derived is use-
ful for prediction of rock damage including minor
seismicity when used with elastic models (Diederichs
tation (Diederichs 2000); (bottom) based on A) physical
experiments (Hoek 1968) and B) fracture mechanics (Martin
1994).
2003) but will significantly over-predict failure is used
in non-linear plasticity codes. As discussed, initiating
spall cracks can only propagate under low confine-
ment and so a second limit is needed to constrain the
spalling behaviour.
A limit based on the experimental work of Hoek
(1968) and on numerical simulations described by
Diederichs (2003) is used to create a transition (Fig. 6)
between spalling behaviour at low confinements, con-
trolled by the initiation threshold, and a shear strength

251
Figure 7. Damage and spalling failure map based on ini-
tiation and propagation (spall) limits. (Diederichs 2003:
σc = UCSi).
Figure 8. Damage initiation and spalling limits after
Diederichs (2000). Geometry effects restrain spalling in the
closer to the long term strength limit for the intact rock lab while surface interaction promotes insitu spalling.
(as extensile crack propagation is suppressed at higher
confinements).
As represented in Figure 6, the recommended range
of spalling limits is based on σ1 /σ3 ratios of 7 to 10
(using sres = 0 and mres = mi/3 or mres = 6 to 8) at the
point of intersection with the initiation threshold. The
curvature (ares = 0.75) of this limit is selected to ensure
intersection with the long term lab-tested yield surface
(upper bound strength) at higher confinements. The
composite result is shown in Figure 7. For large strains,
a third residual threshold corresponding to a broken
rockmass can be used in incremental plasticity models.
Diederichs (2000, 2003) summarised a number of
mechanisms leading to the strength reduction insitu for
hard brittle rocks, even in the absence of joints. Confin-
ing stress is the dominant mechanism but is coupled
with surface effects, grain interaction effects among
others. While damage initiation thresholds (UCS*)
measured for lab samples correspond to those in the
field, ultimate strengths in the lab, UCSi, are elevated.
Cylindrical laboratory samples create conditions that Figure 9. Example of proposed spall initiation (peak)
inhibit crack propagation. The sample fails through and propagation (residual) limits compared to GSI-based
accumulation of microcracks rather than the propaga- envelopes and Griffith theory (Hoek 1968).
tion of meso-cracks (Diederichs et al. 2004) with the
result UCSi. Insitu wall strengths (UCS) drop to the
initiation threshold (UCS*) as in Figure 8. Note that the Griffith criteria above corresponds
Using the procedure laid out on the previous page, to the proposed damage initiation threshold for rocks
spall parameters can be determined as in the example with mi = 18–24.The proposed criterion and the planar
in Figure 9. Results are compared with GSI rockmass Griffith deviate for other rock types.
strengths, Hoek’s confinement limit and the biaxial The example in Figure 9 and the discussion that
Griffith criteria (as in Hoek 1968): follows is based on a minimum ratio of wall strength,
UCSrm = UCS* to laboratory UCSi. Here the ratio
of 0.4 is used. Figure 5 and Diederichs et al. (2004)
provide methodologies for determining the ratio more
rationally. Some typical values are shown in Figure 10.

252
Figure 10. Variation in the ratio of damage initiation stress
(first crack) to standard UCS test strengths for different
rock types. Predicted values based on empirical system
from Diederichs et al. (2004) incorporating factors shown
in Figure 7.
Figure 11. Example of “peak” and small strain “residual”
strength parameters for damage initiation and spalling limits
(Diederichs 2007). Brittle behaviour occurs at low confine-
ments with hardening at high confinement. Hoek-Brown
envelopes shown with Mohr-Coulomb equivalents. Note that
a third envelope (ultimate residual) is required for large strain.
For non-linear analysis using the Modified Hoek-
Brown formulation (Hoek et al. 2002) the procedure
outlined here gives reliable results. As shown in
Figure 11, the peak parameters define the damage ini-
tiation threshold while the “residual” parameters are
used to define the spalling confinement limit. This
results in brittle behaviour at low confinements and
strain-hardening behaviour at higher confinements,
consistent with observed behaviour.
Dilation is set to zero for unrestrained fallout or
loose retention to simulate minimal feedback pressure
against unyielded rock. For light support, dilation is set
according to the non-associative flow rule substituting
mdil for mb where mdil ≈ mres /8 consistent with Ryder
& Jager (2002), and Vermeer & de Borst (1984) where
253
Figure 12. Example of non-linear modelling of a circu-
lar tunnel in granite (URL) using the spalling parameters
described here (Diederichs 2007). Dilation in the roof is zero
while in the floor, dilation mdil = mres /8 to simulate feedback
confinement from retained material. Actual spalling shown
for comparison.
mres is the value specified in the yield function for
residual strength.
Unfortunately, the constant dilation flow rule in
many codes presents difficulties with convergence in
brittle modelling as the material continues to experi-
ence volume change with additional yielding. Cundall
et al. (2003) propose a flow rule with a dilation param-
eter dependent on plastic strain and more directly
dependent on confinement. Diederichs (2007) shows
how the dilation parameter can be used to indirectly
model the influence of moderate support (retention)
versus no support (Fig. 12).
Figure 12 illustrates spalling simulations from the
URL test tunnel (described by Martin (1997). The
roof (modeled without dilation) was essentially unsup-
ported while the floor (modeled with dilation) was
constrained under aggregate fill. In both the floor
and the roof cases at the URL test tunnel, the mod-
eled failure depth and angular extent is accurately
simulated.
Both Hoek-Brown and equivalent Mohr-Coulomb
parameters can be used with satisfactory results
although the stark separation between the tensile yield
function and the shear function creates slightly differ-
ent but equally plausible responses as shown in the
mine pillar analyses in Figure 13. Rock parameters
used here are similar to Figure 11.
Figure 13. Pillars (McCreedy Mine) modeled using spalling
Hoek-Brown (left) and equivalent Mohr-Coulomb (right)
parameters. Both models capture observed behaviour
(bottom).
Figure 14. Comparison of FEM modeled depths and extent
of failure and different levels of dilation and support pressure.
The transition from peak to small strain residual Unsupported case = no dilation. Yielding support = constant
(in Fig. 11) and ultimate (large strain) parameters can support pressure + dilation (Diederichs 2007).
be accomplished as elastic-brittle-plastic or through
functions of plastic strain in incremental formulations
such as FLAC or FLAC3D. Guidance for the latter (for
Mohr-Coulomb) is given by Ryder & Jager (2002) and
by Hajiabdolmajid et al. (2003).
A comparison of results for depth and radial extent
of failure are shown in Figure 14. Analyses with-
out dilation, with dilation, and with internal support
pressure are shown. Comparisons are also made to
empirical data fits (Martin 1997) and GSI results. The
normalised depths of failure are plotted against the
maximum wall stress divided by the laboratory UCSi.
“1st initiation” curves use the threshold “A” in Figure 5
while “Systematic Initiation” uses B.

Figure 15. Measured rockmass modulus data and empiri-

3 APPLICATION LIMITS FOR SPALLING
The authors’personal experience suggests a lower limit
of application for spall prone rocks of GSI>>65.
Below this limit, the rockmass structure controls
the behaviour. Above this limit, it is likely that the
intact rock will suffer crack initiation and propagation
resulting in spalling failure with minimal influence
from jointing (for non-laminated rockmasses). This
transitional limit is evident in rockmass modulus
measurements (Hoek & Diederichs 2006) in Figure 15.
cal fits (after Hoek and Diederichs 2006). Joints have less
influence on overall material behaviour for GSI > 65 unless
D > 0.
A second dominant indicator for spall potential is
the ratio of compressive strength to tensile strength
(Diederichs 2007) or UCSi/T. This ratio is nominally
equal to mi for intact rocks although the latter is a
curve fit parameter. Based on previous observations
including those by Lee et al. (2004) and the UCSi/T
ratio along with considerations of behaviour and joint

254
Table 1. Model selection based on strength ratio (com-
pressive/tensile strength) and rockmass quality. SP = spalling
approach, GSI = rock strength based on GSI (Diederichs
2007). For these recommendations, Disturbance D = 0.

Ratio GSI GSI GSI GSI

UCSi/T <55 55 to 65 65 to 80 >80

<8 GSI GSI GSI GSI

9 to 15 GSI GSI GSI GSI/SP
15 to 20 GSI GSI/SP SP/GSI SP
>20 GSI GSI/SP SP SP

• Ordering of methods indicates most appropriate.

influence as defined by GSI, Table 1 provides a prac-

tical guideline for the application of the spalling
technique and for the conventional “GSI” strength
reduction approach for plastic analysis.
When Table 1 is used as a guide, it is recom-
mended that, for transitional zones (marked SP/GSI
or GSI/SP in order of analysis preference), both forms
of analysis are carried out to bracket the result. The
fundamental mechanisms at work in the spalling zone
are very different from those that lead to shearing and
squeezing in the “GSI” region and it is not always pre-
dictable in these transition problems what mechanism
will dominate.
A transitional function between conventional GSI-
based Hoek-Brown parameters (aGSI , sGSI and mGSI ) Figure 16. Transition function to allow selection of spalling
and spalling parameters (aSP , sSP and mSP ) must con- parameters or conventional GSI strength parameters bases on
sider GSI and UCSi /T as indicators of spall potential. GSI and UCSi/T (Equations 9 and 10).
Figure 16 illustrates the transition function introduced
here as a sigmoid function:

This function recreates the transition suggested in

Table 1 and can be used to affect the transition between
parameters (a, s and m) as noted above for conventional
analysis and spalling analysis:

Figure 17. Effect of transition function (Eq. 9 and 10) on

where the X’s represent the values of a,s and m,
according to their subscripts, for conventional “GSI”
assessment and SP = Spalling assessment. This func-
tion can be used for “peak” and “residual” parameters.
The standard lab strength is used as input σc (UCSi)
for Hoek-Brown normalization in all cases. D > 0
can be used to simulate preconditioning (destressing)
techniques or excessive blast damage.
Figure 17 illustrates the impact on peak parame-
ters for a rock with a UCSi/T = mi = 20 and a crack
initiation threshold (UCS*) at 45% of the UCSi. The
Hoek-Brown parameters for a typical rockmass (mi = 20).
transitional GSI range indicated here will vary for
different values of UCSi/T (or mi ) as suggested in
Figure 16. Figure 18 illustrates the transition in peak
and residual parameters for this same rock at three
different GSI values (D = 0) and the transition for
rockmass UCSrm. A similar comparison could be
made for increasing UCSi/T ratios as suggested in
Figure 16. UCS ∗ = 0.45UCSi is used here as a reason-
able assumption for most of the rock types in Figure 10

255
Figure 18. a) to c) Example effect of transition function on “peak” and “residual” model parameters (Trans) for typical
rockmass at different GSI; d) Effect of transition relationship on rockmass compressive strength UCSrm as a function of GSI
and UCSi/T (mi ).
although wherever possible this should be measured.
In Figure 18, the “peak” strength increases for spalling
rock at low confinements (compared to lower GSI
rockmasses) but decreases at higher confinements.
This is due to the initiation of extensile damage. At
higher confinement, however, note that the “residual”
strength increases dramatically so that even though
minor damage is occurring, it is not propagating. Plots
of plastic shear strain (rather than yield indicators) as
in Figure 13 gives the correct indication of observ-
able yield (see also Fig. 7). For large strain analysis of
the failing zone, it is likely that ultimate strength will
decay back from the spalling limit to the GSI-based
residual envelope (requires a third parameter set or an
incremental formulation (Cundall et al. 2003).
4 CONCLUSIONS
Theoretical and experimental evidence from past
research provides the background for a practical
approach to non-linear brittle modelling of spalling
behaviour using conventional constitutive models and
currently available analysis tools.
A simple and robust procedure for the determina-
tion and application of Modified Hoek-Brown strength
parameters for conventional non-linear plastic mod-
elling, incorporating spall damage, propagation and
appropriate tensile strength, are presented. Guidance
is also given for the use of equivalent Mohr-Coulomb
parameters.
In general, spalling commonly occurs for UCSi/T
above 15 and GSI values above 65 (even with mod-
erate jointing GSI = 65 to 75 provided stresses are
high enough for full joint closure). The lower limit
for spalling is a combined function of these two
256
indicators. In the lower portion of this range of com-
bined limits, spalling or shearing is possible and dual
analysis with GSI and this new spalling approach
would be recommended.
Some limitations of the GSI system in accurate
strength estimation and inelastic analysis for hard
spall-prone rockmasses are discussed and guidance
is given for appropriate selection of conventional
GSI-based parameter determination versus the use
of modified Hoek-Brown parameters for modelling
of failure depth and damage extent for tunnels and
excavations in hard rock at high GSI values at depth.
Finally, a transition function is introduced to facili-
tate the determination of strength parameters for com-
petent hard rock masses. The transition between the
conventional GSI approach and the spalling approach
is a function of GSI and UCSi/T.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work presented here has been supported by the
NSERC, PREA and CAMIRO. Thanks to E. Hoek
for his early inspiration and recent discussions on this
topic and to P. Kaiser and D. Martin, L. Castro for their
earlier work on this problem.
REFERENCES
Brace, W.F., Paulding, B.W. & Scholz, C. 1966. Dilatancy in
the fracture of crystalline rocks. Journal of Geophysical
Research 71(16): 3939–3953.
Castro, L., McCreath, D. & Kaiser, P.K. 1996. Rockmass
strength determination from breakouts in tunnels and
boreholes. In Proc. 8th ISRM Congress, Tokyo, vol. 2,
pp. 531–536.
Cundall, P., Carranza-Torres, C. & Hart, R. 2003. A new con-
stitutive model based on the Hoek-Brown failure criterion.
In FLAC and Numerical Modelling in Geomechanics.
Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema, pp. 17–25.
Diederichs, M.S. 2000. Instability of hard rockmasses: the
role of tensile damage and relaxation. PhD thesis, Univer-
sity of Waterloo, 566 pp.
Diederichs, M.S. 2007. Mechanistic validation and practi-
cal application of damage and spalling prediction criteria
for deep tunnelling. The 2003 Canadian Geotechnical
Colloquium. Canadian Geotechnical Journal: In Press.
Diederichs, M.S. 2003. Rock fracture and collapse under
low confinement conditions. Rock Mechanics and Rock
Engineering 36(5): 339–381.
Diederichs, M.S., Kaiser, P.K. & Eberhardt, E. 2004. Damage
initiation and propagation in hard rock tunnelling and the
influence of near-face stress rotation. Int. J. Rock Mech.
& Min. Sci. 41: 785–812.
Griffith, A.A. 1921. The phenomena of rupture and flow in
solids. Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. of London 221A: 163–198.
Griffith, A.A. 1924. Theory of rupture. In 1st Int. Congr.
Applied Mechanics, Delft, pp. 55–63.
Hajiabdolmajid, V., Kaiser, P.K. & Martin, C.D. 2003.
Mobilised strength components in brittle failure of rock.
Geotechnique 53(3): 327–336.
Hoek, E. 1968. Brittle failure of rock. In Stagg & Zienkiewicz
(eds.), Rock Mechanics in Engineering Practice. London:
Wiley and Sons, pp. 99–124.
Hoek, E. & Diederichs, M.S. 2006. Empirical estimation of
rockmass modulus. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min.Sci. 43(2):
203–215.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion-2002 edition. In NARMS 2002.
Toronto: UofT Press, pp. 267–274.
Horn, H.M. & Deere, D.H. 1962. Frictional characteristics of
minerals. Geotechnique 12: 319–335.
Lajtai, E.Z. & Dzik, E.J. 1996. Searching for the dam-
age threshold in intact rock. In NARMS ’96. Rotterdam:
Balkema, pp. 701–708.
Lee, S.M., Park, B.S. & Lee, S.W. 2004. Analysis of rock-
bursts that have occurred in a waterway tunnel in Korea.
Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 41(3): 6 pp.
257
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2000. GSI – A geologically friendly
tool for rock mass strength estimation.In Proc. Geo-
Eng2000 Conference, Melbourne, pp. 1422–1442.
Martin, C.D. 1994. The strength of massive Lac du Bon-
net granite around underground openings. PhD Thesis,
Department of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Manitoba.
Martin, C.D. 1997. The effect of cohesion loss and stress path
on brittle rock strength. Can. Geotech. J. 34(5): 698–725.
Martin, C.D., Kaiser, P.K. & McCreath, D.R. 1999. Hoek-
Brown parameters for predicting the depth of brittle failure
around tunnels. Can. Geotech. Jour. 36(1): 136–151.
McClintock, F.A. & Walsh, J.B. 1963. Friction on Griffith
cracks in rocks under pressure. In Proc. 4th U.S. National
Congress on Applied Mechanics, AIME, vol. 2, pp. 1015–
1021.
Murrell, S. 1963. A criterion for brittle fracture of rocks and
concrete under triaxial stress and the effect of pore pres-
sure on the criterion. In Fairhurst (ed.), 5th Rock Mech.
Symp., U. Minnesota. Oxford: Pergamon, pp. 563–577.
Nickson, S., Sprott, D., Bawden, WF. & Coulson, A. 1997.
A geomechanical study for a shaft wall rehabilitation
program. In Proceedings of 99th CIM Annual General
Meeting, Vancouver. Canadian Institute of Mining, 20 pp.
Pelli, F., Kaiser, P.K. & Morgenstern, N.R. 1991. Interpreta-
tion of ground movements recorded during construction
of the Donkin-Morien tunnel. Can. Geotech. Jour. 28(2):
239–254.
Pestman, B.J. & VanMunster, J.G. 1996. An acoustic emission
study of damage development and stress-memory effects
in sandstone. Int.J.Rock Mech. Min.Sci. 33(6): 585–593.
Ryder, J.A. & Jager, A.J. 2002. Rock Mechanics for Tabular
Hard Rock Mines. Braamfontein: SIMRAC.
Stacey, T.R. 1981. A simple extension strain criterion for
fracture of brittle rock. Int. J. of Fracture 18: 469–474.
Tapponier, P. & Brace, W.F. 1976. Development of stress
induced microcracks in Westerly granite. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 13: 103–112.
Vemeer, P.A. & de Borst, R.1984. Non-associated plasticity
for soils, concrete and rock. Heron 29(3).
Wagner, H. 1987. Design and support of underground exca-
vations in highly stressed rock.In Proc of the 6th ISRM
Congress, Montreal. Rotterdam: Balkema, vol. 3, pp.
1443–1457.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Peak and residual strengths of jointed rock masses and their

determination for engineering design

M. Cai & P.K. Kaiser

Geomechanics Research Centre, MIRARCO, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Y. Tasaka
Department of Advanced Engineering, Tokyo Electric Power Services Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

M. Minami
Department of Construction, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: Knowledge of the rock mass strength is required for the design of many engineering structures
in or on rocks. GSI system, proposed by Hoek et al. (1995), is now widely used for the estimation of the rock
mass peak strength and the rock mass deformation parameters. There are no guidelines given by the GSI, or
by any other system, for the estimation of the rock mass’ residual strength that yield consistent results. In the
present study, numerical simulations of laboratory strength tests are carried out to investigate the residual strength
behavior of rock masses. Based on the results from numerical simulation and laboratory and field tests, the GSI
system is extended to cover the residual strength of jointed rock masses. It is proposed to adjust the peak GSI
to the residual GSI r value based on the two major controlling factors in the GSI system, i.e., the residual block
volume Vbr and the residual joint surface condition factor Jcr . Methods to estimate the residual block volume and
joint surface condition factor are presented. The peak and residual strength parameters determined from the GSI
system are compared to the data from field block shear tests and the validity of the proposed method is verified.

1 INTRODUCTION estimation of the rock mass peak strength and the

Knowledge of the rock mass strength and deformation
behavior is required for the design of many engi-
neering structures in or on rock, such as foundations,
slopes, tunnels, underground caverns, drifts, and min-
ing stopes. A better understanding of the rock mass
strength behavior, including the peak and residual
strengths, will facilitate the cost-effective design of
such structures.
However, the determination of the global mechan-
ical properties of a jointed rock mass remains one of
the most difficult tasks in the field of rock mechan-
ics. Given the number of parameters that affect rock
mass deformability and strength, it is generally impos-
sible to develop a universal law that can be used in any
practical way to predict the strength of the rock mass.
Traditional methods to determine these parameters
include plate-loading tests for deformation modulus
and in-situ block shear tests for strength parameters.
These tests can only be performed when the explo-
ration adits are excavated and the cost of conducting
in-situ tests is high.
The Geological Strength Index (GSI), proposed
by Hoek et al. (1995), is now widely used for the
rock mass deformation parameters. The GSI system
concentrates on the description of two factors, rock
structure and block surface conditions. It should be
noted that the guidelines given by the GSI system are
for the estimation of the peak strength parameters of
jointed rock masses.
Recently, a means to quantify this approach by use
of field data, which employs the block volume (Vb )
and a joint surface condition factor (Jc ) as quantitative
characterization factors, was presented in Cai et al.
(2004). The newly developed approach adds quantita-
tive means to facilitate use of the system, especially by
inexperienced engineers. It can also facilitate the use
of probabilistic design approach to tunnel and cavern
design using the GSI system (Cai & Kaiser 2006a). In
addition, the approach has been developed and tested
for rock mass’s residual strength estimation (Cai et al.
2006).
In this paper, we will first illustrate some numer-
ical simulation results for the complete stress-strain
curves of rocks and then present a quantitative
approach for the determination of the peak and resid-
ual strengths of jointed rock masses for engineering
design.

259
2 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF COMPLETE
STRESS-STRAIN CURVES OF ROCKS
UNDER LOADING

Experimental study of the complete stress-strain rela-

tions of rocks revealed that peak and residual strengths
of rocks increase with increasing confining pressures
(Wawersik & Fairhurst 1970, Rummel & Fairhurst
1970). In the following discussion, numerical sim-
ulation was performed to investigate some of the
dominant factors that control the peak and residual
strengths of rocks.

2.1 PFC simulation

PFC (Itasca 2002) model simulation is used to obtain
the complete stress-strain relations of samples consist-
ing of disks. The model, which is 50 mm in width and
100 mm in height, contains disks of different diame-
ters. The minimum disk radius is 0.4 mm and there are
4721 disks. Load is applied by assigning a fixed verti- Figure 1. Influence of ball friction coefficients on the
cal velocity to the top and bottom walls. Confinement stress-strain relations.
is applied using servo-controlled sidewalls. The nor-
mal velocity of the sidewalls is continuously updated
to keep the prescribed confining stress within a small
error range.
When the bonds fail, the cohesion (bond) strength is
lost. Because material heterogeneity is considered, the
bonds fail gradually and thus cohesion strength is lost
gradually. In the simulation, only peak bond strength
is prescribed. The residual bond strength is zero and
only the frictional and dilational effect contributes to
the residual strength of the sample.
In the first simulation, the ball friction coeffi-
cient (= tan φ) at contacts is varied from 0.4 to 1.2.
The stress-strain relations for different ball friction
coefficients are presented in Figure 1. The confin-
ing pressure is 10 MPa for all cases. When the bond
breaks, the bond strength is lost and the balls can
support only the frictional strength. It is seen that
the ball friction coefficient affects not only the resid-
ual strength but also the peak strength because at the
pre-peak stage, as some weak bonds are broken, the
friction strength components are mobilized gradually.
In the post-peak region, strain-softening is observed.
Figure 2. Influence of bond strength on the stress-strain
The residual strength is similarly affected by the ball
relations.
friction coefficient as the peak strength. Due to high
confining pressure and the interlocking along the shear
plane, large residual strength fluctuation is observed.
However, a general trend can be detected that as the standard deviation vary at the same rate, with a COV of
friction coefficient decreases, the residual strength 20%. The simulation result (Fig. 2) demonstrates that
level decreases. the bond strength (cohesion) influences primarily the
Next, the influence of the bond strength (normal peak strength and has limited impact on the residual
and shear) on the stress-strain relations is investigated strength. After large deformation, the bond strength is
and the results are presented in Figure 2. The confin- completely exhausted. If the friction strengths are the
ing pressure is 10 MPa and the friction coefficient is same, then the residual strengths of the samples are
1.0 for all cases. The bond strength and the strength roughly the same.

260

Figure 3. Damage initiation and propagation and residual
strength of a rock (φ = 40◦ ) for an unconfined sample.
2.2 ELFEN simulation
ELFEN (Rockfield 2003) is a FEM/DEM combined
numerical simulation tool. The major advantage of this
simulation tool is that it can capture the transition from
a continuum to a discontinuous state.
Again, biaxial compression test simulations are car-
ried out. The model is 50 mm in width and 100 mm in
height. The bottom is fixed in vertical direction and
a constant displacement loading is applied on the top
of the sample. Confining pressure can be applied to
the vertical sidewalls. The cohesion softening and fric-
tional and dilation strength mobilization are based on
a softening/hardening parameter, which is essentially
a measure of plastic shear strain increment. Material
model-19 (RCMC – Rotating Crack Mohr-Coulomb
model in ELFEN), which allows heterogeneity con-
sideration, is used for the simulation.
An example of fracture pattern without confining
pressure is presented in Figure 3. In the pre-peak
region, there is random crack formation, due to the
material heterogeneity. Immediately after the peak
load, the number of cracks increases drastically and
the spalling process begins and continues as the strain
further increases. At a vertical displacement of about
1.7 mm, the rock is highly fractured but a residual load
can be carried by the spalls. The reduction in the load-
bearing capacity in the post-peak region is therefore
due to the cracking of the specimen resulting in area
sample with some loading bearing spalls and some
sheared spalls. Hence, the load bearing capacity is par-
tially cohesive and partially frictional. The fracturing
process eventually disintegrates the rock into smaller
blocks. Note that the displacement loading condition in
the model simulation corresponds to a loading system
with infinite system stiffness. Hence, the post-peak
261
(A)
(B)
Figure 4. (A) Influence of confining pressure on the
post-peak behavior; (B) crack pattern.
load does not drop to zero as would be observed from
laboratory tests.
The influence of the lateral confining pressure on
the stress-displacement relation is studied and the
results are presented in Figure 4A. The residual load
is substantially higher at a higher confining stress.
This is due to the fact that cracking development is
affected by the confining stress and the contribution
of the frictional strength component depends on the
normal stress (σn tan φ). The crack patterns are shown
in Figure 4B. Spalling type failure is observed at zero
confining stress. As the confinement increases, the
shear band changes its inclination angle with respect
to the horizontal direction.
It is concluded from the above simulations that
the friction of the block surface influences the rock
residual strength considerably. The interlock and cohe-
sion, on the other hand, also influence the rock
residual strength. The post-peak failure disintegrates
the rock into smaller blocks or volumes. In other
words, the residual strength of the rocks is governed
by the shear or kink bands which are formed by
smaller blocks. In addition, the rock residual strength
depends on the loading system stiffness. For dis-
placement loading (rigid loading system), the residual
strength is not zero even without confining pres-
sure. The understanding of the complete rock failure
process from both experiments and numerical simula-
tions will assist us in the development of a method
for the residual strength estimation of jointed rock
masses.
3 DETERMINATION OF PEAK STRENGTH Joint or Block Wall Condition

compact coating or fillings of angular fragments

Slickensided, highly weathered surfaces with

Slickensided, highly weathered surfaces with
3.1 Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion for peak

Very rough, fresh unweathered surfaces

strength
GSI

Smooth, moderately weathered or

soft clay coatings or fillings

Rough, slightly weathered,
The generalized Hoek-Brown criterion for jointed rock

iron stained surfaces

masses (Hoek & Brown 1988) is

altered surfaces
Very good

Very poor
Block Size

Good

Poor
Fair
Massive - very well interlocked
undisturbed rock mass blocks formed 10E+6

e
by three or less discontinuity sets

ne

on
95

zo
with very wide joint spacing

ez
150

re
Joint spacing > 100 cm

lur
u
85

fai
ail
100 cm 90
1E+6

ef
where mb , s, a are constants for the rock mass, and

le
90 3

ritt
Blocky - very well interlocked

ittl
80 75 (1 m )

lb
Br
undisturbed rock mass consisting 70
σc is the uniaxial compressive strength of the intact

tia
of cubical blocks formed by three 60 80

ten
65
orthogonal discontinuity sets 50

Po
rock. In order to apply the Hoek-Brown criterion for Joint spacing 30 - 100 cm
40 70
100E+3

estimating the strength of jointed rock masses, three 30 cm 55

Block Volume Vb (cm3)

Very Blocky - interlocked, partially
properties of the rock mass have to be obtained. The disturbed rock mass with multifaceted
angular blocks formed by four or more
20
60
45 10E+3

first one is the uniaxial compressive strength of the discoutinuity sets

Joint spacing 10 - 30 cm 50 35
intact rock. The second is the value of the Hoek-Brown 10 cm
40 1000
3
(1 dm )
constant mi for the intact rock and the last one is the Blocky/disturbed - folded and/or
faulted with angular blocks formed by
25

value of GSI for the rock mass. σc and mi can be deter- many intersecting discontinuity sets
Joint spacing 3 - 10 cm 5 30
100
mined by statistical analysis of the results of a set of 3
15

triaxial tests on carefully prepared core samples. GSI Disintegrated - poorly interlocked,
heavily broken rock mass with a
20
10
2
mixture or angular and rounded
values can be obtained from a chart provided in Hoek rock pieces
Joint spacing < 3 cm
et al. (1995) or other relevant references. Once the GSI 1 cm
10
1
value is known, other Hoek-Brown parameters mb , s, Foliated/laminated/sheared - thinly
laminated or foliated, tectonically sheared
a are given as (Hoek et al. 2002): weak rock; closely spaced schistosity
prevails over any other discontinuity set,
N/A N/A 5

resulting in complete lack of blockiness 0.1

Joint spacing < 1 cm 12 4.5 1.7 0.67 0.25 0.09
Joint Condition Factor Jc

Figure 5. GSI chart (Cai et al. 2004).

persistence, is an extremely important indicator of rock

mass quality. The block volume can be calculated from

where mi is a Hoek-Brown constant for the intact rock,

D is a factor that depends on the degree of disturbance
to which the rock mass has been subjected by blast
damage and stress relaxation.
3.2 Determination of GSI value based on Vb and Jc
To facilitate the use of the system, Cai et al. (2004)
presented a quantitative approach that employed the
block volume Vb and a joint surface condition factor
Jc as quantitative characterization factors. The quanti-
tative approach was validated using field test data and
applied to the estimation of the rock mass properties
at two cavern sites in Japan. The quantified GSI chart
is presented in Figure 5.
It provides a means for consistent rock mass char-
acterization and thus improves the utility of the GSI
system.
Block size, which is determined from the joint spac-
ing, joint orientation, number of joint sets and joint
where si , γi and pi are the joint spacing, the angle
between joint sets, and joint persistence factor, respec-
tively. If the joints are not persistent, i.e., with rock
bridges, the rock mass strength is higher and the global
rock stability is enhanced. This effect can be consid-
ered using the concept of equivalent block volume as
suggested in Cai et al. (2004). The consideration of
joint persistency has been verified using numerical
simulation by UDEC and 3DEC (Kim et al. 2006).
For persistent joint sets, pi = 1.
In the GSI system, the joint surface condition is
defined by the roughness, weathering, and infilling
condition (Hoek et al. 1995, Cai et al. 2004). The com-
bination of these factors defines the strength of a joint
or block surface. The joint surface condition factor is
defined as

262
where JW , JS , and JA are the joint large-scale waviness
factor, small-scale smoothness factor, and alteration
factor, respectively. The tables for peak Jw , JS , and
JA are given in Cai et al. (2004). Once Vb and Jc are
determined, users can refer to Figure 5 or the following
equation (Cai & Kaiser 2006b) to calculate GSI value.
4 DETERMINATION OF RESIDUAL
STRENGTH
So far, much research has been focused on the deter-
mination of peak strengths, and limited attempts have
been made to approximate the residual strength of
jointed rock masses. Several attempts have been made
to estimate the residual strength of jointed rock masses
(e.g. Hoek 2000, Russo et al. 1998, Ribacchi 2000),
however, these methods lack generality and lead to
inconsistent results for different rock masses. A new
approach is proposed here to estimate the residual
strength parameters of jointed rock masses.
4.1 Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion for
residual strength
It is observed that the rock mass in its residual state
represents one particular kind of rock mass in the
spectrum in the GSI chart. The rock mass spectrum
is defined by the combination of the block volume
spectrum and the joint surface condition factor spec-
trum. Hence, the generalized Hoek-Brown criterion
for the residual strength of jointed rock masses can be
written as
where mr , sr , ar are the residual Hoek-Brown constants
for the rock mass. It is postulated that these constants
can be determined from a residual GSIr value using
the same equations for peak strength parameters, i.e.,
Because the rock masses are in a damaged, residual
state, D = 0 is used for the residual strength parameter
263
calculation. According to the logic of the original GSI
system, the strength of a rock mass is controlled by
its block size and joint surface condition. The same
concept is valid for failed rock masses at the residual
strength state. In other words, the residual GSIr is a
function of residual joint surface condition factor Jcr
and block volume Vbr .
4.2 Residual block volume
The block volume spectrum from “massive” to “very
blocky” rock masses ranges from 103 –107 cm3 , and for
“disturbed” to “sheared” rock from 0.1–103 cm3 . If a
rock experiences post-peak deformation, the rock in
the broken zone is fractured and consequently turned
into a poor and eventually “very poor” rock.
For the residual block volume, it is observed that
the post-peak block volumes are small because the
rock mass has experienced tensile and shear fractur-
ing. After the peak load, the rock mass becomes less
interlocked, and is heavily broken with a mixture of
angular and partly-rounded rock pieces. Numerical
simulation using ELFEN revealed that the rock masses
in the fracture zone around underground openings are
broken to small blocks. Detailed examination of the
rock mass damage state before and after the in-situ
block shear tests at some underground cavern sites in
Japan revealed that in areas that were not covered by
concrete, the failed rock mass blocks are 1 to 5 cm
in size. The rock mass is disintegrated along a shear
zone in these tests. The strength of a fault can be
regarded as the lower bound strength of the rock mass.
Shearing disintegrates and damages the rock mass
and weathering further weakens the fault strength.
Block sizes observed from fault outcrop also support
the concept of block size of rock mass at residual
state.
In summary, the residual block volumes can be
considered independent of the original (peak) block
volumes for most strain-softening rock masses. The
fractured residual rock mass will have more or less
the same residual block volume in the shear band for
intact rocks, moderately jointed and highly jointed
rock masses, as illustrated in Figure 6. As an estimate,
if the peak block volume Vb is greater than 10 cm3 ,
then, the residual block volume Vbr in the disintegrated
category can be taken to be 10 cm3 . If Vb is smaller
than 10 cm3 , then, no reduction to the residual block
volume is recommended, i.e., Vbr = Vb .
4.3 Residual joint surface condition factor
The failure process affects the joint surface condition,
especially the joint roughness. According to Barton
et al. (1985), the difference between peak and residual
JRC is large if the peak JRC value is high. The under-
lying implication is that the drop of GSI from peak to
Intact

Moderately
jointed

Highly
jointed Figure 7. Normalized joint roughness – shear displacement
relationship (Barton et al. 1985).

Hence, the residual joint surface condition factor Jcr

is calculated from
Initial state Residual state

Figure 6. Illustration of the residual block volume.

where JWr , JSr , and JAr are residual values for large-scale
residual values should be larger for rock masses with waviness, small-scale smoothness, and joint alteration
fresh and rough joints. factor, respectively. The residual values are obtained
The major factor that alters the joint surface con- based on the corresponding peak values assessed from
dition in the post-peak region is the reduction of joint field mapping. The reduction of JWr and JSr are based
surface roughness, as shown in Figure 7 for the grad- on the concept of mobilized joint roughness, and the
ual degradation of JRC. Peak mobilized roughness equations are given as
angle is given as JRC · log (JCS/σn ), where JCS is the
joint wall compressive strength, and σn is the normal
stress acting on the joint. The mobilized joint resid-
ual roughness is zero according to the same figure,
which can only be achieved when the joint experi-
ences a very large shearing displacement. On the other
hand, the concept of ultimate mobilized joint rough-
ness was suggested by Barton et al. (1985). According 4.4 Residual GSI value and strength parameters
to Figure 7, the joint surface roughness is gradually
destroyed during the shearing process and the ultimate Once the residual block volume and joint surface con-
mobilized roughness is about half of the peak rough- dition factor are obtained, one can refer to the GSI chart
ness (JRCmob /JRCpeak = 0.5). It is therefore proposed or use the following equation to obtain the residual GSI
here that the large-scale waviness and the small-scale value
smoothness of joints be calculated by reducing its peak
value by half to calculate the residual GSI value. In a
short time period, joint alteration is unlikely to occur
so that the joint alteration factor JA will be unchanged
in most circumstances. However, when water and clay As for the intact rock properties, fracturing and
infill material is involved, the fractured rock surface shearing do not weaken the intact rocks (even if they
can have a lower residual JA . are broken into smaller pieces) so that the mechanical

264
Table 1. Characterization of the rock mass peak and residual 25
strengths for FS1 at the Kannagawa site using the GSI system. GSI (peak)
Test data (peak)
FS1 GSI (residual)
Test data (residual)
Peak Residual 20

Jw 1.5 1
Js 1.5 0.75

Shear stress (MPa)

JA 1 1
GSI system Jc 2.25 0.75 15
Vb (cm3 ) 295000 10
GSI 64.8 27.8
σc (MPa) 126 126
mi 19 19 10
c (MPa) 3 0.96
φ = φb + i (0 ) 56.6 49.3
Block shear test c (MPa) 3.4 0.5
φ = φb + i (0 ) 57 49
5

parameters (σc and mi ) should be unchanged. What has

changed are the block size and joint surface condition
(especially the roughness). Once the reduced GSIr is
obtained, the residual Hoek-Brown strength parame-
ters or the equivalent residual Mohr-Coulomb strength
parameters can be calculated.
The proposed method for the estimation of rock
mass peak and residual strength has been validated
using in-situ block shear test data from some large-
scale cavern construction sites and the data from the
back-analysis of a rock slope stability. Due to space
limitation, only one example is given in the next
section.
5 APPLICATION EXAMPLE
The Kannagawa pumped hydropower project (Mae-
jima et al. 2001) in Gumma Prefecture in Japan is
now under construction with a maximum output of
2,820 MW. The powerhouse cavern at 500 m depth has
a width of 33 m, a height of 52 m, and a length of
216 m. The cavern excavation was started in 1998 and
the last bench was completed in 2000.
The rock mass at the site consists of conglomerate,
sandstone, and mudstone. The rock masses are clas-
sified into five major groups or domains. Sixty-four
uniaxial compressive tests were conducted to deter-
mine the average strength and standard deviation of
each rock type. The parameter mi for each rock types
was obtained from a limited number of tri-axial tests. A
total of 21 block shear tests were conducted at six test
locations. Since the intact rock strength, joint spacing,
and joint surface condition vary even within the same
rock type designation zone, the point estimate method
(PEM) (Rosenblueth 1981) is used to represent the
encountered variability of rock mass properties.
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Normal stress (MPa)
Figure 8. Comparison of peak and residual strength calcu-
lated from the GSI system and field test data (FS1).
The average peak and residual strength parameters
estimated from the GSI system are given in Table 1,
along with the data obtained from the in-situ block
shear tests, for domain FS1. The average peak strength
estimated from the GSI is slightly lower than the field
data average (Fig. 8), and the average residual strength
estimated from the GSI is slightly higher than the field
data average. However, the differences are well within
the data variability shown in the field test data (Cai &
Kaiser 2005).
The quantitative approach presented in this paper
uses the block volume and joint surface condition fac-
tor to determine both the peak and residual GSI values.
These input parameters in the example were obtained
from field mapping and from borehole logging data.
The strength and deformation parameters estimated
from the GSI system are very close to those obtained
from in-situ tests, indicating that the GSI system can
be effectively applied to the design of engineering
structures in rocks.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The Geological Strength Index (GSI) system is a rock
mass classification system that is directly linked to
engineering parameters such as Mohr-Coulomb or

265
Hoek-Brown strength parameters or rock mass modu-
lus. The original GSI system, which is applied mainly
for the estimation of the peak strength, is based on
a descriptive approach, rendering the system some-
what subjective and difficult to use for inexperienced
personnel.To assist the use of the GSI system, a supple-
mentary quantified approach for the GSI system has
been proposed by incorporating quantitative measures
of block volume and joint surface condition factor. The
concept of residual block volume Vbr and residual joint
surface condition factor Jcr is introduced to extend the
GSI system for the estimation of rock mass’s residual
strength.
The residual block volume is found to be in the cat-
egory of the “disintegrated” rocks in the GSI chart,
characterized by the facts that the failed rock masses
at the residual strength level are poorly interlocked,
heavily broken with a mixture of angular and rounded
rock pieces. The average block size of 10 cm3 is sug-
gested for the residual GSIr value estimation. For joint
surface condition, the major factor that alters the con-
dition in post-peak region is the reduction of joint
surface roughness. The actual degradation of the joint
surface is based on the concept of mobilized resid-
ual joint roughness. The large-scale waviness and the
small-scale smoothness of joints can be calculated by
reducing their peak values by half with conditions to
meet the minimum values. The residual GSIr value is
calculated from the relationship between GSIr and Vbr
and Jcr .
The residual strength parameters are calculated
using the same form of the generalized Hoek-Brown
strength criterion by assuming that the intact rock
properties such as σc and mi remain unchanged as the
rock mass changes from its peak to residual state.
The proposed method for the estimation of rock
mass peak and residual strength is demonstrated using
field mapping and in-situ block shear test data from
a large-scale cavern construction site. The estimated
peak and residual strengths, calculated using the peak
GSI and residual GSIr values, are in good agreement
with field test data. The proposed method for peak and
residual strength estimation extends the GSI system
and adds quantitative means to determine the com-
plete set of rock mass strength properties needed for
design.
The proposed method is applicable to most rock
types when failure is dominated by shear failure.
Care must be given for brittle failure of massive
rocks involving spalling failure and very weak rocks
that have been “over consolidated” or “re-bonded.”
In such a case, special failure criteria such as brit-
tle Hoek-Brown failure criterion (Martin et al. 1999)
should be used and proper test program be planned
for the determination of the residual strengths. Fur-
thermore, if the rock mass fails by block rotation and
local crushing, probably a different analysis approach
266
such as UDEC or 3DEC should be considered instead
of a continuum analysis. The users must be aware
of the limitations when applying the GSI system
and the methodology for determining the peak and
residual strength parameters using this quantitative
approach.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was funded by Tokyo Electric Power Ser-
vices Co. Ltd (TEPSCO). The authors wish to thank
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for provid-
ing access to test sites and test data and permitting to
publish the results. The authors also thank Dr. Evert
Hoek for his valuable comments and suggestions for
this study.
REFERENCES
Barton, N.R., Bandis, S.C. & Bakhtar, K. 1985. Strength,
deformation and conductivity coupling of joints. Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 22 (3):
121–140.
Cai, M. & Kaiser, P.K. 2005. Determination of the resid-
ual strength of jointed rock masses using the GSI sys-
tem. Report to TEPSCO. Geomechanics Research Centre,
Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario. pp 109.
Cai, M. & Kaiser, P.K. 2006a. Rock mass characterization and
rock mass property variability considerations for tunnel
and cavern design. In Proc 4th Asian Rock Mech Symp
(ARMS 4), Singapore, Paper 144.
Cai, M. & Kaiser, P.K. 2006b. Visualization of rock mass clas-
sification systems. Geotechnical and Geological Engi-
neering 24(4): 1089–1102.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K., Tasaka, Y. & Minami, M. 2007. Deter-
mination of residual strength parameters of jointed rock
masses using the GSI system. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
44(2): 247–265.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K., Uno, H., Tasaka, Y. & Minami, M.
2004. Estimation of rock mass strength and deformation
modulus of jointed hard rock masses using the GSI system.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41(1): 3–19.
Hoek, E. 2000. Practical Rock Engineering. Available online:
www.rocscience.com), pp 313.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1988. The Hoek-Brown failure
criterion – a 1988 update. In Rock Engineering for Under-
ground Excavations, Proc. 15th Canadian Rock Mech.
Symp. Toronto, pp. 31–38.
Hoek, E., Carranza_Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion – 2002 edition. In Proc. 5th
North American Rock Mech. Symposium, Toronto, vol. 1,
pp. 267–273.
Hoek, E., Kaiser, P.K. & Bawden, W.F. 1995. Support of
Underground Excavations in Hard Rock. A.A. Balkema.
Itasca. 2002. PFC2D-Particle Flow Code, version 3.0. Min-
neapolis: Itasca Consulting Group Inc.
Kim, B.H., Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K. & Yang, H.S. 2006. Esti-
mation of block sizes for rock masses with non-persistent
joints. Rock Mech. Rock Engng.: In Press.
Maejima, T., Morioka, H., Mori, T. & Aoki, K. 2001.
Evaluation of the loosened zone on excavation of
the large underground rock cavern. In Modern Tun-
nel Science and Technology, Kyoto. A.A. Balkema, pp.
1033–1038.
Martin, C.D., Kaiser, P.K. & McCreath, D.R. 1999. Hoek-
Brown parameters for predicting the depth of brittle failure
around tunnels. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 36(1):
136–151.
Ribacchi, R. 2000. Mechanical tests on pervasively jointed
rock material: insight into rock mass behaviour. Rock
Mech. Rock Engng 33(4): 243–266.
Rockfield Software Ltd. 2003. ELFEN, version 3.7.
267
Rosenblueth, E. 1981. Two-point estimates in probabilities.
J. Appl. Math. Modelling 5: 329–335.
Rummel, F. & Fairhurst, C. 1970. Determination of the post
failure behaviour of brittle rock using a servo-controlled
testing machine. Rock Mech. 2: 189–204.
Russo, G., Kalamaras, G.S. & Grasso, P. 1998. A discussion
on the concepts of geomechanical classes, behavior cate-
gories, and technical classes for an underground project.
Gallerie e Grandi Opere Sotterranee 54.
Wawersik, W.R. & Fairhurst, C. 1970. A study of brittle rock
fracture in laboratory compression experiments. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 7: 561–575.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Characteristics and classification of New Zealand greywackes

S.A.L. Read
GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

L. Richards
Rock engineering consultant, Canterbury, New Zealand

ABSTRACT: Greywacke rocks, which are widespread throughout New Zealand, are composed of strong to
extremely strong, sandstones, interbedded sandstones and mudstones, and mudstones. The rock masses are
closely-jointed and often tectonically disturbed as a consequence of their complex geological history. Local
experience indicates that the combination of high intact strength and low defect persistence in a closely jointed
rock mass is not well-suited to multi-parameter rock mass classification systems such as Rock Mass Rating (RMR)
and Tunnelling Quality Index (Q). A preferred approach is a comprehensive engineering geological description
to characterise the greywackes for input to a specifically developed descriptive classification system. This step
provides a direct linkage to classifications like RMR or the simpler Geological Strength Index (GSI) classification
system, which is based on defect spacing and quality only, as a required input for the Hoek-Brown failure
criterion.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 GREYWACKE PROPERTIES

In New Zealand, the term ‘greywacke’ is applied to
the very well indurated to slightly metamorphosed,
interbedded mudstones and muddy sandstones belong-
ing to the Torlesse Supergroup. These Upper Paleo-
zoic to Mesozoic-age basement rocks are widespread
throughout New Zealand (Fig. 1). Many of the coun-
try’s engineering projects are sited in these rocks and
they are also an important source of roading and
concrete aggregate.
Greywacke rocks are commonly closely-jointed
as a result of their complex tectonic and geologi-
cal history. This paper is part of a long-term New
Zealand research project into the engineering proper-
ties of unweathered greywacke. Three dam or quarry
study sites (Aviemore, Belmont, Taotaoroa – Fig. 1)
have been engineering-geologically mapped, labo-
ratory testing carried out to determine the prop-
erties of the intact rock and rock mass properties
assessed (Read et al. 1999, 2003, Richards & Read
2006). Postgraduate studies involving mapping, labo-
ratory testing and analysis of previous in situ testing
(Cook 2001, Stewart 2006) also form part of the
project.
2.1 Greywacke rock material
Greywacke sequences (Begg & Mazengarb 1996)
consist of interbeds of:
• Sandstone – indurated, coarse to medium-grained,
and medium to dark grey in color. Individual grains
are poorly sorted angular quartz and feldspar, plus
fragments of metamorphic and igneous rocks. The
intergranular filling is clay minerals formed during
induration or slight metamorphism.
• Mudstone – indurated layers of clay, silt or mud,
generally dark grey to black, sometimes red from
iron minerals.
Proportions of mudstone to sandstone vary from
one locality to another. For example, at Waitaki near
Aviemore, mudstone is the dominant lithology, while
elsewhere (e.g. Karapiro near Taotaoroa), sandstone
dominates. More massive beds of both lithologies may
be up to tens of meters thick, although more cyclic
deposition can result in interbedding with discrete beds
<0.5 m thick. The monotony of the often unfossilif-
erous sequences, together with a complex geological

269
 1 Belmont
2 Aviemore
100
3 Whitehall
3 6 42
4 Taotaoroa 6 8101
5 Benmore 6 9
1 5
6 Rangipo 7
7 Globe Progress Mine

Young's modulus, Ei , GPa

8 Ruataniwha 12
9 Motu 12
12
7
10 Plimmerton
11 Karapiro

1
0:
10

20
12 Moawhango

=
tio
ra
1
0:

us
50

ul
=

od
tio

M
ra
us
Sandstone

ul
Mudstone

od
M
Interbedded
1
11 0 100
Uniaxial compressive strength, MPa

Figure 2. Strength and deformation properties of unweath-

ered intact greywacke using Deere & Miller’s modulus ratio
chart.

Figure 1. Distribution of New Zealand greywacke rocks

(from Suggate et al. 1978) and locations of main study sites.

structure, has also meant less classical mapping than

in other geological terranes.
Greywacke intact material strength is related to
the mean grain size, with coarser sandstones always
stronger than fine-grained sandstones and generally
stronger than finer laminated sandstones. Figure 2
summarizes compressive strength and deformability
properties from a number of New Zealand greywacke
sites. Sandstones are typically very to extremely strong
with moderate modulus ratios, while mudstones are
moderately to very strong with moderate to high
modulus ratios.
There are fewer mudstone test data, as very close
spacing of joints makes it difficult to obtain suitably-
sized intact specimens. Additional test data were Figure 3. Logging sandstone-dominated greywacke rock
obtained by Cook (2001) using standard and modified mass exposure at the Taotaoroa study site.
point load test procedures. Standard procedures gave a
mean Point Load Strength Index conversion factor of
23 and 11 for sandstone and mudstone respectively. the smaller sizes. On this basis, the strength of small
The sandstone tests, however, showed considerable fragments was shown to be similar to that of larger
variability with the factor ranging from 14 to 31. pieces which could be tested by standard methods.
Further point load tests involved a modified
procedure using samples of very small dimensions
2.2 Greywacke rock mass
(10–20 mm width). The results were used to extrapo-
late the relationship between equivalent core diameter Greywacke rock masses have been mapped (Fig. 3)
and load from the standard 50 mm diameter down to and described for engineering geological purposes

270
 AVIEMORE N N
183 poles
A1% = 37%
Cmax = 7.0%
Lower hemisphere
Equal area projection
% of total per 1% area
N 0-1
1-2
2-3
3-4
4-5
Cmax = 4.9%
A1% = 37%
331 poles
TAOTAOROA
Figure 4. Contour plots of greywacke defects at main study sites (from Read et al. 2003).
at a number of sites, including those on Figure 1.
Methodologies have followed those described in Anon
(1977) and NZGS (2005).
With New Zealand’s plate boundary location, the
greywacke rock masses have a complex geological
structure. Bedding is generally steeply dipping (>70◦ )
and sometimes overturned from tight folding with
steep plunges. With more severe tectonic deformation,
the rocks may be crushed, fractured or sheared with
thin mudstone beds often being a focus for tectonic
deformation.
Greywacke rock masses rarely exhibit the regular
blocky structure of many other sedimentary rocks.
There are often in excess of six defect sets at any
one location, and even within the same geological
domain there may be significant variations. Defect
types include bedding, joints, veins and shear planes.
Figure 4 shows examples of stereographic projections
of defect data from engineering geological mapping
at the study sites in Figure 1. Although often the most
persistent, bedding-related defects generally comprise
<10% of the total defects at any given site.
Defect spacings are typically in the range from
extremely closely (<6 mm) to closely spaced (60–
200 mm) (ISRM 1981). Corresponding block sizes
are small and mostly less than 0.01 m3 . Joints, which
are the most common defect (>90% of total defects),
generally have a wider spacing in sandstones than
mudstones.
271
BELMONT DOMAIN II
72 poles
A1% = 36%
Cmax = 9.6%
N
Cmax = 5.2%
A1% = 37%
699 poles
BELMONT DOMAIN IV
More than 50% of joints have a persistence of
<500 mm with the maximum persistence being in the
order of several meters. A very high proportion of
joints (>80%) terminate against other joints so that
the termination index is high and the rock mass may
be described as sub-systematic (ISRM 1981).
Joint apertures are generally <2 mm and little vari-
ation has been observed between study sites. Where
present, inactive clay material is the dominant infilling
substance.
The surface roughness of most defects is planar
rough or planar smooth using the roughness profile
classification from ISRM (1981). Offsets of 1–2 cm
are commonly observed where joints intersect other
defect planes.
2.3 Summary of greywacke characteristics
Greywacke is a complex rock mass to describe because
of the following factors:
• The rock mass has often been subjected to intense
geological deformation.
• Mudstone and sandstone lithologies, which are in
variable proportions, have different rock mass and
material properties.
• Sandstone fragments generally have similar strengths
to larger intact specimens.
• The rock mass often has more than 6 defect sets, with
variable orientations between structural domains.
Table 1. Greywacke descriptions from main study sites (locations on Fig. 1).

Geological description Rock mass classification

Site Lithology & structure Defects RMR Q GSI

Aviemore Interbedded sandstone and mudstones
dam with quartz and calcite veining. Bedding
dips steeply, mainly to west.
Belmont Sandstone with mudstone beds 0.2–5 m
quarry thick. Bedding dips steeply to south-
east. Little secondary mineralisation.
Taotaoroa Sandstone with secondary mineralisation
quarry along joints. Several 1–5 m thick
mudstone beds. Bedding dips
35◦ –65◦ mainly to west.
Numerous minor crushed and sheared <20–50 0.002–2 20–50
zones, especially along bedding. Joint
spacing 50–150 mm, max 500 mm.
Several minor sheared and crushed 25–55 0.1–2 25–55
zones. Four principal joint sets; spacing
40–200 mm, max 1000 mm.
Several minor sheared zones and one <20–50 0.02–1 10–40
major crushed zone. Three orthogonal
joint sets, plus curving fractures;
spacing 50–250 mm, max 750 mm.

Table 2. Descriptive classification for New Zealand greywacke rocks (after Read et al. 2000).

Class Lithology Strength Defects Comments

I Homogeneous or faintly
bedded medium-grained
sandstone. Fine-grained
sandstone with some
widely spaced interbeds
of mudstone.
II Fine or very fine-grained
sandstone with mudstone
laminae.
Interbedded sandstone
and mudstone. Mudstone/
sandstone with coarse
podding.
III Mudstone with extensive
recrystallisation.
Interbedded sandstone and
mudstone, often with
podding and some veining.
IV Interbedded sandstone and
mudstone, often with
extensive podding.
Mudstone or very fine
sandstone with extensive
veining.
V Mudstone or fine sandstone
(rock material generally
sheared and crushed).
Extremely Joint spacing >150 mm, typically Little indication of major
strong 200–300 mm, surfaces rough to tectonic deformation in
to smooth. rock mass.
very strong Sheared, crushed or shattered
zones generally absent.
Very strong Joint spacing 60–200 mm, Rock mass may contain
to surfaces rough to slickensided. minor very widely spaced
strong Minor narrow (<300 mm wide) zones of sheared and
sheared, crushed or shattered crushed rock.
zones.
Strong Joint spacing <100 mm, Characterized by closely
to surfaces smooth to slickensided. spaced defects (may be
moderately Narrow (<300 mm wide) shattered) or recrystallised
strong sheared, crushed, or rock mass.
shattered zones.
Strong Joint spacing <60 mm, surfaces Characterized by very closely spaced
to smooth to clay-lined. fractures with sheared zones (i.e.
moderately Sheared with crushed zones shattered and sheared rock mass with
strong (typically <500 mm wide), and some crushed zones associated with
may contain thin (<25 mm) fault zones).
gouge zones.
Strong to Joint spacing <20 mm, surfaces Characterized by very or extremely
moderately slickensided to clay-lined. closely spaced fractures with crushed
strong Generally sheared or crushed zones and gouges (i.e. crushed rock
(or n/a) zones which contain gouge zones. mass associated with major faulting).

Classification based on rock mass in the unweathered (fresh) or fresh-stained state.

Podding refers to the disruption of bedding into irregular lenses or pods. Recrystallisation refers to recementation of the rock
mass and is often accompanied by veining.

• Bedding is generally highly persistent, but joints 2.4 Greywacke classification

have typically low persistence.
• Defects are generally very tight, often with offsets
at terminations, and the mass is well interlocked.
Table 1 is a summary description of the greywacke
characteristics at the three main study sites.
Based on engineering geological logging of expo-
sures, variations in rock material (lithology) and
rock mass defects were used to develop an informal
descriptive five-fold rock mass classification scheme
(Table 2 – Read et al. 2000). This scheme recognizes

272
the variability in the lithological composition and char-

SURFACE CONDITIONS
acteristics of the greywacke, and has subsequently
proved to be a useful tool for describing and com- GEOLOGICAL
STRENGTH
paring greywacke rock masses on a number of major

Very good

Very poor
INDEX (GSI)
engineering projects.

Good

Poor
Fair
Rock engineering projects require the application
STRUCTURE DECREASING SURFACE QUALITY>
of more specific classification schemes such as Rock
Mass Rating (RMR – Bieniawski 1976), Tunnelling 90
Quality Index (Q – Barton et al. 1974) and Geological Intact or massive N/A N/A

Strength Index (GSI – Hoek & Brown 1997). Table 1 80

shows indicative values for each scheme at the three

70
study sites. Values at each site range over three to four Blocky
classes depending on classification system. 60
Classification schemes such as Q and RMR, which

<DECREASING INTERLOCKING OF ROCK PIECES

were primarily developed for tunnelling, require addi- 50
I
Very blocky
tional parameters (e.g. water conditions) which means
that a similar rock mass in a different geological situ-
II
ation and application can have significantly different 40

classification values. General or specific classification Blocky/disturbed

III
systems for different purposes have also been devel- 30

oped (e.g. Dam Mass Rating (DMR) for dam founda- IV

tions adapted from RMR – Romana 2003). Aside from Disintegrated

this, classifications systems requiring strength inputs 20

(such as RMR and Q) have been found difficult to use V

where there are interbedded lithologies with different
strengths (it is not generally practicable to separately
classify such lithological units).
Experience has shown that the use of a single
numerical value from a classification system such
as RMR does not adequately represent the complex-
ity of the greywacke rock mass. For this reason,
the greywacke descriptive classification (Table 2) has
remained in use. An additional advantage of the spe-
cific step between description and classification is
the systematic documentation of important geotech-
nical parameters. This information trail is not always
apparent in many publications where multi-parameter
classification values have been quoted. In addition,
the descriptive approach provides a more effective
way of deriving different classification scheme values
rather than relying on numerical correlations between
them.
The greywacke classification has proved to be a
useful complement to GSI as GSI is very simple to
use being based solely on defect spacing and quality
which are the main variables in the greywacke. GSI
is also estimated from visual examination of a rock
mass and not calculated from core recovery param-
eters, which can be adversely influenced by drilling
techniques (Marinos et al. 2005).
Figure 5 shows GSI ranges for the five classes
of New Zealand greywacke as defined in Table 2.
The approach to assigning GSI values through spe-
cific descriptive classifications at individual sites
provides a logical linkage between engineering geo-
logical descriptions and rock mass classifications.
Conversely, the authors do not favor the use of GSI
Foliated/ N/A N/A
10
laminated/ 5
sheared
Figure 5. Geological Strength Index for different classes of
New Zealand greywacke as defined in Table 2 (from Read
et al. 2000).
charts to assess the structural characteristics of spe-
cific lithologies (as in Marinos & Hoek 2000).
The GSI classification assumes that the rock mass
contains a sufficient number of randomly-oriented
discontinuities, such that it behaves as an isotropic
rock mass (Hoek & Brown 1997). The GSI system
should not therefore be applied to rocks where there
is a dominant structural orientation. The methodology
described by Read et al. (2003) provides a means of
assessing whether the controlling failure mechanism
is through the rock mass or along specific geological
defects.
2.5 Comparison with other rocks
Classification of heterogeneous and anisotropic rock
masses is a complex problem and is not well covered in
technical literature for RMR and Q systems. By com-
parison, considerable attention has been give to these
rocks for the GSI method (Hoek et al. 1998, Marinos
& Hoek 2000, 2001, Hoek et al. 2005).
Figure 6 shows that GSI values for the suite of
Athens Schist Formation rocks (Hoek et al. 1998)
have a similar range to those for New Zealand
greywacke (Fig. 5). The two are, however, different in

273
 SURFACE CONDITIONS
GEOLOGICAL
STRENGTH

Very good

Very poor
INDEX (GSI)

Good
1.0

Poor
ATHENS

Fair
SCHIST
A
STRUCTURE DECREASING SURFACE QUALITY>

Fracture spacing - metres

90 I
Intact or massive N/A N/A BCDE
II
80
0.1
F III
70
Blocky
<DECREASING INTERLOCKING OF ROCK PIECES

60
GH
A IV

Very blocky 50 NZ
0.01
GREYWACKE V

B C 40 D E 1 10 100
Blocky/disturbed Uniaxial compressive strength σci - MPa
30

F Figure 7. Comparison of uniaxial compressive strength

Disintegrated with defect spacing for New Zealand greywacke and Athens
20 Schist Formation.
G H
Foliated/ N/A N/A 1.0
laminated/ 10 5 Hoek & Diederichs equation D=0
sheared
0.9
Modulus Reduction Factor, MRF, Em / Ei

0.8
Figure 6. Geological Strength Index for different classes
of heterogeneous rock masses such as in the Athens Schist 0.7
D = 0.5
Formation (after Marinos & Hoek 2000). 0.6

geological age and tectonic history, and have different 0.5

intact rock material strengths. Although the GSI charts 0.4 D = 1.0
do not specify defect spacings for the different struc-
0.3
ture categories, these can be inferred as discussed in
Read et al. (2000). On this basis, Figure 7 illustrates 0.2 Waitaki
China/Taiwan database
the difference between the two rock masses. - test averages
0.1
The similarity of GSI values for greywacke and
Athens Schist also illustrates the inherent difficulties 0.0
in making numerical correlations between different 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
classification schemes (such as RMR and GSI which Geological Strength Index, GSI
have significantly different input parameters).
Figure 8. Rock mass deformability of Waitaki greywacke
compared with empirical predictions of Hoek & Diederichs
3 DISCUSSION (2006).

Greywacke is typically a closely-jointed rock mass. strengths may also lead to higher rock mass strength
Joints are generally tight with low persistence and estimates (Read et al. 1999).
a high percentage terminating against other defects. Where confined, as in foundations, modulus of
Such rock masses are tightly interlocked giving higher deformation values are better than estimated. For
resistance to compression or shear loads than more example, back analysis of the Waitaki dam foundation
dilated masses. This results in better mechanical prop- indicates a modulus of deformation (Em ) significantly
erties than other rock masses of similar quality based higher than that predicted by the detailed relationship
on their Q, RMR or GSI values. of Hoek & Diederichs (2006) as illustrated in Figure 8.
In the case of cut slopes, although they may be liable This is independent of the conclusion in Richards &
to surface fretting, performance is better than predicted Read (2006) that modulus estimation methods that use
by estimated rock mass strength values, as shown at a reduction factor relative to the intact rock modulus,
quarry study sites. The use of very high intact rock Ei (i.e. MRF or Em /Ei ) provide a more appropriate

274

SURFACE CONDITIONS
GEOLOGICAL
STRENGTH
Very good
INDEX (GSI)
STRUCTURE
90
Intact or massive
Lightly
tectonised
Blocky
<DECREASING INTERLOCKING OF ROCK PIECES
Very blocky
Blocky/disturbed
Disintegrated
Foliated/
laminated/
sheared
Figure 9. The use of GSI to characterize tectonisation
degree (from Habimana et al. 1999).
approach than those based on direct estimation using
classifications such as RMR.
The low persistence of defects and frequent offsets
also contribute markedly to the shear strength along
any plane more than a few meters long. The field shear
strength of discontinuous joints can be assessed using
a superposition method which interpolates between
the strength of joints and the strength of the intact
rock (Hung & Lee 1990). The Waitaki dam base width
varies from about 30 to 60 m. 60% of the defects
beneath the dam have a persistence <2 m, with hardly
any more persistent than 6 m. Rock mass strength was
estimated using the Hoek & Brown failure criterion
(Hoek & Brown 1997) and the shear strength of pla-
nar surfaces with partial continuity using the Hung &
Lee approach. Given the high intact strength, defect
surfaces beneath the dam with <95% continuity were
found to have strengths considerably in excess of a
rock mass with GSI = 35 (the most characteristic value
for the dam foundations). Consequently, the control-
ling failure mechanism for assessing dam stability is
the strength through rock mass rather than along the
defects.
The use of GSI charts showing zones of different
rock mass classes is well illustrated in the various
publications by Hoek and Marinos between 1998
and 2005. Figure 9 illustrates a similar concept from
Habimana et al. (1999) showing the effect of degree
of tectonisation on rock mass quality, with GSI val-
ues ranging from over 80 to below 15. For application
in the Hoek-Brown failure criterion, Habimana et al.
Very poor
also introduced a new parameter t to account for a
Good
Poor
Fair
loss of intact strength during the tectonisation process
DECREASING SURFACE QUALITY>
with quartzitic sandstones, for example, reducing from
90 MPa when unaffected by tectonisation to 24 MPa
N/A N/A when extremely tectonised.
80 In contrast to the above, the greywacke sandstones
in New Zealand (where unweathered) appear to show
70
little change in intact strengths with increasing tecton-
60 isation and loss of rock mass quality. The same may,
Tectonised
or may not, be true of the mudstones but these become
50
increasingly fissile with tectonic disturbance and the
strengths are difficult to determine.
Highly
40
tectonised
4 CONCLUSIONS
30
New Zealand greywacke forms a complex rock mass
composed of indurated high strength sandstones and
20
Extremely
tectonised
mudstones in which the defects are typically closely-
spaced with a low persistence.
N/A N/A
The use of a single numerical multi-parameter clas-
10 5 sification system value (as in Q or RMR systems) does
not adequately represent the rock characteristics. New
Zealand experience with greywacke rocks is that a
comprehensive engineering geological description to
characterize the mass is an essential pre-requisite to
rock mass classification.
The practice described in this paper involves the
use of a descriptive classification system specifically
designed for greywacke rock masses, taking account
of lithological and structural variations. This can then
be used with the GSI system to estimate rock mass
strength and deformability parameters. The approach
provides a useful tool for describing and comparing
rock masses as well as providing a trail for the deriva-
tion of any multi-parameter classification value and a
more effective means of comparing between classifi-
cations than directly correlating numerically between
them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Nick Perrin for dis-
cussion during development of the study, and review
comments on the draft paper by Chris Massey and
Nick Perrin. The study is being performed under Foun-
dation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST)
contract C05X0402.
REFERENCES
Anon 1977. The description of rock masses for engi-
neering purposes. Report by the Geological Society
275
 engineering group working party. The Quarterly Journal
of Engineering Geology 10(4): 355–388.
Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of jointed rock masses for the design of tunnel
support. Rock Mechanics 6(4): 189–236.
Begg, J.G. & Mazengarb, C. 1996. Geology of the Wellington
area. Sheets R27, R28 & part Q27, 1:50,000. Institute of
Geological & Nuclear Sciences geological map 22. Levin:
Graphic Press & Packaging.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classification in rock engi-
neering. In Bieniawski (ed.), Exploration for Rock Engi-
neering; Proc. Symp., Capetown. Capetown: Balkema.
Cook, G.K. 2001. Rock mass structure and intact rock
strength of New Zealand greywackes. MSc (hons) the-
sis in Engineering Geology, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch.
Habimana, J., Labiouse, V. & Descoeudres, F. 1999. Failure
criterion for cataclastic rocks: experience from the Cleu-
son – Dixence project. In Vouille & Berest (eds.), Proc.
9th congr. ISRM, Paris. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
& Mining Sciences 34(8): 1165–1186.
Hoek, E. & Diederichs, M.S. 2006. Empirical estimation
of rock mass modulus. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics & Mining Sciences 43(2): 203–215.
Hoek, E., Marinos, P. & Benissi, M. 1998. Applicability of
the geological strength index (GSI) classification for very
weak and sheared rock masses. The case of the Athens
Schist Formation. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and
the Environment 57(2): 151–160.
Hoek, E., Marinos, P.G. & Marinos, V.P. 2005. Characteri-
zation and engineering properties of tectonically undis-
turbed but lithologically varied sedimentary rock masses.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sci-
ences 42(2): 277–285.
Hung, J.J. & Lee, T.T. 1990. A study on the shear strength of
rock joint of partial continuity. In Barton & Stephansson
(eds.), Rock Joints; Proc. Intern. Symp., Loen. Rotterdam:
Balkema.
ISRM 1981. Rock Characterization Testing and Monitoring:
ISRM Suggested Methods. In Brown (ed.) for International
Society on Rock Mechanics (ISRM). Oxford: Pergamon
Press.
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2000. GSI: a geologically friendly tool
for rock mass strength estimation. In Ervin et al. (eds.),
GeoEng2000; Proc. Intern. Conf. on Geotechnical & Geo-
logical Engineering, Melbourne. Lancaster: Technomic
Publishing.
276
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2001. Estimating the geotechnical
properties of heterogeneous rock masses such as Flysch.
Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment
60(2): 85–92.
Marinos, V., Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2005. The geological
strength index: applications and limitations. Bulletin of
Engineering Geology and the Environment 64(1): 55–65.
NZGS 2005. Field description of soil and rock: Guidelines for
the field classification and description of soil and rock for
engineering purposes (update of NZGS 1988). Wellington:
New Zealand Geotechnical Society.
Read, S.A.L., Perrin, N.D. & Richards, L. 1999. Applicabil-
ity of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion to New Zealand
greywacke rocks. In Vouille & Berest (eds.); Proc. 9th
Congr. ISRM, Paris. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Read, S.A.L., Richards, L. & Cook, G. 2003. Rock mass
defect patterns and the Hoek-Brown failure criterion.
In Handley & Stacey (eds.), Technology Roadmap for
Rock Mechanics; Proc. 10th Congr. ISRM, Johannes-
burg. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Mining &
Metallurgy.
Richards, L. & Read, S.A.L. 2006. A review of empiri-
cal methods for assessing rock mass deformability. In
D.P. Yale et al. (eds.), Golden rocks 2006. 50 years of
rock mechanics – landmarks and future challenges; Proc.
41st US rock mech. symp., Golden, 17-21 June 2006.
Alexandria: ARMA.
Richards, L., Read, S.A.L. & Perrin, N.D. 2001. Compari-
son of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion with laboratory
and field test results for closely-jointed New Zealand
greywacke rocks. In Sarkka & Eloranta (eds.), Rock
Mechanics – A Challenge for Society; Proc. Reg. Symp.
ISRM Eurock 2001, Espoo. Lisse: Balkema.
Romana, M. 2003. DMR, a new geomechanics classification
for use in dam foundations, adapted from RMR. In Berga
et al. (eds.), Roller Compacted Concrete Dams; Proc. 4th
Int. Symp., Madrid. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Stewart, S. 2006 (in press). Rock mass strength and
deformability of unweathered closely jointed New Zealand
greywacke. PhD thesis, Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Canterbury, Christchurch.
Suggate, R.P., Stevens, G.R. & Te Punga, M.T. 1978.
The Geology of New Zealand. Wellington: Government
Printer.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

An approach for prediction of strength and post yield behaviour for

rock masses of low intact strength

J.L. Carvalho & T.G. Carter

Golder Associates Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

M.S. Diederichs
GeoEngineering Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: In the design of open pits and shallow foundations engineers are often faced with materials that
can be classified as rock but do not fit the current set of criteria used to assess their field strength (saprolites,
regoliths, duricrusts (ironstones and carbonate caps), coralline limestones, etc.). These materials can be thought
of as transition materials between rock and soil and typically exhibit low “intact” strength, which overshadows
the presence of any macro features (such as relic structure) in the control of their field behaviour characteristics.
A methodology for the estimation of strength parameters for these rock-soil transition materials is presented
with guidance for practical application. A hybrid continuum-discontinuum model is employed to verify the
approach. The methodology includes a progressive linearization of the Hoek-Brown strength envelope (a → 1)
in the transition zone as well as a progressive improvement of the controlling “s” and “m” parameters to the
intact values (s → 1, and m → mi ).

1 INTRODUCTION mass behaviour. Although the four most commonly

used systems, RMR, Q, RMi and GSI, (Bieniawski
1.1 Background 1973, Barton et al. 1974, Palmström 1995, Marinos &
Hoek 2000) have some input parameter relationships
Rock mass classification systems, including the GSI
that directly or indirectly reflect intact rock strength,
system, for rock mass strength estimation (Marinos &
the importance given to rock strength in all of these
Hoek 2000) are based on the principle that structure
classifications is generally limited, with maximum
within a rock mass (joints, fractures, joint surface alter-
contribution being given in the RMi system, where
ation and degradation) acts to reduce both the cohesion
structure is used as a modifier to rock mass strength
and frictional properties of the intact rock, represented
(Palmström 1995). In the Q system rock strength is
by a degradation in “s” and in “m” respectively in the
only indirectly considered in the definition of SRF
Hoek-Brown non-linear criterion.
(Barton 1977), while it can contribute up to 30% of
While these systems serve the rock mechanics prac-
the total parameter contribution in the RMR system,
titioner well, there is a class of materials at the low
(Bieniawski 1973, 1976, 1989).
strength end of the rock competence scale which fall
The reason for the emphasis being given to struc-
outside of the spectrum of materials classically treated
ture rather than strength in these four best known
as rock masses. These low intact strength materials
classifications is largely geographical in that in partic-
in field conditions comprise saprolites, regoliths, lat-
ular RMR and Q were primarily developed from case
erites, duricrusts, among others. However, often they
record data from the South African hard rock mines
are not so weak that they classically have been thought
and from Scandinavian tunnels respectively where
of as soils and have therefore been dealt with by rock
rock strength was typically not too much of an issue
mechanics approaches. Characterizing the strength
unless stresses were high. Only when these classifi-
and performance properties of these materials, which
cations were started to be applied to materials where
fall in a transition zone between soil and rock and
the stiffness and strength of the intact material was
require distinct treatment, is the focus of this paper.
much lower, was it noted in field conditions that rock
mass strength actually exerted a much more important
1.2 Hypothesis
control on the behaviour of the rock mass. This led to
Most rock mass classification systems start from the development of sub-set descriptor codes for parame-
premise that structure exerts most control on rock ter definition for the classifications to try to account

277
for strength reduction effects (Laubsher 1977). These
modifications to the classifications still however failed
to adequately characterize the weaker rock masses suf-
ficiently that they could be representatively described
by appropriate Hoek-Brown m and s values. This lack
of precision in accurately defining appropriate rock
mass strengths at this weak end of the competence
scale led also to formulation of the “a” parameter mod-
ifications to the original Hoek-Brown relationships
(Hoek et al. 2002).
Even today, the materials that posed the most dif-
ficulties for characterizing and defining appropriate
governing strengths and forced these early modi-
fications to the characterization methods still pose
difficulties. These are the transition materials where
intact strength starts to dominate behaviour over rock
structure, but not to the complete exclusion of rock fab-
ric influence. This paper attempts to define appropriate
transitioning relationships that pro-rate the influence
of the intact material and the structure accordingly,
and to this end, the uniaxial unconfined compressive
strength, σci , has been chosen as arguably the best
definitive measure controlling this transition from soil
to rock behaviour.
2 TRANSITION FUNCTION
2.1 Classical treatment of soil and rock
Although there are many specialized constitutive mod-
els for soils, the Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion
has always been considered the classical relationship
for such materials. For this historical reason and for
simplicity, it will therefore also be adopted here for
defining rock mass behaviour at the lowerbound of
the rock-soil transition zone. The Mohr-Coulomb cri-
terion is a linear strength model and is represented in
σ1 –σ3 space by
where qu = uniaxial compressive strength, expressed as
φ = internal friction angle; and c = cohesion. Another
advantage of choosing strength as the diagnostic
definition parameter for characterizing the rock-soil
transition zone is that typically, strength results from
laboratory soil tests are representative of field values,
thus unlike rock mechanics classification approaches
there is no need for introduction of strength reduction
relationships into the governing equations.
In rock mechanics practice, the Hoek-Brown
strength criterion has become the most widely accepted
278
criteria for modelling the behaviour of rock masses,
where intact strength is implicitly modified and rock
mass strength appropriately reduced within the gov-
erning criterion through the introduction of the m
and s parameters which attempt to capture interblock
shear strength and the degree of rock mass broken-
ness. Definition of these influence parameters, (which
essentially modify intact material strength to allow the
criterion to reflect rock mass behaviour) has histori-
cally been achieved through well established empirical
regression relationships developed with RMR initially
(Hoek & Brown 1980) and now formalized as a series
of equations with GSI (Hoek & Brown 1997).
As the Generalized non-linear Hoek-Brown crite-
rion has been found to be effective for describing
most rock mass conditions where the defining classi-
fications also work well, (viz GSI ∼ 30 to 70 approx-
imately – Diederichs et al. 2007 in this conference
discuss GSI > 70), it is appropriate that the soil-rock
transition upperbound limit should also be defined by
this criterion. Expressed in σ1 –σ3 space in the same
way as the Mohr-Coulomb criterion, the Generalized
Hoek-Brown strength model can be represented by
where mb and s are respectively the rock mass fric-
tional parameter, and the intrinsic strength parameter
given by
In these relationships, two additional parameters
have been introduced from the original 1980’s formu-
lations, – D, reflecting degree of disturbance, varying
from 0 for undisturbed rock masses (typically in under-
ground conditions) to 1 for very disturbed rock masses
typically seen in surface exposures (Hoek et al. 2002),
and – a, to control the degree of non-linearity of
the strength function and reflect weathering or other
change in competence of lower strength rock masses,
defined as
It should be noted that the Generalized Hoek-
Brown criterion can be linearized (a →1) to take the
form
which is equivalent to the Mohr-Coulomb strength
criterion with
This flexibility of the Generalized non-linear Hoek-
Brown criterion makes it suitable by means of a
transition function for use as the governing model for
definition of rock mass strength throughout the full
range of the soil-rock transition. It is important to note
that values of the parameter m∗ in the linear form of
the envelope have to be adjusted from the original val-
ues obtained by curve fitting of laboratory data using
the classical Hoek-Brown fit, or from suggested val-
ues by Hoek and Brown, which are to be used with
the conventional envelope, i.e. a ≈ 0.5. Test results in
regolith and saprolite suggest that when full lineariza-
tion is used to fit the data, the value of m∗ obtained is of
the order of 1/3 mi , obtained by classical Hoek-Brown
fitting with a = 0.5.
2.2 Transition function
In order to develop a suitable transition function that
would appropriately modify the Hoek-Brown crite-
rion to properly replicate the strength behaviour of
these difficult rock-soil materials, a review was first
completed of typical soils and weak rock materials to
order to establish likely ranges of uniaxial strength. For
cohesive soils, it was observed that a uniaxial strength
of 500 kPa generally could be defined as a practical
upper “soil strength” limit. Weak rocks and strong soils
with higher strengths than this were generally found
to exhibit some degree of remnant skeletal fabric or
cementation or inter-grain interlock crystal growth,
which clearly placed them as transitional materials
somewhere between soil and rock. This review sug-
gested that the more soil-like a material the more linear
its strength behaviour, whereas the more rock-like a
material the more non-linear its behaviour. It was rec-
ognized that any transition function would therefore
have to transfer control of the behaviour from the
intact material to the rock mass structure in a gradual
manner.
It was further noted that because such materials tend
to mostly constitute engineering problems in low stress
environments, (open pits, rock cuts, foundations, etc.)
any material with an intact strength of more than about
10 MPa could be considered to behave essentially
as a rock mass, with displacements and deforma-
tions largely controlled by joint fabric. Therefore, a
transition function of the form
where pa is atmospheric pressure, was postulated as
shown in Figure 1. In these expressions the transition
function limits are expressed in terms of atmospheric
pressure so that the function is independent of the
unit system. Incorporating this into the Hoek-Brown
criterion is simply accomplished by modifying the
279
100%
90%
% control by intact material
80%
% control by structure
% control of rock mass behaviour
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
σ (MPa)
Figure 1. Transition of control of behaviour from intact
material to rock mass structure.
controlling input parameters by the transition function
relationships, as follows:
When used in the Hoek-Brown criterion, these
modified parameters yield essentially the same discon-
tinuity fabric controlled behaviour for hard, competent
rocks (σci > 10 MPa) but provide linearization of the
criterion and transfer of control to the intact rock for
transition materials, as shown in Figure 2.
3 NUMERICAL TESTING AND
VERIFICATION
3.1 Distinct model setup
In order to examine rock mass behaviour through the
postulated transition zone, verification analyses were
conducted by means of numerical modelling of a rep-
resentative volume of a typical rock mass. In order to
properly replicate the fabric behaviour of these dif-
ficult rock-soil transition zone materials it was felt
important to explicitly model both the behaviour of
the intact material as well as the joint fabric so as to
be able to rate the modelled “rock mass” using stan-
dard engineering rock mass classification approaches.
For the aforementioned reasons, the numerical code
UDEC© (Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.) was used to
generate the models.
As the intent of the modelling was to verify the tran-
sition zone hypothesis, models were set up as best as
possible to replicate both in a quantitative and quali-
tative way the rock mass behaviour of these difficult
soil-rock transition zone materials for a representa-
tive range of intact rock strengths. To achieve this,
 15
0
10
=
SI
12.5
G
10
σcf (MPa)
7.5
TRANSITION ZONE
5 70
2.5 Lower Limit GSI
GS
I=0
0
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5
σci (MPa)
Figure 2. Uniaxial compressive rock mass strength σcf as a function of intact strength, σci , and GSI in the transition zone.
“rock masses” of similar GSI but with different uni-
axial compressive strengths were formulated follow-
ing Bieniawski’s original RMR’76 guidelines which
prescribe precise codified ranges of values for σci ,
RQD, joint spacing and joint condition, assuming
dry conditions, and no orientation rating, such that
RMR’76 = GSI.
In order to achieve a rock mass fabric that would
be typical of many transition zone materials it was
decided to use 3 joint sets of arbitrary orientation in the
models. Once the joint sets were generated in UDEC,
the RMR spacing rating was estimated and RQD
across the model was measured in the least favourable
orientation. The orientation adjustment is set to nil for
RMR. Determining the RMR rating for joint condition
was a little more subjective as it is not only a measure of
joint continuity, but also joint strength. Following the
descriptive guidelines for RMR’76 , joint lengths were
estimated and the gaps between joints (rock bridges)
were assumed to be a percentage of the joint length,
varying between 10 and 30%, depending on the joint
condition rating. The friction angles assigned to the
joints were varied between 28◦ and 35◦ , also accord-
ing to the descriptions in the joint condition rating.
Values of RQD in the models were also verified by the
relationships for spacing and continuity proposed by
Hudson & Priest (1979) and Priest & Hudson (1976,
1981).
Six rock masses of similar GSI were generated for
rocks with uniaxial compressive strengths of 0.1, 0.5,
3, 10, 100 and 250 MPa, and each was “tested” in
UDEC in uniaxial compression. The last two strengths
place these rock masses well into the realm of classical
280
90
I= SI
GS it G
r Lim
pe
Up
= 80
GSI
GSI =
GSI = 60
GSI = 50
GSI = 40
15 17.5 20 22.5 25 27.5 30
rock mass behaviour and were thus used to establish the
reasonableness of the model generation rationale. Fig-
ure 3 shows one of the 10 m × 10 m rock masses gener-
ated, together with the ascribed GSI (=RMR’76 ) rating,
and the results of the analyses for the rock mass assum-
ing an intact strength of 0.1 MPa. The results show the
vertical stress distribution across the rock mass, the
stress strain curve, plasticity markers within the intact
rock and displacement behaviour for the joint fabric.
Figures 4–8 show the same set of information for the
other rock masses with different intact rock strengths.
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Qualitative observations
The vertical stress distribution and trajectories (plots
c) for the two lowest strength rock masses – Figures 3
and 4 (σci = 0.1 and 0.5 MPa) – show that stress is well
distributed over the 10 m sample width, suggesting that
the whole rock mass volume is engaged in the support
of the applied loads. This is corroborated by the dis-
tribution of plasticity markers (plots e), which cover
the full extent of the model. These two figures also
show a significant proportion of shear failure markers,
indicative of shear flow within the intact material, i.e.
similar to a soil. These figures also show no indication
of mobilization of the joint fabric, further indicating
that these low strength models are behaving essentially
as soils.
In Figures 5 and 6 (σci = 3 and 10 MPa), the ver-
tical stress distribution and trajectories (plots c) start
Figure 3. Uniaxial unconfined compressive test – UCS = 0.1 MPa: (a) Rock Mass Fabric; (b) Rock Mass Rating; (c) σV
distribution; (d) Stress-strain response; (e) Intact rock failure markers; (f) Joint shear and opening.

Figure 4. Uniaxial unconfined compressive test – UCS = 0.5 MPa: (a) Rock Mass Fabric; (b) Rock Mass Rating; (c) σV
distribution; (d) Stress-strain response; (e) Intact rock failure markers; (f) Joint shear and opening.

281
Figure 5. Uniaxial unconfined compressive test – UCS = 3 MPa: (a) Rock Mass Fabric; (b) Rock Mass Rating; (c) σV
distribution; (d) Stress-strain response; (e) Intact rock failure markers; (f) Joint shear and opening.

Figure 6. Uniaxial unconfined compressive test – UCS = 10 MPa: (a) Rock Mass Fabric; (b) Rock Mass Rating; (c) σV
distribution; (d) Stress-strain response; (e) Intact rock failure markers; (f) Joint shear and opening.

282
Figure 7. Uniaxial unconfined compressive test – UCS = 100 MPa: (a) Rock Mass Fabric; (b) Rock Mass Rating; (c) σV
distribution; (d) Stress-strain response; (e) Intact rock failure markers; (f) Joint shear and opening.
to show preferential paths through the rock bridges in
the 3 MPa material, which becomes more pronounced
in the 10 MPa material. The plasticity markers show
more instances of tensile failure, especially in the
10 MPa material, however, there are still areas of shear
failure evident. This partially reflects a transfer from
matrix dominating behaviour to discontinuity con-
trolled behaviour and partly reflects tensile strength
controls within the models where the ratio between
the uniaxial compressive and tensile strengths for the
intact rock have been kept within a normal range
(10 to 20). Movement along the joints is also more
visible in these cases than for the weaker materi-
als, with material deformation showing much more
of a combined contribution – i.e. deformation still
evident in the intact rock blocks but with distor-
tion beginning to be more apparent on discontinuity
fabric, as would be expected for true transitional
materials.
Figures 7 and 8 show classical discontinuity con-
trolled behaviour, typical for hard competent rock
masses. Well defined stress paths are evident through
the rock mass, with displacement occurring associated
with the joint fabric orientation. The intact material
within the blocks remains in its elastic state, except
for tensile failure of rock bridges. Like most hard
rock situations, failure is almost exclusively tensile,
283
promoting connectivity between the joints, thus creat-
ing macro features.
4.2 Quantitative observations
The stress strain curves for all six model tests show
that each of the rock masses have reached yield. Fig-
ure 9 then takes the yield values from the numerical
test results and plots them alongside the modified tran-
sition Hoek-Brown strength curve for a GSI = 50 rock
mass ranging in strength from 0.1 MPa to 250 MPa.
The agreement between the numerical tests and the
estimates is reasonably good. In detail, the variations
away from the theoretical curve can be ascribed to non-
homogeneity factors such as: variation in orientation,
interjoint spacing and continuity of the joint sets incor-
porated into the models, variability in dimensions and
tensile strengths of the rock bridges, etc.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A series of transition function relationships to modify
the controlling input parameters for the General-
ized non-linear Hoek-Brown failure criterion to better
accommodate rock masses comprised of low strength
intact materials have been proposed in equations 8,
9, 10 and 11 of this paper. Testing by numerical
Figure 8. Uniaxial unconfined compressive test – UCS = 250 MPa: (a) Rock Mass Fabric; (b) Rock Mass Rating; (c) σV
distribution; (d) Stress-strain response; (e) Intact rock failure markers; (f) Joint shear and opening.
Figure 9. Comparison of UDEC results with estimated rock
mass strengths for 6 uniaxially loaded 10 m × 10 m rock mass
zones with different σci values but of similar GSI = 50.
techniques confirms that use of these relationships
in the Hoek-Brown equations, while preserving state-
of-practice approaches to assessing rock mechanics
problems, allows better handling of soil-rock transition
materials.
The proposed function relationships transfer con-
trol of the behaviour of rock masses from the intact
material (at the soil end of the competency scale) to
the joint fabric (at the rock end of the transition) over a
284
specified range of uniaxial compressive strength, σci ,
consistent with field assessed transitions seen in nat-
ural conditions. The choice of both strength limits for
the transition, – the lowerbound based on a review
of strengths of cohesive soils, and – the upperbound
ascribed to a strength limit considered valid for the
material to completely behave as a rock, although rea-
sonably well verified by the numerical modelling need
testing against field conditions.
REFERENCES
Barton, N.R., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of rock masses for the design of tunnel support.
Rock Mech. 6(4): 189–239.
Barton, N.R. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mech. 10: 1–54.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1973. Engineering classification of rock
masses. Trans. S. African Inst. Civ. Engrs. 15(12):
335–344.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classification in rock
engineering. In Bieniawski (ed.), Proc. of the Symp.
Exploration for Rock Engineering. Cape Town: Balkema,
vol. 1, pp. 97–106.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering rock mass classifica-
tions. New York: Wiley.
Diederichs, M.S., Carvalho, J.L. & Carter, T. 2007. A mod-
ified approach for prediction of strength and post yield
 behaviour for high GSI rock masses in strong, brittle
ground. In Eberhardt et al. (eds.), 1st Canada-US Rock
Mechanics Symposium, Vancouver. This Volume.
Hoek E. & Brown E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(8): 1165–
1186.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C.T. & Corkum, B.T. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion: 2002 edition. In Hammah, et al.
(eds.), Proc. of the 5th North American Rock Mech. Symp.
Toronto.
Hudson, J.A. & Priest, S.D. 1979. Discontinuities and rock
mass geometry. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech.
Abstr. 16: 339–362.
285
Laubscher, D.H. 1977. Geomechanics classification of
jointed rock masses – mining applications. Trans. Instn.
Min. Metall. 86: A1–8.
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2000. GSI – A geologically friendly
tool for rock mass strength estimation. In Proc. Geo-
Eng2000, Melbourne, pp. 1422–1442.
Palmström, A. 1995. RMi a rock mass characterization
system for rock engineering purposes. Ph.D. Thesis,
University of Oslo, 400 pp.
Priest, S.D. & Hudson, J.A. 1976. Discontinuity spacings in
rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 13:
133–137.
Priest, S.D. & Hudson, J.A. 1981. Estimation of discontinuity
spacing and trace length using scanline surveys. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 18: 183–197.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Deformation moduli of soft rocks in Japan through Geological

Strength Index (GSI)

T. Yamamoto
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facility department, Nuclear Facility Division, Taisei Corporation

K. Tsusaka & C. Tanimoto

Department of Civil Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University

ABSTRACT: The application of Geological Strength Index (GSI) to Japanese rocks is discussed. There have
been very few attempts at using the GSI in Japan. First, we tried to compare GSI to the Japanese conven-
tional classification for NATM tunneling. The support requirement of a tunnel in Japan is derived from the
distribution of P-wave velocity over objective areas. In our case histories the authors considered that the
GSI was close to the Japanese system. Second, we discuss the relationship between GSI and deformabil-
ity of soft sedimentary rocks through borehole loading tests. Rocks are soft sedimentary, but discontinuities
are dominant in some depth. We analyzed the influence of discontinuities by identifying moduli of elasticity,
deformability and moduli of permanent deformation in comparison of those obtained through GSI for each
result of loading test. The moduli of deformability estimated by GSI are pretty close to those of permanent
deformation.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION

Rock mass classification has been used for charac-
terizing rock masses in designing rock structures. It
has provided some approximate properties of rock,
such as rock mass strength and deformability. Systems
commonly used worldwide are the Rock Mass Rating
(RMR) by Bieniawski (1976), the Q-system by Barton
et al. (1974), and the Geological Strength Index (GSI)
by Hoek (1994). In particular, we focus here on the
application of the GSI to Japanese rocks.
First, we tried to compare the GSI to the Japanese
conventional classification for NATM tunneling,
which is based on the description of the structure of
discontinuities in a rock mass. Second, we discussed
the relationship between GSI and the deformability
of soft sedimentary rocks through borehole loading
tests. The rock types investigated are soft sedimentary
rocks, but discontinuities are dominant. We analyzed
the influence of discontinuities by identifying the elas-
tic moduli, deformability and moduli of permanent
deformation in comparison to those obtained through
the GSI for each result of the loading test.
2.1 Rock mass classification in Japan
There are many rock mass classifications proposed
hitherto in Japan. Many organizations have their own
classifications.
2.1.1 CRIEPI’s rock mass classification
Based on the Japan Society of Engineering Geology
(1992), a rock mass classification was developed by
the Central Research Institute of the Electric Power
Industry (CRIEPI), as shown in Table 1, and was pro-
posed to assess the suitability of solid rock masses for
dam foundations in the early 1950s.
The rock mass quality for the purposes of dam con-
struction is affected by deterioration caused by rock
weathering. CRIEPI’s rock mass classification focused
on factors related to the degree of weathering and espe-
cially emphasized comprehensibility and simplicity
for practical use at the candidate dam site. Accord-
ing to Table 1, rock masses are classified into four
groups (A,B,C and D) by the degree of weathering.

287
Table 1. CRIEPI’s rock mass classification. Table 2. Rock mass classification based on P-wave velocity.

A The rock mass is very fresh, and the rock forming

minerals and grains show neither weathering nor
alteration. Joints are extremely tight and their
surfaces have no visible sign of weathering.
Sound of hammer blow is clear.
B The rock mass is solid. There are no open joints and
cracks (even of 1 mm). Rock forming minerals and
grains show slight weathering and alteration.
Sound of hammer blow is clear.
CH The rock mass is relatively solid. The rock forming
minerals and grains show weathering except for
quartz. The rock is contaminated by limonite, etc.
The cohesion of joints and cracks is slightly
decreased and rock blocks can be separated by a
firm hammer blow along joints. Clay minerals
remain on the separation surface.
Sound of hammer blow is a little dull.
CM The rock mass is somewhat soft. The rock forming
minerals and grains are somewhat softened by
weathering, except for quartz. The cohesion of joints
and cracks is somewhat decreased and rock blocks tunnels in Japan are designed from the distribution of
can be separated by an ordinary hammer blow along
the joints. Clay materials remain on the separation
P-wave velocity over the objective areas.
surface. Sound of hammer blow is somewhat dull. Table 2 shows two rock mass classifications with the
same P-wave propagating velocity value. Rock types
CL The rock mass is soft. The rock forming minerals and are a, b, c, d1 and d2 for the Japan Highway clas-
grains are softened by weathering. The cohesion of sification and A,B,C,D and E for the Japan Railway
joints and cracks is decreased and rock blocks can be
separated by a soft hammer blow along the joints.
classification, relative to tunnel support.
Clay materials remain on the separation surface.
Sound of hammer blow is dull. 2.1.3 Comparison of rock mass classifications
The GSI is based on the structure of the rock mass
D The rock mass is very soft. The rock forming and the surface conditions of rock joints. We tried to
minerals and grains are softened by weathering. The
cohesion of joints and cracks is almost absent.
compare the GSI to Japanese conventional classifica-
The rock mass collapses with a light hammer blow. tions. Japanese classifications evaluate rock joints by
Clay materials remain on the separation surface. the following parameters (JSCE 1979):
Sound of hammer blow is very dull. – spacing of joints and filling material
– core recovery rate
– weathering and alteration of joints
– P-wave velocity
Class C is divided into three groups. Class CH is close The structure of the rock mass described by the GSI
to class B, and CL is close to class D. The class CM is is related to the spacing of joints, core recovery rate
intermediate. and the magnitude of P-wave velocity, both for the rock
The CRIEPI rock mass classification is the most specimen and for the ground. The surface condition of
popular in Japan and this was the first approxima- rock joints in the GSI is related to the filling material,
tion to rock mass ratings. The important indices used weathering and alteration of joints, and the magnitude
in this classification are the following: discoloration of P-wave velocity.
of rock forming minerals, hardness judged from the The authors considered that the GSI was close to the
sound generated by a hammer blow and the properties Japanese systems because it uses the same background
of fractures, such as aperture and filling materials. information.

2.1.2 Other rock mass classifications

Rock mass classifications developed by the Japan
Railway Organization and the Japan Highway Orga-
nization employ the magnitude of P-wave propagating
velocity, which was usually investigated in the prelim-
inary stage of the project. The support requirements of
2.2 Application of GSI
2.2.1 Applications of GSI to rock mass overseas
The development history of the GSI is described in
Marinos, P. et al. (2000). The GSI was a hard-rock sys-
tem, roughly equivalent to RMR at the early stage, but

288
the GSI system was developed into its present form to Dry density (g/cm3)
include poor-quality and heterogeneous rock masses.
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0
2.2.2 Applications of GSI to rock mass in Japan 0
There have been very few attempted uses of the GSI
in Japan. Cai et al. (2004) applied the GSI to under-
ground powerhouse cavern sites. Estimates of rock 100
mass strength and deformability predicted from the
GSI were compared to those of field test data. Numer-
ical simulation of laboratory strength tests were carried 200
out to investigate the residual strength behavior of rock
masses. Based on the simulation, the GSI system has
been extended to cover the residual strength of jointed 300

Depth (m)
rock masses. The residual strength parameters deter-
mined from the GSI system are compared to the data
from field block shear tests and the validity of the 400
proposed method is verified.

3 ESTIMATION OF DEFORMATION MODULI 500

OF JAPAN’S ROCK MASS THROUGH GSI

3.1 Geology of the test site 600

The Horonobe Underground Research Center, Japan

Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (2004), describes 700
the geology of the test site as follows: The site con-
sists of Neogene sedimentary sequences which are Figure 1. Dry density of a rock specimen.
underlain by an igneous and Paleogene to Cretaceous
sedimentary basement.
The Koetoi Formation and the Wakkanai Formation
are diatomaceous siliceous sediments with thicknesses
greater than 500 m. The Koetoi Formation is com-
posed of diatomaceous mudstone containing Opal-A. Effective porosity (%)
The Wakkanai Formation is composed of hard shale 0 20 40 60 80
containing Opal-CT. The Koetoi Formation has been 0
indurated to Wakkanai Formation due to progressive
diagenesis of silica minerals.
100
3.2 Rock property
Before the borehole loading tests, the rock proper-
ties were investigated using rock specimens. The dry 200
density, effective porosity and unconfined compres-
sive strength of these rocks are shown in Figures 1–3,
Depth (m)

300
respectively.
The mean effective porosity of the Koetoi Forma-
tion to depth of 350 meters is 40–65% and that of 400
the Wakkanai Formation around 40%. The unconfined
compressive strength of the Koetoi Formation is less
than 10 MPa and that of the Wakkanai Formation is 500
less than 25 MPa, as shown in Figure 3. The rocks in
these formations are both classified as soft rock.
The elastic modulus of the rock specimens is shown 600
in Figure 4. The strain of the specimen is mea-
sured by means of the external displacement and the
strain gauge. The elastic modulus depends on depth 700
in the Koetoi Formation and is nearly constant in the
Wakkanai Formation. Figure 2. Effective porosity of a rock specimen.

289
 Unconfined compressive strength (MPa) 3.3 Borehole loading test
0 5 10 15 20 25 Borehole loading tests were performed at eleven
0 depths in the investigation borehole at a diameter
of 158 mm. The rock mass around the borehole was
loaded and unloaded using a tube-type apparatus. The
100 length of the loading system was one meter.
Geology, rock type and RQD of the test location are
summarized in Table 3. The moduli of the rock mass
200 obtained by borehole loading tests are summarized in
Table 4. The modulus of permanent deformation is
defined by Equation 1 below (Amadei 1983).
300
Depth (m)

400 where εz = total strain; σv = total applied stress; ET =

total modulus; E = elastic modulus and M = modulus
of permanent deformation (Fig. 5).
500 The RQD at the test location is shown in Figure 6.
Stress-strain curves are shown in Figure 7 for 217.0 m,
Figure 9 for 225.5 m, Figure 11 for 400.0 m and Fig-
600 ure 13 for 411.0 m. The comparisons of deformation
moduli for the same depths are shown in Figures 8,
10, 12 and 14, respectively. The modulus of permanent
700 deformation is obtained at each loading stage such as
M1 and M2.
Figure 3. Unconfined compressive strength of a rock The effect of joints was investigated at a depth
specimen. of 225.5 m in the Koetoi Formation and 411.0 m in
the Wakkanai Formation. Also the effect of effective
porosity was investigated at a depth of 217.0 m and
400.0 m where joints were not found in the borehole.
Elastic modulus (MPa) Joints were identified using borehole logging and core
observation.
1.0E+01 1.0E+02 1.0E+03 1.0E+04 The ratio of the modulus of deformation to the mod-
0 ulus of elasticity is shown in Figure 15. The ratio
is related to the shape of the stress-strain or load-
displacement curves. If the ratio is 1.0, the modulus of
100 deformation is equal to the modulus of elasticity and
the stress-strain curve has no permanent strain. The
ratio ranges from 0.3 to 0.6 and depends upon depth in
200
the Koetoi Formation. The ratio is 0.6 in the Wakkanai
Formation.
Depth (m)

300
3.4 Estimation of deformation moduli
through GSI
400
We analyzed the influence of joints by identifying
moduli of elasticity, deformability and moduli of per-
500 manent deformation in comparison of those obtained
through GSI for each result of the loading test.
Observation of geology, joints of the rock mass and
600 E50(external) unconfined compressive strength at the depth of the
E50(strain gauge)
borehole loading tests were necessary for the esti-
mation of GSI. The following are examples of the
700 estimation of GSI at depths of 217.0 m and 225.5 m.
Depth 217.0 m: The unconfined compressive
Figure 4. Elastic modulus of a rock specimen. strength was 5.31MPa. The specimen was collected

290
 Table 3. Borehole loading test description.

Depth
(m) Geology Rock type RQD(%)

184.0 Koetoi Formation Diatomaceous mudstone 90.8

217.0 Koetoi Formation Diatomaceous mudstone 94.5
225.5 Koetoi Formation Diatomaceous mudstone 66.7
248.0 Koetoi Formation Diatomaceous mudstone 97.9
292.5 Transition zone Diatomaceous mudstone/Hard shale 69.7
349.0 Wakkanai Formation Hard shale 98.3
400.0 Wakkanai Formation Hard shale 98.8
411.0 Wakkanai Formation Hard shale 87.0
485.0 Wakkanai Formation Hard shale 100.0
494.6 Wakkanai Formation Hard shale 98.7
540.0 Wakkanai Formation Hard shale 100.0

Table 4. Modulus of borehole loading tests. RQD (%)

Depth 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

(m) D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 M1 M2 0

184.0 99 180 390 340 420 140 315

217.0 570 740 500 1480 1270 927 1773 100
225.5 78 84 81 180 180 138 158
248.0 750 950 760 1640 1500 1382 2591
292.5 150 – – 270 290 338 – 200
349.0 2920 3110 1370 4760 4150 7554 12410
400.0 2360 1900 1960 3140 2900 9501 5510
411.0 3610 2520 2440 4930 4150 13483 6416
Depth (m)

485.0 2660 2520 1990 4620 3720 6270 7812 300

494.6 3500 4060 5220 5080 5020 11253 21230
540.0 4450 3360 2940 5910 4750 18013 11482
400
∗
D1, D2 and D3: modulus of deformation. E1 and E2:
modulus of elasticity. M1 and M2: modulus of permanent
deformation. 500

VIRGIN STRESS-STRAIN CURVE 600

σv

700

Figure 6. RQD at the depth of borehole loading tests.

APPLIED STRESS

UNLOADING,RELOADING
8.00
1 7.00 depth : 217.0m
M 6.00
E
stress (MPa)

5.00

1 4.00
3.00

2.00

STRAIN 1.00
σ v /M σ σ v /E 0.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
PERMANENT STRAIN ELASTIC STRAIN strain (%)

Figure 5. Definition of the modulus of permanent Figure 7. Borehole loading test without joints at the depth
deformation. of 217.0 m.

291
 1.0E+05 8.00
depeth:217.0m 7.00 depth : 400.0m

6.00

1.0E+04 5.00

stress(MPa)
deformability (MPa)

4.00

3.00

1.0E+03 2.00

1.00
0.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
1.0E+02 strain(%)

Figure 11. Borehole loading test without joints at the depth

1.0E+01 of 400.0 m.
D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 M1 M2
1.0E+05
Figure 8. Modulus of deformation, modulus of elastic- depth:400.0m
ity and modulus of permanent deformation at the depth of
217.0 m.
1.0E+04

deformability (MPa)
8.00
7.00 depth : 225.5m

6.00 1.0E+03
stress (MPa)

5.00

4.00

3.00 1.0E+02
2.00

1.00
0.00
1.0E+01
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00 D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 M1 M2
strain (%)

Figure 12. Modulus of deformation, modulus of elastic-

Figure 9. Borehole loading test with joints at the depth of ity and modulus of permanent deformation at the depth of
225.5.0 m. 400.0 m.

1.0E+05 8.00
depth :225.5m 7.00 depth: 411.0m
6.00
1.0E+04
stress (MPa)

5.00
deformability (MPa)

4.00
3.00
1.0E+03 2.00
1.00

0.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
1.0E+02
strain (%)

Figure 13. Borehole loading test with joints at the depth of

1.0E+01 411.0 m.
D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 M1 M2

Figure 10. Modulus of deformation, modulus of elastic- 23,051 MPa from the maximum GSI value of 90, using
ity and modulus of permanent deformation at the depth of Equation 1 below:
225.5 m.

near the test location. The RQD is 94.5%; no joints

were observed, and the structure of the rock mass was
classified as “intact or massive”. The surface condition
of joints was “very good” or “good”. The estimates of where Em : modulus of deformation; σci : uncon-
GSI were 55–90. The modulus of deformation was fined compressive strength; GSI: Geological Strength
3,074MPa from the minimum GSI value of 55 and Index.

292
 1.0E+05 3.5 Discussion
depth411.0m
3.5.1 Effect of joints on the modulus of
deformation
1.0E+04
The effect of rock joints on the modulus of deformation
deformability (MPa)

was confirmed in the two formations. In the Koetoi

Formation, the effect of joints was large, comparing
1.0E+03
Figure 8 without joints and Figure 10 with joints. In
the Wakkanai Formation, the effect of joints was small,
comparing Figure 12 without joints and Figure 14 with
1.0E+02
joints.
The effect of joints on the modulus of deform-
ation was larger in the Koetoi Formation than in the
1.0E+01
Wakkanai Formation. This is because the unconfined
D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 M1 M2
compressive strength of the Koetoi Formation is lower
Figure 14. Modulus of deformation, modulus of elastic-
than that of the Wakkanai Formation.
ity and modulus of permanent deformation at the depth of
411.0 m. 3.5.2 Effect of porosity on the modulus of
deformation
modulus of deformation D/modulus of Porosity is one of the important parameters for soft
elasticity E rock characterization (Tanimoto 1982). The effect of
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 porosity on the modulus of deformation was con-
firmed at the location where the RQD value was large
0 enough. The case of high porosity in Figure 8 was com-
D1/E1 pared to the case of low porosity in Figure 12. In the
D2/E2 case of high porosity, the modulus of deformation was
100
low, and the residual deformation was large during the
unloading stage of the test.
200
3.5.3 GSI as an index for estimating moduli of
rock mass deformability
depth (m)

300 The relationship between the modulus of deformation

and GSI is shown in Figure 16. The modulus of defor-
400
mation by GSI is shown in Figure 17. The modulus
values of permanent deformation are plotted in the
figure. The modulus of deformation obtained through
500 the minimum GSI value makes it possible to estimate
the modulus of permanent deformation in the Koetoi
Formation and the modulus of deformation obtained
600 by the maximum GSI value makes it possible to esti-
mate the modulus of permanent deformation in the
Wakkanai Formation.
700 The design diameter of the borehole was 6-1/4 in.
(158.75 mm). Where the borehole became unstable
Figure 15. Modulus of deformation and modulus of due to faults and weakness planes, the diameter of
elasticity. the borehole was enlarged or reduced. The ratio of
borehole deformation is defined like convergence
Depth 225.5 m: The unconfined compressive in a tunnel, and the relationship between the ratio
strength was 5.31 MPa. The specimen was collected of borehole deformation and the RQD is shown in
near the test location. The RQD is 66.7%; several Figure 18. When the RQD is 98–100%, the scatter
joints were observed, and the structure of the rock of borehole deformations is very large. Otherwise,
mass was classified as “blocky” or “very blocky”. The the ratio of borehole deformation becomes small
surface condition of joints was “fair” or “poor”. The when the RQD becomes large. A few joints are
estimates of GSI were 27–66. The modulus of defor- identified in the borehole with RQDs of 98–100%,
mation was 613MPa from the minimum GSI value but the unidentified joints near the borehole may
of 27 and 5,790 MPa from the maximum GSI value affect the test results. The relation between the
of 66. ratio of borehole deformation and the modulus of

293
 1.00E+05 1.5

1.4

Ratio of borehole deformation (%)

1.3
Deformation modulus from GSI (MPa)

1.00E+04
1.2

1.1

1.0
1.00E+03
0.9

depth:184m 0.8
depth:217.0 m&225.5 m
1.00E+02 0.7
depth:248.0 m
depth:292.5 m 0.6
depth:349.0 m
0.5
depth:400.0 m
1.00E+01
depth:485.0 m 0.4
depth:494.6m 65.0 70.0 75.0 80.0 85.0 90.0 95.0 100.0
depth:540.0m RQD(%)
1.00E+00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Figure 18. Ratio of borehole deformation and RQD.
GSI 1.5

Figure 16. The modulus of deformation and GSI. 1.4

modulus of elasticity and permanent
deformation(MPa) 1.3

1.0E+01 1.0E+02 1.0E+03 1.0E+04 1.0E+05

1.2
0
Ratio of borehole deformation (%)

1.1
100
1.0

200 0.9

0.8
300
depeth(m)

0.7
400
0.6
min. GSI
500 0.5
max. GSI

modulus of permanent deformation 0.4

600 M1 1.00E+02 1.00E+03 1.00E+04 1.00E+05
modulus of permanent deformation
M2 modulus of deformation from GSI (MPa)
700 modulus of deformation from
GSI(min.) Figure 19. Ratio of borehole deformation and modulus of
modulus of deformation from
GSI(min.) deformation from GSI.

Figure 17. Modulus of deformation: estimation 4 CONCLUSIONS

through GSI.
Rock mass classification in Japan is reviewed in this
deformation from the GSI is shown in Figure 19. Based paper and compared to the GSI. In Japan, P-wave
on this figure the ratio of borehole deformation can be velocity and joint parameters are incorporated into
estimated from the modulus of deformation through rock mass classifications. The GSI parameters for esti-
the GSI. mating joints are well related to those used in rock

294
mass classifications in Japan. This is because the back-
ground of the GSI was close to that of the Japanese
systems. The relationship between P-wave velocity
and GSI should be discussed further.
Applications of the GSI to Japanese rock masses has
been limited. We discussed the relationship between
the GSI and the deformability of soft sedimentary
rocks through borehole loading tests. The moduli of
deformation obtained through the GSI are close to
those of permanent deformation. Borehole deforma-
tion can therefore be estimated from the modulus of
deformation obtained through the GSI.
REFERENCES
Amadei, B. 1883. Rock Anisotropy and the Theory of Stress
Measurement. Springer-Verlag, 478 pp.
Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, I. 1974. Engineering classifi-
cation of rock masses for the design in tunnel supports.
Rock Mech. 6: 189–236.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classifications in rock
engineering. In Bieniawski (ed.), Exploration for Rock
Engineering, Johannesburg, pp. 97–106.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K., Uno, H., Tasaka, Y. & Minami, M.
2004. Estimation of rock mass deformation modulus and
strength of jointed hard rock masses using the GSI sys-
tem. International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Sciences 41: 3–19.
Goodman, R.E. 1980. Introduction to Rock Mechanics. John
Wiley & Sons. Inc.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations
in Rock. London: Institution of Mining and Metallurgy,
527 pp.
295
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1988. The Hoek-Brown failure
criterion – a 1988 update. In Proc. 15th Canadian Rock
Mechanics Symposium, University of Toronto.
Hoek, E. 1994. Strength of rock and rock masses. ISRM
News Journal 2: 4–16.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(8):
1165–1186.
Horonobe Underground Research Center, Japan Nuclear
Cycle Development Institute 2004. International Work-
shop on Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory
Project, JNC TN5400 2004–004, 41 pp.
Japan Society of Engineering Geology 1992. Rock mass clas-
sification in Japan. Engineering Geology, Special Issue,
51 pp.
JSCE Working Group on Rock Mechanics 1979. Rock Mass
Classification in Tunneling, Civil Engineering, JSCE 11:
49–56.
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2000. GSI: a geologically friendly
tool for rock mass strength estimation. In Proceedings of
the GeoEng2000, International Conference on Geotech-
nical and Geological Engineering, Melbourne. Lancaster:
Technomic Publishers, pp. 1422–1446.
Marinos, P., Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2005. The Geological
Strength Index: applications and limitations. Bull. Eng.
Geol. Environ. 64: 55–65.
Minami, M., Tasaka Y., Cai, M. & Kaiser, P. 2006. Esti-
mation of the rock mass residual strength parameters in
deep ground using the GSI system. In Rock Mechanics
Symposium in Japan, Rock Mass Classification in Japan,
Engineering Geology, Special Issue, pp. 171–176.
Tanimoto, C. 1982. Engineering experience with weak rocks
in Japan, In Proceedings 23rd Symposium on Rock
Mechanics, pp. 999–1014.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Estimation of rock mass deformation modulus using the rock mass

classifications and seismic measurements

H.R. Zarei, A. Uromeihy & S. Khalesi

Dept. of Engineering Geology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: Rock mass characterization is required for many applications in rock engineering practice for
example: excavation design, underground powerhouses and seepage treatment in dam sites. Deformation modulus
is one of main input parameters for design and numerical modeling analysis. Although there are many ways to
determine the deformation modulus of a rock mass by using various in-situ and laboratory testing techniques,
the application of rock mass classification systems is one of the more practical ways. Two methods of rock mass
classification systems: RMR (Bieniawiski 1989) and “n” (Jasarevic & Kovacevic 1996), together with seismic
wave velocity measurements (Pv), were used to determine the deformation modulus of a carbonate rock mass
at the Namroud dam site in Iran. A new parameter, “CR” (classification ratio), which is the ratio of RMR/n is
introduced. An empirical equation was derived to estimate the deformation modulus of the rock mass at the dam
site. A classification chart was also introduced for a quick evaluation of rock mass quality and deformability.

1 INTRODUCTION mass is an isotropic unit affects the accuracy of their

Deformation modulus of a rock mass is a vital
element for analyzing the rock mass behavior in
rock engineering applications. There are many param-
eters that affect the deformability modulus of a rock
mass notably the geological conditions of a site and
the development of local tectonic stresses. There-
fore it is generally impossible to develop a universal
law that can be used to predict the deformability.
Traditionally, in-situ tests such as plate-loading and
jacking are common to determine the deformation
modulus but the cost of performing such tests are
very high. Many authors have developed empirical
relationships to predict the value of deformation mod-
ulus for a rock mass. Some of the proposed empir-
ical equations are listed in Table 1. Since each of
the equations was developed for a certain site, they
therefore do not correspond well for another site. It
can also be noted that the assumption that the rock
application.
In this research a combination of various methods of
classification: RMR (Bieniawski 1989) and “n” value
(Jasarevic & Kovacevic 1996) together with seismic
data (tomography chart) were used to evaluate the
rock mass quality and to derive an empirical equa-
tion for estimating the deformation modulus of the
rock mass at the Namroud dam site in Iran. The dam
is proposed to be constructed on the Namroud River
located 120 km northeast of Tehran. The predominant
rocks at the site consist of laminated limestone that is
highly fractured and jointed due to activity of faults
and geological stresses. A classification chart based
on the above equation was also proposed for quick
evaluation of the rock mass quality and deformabil-
ity. The application of the derived equation together
with the classification chart shows a good correlation
with the in-situ test results and general observation of
the site.

Table 1. Empirical equation for estimation of rock mass modulus.

1 Erm = 2RMR-100 Bieniawski (1978)

2 Erm = 10((RMR−10)/10) Serafim & Pereira (1983)
3 Erm = Ei/100(0.0028RMR2 + 0.9exp(RMR/22.82)), Ei = 50 GPa Nicholson & Bieniawski 1990)
4 Erm = Ei(0.5(1 − cos(π RMR/100))), Ei = 50 GPa Mitri et al. (1994)
5 Erm = 0.1(RMR/10)
√
3
Read et al. (1999)
6 Erm = (1 − D/2)
√ σci / 100 × 10((RMR−10)/40) , D = 0, σci = 100 MPa Hoek et al. (2002)
7 Erm = 7(±3) Q , Q = 10((RMR-44)/21) Diederichs & Kaiser (1999)

297
Table 2. General properties of the limestone rock at
dam site.

Type of tests Values Means

Dry density 2.63–2.67 2.65

Porosity (%) 0.38–1.6 0.86
Water absorption (%) 0.09–0.82 0.33
Durability index (%) 98.6–99.6 99.4
Wave velocity (Vs) (km/s) 1.83–2.64 2.26
Wave velocity (Vp) (km/s) 2.75–4.33 3.95
Poisson’s ratio 0.17–0.24 0.2
Young’s M.,Et50 (GPa) 09–15.5 12.8
tension strength (MPa) 8.31–14.5 9.98
UCS (MPa) 57.3–114.1 87.4

Figure 1. Compression wave velocity contour map at the

Table 3. Rock mass classification based on wave velocity. location of Namroud dam site.

P Velocity (km/s) Description Class Table 4. Rock mass categories.

>5 Very high A Rock mass

4–5 High B category class RMR n
3.5–4 Medium C
2.5–3.5 Low D Very good I 81–100 <1.5
<2.5 Very low E Good II 61–80 1.5–2.5
Fair III 41–60 2.5–3.5
Poor IV 21–40 3.5–4.5
Very poor V <20 >4.5
2 GEOLOGY

The dam site is located in the southern part of the

Central Alborz Mountain. The geological setting of the
site mainly consists of massive laminated limestone
units known as the Lar Formation of upper Cretaceous.
Many local faults traverse the dam site and the rock
layers are highly fractured and jointed.
In order to identify the physical and engineering
properties of the limestone, various types of tests
were carried out in the field and in the laboratory. A
summary of the test results are presented in Table 2.
the seismic investigation finding are demonstrated in
Figure 1. According to the form of the compression
velocity contour lines, the site was classified into four
zones. Zones 1 and 4 are the right and left abutment,
respectively, and indicate lower wave velocity mea-
surements and therefore lower rock mass quality. In
contrast, the rock mass at zones 2 and 3, which serves
as the dam foundation, shows a higher wave velocity
reading and therefore better rock.

3 GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES 4 ROCK MASS DEFORMABILITY

A seismic tomography chart was used to evaluate the
rock mass deformation modulus at various depths and
locations. By the measurement of the compression and
shear waves of the rock mass the dynamic modulus was
calculated.
The P-wave velocity of the rock mass was mea-
sured through a number of boreholes using cross-hole
tomography. The location of the sources were at 5
to 10 meters intervals along the boreholes and the
receivers were positioned at different locations (for
example; ground surface, galleries and boreholes) at 2
to 20 meters intervals. According to the P-wave veloc-
ity measurements the rock mass is classified into five
categories as shown in Table 3.
Based on three methods of analysis (ART, SIRT, and
LSQR) the seismic data was processed. The details of
Deformation characteristics of the rock masses across
the dam site were evaluated by conducting a plate jack-
ing test along galleries that were excavated into both
abutments. The deformation modulus on the left and
right abutment were in the range of 2.74 and 3.02 GPa,
respectively (Zarei 2000).
5 ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION
Two methods of rock mass classification were used
to study the quality of the rock mass at the dam site.
These are the RMR method suggested by Bieniawiski
(1989), and the “n” method introduced by Jasare-
vic & Kovacevic, (1996). Table 4 summaries the
classification categories of the two methods.

298
Table 5. Example of RMR classification for rock masses across the Namroud dam site.

Rock mass UCS RQD Joint spacing Joint Joint Adjustment

domain MPa (%) (cm) condition water factor RMR RMC

Left Values 75.25 54 20–60 Humid Fair

abutment Rating 9 13 10 20 7 −5 54 III
Right Values 57.3 42 20–60 wet Fair
abutment Rating 7 10 10 20 4 −2 49 III
Foundation Values 86.8 70 60–200 humid Good
Rating 9 16 15 25 7 −5 68 II

Table 6. Example of classification and categorization of the Namroud limestone – “n” system.

Borehole BND 5 Borehole BND 1 Borehole BND 10

Classification factors Left abutment Cat. (n) Foundation Cat. (n) Right abutment Cat. (n)

2 UCS (MPa) 75.25 3 57.3 4 86.8 3

3 PLT (IS50) ⊥ 2.85 5 2.1 5 4.2 5
4 PLT relationships/⊥
5 P-wave velocity 3.95 3 3.87 3 4.36 3
(crosshole) (Km/s)
6 Velocity index
Vcrossholes / Vultrasonic
7 Joint orientation (β) 35 2 35 2 35 2
8 Joint water Humid 2 Wet 2.5 Humid 2
9 RQD (%) 54 2 42 2 70 1
10 Joint volume
number Jv
11 Joint Spacing (cm) 20–50 2 10–20 3 20–50 to >50 1.5
12 Joint roughness and Slightly rough, 3.5 Rough, undulated, 2.5 Rough, planar, 2
filling planar, undulated, JRC = 8 JRC = 12
JRC = 5
= 2.8 = 3 = 2.4
Class III Class III Class II

80

A new parameter named the Classification Ratio

60
RMR = 95–15n
“CR”, which is the ratio of RMR/n value, is defined.
2 The classification of the limestone of the dam site was
RMR

R = 0.73
40 achieved by the use of this ration as shown in Table 7.
A combination of RMR and n values together with
20 the compression wave velocity contour line map, leads
to the classification of the dam site into six cate-
0 gories (see Fig. 3). The geotechnical properties of each
0 1 2 3 4 5 category are listed in Table 8.
n
6 DATA CORRELATION AND DISCUSSION
Figure 2. RMR – n correlation.
Plots of deformation modulus versus RMR, “n” value,
The quality of the rock mass classified according and compression wave velocity are presented in Fig-
to the RMR and “n” methods is presented in Tables 5 ures 4 to 6. The regression coefficients of these plots
and 6, respectively. are less than 0.65 which indicates a weak correla-
Based on the classification results, the following tion among the individual factors. Therefore a plot
relationship between the RMR and the “n” values is of is made to show the relationships between the
established (see Fig. 2) deformation modulus versus combination of Vp, RMR

299
Table 7. Rock mass classification based on classification 7
ratio.
6
Classification ratio Description Class
5

Ed (GPa)
>50 Very good a 4
Ed = 8-n
25–50 Good b 2
12–25 Fair c 3 R = 0.65
5–12 Poor d 2
<5 Very poor e
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
n

Figure 4. Ed-“n” correlation.

7
6 Ed =(135 + 9RMR)/100
Ed (Gpa)
5 R2 = 0.53

4
3
2
1
Figure 3. RMR classification along exploratory boreholes
0
at the Namroud dam site.
0 10 20 30 40 50
RMR
Table 8. Geo-mechanical properties of geotechnical
domains. Figure 5. Ed-RMR correlation.
Block I, Block II,
RMR = 33–44, n = 3.5–4 RMR = 38–48, n = 3–3.8
7
CAT V CAT IV
Vpmin = 1900 m/s Vpmin = 3000 m/s 6
Vpmax = 2800 m/s Vpmax = 4600 m/s
Edmin = 1900 MPa Edmax = 3860 MPa 5 Ed =1/2 + 1.2Vp
Edmax = 2497 MPa Edmin = 2467 MPa R2 = 0.60
Ed (Gpa)

Block III,
RMR = 45–60, n = 2–3.3
CAT III
Vpmin = 3600 m/s
Vpmax = 4600 m/s
Edmin = 3153 MPa
Edmax = 5286 MPa
Block V,
RMR = 30–46, n = 3.2–4.6
CAT IV
Vpmin = 2200 m/s
Vpmax = 4000 m/s
Edmax = 3700 MPa
Edmin = 1894 MPa
4
Block IV,
RMR = 38–54, n = 2.7–3.8 3
CAT III/IV
Vpmin = 3000 m/s 2
Vpmax = 4400 m/s 1
Edmin = 2465 MPa
Edmax = 4260 MPa 0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Block VI,
RMR = 40–54, n = 2.7–3.8 Vp (Km/s)
CAT III/IV
Vpmin = 3400 m/s Figure 6. Ed–Vp correlation.
Vpmax = 4200 m/s
Edmin = 2692 MPa
Edmax = 4124 MPa

and “n” value (Fig. 7). The regression coefficient of Based on data presented in Tables 3 and 8, a dou-
0.92 was obtained, indicating a strong correlation. The ble letter name can be used to classify a rock mass.
rock mass deformability, Ed, can be evaluated using The first letter which is written in upper case, repre-
equation 2. sents the wave velocity characteristic of the rock mass

300
 6 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

5 This study aims to establish a new approach to pre-

dicting the deformation modulus of limestone rock
4 at the Namroud dam site in Iran. Two methods of
rock mass classifications, the RMR and “n” systems,
Ed (Gpa)

3
Ed = 0.45[Vp(RMR/n)] 0.5 were used together with seismic records. The applica-
2
2
R = 0.92 tion of each individual parameter was considered in
the evaluation of the rock mass deformation modulus
1 but accurate correlations were not achieved. There-
fore a classification ratio, “CR”, was defined that
0 combines the RMR/n ratio and P-wave measurements.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 This showed a closer relationship with the deformation
Vp*(RMR/n) modulus of the rock mass. In this regard an empir-
ical equation is derived and a classification chart is
Figure 7. Ed–RMR – n -Vp corrélation. introduced.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors greatly admire the help and cooperation

of the Lar Consulting Engineering Company in this
research.

Figure 8. Rock mass classification chart based on “C.R.”
and wave velocity (Zarei 2000).
and the second letter (lower case) shows the classifi-
cation ratio. For example; Dc represents a rock mass
with wave velocity properties between 2.5–3.5 km/s
and classification ratio from 12 to 25. Figure 8 demon-
strates a classification chart that can also be used to
identify the rock quality.
REFERENCES
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1978. Determining rock mass deformability-
experience from case histories. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
Geomech. Abstr. 15.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass Classifica-
tions. New York: Wiley.
Diederichs, M.S. & Kaiser, P.K. 1999. Stability of large exca-
vations in laminated hard rock masses: the Voussoir ana-
logue revisited. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 36: 97–117.
El-Naqa, A. 1996. Assessment of geotechnical characteriza-
tion of a rock mass using a seismic geophysical technique.
Geotechnical & Geological Engineering 14: 291–305.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C.T. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion-2002 edition. In Proceedings of
the 5th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Toronto, vol. 1, pp. 267–273.
Ide, J.H. 1996. Comparsion of statically and dynamically
determined Young s modulus of rocks. Proc. Nat. Acad.
Sci. A22: 81–92.
ISRM (1981) Rock CharacterizationTesting and Monitoring-
ISRM Suggested Methods. Brown (ed.), Oxford: Perga-
mon, 211 pp.
Jasarevic, I. & Kovacevic, M.S. 1996. Analyzing applica-
bility of existing classification for hard carbonate rock
in Mediterranean area. Engineering Geology and the
Environment: 811–818.
Jasarevic, I. & Kovacevic, M.S. 1997. A contribution to the
methodology of the engineering geological and geotech-
nical modeling of dams. Engineering Geology and the
Environment: 2723–2727.
Nicholson, G.A. & Bieniawski, Z.T. 1990. A nonlinear defor-
mation modulus based on rock mass classification. Int. J.
Min. Geol. Eng. 8: 181–202.
Mitri, H.S., Edrissi, R. & Henning, J. 1994. Finite element
modeling of cablebolted stopes in hard rock ground mines.

301
 In SME Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
pp. 94–116.
Read, S.A.L., Richards, L.R. & Perrin, N.D. 1999. Applica-
bility of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion to New Zealand
greywacke rocks. In Vouill & Berest (eds.), Proceedings of
the 9th International Congress on Rock Mechanics, Paris,
vol. 2, pp. 655–660.
Serafim, J.L. & Pereira, J.P. 1983. Consideration of the
geomechanical classification of Bieniawski. In Proc. Int.
302
Symp. Eng Geol Underground Construction, Lisbon, 1(II),
pp. 33–34.
Zarei, H.R. 2000. Engineering investigation of carbonate rock
properties in Namroud dam site, based on field and labora-
tory tests. MSc. dissertation, Tarbiat Modares University,
Tehran, Iran.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Analysis of permeability using BPF, ANFIS & SOM

K. Shahriar & H. Owladeghaffari

Faculty of Mining & Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: This paper reports on the development of an intelligent algorithm based on ANFIS (Adaptive
Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System), BPF (back propagation feed forward) and SOM (Self-Organizing Map – neural
network) for the analysis of in-situ permeability in rock masses. Application of the algorithm is demonstrated
using the Shivashan dam, Iran, as a case study. In the first analysis stage, it is demonstrated that knowledge
and rules about relationships between model variables can be interpreted using ANFIS. In the second stage
of analysis, after completing the prediction of lugeon “permeability” values and aggregation of the measured
and pre-dicted values, it is demonstrated that these data can be classified using SOM. In the prediction stage
“Isolugeon” diagrams are generated, and in the clustering stage the rock volume under investigation is divided
into three permeability zones.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the design of dam structures, one of the most impor-

tant issues is the detection of permeability variations
in different levels of the dam site. However, pre-
diction of permeability using existing data obtained
from in-situ tests is a big challenge. This is especially
important in the determination of potential water flow
paths in the rock mass underlying a potential dam
structure, and this has an important impact on the plan-
ning of grouting procedures (Houlsby 1990, Andrade
1988).
Several different methods for assessing permeabil-
ity variations in rock masses can be found in the
literature; see Arhippainen (1970), Majdi et al. (2004,
2005) and Nakaya et al. (1997) for examples. In
this paper, using several branches of computational
intelligence (CI) theory, an algorithm to analyse per-
meability data will be presented and applied to a dam
site in North Western Iran.

Figure 1. An intelligent algorithm to permeability analysis.

2 THE INTELLIGENT ALGORITHM TO
PERMEABILITY ANALYSIS
Figure 1 summarizes a general process to prediction
and analysis of “lugeon data”. The algorithm applies
two soft computing approaches: neruo fuzzy infer-
ence system and neural networks: back propagation
feed forward neural networks (BPF) and self organiz-
ing feature map (SOM). Interested readers can review
the literature for example see Dubios & Prade (2000),
Jang.et al. (1997), Kohonen (1987), Lin & Lee (1996)
and Nauk et al. (1997).
In the first step, a compression between adaptive
neuro fuzzy inference systems and back propagation
neural networks, with similar conditions, is carried out.
This step defines which performs better in predicting
new unknown data.
The second step fulfills clustering and partition of
the permeability data set which is obtained from the
Permeability Data Box (PDP). The clustering of the
data set is implemented by self organizing feature map
(neural networks). As a complementary step, Isolu-
geon diagrams are added. Isolugeon’s contours are

303
 Table 1. General investigated permeability (Lugeon) for the Shivashan dam.

Lugeon value

R No
OW B.H. Lu < 1 I < Lu < 3 3 < Lu < 10 10 < Lu < 30 Lu > 30

1 SH1 44% 44% 12%

2 SH2 84% 5% — 11%
3 SH3 80% 8% — 12%
4 SH4 58% 14% 14% 14%
5 SH5 86% 14%
6 SH6 78.5% 10.7% 3.6% 3.6% 3.6%
7 SH7 44% 44% — 12%
8 SH8 69.2% 15.4% 15.4%
9 SH9 85.7% 14.3%
10 SH10 65.5% 10.3% 3.5% 6.9% 13.8%
11 SH11 44.5% 11.5% 22% 22%
12 SH12 73.4% 6.6% — 20%
13 SH13 75% 12.5% 12.5%
14 SH14 84.6% 3.8% 7.8% 8.8%
15 SH15 37.5% 25% 12.5% 12.5% 12.5%
16 SH16 62.5% 25% 12.5%
17 SH17 33.4% 22.2% 4.4%
18 SH18 78.7% 7.1% 7.1% 7.1%
19 SH19 54.5% 4.5% 27.3% 13.6%
20 SH20 55.6% 22.2% 22.2%

graphs which show changes of permeability along the
same elevation (Z) while X and Y change.
The last step is aggregation of the obtained results
and inference of a reasonable analysis.
3 A CASE STUDY: SHIVASHAN DAM’S
PERMEABILITY ANALYSIS
determine the volume of water take per unit of time,
from which the Lugeon number is calculated. The
Lugeon number has no upper limit and may go above
100, but once values reach above 100 Lugeon, it is
meaningless to distinguish further (Houlsby 1990).
Thus in practice, the maximum meaningful Lugeon
value is considered to be 100. A general assessment
from all of the boreholes has been shown in Table 1.

This section illustrates the efficiency of the described

algorithm for the Shivashan dam in northwest Iran.
3.1 Data set
Boreholes were drilled for different points across the
Shivashan dam’s footprint. The total number of tested
boreholes was 20, from which 789 measurements
(i.e. data points) were produced.
Water pressure tests, widely used and highly effec-
tive, were used for determining the rock mass perme-
ability. The Lugeon value, which is also known as the
Lugeon number (N Lu) is defined as follows:
The Lugeon unit is not a coefficient of permeabil-
ity, but to get a sense of proportion, it might be related
such that: 1 Lugeon = 1.3*10–5 cm/s. In practice, the
Lugeon test is used before grouting to quantitatively
3.2 BPF, ANFIS & SOM performance
To select the best BPF (i.e. back propagation feed for-
ward), different BPF structures were tested using the
Levenberg-Marqardart algorithm (Demuth & Beale
1998). This process was accomplished based on trial
and error, because there is no popular method to
determine hidden layers (and neurons).
Generally we show, for example, the network
with n1 neurons in the first layer, n2 neurons in the
second layer . . . nn neurons in the output layer: i.e.
[n1 , n2 , . . . nn ].
After 250 epochs of training the data and evaluating
its performance with the test data, the best BPF with
[3 16 9 1] structure was elected (see Figs. 2a, b).
BPF inputs are the X, Y, Z local coordinates of the
dam site. In this paper, data clustering is used to derive
membership functions (MFs) from the measured data,
which in turn, is used to determine the number of ‘If-
Then’ rules in the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference
System, ANFIS(1), (i.e. rules indication).

304

Figure 2. (a) Training of [3 16 9 1], vertical axis: MSE
(mean square error); (b) Error signal for selected BPF using
testing data set (MSE: vertical axis); and (c) Error signal
for ANFIS (1) with 3MF Gaussian MFs (RMSE: vertical
axis-root mean square error).
305
Figure 3. Isolugeon graphs (shaded) for z = 1160, 1180,
1190, and 1200 m: dark shading shows low lugeon values.
Several clustering methods have been proposed
in the literature (Nauck et al. 1997). The method
employed in this paper is the subtractive clustering
method.
The ANFIS(1) inputs were the same as the BPF
inputs. Figure 2c shows the error signal of ANFIS(1)
with 3 MFs for testing data set which are the same as
the BPF’s test data.
It is clear that ANFIS(1) has a better performance
to the BPF for the same number of epochs. Using
ANFIS(1), Isologues graphs, in Z = 1160, 1180, 1190
and 1200 m have been plotted (Fig. 3).
In a second process, inputs of ANFIS(2) were
selected as follows: Z (elevation of any section), L
(length of tested section), RQD, TWR (i.e. type of
weathering rock).
Relationships between these parameters and the
lugeon values on a scaled coordinate system is shown
in Figure 4. Extracted rules for RQD and L are
depicted in Figure 5. The coinciding of MFs in
Figure 4. Relationship between the Lugeon values and (a)
RQD; (b) Z.

Figure 6. Ability of SOM in clustering of data in 2-D

and three classes after 100 epochs: high, middle and low
permeability.
Figure 5b shows that the distances between L are
insignificant. From Figure 4a it can be seen that
decreasing RQD values correspond to an increasing
path for the Lugeon values (not regular format). The
ANFIS(2) results were obtained after 250 epochs
and 5MFs.
Performance of the SOM (Self-Organizing Map
neural network) in 2-D, using sx = 5, sy = 2 in the
competitive layer [note: matrix of neurons (Sx *Sy)
determines the size of the 2-D SOM], after 100 epochs,
shows the ability of this system to adapt the weights of
the neurons on the data distribution. This feature can
be found by comparing Figures 6a and b.
In fact, distribution of data has been detected
and clustered in three classes. This process can give
compressive view on Lugeon vs. Z variations.

4 CONCLUSION

Figure 5. The extracted MFs (Gaussian) for (a) RQD, and Proper evaluation of the permeability of in-situ rock
(b) L. The vertical axis shows the degree of MFs. masses, in particular, for dam foundations and the

306
corresponding abutments are one of the most sig-
nificant exercises carried out as part of the rock
characterization performed in dam engineering.
In this manner, using a multi intelligent algorithm,
the following results were obtained:
• Through the ANFIS(2) analysis, the relationships
between RQD, L, Z and type of weathering rock
were evaluated. Interpolation by ANFIS(2) or BPF
(Owladeghaffari & Pourrahimian 2006) leads to
prediction of new data. The variations of perme-
ability in successive planes (Z = {Zi}) can be inter-
preted as a path of water flow or may give the main
orientation of fractures.
• In the SOM networks, the key variables are the
weight adaptation process and the concept of topo-
logical neighborhoods of neurons. This provides a
high ability in classification of data in sets and
subsets.
• Based on these results, the algorithm applied to the
Shivashan dam data set, especially that concerning
the investigation of Isolugeon contours, reveals the
permeability in the right bank is higher than the left
bank.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge Moshanir
Consulting Engineers Inc., for providing the data used
in this paper. We appreciate Mr. Y. Pourrahimian
encouragement in completing the paper and to
Mr. N. Owladeghaffari in founding part of the work.
Grateful thanks are recorded.
REFERENCES
Andrade, R.M. 1988. Water pressure test on obsolete tool. In
ISRM Symposium on Rock Mechanics and Power Plants,
Madrid.
307
Arhippainen, E. 1970. Some notes on the design of grouted
curtains on the basis of water pressure tests. In 10th
Congress on Large Dams , Montréal, vol. II, pp. 137–145.
Demuth, H. & Beale, M. 1998. Neural network toolbox for
use with Matlab. Math works INS.
Dubios, D. & Prde, H. 2000. Fundamentals of Fuzzy Sets.
Kluwer Academic.
Houlsby, A.C. 1990. Construction and Design of Cement
Grouting. New York: John Wiley & Sons , Inc.
Jang, J.S.R, Sun, C.T. & Mizutani, E. 1997. Neuro-Fuzzy and
Soft Computing. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Kohonen, T. 1987. Self-Organization and Associate Memory.
2nd edn. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Lin, C.T. & Lee, C.S.G. 1996. Neural Fuzzy Systems.
England Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Majdi, A., Pourrahimian,Y. & Bagheri, H. 2004. Theoreti-
cal prediction of grout intake in jointed rock masses. In
5th International Techniques, Kualalampur, Malaysia, pp.
237–244.
Majdi, A., Bagheri, H. & Pourrahimian, Y. 2005. A study
of grout ability of Shivashan earth dam, foundation and
the corresponding abutments. In 6th International Con-
ference on Ground Improvement Techniques, Coimbra,
Portugal, pp. 415–421.
Nauk, D., Klawoon, F. & Kruse, R. 1997. Foundations of
Neuro-Fuzzy Systems. John Wiley & Sons.
Nakaya, S., Koike, A. & Horie, M. 1997. A geostatisti-
cal approach to estimate the ground water flow path in
fractured rocks. In Yuan (ed.), Computer Methods and
Advances in Geomechanics. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp.
1011–1014.
Owladeghaffari, H. & Pourrahimian, Y. 2006. Application
of ANN’s to permeability analysis. In 4th Asian Rock
Mechanics Symposium (ARMS), In Press.
 Numerial Modelling –
Continuum & Discontinuum
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
Limit equilibrium, strength summation and strength reduction
methods for assessing slope stability

J. Krahn
GEO-SLOPE International, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: Traditional limit equilibrium formulations such as the Bishop, Spencer or Morgenstern-Price
methods have some inherent weaknesses. To overcome these weaknesses, efforts have been directed at using
finite element computed stresses for assessing the stability of slopes. This paper reviews and compares two
methods referred to as the Strength Summation Method and the Strength Reduction Method, and concludes that
the Strength Reduction Method is more suitable for serviceability (deformation) analyses while the Strength
Summation Method is more suitable for stability analyses.

1 INTRODUCTION Limit equilibrium formulations have their short-

Stability is always a key issue in the analysis, assess-
ment or design of most earth structures. After all, the
prime objective is to ensure that the structure does
not collapse and/or deform to the point that it causes
unmanageable property damage or in the worst case,
the loss of human lives. It is by far the most common
type of numerical analysis in geotechnical engineering
and has become routinely used in practice.
Historically, stability analyses have been completed
using limiting equilibrium (LE) formulations such as
the well known Bishop, Spencer and Morgenstern-
Price methods.The potential sliding mass is commonly
discretized into slices as shown in Figure 1. The forces
on each slice, treated as a free body, are resolved to sat-
isfy horizontal and vertical force equilibrium together
with the overall moment equilibrium of the entire
potential sliding mass. The factor of safety is defined
as the value by which the soil strength must be reduced
to achieve the limiting equilibrium condition.
Figure 1. Slices and forces in a potential sliding mass.
comings as was vividly illustrated by Krahn (2003)
in the 2001 R.M. Hardy keynote address in Calgary.
At the heart of the limitations is the fact that limit
equilibrium formulations do not in any way consider
strains and displacements so they certainly do not sat-
isfy strain and or displacement compatibility. This is
the key missing piece of physics. The consequence
is that the interslice and slip surface stresses are not
necessarily representative of the actual field stresses.
Instead, the stresses and related forces computed in
a limit equilibrium formulation are the forces which
ensure that each slice is in force equilibrium, and that
each slice has the same local factor of safety. In real-
ity, however, the local factor of safety is not constant
across the slip surface and is not the same for each
slice.
To overcome the short comings of limit equilibrium
formulations, various approaches have been proposed
to use the results from finite element (FE) stress-strain
computations to assess the stability of earth struc-
tures. Of these, two approaches are gaining favorable
acceptance for use in practice.
One approach, known as the Strength Reduction
method, is based on using the FE results in isolation
without inheriting any legacy from LE procedures. The
factor of safety is obtained by weakening the soil in
steps until the slope “fails.” The factor of safety is
deemed to be the factor by which the soil strength
needs to be reduced to reach failure.
An alternative approach, called the Strength Sum-
mation method, retains some of the concepts inher-
ent in limit equilibrium procedures and combines
them with finite element computed stresses. Trial slip

311
surfaces are used as in traditional LE analyses. The
ratio of the available shearing resistance when divided
by the mobilized shear along the entire trial slip sur-
face is deemed to be the factor of safety. The trial slip
surface with the lowest factor of safety is considered
to be representative of the critical potential mode of
failure.
The objective of this paper is to review the details
of these two approaches and to compare their advan-
tages and limitations, as well as to comment on the
applicability of these methods for use in geotechnical
engineering practice.
2 LIMIT EQUILIBRIUM FORCES AND
STRESSES
the finite element computed stresses in a stability anal-
ysis overcomes one of the main weaknesses inherent
to a limit equilibrium formulation.
3 STRENGTH SUMMATION METHOD
For discussion purposes, using FE stresses in a
LE framework will be referred to as the Strength
Factor of
Safety
L.E. = 1.145
F.E. = 1.318

As noted in the introduction, stresses and forces com-

puted using LE methods are not necessarily represen-
tative of the actual insitu stresses. Consider the cases
90
in Figures 2 and 3, which compare the stresses along a 80
slip surface obtained from both a LE and FE calcula-
70
tion. In the toe slip scenario the two stress distributions
Normal Stress

60
vary significantly near the toe where there is a signifi-
50
cant concentration of shear stresses. For the deeper slip
40
surface, LE and FE stress distributions are somewhat
30
similar since there are no significant stress concentra-
20
tions along the slip surface and the normal slip surface
10 L.E. F.E.
stresses are reflective of the overburden.
0
The reason for the differences in the stress dis- 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
tributions and resulting factors of safety lies in the Slice number
fundamental assumptions inherent in limit equilibrium
formulations. LE methods involve iterative procedures Figure 2. Normal stress distributions along a toe slip
since the factor of safety equations are non-liner and surface.
in the more rigorous methods such MorgensternPrice
and Spencer a second level of iterations are required
Factor of
to find the slice forces that result in the same factor Safety
of safety with respect to force and moment equilib-
rium. As pointed out by Krahn (2003), fundamentally L.E. = 1.804
the iterations are required to meet two conditions F.E. = 1.849
which are:
(1) to find the forces acting on each slice so the slice
is in force equilibrium; and
180
(2) to find the forces on each slice that will make the 160
factor of safety the same for each slice. 140
Normal stress

The limit equilibrium method of slices is based 120

100
purely on the principle of statics; that is, the summation
80
of moments, vertical forces, and horizontal forces. The 60
method says nothing about strains and displacements 40
and as a result, it does not satisfy displacement com- 20
L.E. F.E.
patibility. It is this key piece of missing physics that 0
creates many of the difficulties with the limit equilib- 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
rium method. Including some form of a stress-strain Slice number
constitutive relationship such as a stress-strain finite
element analysis, that supplies the missing piece of Figure 3. Normal stress distributions along a deep slip
physics and ensures displacement compatibility. Using surface.

312
Summation Method. The quandary of not getting the
correct stresses in a limit equilibrium analysis can be
overcome by using finite element computed stresses
along a trial slip surface.
Figure 4 shows a simple 45-degree slope discretized
into finite elements. Using a simple gravity turn-on
technique, the stresses in the ground can be com-
puted. Using a linear-elastic constitutive relationship,
the vertical stresses are as shown in Figure 5. The
basic information obtained from a finite element stress
analysis is σx , σy and τxy within each element.
Worth noting at this stage is the 50 kPa contour
which is not a constant distance from the ground sur-
face. The contour is closer to the surface under the toe,
which means that the vertical stress is not just influ-
enced by the overburden weight. It is also affected by
the shear stress within the slope.
The finite element computed stresses can be
imported into a conventional limit equilibrium anal-
ysis. The stresses σx , σy and τxy are known within
each element and from this information the normal
and mobilized shear stresses can be computed at the
mid-point of each slice base. The procedure is to take
the known σx , σy and τxy stresses at the Gauss numer-
ical integration point in each element and project and
average the values at the nodes. With σx , σy and τxy
known at the nodes, the same stresses can be computed
at any other point within the element. The procedure
1 Figure 6 shows a potential sliding mass discretized
1 10 metres
Figure 4. A finite element mesh for establishing in situ
stresses.
then used to obtain the stress distribution along the slip
surface is as follows:
– For slice 1, find the element that encompasses the
x-y coordinate at the base mid-point of the slice.
– Compute σx , σy and τxy at the mid-point of the slice
base.
– Determine the inclination (α) of the base of the slice
from the limit equilibrium discretization.
– Compute the slice base normal and shear stress
using ordinary Mohr circle techniques.
– Compute the available shear strength for the com-
puted normal stress.
– Multiply the mobilized shear and available strength
by the length of the slice base to convert stresses
into forces.
– Repeat the process for each slice in succession up
to Slice number n.
Once the mobilized and resisting shear forces are
available for each slice, the forces can be integrated
over the length of the slip surface to determine a
stability factor. The stability factor is defined as:
where, Sr is the total available shear resistance and
Sm is the total mobilized shear along the entire length
of the slip surface. Similar stability factor expressions
have been presented by others (Kulhawy 1969, Naylor
1982).
into slices superimposed on the finite element mesh.
Using the Strength Summation method outlined above,
the stability factor for this slip surface is 1.318. This
compares with a Morgenstern-Price factor of safety
of 1.145 (constant interslice function), resulting in a
difference of 15%.
The reason for the difference in the margin of
safety is primarily related to the significantly different
normal stress distributions at the toe of the slip sur-
face. The finite element and limit equilibrium normal

50

100

200

50

100

200

Figure 5. Vertical stress contours. Figure 6. A toe slip surface on a finite element mesh.

313
stress distributions for this particular slip surface were
presented earlier in Figure 2. Localized shear stress
concentrations are, of course, not captured in a limit
equilibrium formation where the slice base normal is
derived primarily from the slice weight. This is one of
the limitations of the limit equilibrium method.
The situation is somewhat different for a deeper slip
as shown in Figure 3. The finite element and limit
equilibrium normal stress distributions along the slip
surface are much more similar for this case. Conse-
quently the stability factor based on finite element
stresses is almost the same as the Morgenstern-Price
factor of safety. The stress-based stability factor is
1.849 while the Morgenstern-Price factor of safety is
1.804. This shows that, when the normal stress distri-
bution along the slip surface is fairly representative of
the actual ground stresses, the limit equilibrium factor
of safety is as good as a stress-based factor of safety.
Figures 7 and 8 show the actual variation in the local
safety factors for each slice along the two slip surfaces
shown in Figures 2 and 3. As illustrated in these dia-
grams the LE factor of safety is constant along the
slip surface while the local safety factors based on the
FE computed stresses vary along the slip surface. The
unrealistic LE stresses are reflective of the incorrect
local safety factors.
In summary, using finite element computed stresses
allows for a variable local safety factor along the
slip surface which in turn leads to stresses better
representative of actual field conditions.
4 STRENGTH REDUCTION METHOD
As noted in the introduction, an alternative approach
is to artificially weaken the soil in an elastic-plastic
finite element analysis until the slope “fails” (Daw-
son et al 1999, Griffiths & Lane 1999). Numerically,
this occurs when it is no longer possible to obtain a
converged solution. The finite element equations for
a stress-strain formulation are in essence equations of
equilibrium. Not being able to obtain a converged solu-
tion therefore infers the system is beyond the point of
limiting equilibrium.
The strength reduction factor (SRF) is defined as,

F.E L.E
1.6

1.5

1.4
where φf and cf are the soil parameters at “failure”.
Factor of safety

Figure 9 shows a 2:1 homogeneous slope which

1.3
has Mohr Coulomb strength parameters of c = 5 kPa
and φ = 28 degrees. Using the Strength Summation
1.2
Method and a gravity turn-on analysis with linear
elastic soil properties, the critical mode of failure is
1.1 represented by the shaded zone in Figure 9. The shaded
zone represents slip surfaces with factors of safety
1.0 between 1.55 and 1.60. The white line in the zone
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 represents the slip with an overall F of S of 1.55.
Slice number The distribution of the local safety factors along
the slip surface is shown in Figure 10. The last slice
Figure 7. Local safety factors for the toe slip. (#30) has a local safety factor of 0.96 indicating that
the FE computed stress distribution represents some
F.E. L.E over-stressing in this area.
4 The next step is to re-distribute the stresses using
an elastic-plastic analysis. The strengths are summed
3
along the slip surface and the local safety factor
Factor of Safety

3
2
2
1
1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Slice number

Figure 8. Local safety factors for the deep slip. Figure 9. Zone of potential failure.

314
for Slice 30 changes to 1.10. The overall global
factor of safety obtained using the strength summation
procedure changes only slightly from 1.549 to 1.547.
Now, for illustrative purposes, we can apply the
Strength Reduction Method to the same slope and
reduce the strength in steps, comparing the Strength
Summation computed factors of safety (F of S) to the
computed Strength Reduction Factors (SRF) as shown
in Table 1.
The lowest strength for which it was possible to
obtain a converged solution represents a SRF of 1.42
(Case 4). This says that the factor of safety for the
original “unreduced strength” slope using the Strength
Reduction method is 1.42. The more conventional fac-
tor of safety based on Strength Summation Method
gave a value of 1.55. In terms of criterion for design
this is a significant difference.
Also, worth noting is that the factor of safety
using the Strength Summation Method for the low-
est strength (Case 4) is 1.07. This shows the difficulty
of obtaining a converged FE solution when the local
safety factor is indeed 1.0 along the entire slip sur-
face. This is further illustrated by the local safety factor
to obtain a solution as a structure moves towards
the point of instability. Smaller and smaller load-re-
distribution steps are required together with an ever
increasing number of iterations. Furthermore, there
can be many reasons for lack of convergence besides
just the reduction in strength, including incorrect
boundary conditions or incorrect initial insitu stresses
just to name a few possibilities.
Moreover, the displacement associated with the arti-
ficial strength reduction as shown in Figure 12 reveals
no distinct zone of slip such as is achievable with the
Strength Summation result shown in Figure 9.
The strength reduction method is sometimes touted
(Griffiths & Lane 1999) as providing a clearer picture
of the potential failure mechanism than using specific
slip surfaces. The results presented here do not support
this claim.
6.00
5.00
Case 1 Case 2 Case 4
4.00
Safety Factor

distributions in Figure 11. For the case with the low-

est strength the local safety factor distribution is near 3.00
unity along most of the slip except near the crest.
These results reveal that one of the difficulties 2.00
with the Strength Reduction approach is the imprecise
mechanism of defining the point of non-convergence. 1.00

Numerically, it becomes exponentially more difficult

0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
6.00 Slice #
Linear Elastic
5.00
Figure 11. Local safety factors distributions with strength
4.00 reductions.
Safety Factor

3.00

2.00 2
1
1.00 10 m

0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Slice #

Figure 10. Local safety factors based on linear-elastic

stresses.
2

Table 1. Comparison of F of S and SRF. 1

10 m

 
φ c F of S
Case degrees kPa summation SRF

1 28.00 5.00 1.55 1.00

2 25.00 4.38 1.35 1.14
3 20.80 3.57 1.09 1.40
4 20.53 3.52 1.07 1.42
Figure 12. Displacement field at “failure” magnified 30x.

315

Figure 13. A circular slip with an optimized shape.
Finally, using non-convergence as a criterion to
obtain the desired solution is unconventional in engi-
neering, where generally the practice is to seek con-
verged solutions on which to make design decisions.
5 SLIP SURFACE SHAPES
One of the arguments against the use of trial slip sur-
faces is that the slip surface has a defined geometric
shape such as the arc of a circle or piece-wise linear
segments or a combination of the two. This however
is no longer a requirement. There are other proce-
dures now available whereby the critical slip surface
can have a shape that does not necessarily follow
any defined geometric shape. One of the techniques
is called dynamic programming (Yamagami & Ueta
1988). Another method is referred to as optimiza-
tion (Krahn 2004a). In optimization, segments of the
slip surface are moved within an elliptical search area
using a statistical random walk procedure based on the
Monte Carlo method.
Figures 13 and 14 show two cases with optimized
slip surfaces relative to surfaces with pre-defined geo-
metric shapes. Not only are the optimized slip surface
shapes intuitively more realistic but they also generally
give a lower factor of safety.
The optimization can be used on either limit equi-
librium formulations or finite element stresses.
6 PERMANENT DEFORMATIONS
In certain cases earth slope deformations may become
sufficiently large so the structure cannot serve its
316
Figure 14. A block slip with an optimized shape.
intended function before reaching the point of col-
lapse. Stated another way, the serviceability of the
structure has failed while the factor of safety is greater
than 1.0. A typical example is the permanent deforma-
tion associated with earthquake shaking. The dynamic
forces may cause the factor of safety to temporarily
fall below 1.0 and/or there may indeed be a strength
loss due to the generation of excess pore-pressures.
In situations where there is indeed a real strength
loss, the strength reduction numerical procedure
holds considerable promise. The related stress re-
distribution can potentially provide a reasonable pic-
ture of the permanent deformations arising from the
actual strength loss provided the strength loss has not
led to a total collapse of the structure.
Using the strength reduction stress re-distribution
procedure seems to have more application for analyz-
ing permanent deformations than assessing stability.
In summary, the method is more useful for looking at
serviceability than stability.
7 LINEAR-ELASTIC VERSUS
ELASTIC-PLASTIC STRESSES
When looking at the overall global factor of safety
of a slope, a finite element analysis based on linear-
elastic properties is generally more than adequate.
Krahn (2003) presented the case shown in Figure 15.
The local safety factor distributions shown in Fig-
ure 15 for one particular slip surface are for both a
linear-elastic and an elastic-plastic analysis. The dis-
tributions vary significantly along the slip surface but
the global factors of safety are nearly identical. For
the linear-elastic case the global factor of safety is
1.206 and for the elastic-plastic case the global factor
of safety is 1.212, less than half a percent difference.
A similar conclusion was reached independently by
Stianson et al. (2004). After analyzing a wide range
of cases, they concluded, “…that a LE (linear-elastic)
stress analysis is sufficient to calculate the overall
stability of a slope.”

Phi = 20
2 traditional limit equilibrium formulations. The down-
C = 5 kPa
1 side is that it is necessary to do a finite element
Linear elastic Elastic plastic
2.0
1.8
1.6
Factor of Safety
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0 5 10 15 20
Figure 15. Local safety factor distribution for linear-elastic
and elastic-plastic stress fields.
The results from a linear-elastic analysis may mean
that the computed stresses in some zones are higher
than the available soil strength. This manifests itself as
a local factor of safety of less than 1.0 for some slices,
which is not physically possible. Ideally, non-linear
constitutive models should be used to redistribute the
stresses such that the applied stresses do not exceed
the strength. However, using non-linear constitutive
relationships greatly complicates the analysis, primar-
ily because of the associated numerical convergence
issues.
Ignoring local safety factors that are less than unity
is not all that serious. Physically, it means that neigh-
boring slices have a local safety factor that is too high.
Since all the mobilized and resisting shear forces are
tallied along the entire slip surface, local irregularities
are smoothed out and therefore have little effect on the
total forces which are used in computing the global
factor of safety for the entire sliding mass. This is an
indirect form of averaging but not nearly to the extent
that is inherent in the limit equilibrium formulation
where the factor of safety is the same for all slices.
This is of significance for using finite element com-
puted stresses in practice for stability analyses. The
fact that a linear-elastic analysis does not result in
convergence issues is a great benefit and for this rea-
son alone provides a considerable advantage over the
Strength Reduction method.
8 CONTINUED USE OF LIMIT
EQUILIBRIUM METHODS
Using finite element computed stresses in a slope sta-
bility analysis overcomes some of the short-comings of
analysis, which is sometimes not trivial procedure for
some cases. This is particularly true for natural slopes.
Accurately establishing the stress conditions in a nat-
ural slope involves modeling the geologic process that
created the slope, which could be a lengthy and com-
plicated study. A simple gravity turn-on analysis is
usually a rough estimate of the stress conditions in the
slope. In light of this, doing a limit-equilibrium fac-
tor of safety analysis is likely as appropriate or even
more useful and trustworthy as attempting any finite
element based approach.
Further comment on this is not warranted in the con-
text of this paper except to note that there is nothing
wrong with conventional limit equilibrium stability
analyses provided the method is recognized for hav-
ing inherent limitations and that expectations are not
placed on the method which it is not able to provide
25 30 such as realistic insitu stress distributions.
9 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Limit equilibrium numerical formulations for assess-
ing the stability of earth slopes do have some lim-
itations. In an effort to overcome these limitations,
methods have been proposed which make use of finite
element stress-strain analyses. Of these, two seem to
hold some promise for use in engineering practice.
One is known as the Strength Reduction Method and
the other is referred to in this paper as the Strength
Summation Method.
The Strength Reduction Method is based on artifi-
cially weakening the soil in an elastic-plastic analysis
until it is no longer possible to achieve convergence,
which is then taken as the point of failure. The factor
by which the strength is reduced is deemed to be the
resulting factor of safety for the original slope.
The Strength Summation Method tallies the avail-
able shear resistance and mobilized shear as deter-
mined from a finite element analysis along a trial slip
surface. A ratio of the available shear resistance to the
mobilized shear is taken as the factor of safety.
The Strength Reduction Method suffers from the
imprecise criteria for defining failure, which is repre-
sented by a state of non-convergence. Convergence is a
difficult numerical issue as a structure moves towards
the point of instability. The problem is serious enough
to impede the use of this method in routine practice.
The Strength Summation Method together with
a simple linear elastic FE analysis is adequate for
317
assessing the overall global factor of safety of earth
slopes. The big advantage of this method is that it is
not fraught with numerical convergence difficulties. It
also presents a more distinct picture of a failure zone
than the Strength Reduction Method.
The Strength Reduction Method has more applica-
tion for assessing serviceability (permanent deforma-
tion) than for assessing stability.
The perceived limitation of methods based on trial
slip surfaces with pre-defined geometric shapes has
now been overcome. Procedures are available for find-
ing critical slip surfaces which have a general shape
that leads to the lowest factor of safety.
Traditional limit equilibrium formulations remain
acceptable for assessing the margin of safety of earth
slopes provided the limitations are understood and
results are not expected that the methods cannot
provide.
Finally, if a Strength Reduction approach is used to
assess the stability of a slope it would seem prudent to
compare the results with a Limit Equilibrium analysis
with which we have decades of experience. Until the
Strength Reduction Method has been used routinely in
practice for many years the method should not be used
in isolation.
10 NOTE
Stability analyses, finite element analyses, Strength
Summation analyses and Strength Reduction analy-
ses presented and discussed in the paper were carried
318
out using the GeoStudio 2004 geotechnical software
packages SLOPE/W and SIGMA/W (Krahn 2004a, b).
REFERENCES
Dawson, E.M., Roth, W.H. & Drescher, A. 1999. Slope sta-
bility analysis by strength reduction. Geotechnique 49(6):
835–840.
Griffiths, D.V. & Lane, P.A. 1999. Slope stability analysis by
finite elements. Geotechnique 49(3): 387–403.
Krahn, J. 2003. The 2001 R.M. Hardy Lecture: The Limits
of Limit Equilibrium Analyses. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal 40: 643–620.
Krahn, J. 2004a. Stability Modeling with SLOPE/W; An
Engineering Methodology. Calgary: GEOSLOPE Inter-
national Ltd., pp. 101–104.
Krahn, J. 2004b. Stress and Deformation Modeling with
SIGMA/W; An Engineering Methodology. Calgary:
GEO-SLOPE International Ltd.
Kulhawy, F.H. 1969. Finite Element Analysis of the Behavior
of Embankments. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California
at Berkley, California, USA.
Naylor, D.J. 1982. Finite elements and slope stability. In
Numerical Methods in Geomechanics. D. Reidel Publish-
ing Company.
Stianson, J.R., Chan, D. & Fredlund, D.G. 2004. Com-
paring slope stability analysis based on linear elastic
or elasto plastic stresses using dynamic programming
techniques. In 57th Canadian Geotechnical Conference,
Québec City, 9 pp.
Yamagami, T. & Ueta, Y. 1988. Search for the critical slip
lines in finite element stress field by dynamic program-
ming. In Proceedings of the 6th International Confer-
ence on Numerical Methods in Geomechanics, Innsbruck,
pp. 1347–1352.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) approach for slope stability analyses

M.S. Diederichs
Geo-Engineering Centre at Queen’s University and Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

M. Lato
Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

R. Hammah
Rocscience Inc. Toronto, Ontario, Canada

P. Quinn
Geo-Engineering Centre at Queen’s University and Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: This paper is intended to illustrate the applicability of Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) as a
general technique for obtaining Factor of Safety estimates for slopes in variable geology, progressive or locally
brittle yield behaviour and with ground-structure interaction. Comparisons are made with Limit Equilibrium
solutions (LEM). Implications of the assumptions required to ensure this correlation are discussed including
uniform stiffness, rigid-plastic behaviour, instantaneous interaction between geological units, and instantaneous
generation of support loads. The paper uses Finite Element Modeling (FEM) as a vehicle for demonstration
although Finite Difference solutions are equally valid. General applicability of the method is demonstrated and
the limitations explored using Discrete Element simulation of multi-block slope failure.

1 INTRODUCTION factors of safety. The approach offers a number of

The Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) technique (Mat-
sui & San 1992, Dawson et al 1999, Griffiths &
Lane 1999, Cala & Flisiak 2003, Hammah et al.
2005a, 2006) enables finite element (or finite dif-
ference) techniques to be used to calculate factors
of safety for slopes, providing an alternative to limit
equilibrium calculations and a potentially more reli-
able analysis of slopes with heterogeneous stiffness,
strain-softening and passive structure-ground interac-
tion. The methodology is general and can be applied to
other non-linear problems such as multi-block discrete
element simulations.
Geotechnical engineers primarily conduct slope
design based on calculated factor of safety values.
Limit Equilibrium (LEM) techniques that compare
resisting forces to driving forces (or moments) are
ideally suited to the generation of a nominal safety
factor (Krahn 2003). Instantaneous slide surface mobi-
lization and consideration of stresses and forces inde-
pendent of pre-failure movement are inherent in these
techniques, and may result in inadequate representa-
tion of the system’s actual stability state.
Non-linear modeling using the Shear Strength
Reduction (SSR) technique can also used to determine
advantages over LEM (Griffiths & Lane 1999) includ-
ing the elimination of a priori assumptions on the shape
and location of failure surfaces, the elimination of
assumptions regarding the inclinations and locations
of interslice forces, the capability to model progressive
failure, the calculation of deformations and the incor-
poration of displacement controlled ground-structure
interaction. The general approach is valid for a wide
range of applications.
The automated inclusion into specific analysis tools
mandates the need for some accepted stability crite-
ria. Maximum unbalanced force tolerance, maximum
displacement limits or other criteria have been incor-
porated into commercially available codes although
these are not fundamentally related to the methodology
of SSR. Examples of alternative stability indicators
are proposed in this paper. Stability indicators can
be tailored for the problem at hand through manual
application of the SSR approach.
Some key issues, nevertheless, require further res-
olution including the questions: should factored shear
strength parameters represent the dominant variables
in the definition of factor of safety for more complex
failure modes (shear plus toppling, extension, etc);
should cohesion and friction be subjected to the same

319
reduction factors; should all capacity related parame-
ters, including support, be included in the SSR process
and should support be factored by the same Strength
Reduction Factor as the soil/rock shear strength ?
Duncan (1996) provides some insight into the latter
issue although more discussion is needed on this and
other details of SSR application.
1.1 Limit equilibrium analysis
The general limit equilibrium approach developed
by Fredlund & Krahn (1977) calculates a composite
factor of safety, FS, for moment equilibrium as:
and for force equilibrium as:
where the slice base normal force is:
where u is the pore pressure, W is the slice weight,
Dis an applied line load, α is the base inclination and
β, R, x, f , d and ω are geometric parameters.
The significant assumptions in this formulation
concern the inter-slice forces (shear and normal).
Early techniques (Fellenius 1936) ignored these forces
or made significant simplifying assumptions (Janbu
1954, Bishop 1955). Morgenstern & Price (1965) and
Spencer (1967) proposed a solution for this prob-
lem used in the general formulation by Fredlund &
Krahn (1977). Krahn (2003) summarizes and com-
pares a number of approaches for LEM analysis. These
differ primarily in the individual or combined con-
sideration of moment or force equilibrium and the
consideration of inter-slice normal and shear forces
and the assumed or calculated inclination of resul-
tant inter-slice forces as illustrated in Figure 1 and
summarized in Table 1.
The basal stress state in the original LEM for-
mulations is ultimately a function of gravitational
loading on the individual slices. This does not con-
sider the influence of topographical and stiffness based
variations in the underground stress state.
A number of authors, including Zou et al. (1995) and
Krahn (2003) have proposed the use of linear elastic
finite element analysis to provide the initial stress map
for a subsequent LEM calculation and the integration
of slice forces. Stianson et al. (2004) investigate the
320
Figure 1. Slice and interslice forces for a composite limit
equilibrium approach to slope stability.
use of non-linear plastic analysis (for stable problems)
to compute the basal stress state and slice forces. These
methods collectively represent an important advance
over conventional techniques. The use of elastic FEM
stress calculations takes into account the stress vari-
ability due to stiffness contrasts and topography (as in
GeoSlope 2001, for example). The use of plastic anal-
ysis to compute stresses for an LEM calculation may
account for progressive yield and stress redistribution
although the additional complexity of the integrated
solution procedure is of dubious added value.
Another assumption involves the consideration of
line loads in the formulation. Support loading can
be considered by adjusting resisting forces or driv-
ing forces within the factor of safety equation. One
approach to handle this problem is to include so-
called active support (e.g. pre-tensioned anchors) as
a reduction to the driving forces while passive anchors
(e.g. grouted dowels) are incorporated as an increase
in resisting forces. This selection, while logical, is
somewhat arbitrary and this challenge is discussed,
without the provision of a unique solution, by Krahn
(2003). The displacement dependency of resisting
loads provided by some passive support systems is not
considered in this formulation.
Finally, LEM techniques must be performed on an
assumed continuous slip surface. This surface was
originally circular in early formulations but most tech-
niques after Fellenius can be applied to non-circular
and very general surfaces (Fig. 2). The surface that
generates the minimum factor of safety is located using
a grid or optimized search (center and radius), block
search (relocating vertices of an arbitrary slip polygon)
or other statistical techniques. For simple geometries,
modern search methods yield robust results although
for problems including extreme geometries (very thin
weak layers, for example), search techniques can often
miss the true global minimum (FS) geometry.
1.2 Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) techniques
The SSR technique involves the use of factored
strength parameters in a non-linear numerical model.
Table 1. Comparison of equilibrium considerations and interslice force assumptions (Krahn 2003).

Moment Horiz. force Interslice Interslice Inclination of

Method equilibrium equilibrium normal force shear force interslice force

Fellenius YES NO NO NO No Force

Bishop Simplified YES NO YES NO Horizontal
Janbu Simplified NO YES YES NO Horizontal
Spencer YES YES YES YES Constant
Morgenstern-Price YES YES YES YES Variable
Corps of Engin. 1 NO YES YES YES = Crest to Toe Average Dip
Corps of Engin. 2 NO YES YES YES = Slice Ground Surface Dip
Lowe-Karafiath NO YES YES YES = Average of Surface and Base Dip

Figure 2. a) LEM grid search using SLIDE (RocScience Figure 3. Finite difference analysis result using total unbal-
2005a) for circular slip surface and b) block search (optimized anced force magnitude as a stability indicator. FS = 1.025 for
vertices). FS<2 surfaces for slope with weak layer below toe. this slope (after Dawson et al. 1999).

The shear strength properties of the model material

are scaled until the stability limit is reached. The ratio
between the actual strength and the model strength at
the stability limit is the Factor of Safety.
The continuum approach to SSR considers a dis-
cretized zone in a finite element or finite difference
continuum model and uses predefined displacement
limits at points of interest or using model convergence
as an indicator of equilibrium. For similar element
shape functions, the set of algebraic equations solved
in finite element analysis is identical to the finite
difference method (Dawson et al. 1999).
In the case of FLAC (Itasca 2005) the set of
equations is solved using dynamic relaxation. Equi-
librium is assumed when the unbalanced forces reach Figure 4. SSR solution using FEM (PHASE2) for the same
a minimum tolerance. Figure 3 illustrates an exam- slope in Figure 2. Maximum displacement is plotted – two
ple of the SSR solution procedure (as in Cala & right most points represent non-converging models. Notice
Flisiak 2003, Lorig & Varona 2004) using unbalanced that the critical surface geometry defined in Figure 2.b. is
force as an indicator of slope stability. Alternatively, naturally defined in the SSR analysis without a priori spec-
critical displacements could be used as a stability ification and that the FS (=SRF) is similar (1.49 above vs
limit. 1.46 for Figure 2).
SR analyses in FEM codes such as PHASE2 (Roc-
Science 2005b) conventionally rely on overall model of critical slope displacements, support loadings, or
solution convergence as an indicator of stability for shear strain localization (as in Matsui & San 1992) as
automated determination of SSR. Manual iteration desired. Figure 4 illustrates the convergence approach
about a critical SSR can also involve consideration for the same slope in Figure 2.

321
 For Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters the modi-
fication is as follows (Dawson et al. 1999):

Figure 5. Geometry of slope in Example 1.

where, for SSR analyses, the same “strength reduc-
tion factor” (SRF = FStrial ) is used for all components
of strength and for all materials within the stability Table 2. Factors of Safety for Example 1 for Different
problem. The SSR approach for the Hoek-Brown cri- Assumptions on Deformation Parameters (Hammah et al.
2005).
terion (Hoek et al. 2002) involves a more involved but
philosophically similar factoring process described by Homogeneous slope example
Hammah et al. (2005b).
This factoring of strength parameters allows rein- No. E (kPa) µ SRF = FS
forcement and other external effects to be modeled
without modification to determine stability. This is 1 2,000 0.2 1.210
analogous to the factored load approach for returning 2 2,000 0.48 1.180
structural load demand from ground behaviour. The 3 20,000 0.2 1.210
support capacities can have a different factor of safety 4 20,000 0.48 1.180
is desired (as suggested by Duncan 1996), although 5 200,000 0.2 1.210
6 200,000 0.48 1.180
there is some merit in considering reinforcement
within the SSR factoring process as well.
The approach allows for the reinforcement and
the rock mass itself (if heterogeneous) to develop
modified internal loads and stresses as a function of
pre-yield displacements and strains. Most importantly,
the critical failure surface develops naturally during
the course of the non-linear solution and does not need
to be pre-defined or determined through optimization
algorithms. Brittle or strain softening behaviour and
dilation effects are also accommodated.

2 SSR EXAMPLES USING FEM ANALYSIS
This section describes four slope examples, which
were employed to verify the SSR method’s perfor-
mance. Some of the examples were taken from pub-
lished papers that report factors of safety calculated
with limit equilibrium methods. The slope examples
were also computed with a commercial limit equilib-
rium program (RocScience 2005a) for the purposes of
obtaining failure mechanisms (slip surfaces) in addi-
tion to factors of safety. The performance of the SSR
method can be verified by comparing its factor of
safety results and predicted shear failure mechanism
to the limit equilibrium answers.
2.1 Example 1: Simple homogeneous slope
The slope example (Hammah et al. 2005) shown in
Figure 5 comprises a simple, homogeneous slope in
material that has Mohr-Coulomb strength.
Figure 6. The Bishop critical failure surface superimposed
on the contours of maximum shear strain of Slope 1 at failure
(as predicted by the SSR finite element method).
The cohesion of the material is 10.5 kPa and the
friction angle equal to 35 degrees. Bishop’s method
of limit equilibrium analysis produced a factor of
safety of 1.21. Table 2 provides SSR factors of safety
for different assumed values of Young’s modulus and
Poisson’s ratio for the slope material.
The results compare very well to the LEM answer.
Figure 6 superimposes the critical failure surface
obtained from Bishop’s method on the contours of
maximum shear strain at failure in the slope produced
from the SSR finite element method.
2.2 Example 2: Slope with thin weak seam
Example 2 deals with a verification problem described
as Example 3a in the five basic slope stability problems

322
Figure 7. Geometry of slope in Example 2.
Figure 9. Geometry of slope in example 3, including pore
pressure grid and ponded water.
Table 3. Strength parameters of the materials in Example 2.
Table 5. Strength parameters of the materials in Example 3.
c (kN/m2 ) φ (deg.) γ(kN/m3 )
c (kN/m2 ) φ (deg.) γ(kN/m3 )
Soil #1 28.5 20.0 18.84
Soil #2 0 10.0 18.84
11.0 28.0 20.00

Table 4. Factor of safety results for Example 2. Table 6. Factor of safety results for Example 3.

Method Factor of Safety Method Factor of safety

SSR (FS = SRF) 1.270 SSR (FS = SRF) 1.475

Spencer 1.258 Bishop 1.498
GLE 1.246 Spencer 1.501
Janbu Corrected 1.275 GLE 1.500
Published results 1.240 – 1.270 Janbu Corrected 1.457
Published results 1.530

Figure 8. The Spencer critical failure surface superimposed Figure 10. The Spencer critical failure surface superim-
on the contours of maximum shear strain of Slope 2 at failure. posed on the contours of maximum shear strain of Slope 3 at
failure.

distributed in a survey sponsored by the Australian

Association for Computer Aided Design and summa-
rized by Giam & Donald (1989).
The slope, which is shown on Figure 7, includes
a thin seam of weak material. The Mohr-Coulomb
properties of the materials are given in Table 3.
Table 4 outlines the factors of safety calculated
by the SSR method and various limit equilibrium
approaches. Figure 8 compares the Spencer non-
circular failure surface against that (as described by
contours of maximum shear strain at failure) predicted
by the SSR method. The SSR results agree very well
with limit equilibrium predictions.
2.3 Example 3: Slope with pore water pressures
The slope in Example 3 is the fifth example in the
ACADS set of slope problems (Giam & Donald 1989).
The geometry is shown on Figure 9, and the soil
properties given in Table 5.
This slope was excavated at a slope of 1:2 below an
initially horizontal ground surface. The pore pressure
grid shown on Figure 10 was derived from the flow net
provided in the ACADS publication.
Table 6 and Figure 10 show that the results of the
SSR method are in agreement with those determined
from limit equilibrium analysis methods.

323
Figure 11. LEM results for embankment with no support
and with “passive” and “active” support. Minimum FS values
are given for selected solution methods.
2.4 Example 4: Passive support
The example in Figure 11 is a 25 m high embankment
on a strong base. The upper soil has a cohesion of
50 kPa and a friction angle of 30 degrees.
The support system consists of 4 frictional dowels
spaced 2 m in plane and 1.5 m out of plane. In limit
equilibrium, the full capacity of the dowels (100 kN)
is assumed to act upon the sliding mass. The bolts
contribute to the normal pressure on the slice base
(increasing frictional resistance). The tangential com-
ponent (parallel to the base) can act in two ways.
SLIDE (RocScience 2005a) imposes “active” support
as a reduction of the driving forces while “passive”
support acts to increase the resisting force. This deter-
mination brackets the range of support action such that
active support gives a slightly higher FS than passive –
a realistic “ballpark” assumption. It is more signifi-
cant to note that passive reinforcement is assumed to
act with full nominal capacity in the calculation where
in reality the development of resistance is displace-
ment or strain controlled. The unsupported minimum
FS surfaces as well as the results of supported analysis
are shown in Figure 11.
The FEM-SSR results are shown in Figure 12. In
this analysis, the dowels are modelled as frictional steel
supports (19 mm diameter and 200 GPa stiffness) with
the same limiting interface shear strength (50 kN/m)
as in the LEM model. Figure 12 shows that the unsup-
ported slip surface and factor of safety corresponds
well to the LEM solution.
In the supported case, however, the results differ
in terms of the location of the minimum FS (=SRF),
although the Factor of Safety for this new failure zone
falls within the range calculated for this zone in LEM
(FS = 1.5 to 1.6). The main difference is that the LEM
still locates the minimum surface (FS = 1.37–1.46)
through the support as in Figure 11.
In addition, the lower right plot in Figure 12 illus-
trates that the generation of axial load in the supports is
not constant and does not reach the maximum capac-
ity. The axial (and shear) load develops as the slope
deforms. This is more physically accurate than the
324
Figure 12. FEM-SSR analysis with and without support.
Lower right image also shows relative bolt loads (axial) for
the SRF being considered. Bolt loads are not factored.
assumption of static full capacity (or even factored
nominal capacity) in LEM analysis.
In this analysis, however, the capacity of the bolts
is not factored along with soil shear strength in the
SSR process. There is, at present, no consensus on
whether they should be (i.e. apply the same SSR to bolt
capacity) or how the actual loads in the bolts should
be compared with the bolt capacities to give an FS for
the bolts. This is a discussion that is needed in order
to adopt a standard approach for supported slopes. It
is possible to use the SSR approach in a different way
and discretely select limiting SRF (for short and long
term stability for example) according to accepted prac-
tice. This would be compatible with the factored load
approach for merging structural and geotechnical engi-
neering. The bolts could then be scaled to provide
stability for the strength-reduced slip surface within
a structural (steel code) safety margin. This is just one
suggestion. It is clear, however, that more discussion
is warranted on the incorporation of support in SSR
models. Accepting that SSR is mechanically correct,
the accounting process for support needs to be further
discussed in the learned community.
2.5 Example 5: Stiffness and strain softening
The examples in the previous section were selected to
demonstrate the compatibility of LEM and FEM-SSR
techniques for simple slope problems. In each case the
conditions are fixed and the units are of uniform and
high stiffness (the correct approach to obtain direct
comparison between the two methods). The following
example explores the effect of multiple materials, stiff-
ness, strain softening and sensitivities to convergence
tolerance and mesh density.
Table 7. Strength parameters of the materials in Example 5.

UCS UCS Erm

MPa resid mi GSI mb s GPa

SSt 60 12 21 70 7.2 0.036 16.5

Sh1 15 15 8 60 1.9 0.012 3.0
Silt 25 25 10 65 2.9 0.02 9.4
Sh2 10 10 7 50 1.2 0.004 2.0

SSt = Sandstone, Silt = Siltstone, Sh1 = shale, Sh2 = weak

shale.

Figure 15. FEM-SSR analysis for Example 5 with strain

weakening behaviour for the sandstone (zero dilation).
Water table is solid line (1). Shear strain (contours) and dis-
placement vectors (x25) are plotted. Note bimodal failure
(2 blocks).

Table 8. Effects of tolerance, maximum iterations per cycle

and mesh density for Example 5 with brittle sandstone
(Figure 15) and zero dilation.

Mesh Max
Figure 13. LEM analysis (FS values shown) for a stratified (*6 nodes) Tolerance iterations FS = SRF
rock slope. Left analysis uses peak strength from Table 7;
Right analysis uses “residual” strength for the Sandstone. *Standard 0.001 500 1.85
*Standard 0.01 250 2.05
*Standard 0.0001 1000 1.82
*Coarse (×0.5) 0.001 500 1.86
*Fine (×2) 0.001 500 1.82
3 node (stand) 0.001 500 2.03

sandstone. Other lithologies are plastic. SSR is applied

Figure 14. FEM-SSR analysis of slope in Fig. 13 and
Table 7. Shear strain contours and displacement vectors (x25)
plotted.
The layer properties (according to Hoek et al. 2002)
for the example in Figure 13 are given in Table 7.
Figure 13 shows the minimum FS calculated for
three selected LEM solutions using peak and residual
strength parameters for each layer. In this example, the
residual strength is specified by reducing the normaliz-
ing UCS. The slope crest is 205 m above the lake level.
Figure 14 compares the FEM-SSR results for mod-
els with elastic-plastic response (using “peak” param-
eters from Table 7) using identical elastic properties
and variable (true) elastic properties.The effect of stiff-
ness contrasts in this case is not particularly significant
although there is no reason not to include stiffness vari-
ation in an FEM-SSR analysis. The results in either
case compare best to the non-circular Bishop analysis
in Figure 13.
Figure 15 shows the SSR results for an analysis with
strain weakening (brittle) behaviour prescribed for the
to both peak and residual parameters in this case.
Interestingly, the FS ( = SRF = 1.85) for this analy-
sis is within the range of the LEM analyses for residual
parameters. In addition, close examination of Fig-
ure 15 shows that both the non-circular, deep-seated
slip surface as well as the shallower circular surface
suggested by alternate LEM analyses (right side of
Fig. 13) are both simulated in the FEM-SSR analy-
sis (two distinct zones of elevated shear strain). The
results shown are for zero-dilation. Failure geometry
is similar for dilation (mdil = 0.25mb ) with an elevated
FS = SRF = 1.92. Table 8 summarizes the impact of
mesh density and convergence tolerance. Beyond a
reasonable minimum element density, the results are
not very sensitive to mesh configuration although poor
results are obtained with an elevated tolerance or the
use of 3-noded triangular elements (as opposed to
6-noded linear strain elements).
3 DISCRETE/DISCONTINUOUS MODELS
The application of SSR is not restricted to continuum
models such as finite element or finite difference tools.
This section presents two examples of application in
discontinuum analysis.

325

Figure 16. Schematic 3DEC block models used in
Figure 17.
3.1 SSR in discrete element analysis
While the equilibrium calculation is based on a group
of slices, limit equilibrium techniques still consider the
behaviour of a contiguous block of rock or soil in a state
of limiting sliding instability. In multi-block appli-
cations, the development of several unstable blocks
and limited movement does not immediately indicate
failure in an operational sense.
The example in Figure 16 illustrates the use of SSR
for a blocky rock mass. The model is created using
3DEC and the characterization technique described by
Kalenchuk et al. (2006).A vertical slope is used for this
simple example. In this model the “actual” joint shear
strength properties are specified (cohesion = 90 kPa,
friction angle = 56 deg) although the initial conditions
could be variable and joint specific. The boundary
conditions shown are unrealistic and for demonstra-
tion only. Failure must be defined and could be based
on critical displacement or, as in this case, a limit for
released blocks or cumulative released block volume
as shown in Figure 17.
3.2 SSR in discontinuous deformation analysis
One of the fundamental premises of the SSR tech-
nique is that the factor of safety for any problem can
be related to the factoring of shear strength for mate-
rials and interfaces. Numerous verification examples
illustrate that this gives the same result as an overall
force and moment comparison for sliding problems.
It is less clear whether the SSR technique is valid for
problems that do not have a single sliding surface and
which have internal separation and/or vorticity. The
example in Figure 18 demonstrates the application of
SSR to a simple toppling problem.
This analysis employs discontinuous deformation
analysis (Sitar et al. 2001) assuming that cohesion and
friction are the only variables to control stability. The
326
Figure 17. Results of SSR analysis for composite model
in Figure 16. Vertical lines bound the range of FS (=SRF)
based on two possible failure criteria (see axes). Each point
is averaged over several stochastic simulations.
Figure 18. Example of SSR applied to toppling analysis
using Discontinuous Deformation Analysis. Critical SRF for
interblock friction and cohesion for this analysis is 1.24. The
nominal friction angle is 30 degrees and the cohesion is 5 kPa.
implementation appears simple and reliable enough
and reasonable answers can be obtained, although it
is important to debate the universality of relating sta-
bility in complex situations (with sliding, extension
and rotation) to shear strength alone. In addition to the
necessary factoring of tensile strength, crucial in rock
mechanics problems, the SSR technique may not ade-
quately capture geometric factors such as block aspect
ratio and rotational mechanics not related to shear
strength. The method is attractive for non-standard
applications but the mechanics of each case should
be compatible.
4 CONCLUSIONS
For problems dominated by sliding, the SSR technique
has been clearly demonstrated as a valid alternative
to Limit Equilibrium Methods. The technique can be
used in non-linear finite element or finite difference
continuum models or in discontinuum analysis and is
not unreasonably sensitive to model setup (although
mesh density, solution tolerance and shape function
sensitivity must always be checked).
The greatest advantage to the SSR technique is the
lack of a requirement to discretely or iteratively pre-
define a sliding surface for consideration although
modern LEM techniques have sophisticated search
algorithms for non-circular surfaces.
In sliding models with no tension crack or with
no support, the factor of safety can be directly and
uniquely related to the factoring of shear strength for
materials and interfaces giving similar results to an
overall force and moment comparison (LEM).
If tension is involved then tensile strength must also
be included in the SSR process for the geomaterial.
It may be necessary to debate the validity of equal
factoring of cohesion and friction in the SSR solution.
Cohesion is often specifed with much less confidence
than frictional properties and yet for shallow problems,
dominates over frictional effects.
For simple cases the LEM (force and moment) defi-
nition of FS coincides with the SSR (FS=critical SRF)
definition. The definitions deviate for more complex
geologies and material behaviour. SSR may perform
better in such cases. Caution is needed though, as shear
strength may not be the dominant parametric control
on stability in many cases.
It is also not clear how shear strength reduction
should be standardized in cases where support is
involved. More discussion is needed to decide whether
support strength be fixed during the SSR iterations or
included in the over all strength reduction.
REFERENCES
Bishop, A.W. 1955. The use of the slip circle for the stability
analysis of slopes. Geotechnique 5(1): 7–17.
Cala, M. & Flisiak, J. 2003. Complex geology slope stability
analysis by shear strength reduction. In Proc. of the 3rd
Int. FLAC Symp., Sudbury. Lisse: Balkema, pp. 99–102.
Dawson, E.M, Roth, W.H. & Dresher, A. 1999. Slope sta-
bility analysis by strength reduction. Geotechnique 49(6):
835–840.
Duncan, J.M. 1996. State of the art: Limit equilibrium and
finite-element analysis of slopes. Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering 122(7): 577–596.
Fellenius, W. 1936. Calculation of the stability of earth dams.
In 2nd Congress on Large Dams, Washington, vol. 4.
p. 445.
Fredlund, D.G. & Krahn, J. 1977. Comparison of slope sta-
bility methods of analysis. Can. Geotech. J. 14: 429–439.
Geo-Slope 2001. SLOPEW v5. Slope stability analysis.
Giam, P.S.K. & Donald, I.B. 1989. Example problems for
testing soil slope stability programs. Civil Engineering
Research Report No. 8/1989. Monash University.
327
Griffiths, D.V. & Lane P.A. 1999. Slope stability analysis by
finite elements. Geotechnique 49(3): 387–403.
Hammah, R.E, Yacoub, T.E. & Curran, J.H. 2006. Investi-
gating the performance of the shear strength reduction
(SSR) method on the analysis of reinforced slopes. In
Proceedings of the 59th Canadian Geotechnical Conf.,
Vancouver.
Hammah, R.E, Yacoub, T.E., Corkum, B. & Curran, J.H.
2005a.A comparison of finite element slope stability anal-
ysis with conventional limit-equilibrium investigation.
In Proceedings of the 58th Can. Geotech. Conference,
Saskatoon.
Hammah, R.E, Yacoub, T.E, Corkum, B. & Curran,
J.H. 2005b. The Shear Strength Reduction Method
for the Generalized Hoek-Brown Criterion. In Alaska
Rocks: 40th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Paper
05–810, 6 pp.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C.T. & Corkum, B. 2002.
Hoek-Brown failure criterion-2002 edition. In 5th North
American Rock Mechanics Symposium, Toronto, vol. 1,
pp. 267–273.
Itasca 2003a. 3DEC v3. 3-Dimensional distinct element code.
Itasca 2003b. FLAC/FLAC-SLOPE. Fast Lagrangian Analy-
sis of Continua – Slope modeling package.
Janbu, N. 1954. Application of composite slip surfaces for
stability analysis. In Proc. European Conf. on the Stability
of Earth Slopes, vol. 3, pp. 39–43.
Kalenchuk, K., Diederichs, M.S. & McKinnon, S. 2006.
Characterizing block geometry in jointed rockmasses. Int.
J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 43(8): 1212–1225.
Krahn, J. 2003. The 2001 R.M. Hardy Lecture: The limits of
limit equilibrium analysis. Can. Geotech. J. 40: 643–660.
Lorig, L. & Varona, P. 2004. Numerical analysis in rock slope
engineering. In Wyllie & Mah, Rock Slope Engineering,
4th edn. London: Spon Press, pp. 218–244.
Matsui, T. & San, K.C. 1992. Finite element slope stability
analysis by shear strength reduction technique. Soils and
Foundations 32(1): 59–70.
Morgenstern, N.R. & Price, V.E. 1965. The analysis of the
stability of general slip surfaces. Geotechnique 15(1):
79–93.
Rocscience Inc. 2005a. SLIDE v5 – Software for 2D Limit-
Equlibrium Analysis for soil and rock slopes.
Rocscience Inc. 2005b PHASE2 v6 Elasto-plastic finite
element stress analysis software.
Sitar, N., MacLaughlin, M.M, Doolin, D.M. &Abbot,T. 2001.
Investigation of slope stability kinematics using discontin-
uous deformation analysis. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 38:
753–762.
Spencer, E. 1967. A method of analysis of embankments
assuming parallel interslice forces. Geotechnique 17(1):
11–26.
Stianson, J.R., Chan, D. & Fredlund, D.G. 2004. Comparing
slope stability analysis based on linear elastic or elasto-
plastic stresses using dynamic programming techniques.
In 57th Can. Geotech Conf., Session 7C, pp. 23–30.
Zou, J.Z, Williams, D.J. & Xiong, W.L. 1995. Search for crit-
ical slip surfaces based on finite element method. Can.
Geotech. J. 32(2): 233–246.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Analysis of blocky rock slopes with finite element Shear Strength

Reduction analysis

R.E. Hammah, T. Yacoub, B. Corkum & F. Wibowo

Rocscience Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

J.H. Curran
Department of Civil Engineering & Lassonde Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

ABSTRACT: This paper will discuss application of the Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) method, using finite
element (FE) analysis, to determine the stability of slopes in blocky/jointed rock masses. It will demonstrate
the method’s versatility and reliability through analysis of five simple examples. FE- SSR results are verified
through comparison to the results of UDEC, a discrete element program. The paper provides arguments for
incorporating SSR analysis into the standard solution toolkit of rock slope engineers.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF BLOCKY

The efficiency of the Shear Strength Reduction
(SSR) method, based on finite element (FE) anal-
ysis, has been well demonstrated for slopes in soil
or rock masses, which can be treated as continua
(Hammah et al. 2004, 2005 a,b, 2006). (In the rest of
the paper, this method of slope stability analysis will
be labelled the FE-SSR method.) This paper intends to
show that the FE-SSR method can be reliably extended
to the analysis of slopes in blocky rock masses. The
paper will analyze five slope examples. In all the cases
the method determines critical failure mechanisms and
factors of safety that compare very well with those
obtaining from analysis with UDEC (Itasca 2004), a
commercially available numerical analysis program
that performs SSR analysis based on the Discrete
Element Method (DEM).
The FE-SSR approach offers several key benefits.
It is very general and can be used with any geotechni-
cal FE software. The widespread availability of such
software today makes the approach readily accessible
and constitutes the primary motivation for this paper.
The paper will briefly describe unique aspects of the
mechanical behaviour of blocky rock masses and why
DEM tools have been traditionally applied to this class
of geotechnical problems. It will then give an overview
of the SSR method and show how the approach can be
used with any FE program. This discussion establishes
the groundwork for explaining why the FE-SSR can
be reliably used to analyze slope stability problems
in blocky rock masses. Lastly five examples, which
illustrate the capabilities of the FE-SSR on a range of
blocky rock mass slope problems, will be described.
ROCK MASSES
Behaviour in blocky rock masses is controlled by dis-
continuities. Such rock masses respond in non-linear
and anisotropic fashion to loads and excavations. The
non-linear response is caused by a combination of
the characteristics of intact rock material and relative
movements of blocks (sliding along discontinuities,
opening and closing of discontinuities, rotations of
blocks), which are accompanied by local failures
along discontinuities. The response may also involve
shearing through intact material.
In most cases, slopes in blocky rock masses have
been modelled with the DEM, a method which treats
block rock masses as assemblages of discrete blocks
(rigid or deformable) bounded by discontinuities. The
DEM tracks the movements of blocks (using the equa-
tions of motion) and the accompanying changes in
block contacts. As a result, the method can model
large displacements of blocks including complete
separation of blocks.
3 OVERVIEW OF THE SSR METHOD
The Shear Strength Reduction technique (Dawson
et al. 1999, Griffith & Lane 1999, Hammah et al. 2004,
2005 a,b, 2006, Matsui & San 1992) enables slope
factor of safety to be calculated using numerical mod-
elling methods such as FE analysis. In the approach,
FE analysis is systematically used to search for a stress
reduction factor (factor of safety value) that brings a
slope to the very limits of failure. The approach is

329
best explained for slope material of Mohr-Coulomb
strength.
The factored or reduced shear strength of a Mohr-
Coulomb material is described by the equation
where F is the reduction factor. This equation can be
re-written as:
where:
are factored Mohr-Coulomb shear strength parameters.
The steps for systematically searching for the crit-
ical factor of safety value F that brings a previously
stable slope (F ≥ 1) to the verge of failure are as follow:
Step 1: Develop an FE model of a slope, using the
appropriate material deformation and strength
properties. Compute the model and record the
maximum total deformation.
Step 2: Increase the value of F (or strength reduction
factor) and calculate factored Mohr-Coulomb
material parameters as described above. Enter
the new strength properties into the slope
model and re-compute. Record the maximum
total deformation.
Step 3: Repeat Step 2, using systematic increments
of F, until the FE model does not converge
to a solution, i.e. continue to reduce material
strength until the slope fails. The critical F
value at which failure occurs is the factor of
safety.
For a slope with a factor of safety less than 1, the
procedure remains the same except for use of sys-
tematically reduced F values (this is the equivalent
of increasing the factored strength of materials) until
the slope becomes stable.
Due to the use of factored strength parameters as
input into models, the SSR technique can be used with
any existing FE software. The only task required of
the slope analyst is computation of factored Mohr-
Coulomb strength parameters to be input into an FE
slope model. A few commercial programs (Plaxis
2006, Rocscience 2005) offer tools that automate the
process.
Non-convergence within suitably specified number
of iterations and tolerance is an appropriate indica-
tor of slope failure because it arises in the absence
of equilibrium. Lack of convergence indicates that
330
stress and displacement distributions that satisfy the
equations of equilibrium cannot be established for a
given set of slope material strength. This state of col-
lapse is precisely what occurs during real slope failure.
In real slope collapses, and in the numerical models
described, failure is often characterized by a sudden
increase in slope displacements.
A major advantage of the SSR method is that it
does not require a priori assumptions on the nature
of failure mechanisms; it can find a broad range of
mechanisms including complex ones. For example, for
blocky rock mass problems, the method can detect
composite mechanisms that combine failure along
discrete discontinuities with shearing through intact
material.
4 APPLICATION OF THE FINITE ELEMENT
METHOD TO BLOCKY ROCK MASS
MODELLING
The Finite Element Method (FEM) is the most
widespread numerical analysis method. It is a contin-
uum analysis method. Its popularity can be primarily
attributed to its ability to:
1. Handle multiple materials in a single model (mate-
rial heterogeneity)
2. Readily accommodate non-linear material respon-
ses, and
3. Model complex boundary conditions.
Although the FEM is a continuum method, spe-
cial elements – joint (interface) elements – have
been developed to directly represent the discontinu-
ous behaviour characteristic of joints and interfaces
between adjacent blocks of material. These elements
can have either zero thickness or thin, finite thick-
ness. They can assume linear elastic behaviour or
plastic response when stresses exceed the strengths of
discontinuities.
Unlike the DEM, which can readily model large
displacements of blocks, most FEM codes only model
small strains. Due to the fundamental continuum
analysis condition of displacement compatibility at
element nodes, FEM programs do not allow the
detachment of individual blocks (Jing 2003).
Several joint elements can be included in an FE
model. However, incorporating joint elements into
a finite element model substantially increases the
degrees of freedom. Joint elements in a model can also
lead to ill-conditioned stiffness matrices, the solutions
of which may be numerically unstable. These two fac-
tors can combine to restrict the sizes of slope problems
that can be solved with FE-SSR analysis.
There are compelling reasons, however, to apply
FE-SSR analysis whenever possible (and there are sev-
eral cases in which the method is applicable). These
will be discussed next.
4.1 Why use FE-SSR analysis for slope stability
problems in blocky rock masses?
Due to the popularity of the FEM, there are many
easy-to-use, well-tested FE programs commercially
available. Most geotechnical engineering practices
own FEM software. As a result the power of the SSR
method can be much more readily harnessed with
the FEM than with any other method of numerical
analysis.
We believe that the FE-SSR method works very
well for blocky rock mass slope problems because
up until failure, displacements are generally small.
Large displacements occur after the full failure pro- Figure 1. Basic slope geometry.
cess has been initiated. In studying the stability of a
slope, determination of the factor of safety and under-
standing of possible failure mechanisms and how they
develop constitute the primary interest of geotechnical
engineers. Seldom is the interest in the ultimate geo-
metric configuration of the failed mass. The FE-SSR
method fully answers these questions and thus solves
the engineer’s slope stability problems.

5 EXAMPLES

To illustrate the capabilities of the FE-SSR method

for blocky rock masses, five blocky rock mass slope
problems described by Lorig & Varona (2001) were
analyzed. The analyses were performed with the two-
dimensional FE program Phase2. The overall slope
geometry was the same for all examples: the slope
had a height of 260 m and a slope face angle of 55◦
(Fig. 1).
The slope material had the following properties:
cohesion of 675 kPa, 43◦ friction angle, unit weight
of 26.1 kN/m3, bulk and shear moduli of 6.3 GPa and
3.6 GPa, respectively, and zero tensile strength. Mohr-
Coulomb cohesion of 100 kPa and friction angle of
40◦ was prescribed for the joints. (Equivalent Young’s
modulus and Poisson’s ratio were calculated from the
bulk and shear modulus pair and input into the FE Figure 2. Example 1: (a) Failure mechanism (sliding of
program used for the analysis.) wedge along joint with curved tension crack at slope top)
Visualization of the failure mechanisms in the predicted by UDEC. (b) Failure mechanism (as depicted by
examples is accomplished through a combination contours of total displacement) predicted by FE-SSR.
of total displacement contours and (exaggerated)
deformed outline of boundaries and joints. value of 1.32 for a mechanism shown on Figure 2b. The
FE-SSR results are very similar to those of UDEC.
5.1 Example 1 – Plane failure of slope with
daylighting discontinuities 5.2 Example 2 – Plane failure of slope with
non-daylighting discontinuities
The first example involves a set of discontinuities
spaced 10 m apart, which dip out of the slope at 35◦ In Example 2 the joints dip at 70◦ and have 20 m
(see Fig. 2). The UDEC analysis performed by Lorig & spacing. The joints in this example have zero cohe-
Varona (2001) predicts a failure mechanism with a fac- sion. UDEC predicts a failure mode with a 1.5 factor
tor of safety of 1.27. This mechanism, shown on Fig- of safety.), which involves sliding along joints in the
ure 2a, combines sliding along a joint near to the slope upper part of the slope and shearing through intact
toe with a curved tension crack that exits at the top of rock material in the lower part that exits near the toe.
the slope. FE-SSR analysis produces a factor of safety The mechanism is displayed on Figure 3a. FE-SSR

331

Figure 3. Failure mechanism for Example 2: (a) predicted
by UDEC with sliding along joints in upper slope and shear-
ing through intact rock in lower parts; and (b) as predicted
by FE-SSR depicted by contours of total displacements.
(c) Contours of maximum shear strain from FE-SSR anal-
ysis showing the component of the failure mechanism that
involves shearing through intact rock material towards the
slope toe.
analysis yields a factor of safety of 1.53 for a similar
mechanism, which is shown on Figures 3b, c.
5.3 Example 3 – Failure involving forward
toppling of blocks
The slope in Example 3 has two perpendicular joint
sets – one dipping 70◦ out of the slope with 20 m
332
Figure 4. Failure mechanism for Example 3: (a) predicted
by UDEC with forward toppling of individual blocks out
of the slope through free rotations; and (b) as predicted by
FE-SSR depicted by contours of total displacement. (c) Plot
of deformed outlines of joints and slope face showing top-
pling movements of blocks through free rotations relative to
each other (from FE-SSR analysis).
spacing, and the other dipping 20◦ into the slope face
with 30 m spacing. UDEC predicts that failure occurs
in the form of forward toppling of blocks out of the
slope (Fig. 4a), and assigns a 1.13 factor of safety to
the mechanism. FE-SSR produces a factor of safety of
1.23 for a very similar mechanism, which is shown on
Figures 4b, c.
5.4 Example 4 – Failure involving backward
toppling of blocks
In Example 4, the 20◦ cross joints are replaced by
a set of horizontal joints with a 40 m spacing, while

Figure 5. Failure mechanism for Example 4: (a) predicted
by UDEC with reverse toppling – rotation of blocks starting
with block nearest to slope toe; (b) as predicted by FE-SSR
depicted by contours of total displacement; and (c) as pre-
dicted by FE-SSR as shown by combination of deformed
outlines of blocks and displacement arrows.
the spacing of the 70◦ dipping joints changes to 10 m.
The UDEC predicted failure mechanism, which has
a factor of safety of 1.7, is shown on Figure 5a. This
failure mode comprises backward toppling, initiated
by rotation of the block nearest to the slope toe. Again
the FE-SSR identifies a similar backward toppling
mechanism (Figs. 5b, c) with a 1.54 factor of safety
value.
333
Figure 6. Failure mechanism for Example 5: (a) predicted
by UDEC showing flexural bending of rock columns; (b) as
predicted by FE-SSR depicted by contours of total displace-
ment; and (c) as predicted by FE-SSR as shown by deformed
outlines of columns.
5.5 Example 5 – Failure involving flexural
toppling
The slope in the last example has a single set of joints of
20 m spacing, which dip 70◦ into the slope face. UDEC
analysis identifies a failure mode with a 1.3 factor
of safety involving flexural bending of rock columns
(Fig. 6a). FE-SSR analysis identifies a very similar
mechanism (Figs. 6b, c) with a factor of safety is 1.4.
6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The results of the analyses in this paper demonstrate
that even though the FE-SSR method is founded on
continuum principles, it is a powerful, credible alter-
native to discrete modelling tools such as the DEM in
modelling the stability of slopes in blocky rock masses.
Several previous publications have already con-
firmed the method’s capabilities on a wide range of
continuum slope problems. For example, in Hammah
et al. (2005b, 2006) it is shown that the FE-SSR meth-
ods accurately determines stability results for a wide
range of unreinforced and reinforced slope problems.
The current paper demonstrates the FE-SSR method’s
performance on blocky rock mass failure mechanisms.
These mechanisms include planar wedge failure and
different toppling regimes, some of which involve both
block movements along discontinuities (sliding, open-
ing and closing of joints) and shear failure of intact
rock material. In all the cases, the FE-SSR method
automatically determined critical failure mechanisms
with absolutely no a priori assumptions on the modes,
shapes or locations of these mechanisms.
Due to the widespread availability of FE analy-
sis programs, the ability to apply SSR analysis with
any FE program, and the demonstrated versatility of
FE-SSR analysis, the authors encourage greater use
of the approach in geotechnical slope problems. The
profession only stands to benefit.
REFERENCES
Dawson, E.M., Roth, W.H. & Drescher, A. 1999. Slope sta-
bility analysis by strength reduction. Geotechnique 49(6):
835–840.
Griffiths, D.V. & Lane, P.A. 1999. Slope stability analysis by
finite elements. Geotechnique 49(3): 387–403.
334
Hammah, R.E., Yacoub, T.E. & Curran, J.H. 2006. Inves-
tigating the performance of the shear strength reduction
(SSR) method on the analysis of reinforced slopes. In Pro-
ceedings of the 59th Canadian Geotechnical and 7th Joint
IAH-CNC and CGS Groundwater Specialty Conferences
– Sea to Sky Geotechnique 2006, Vancouver, Canada.
Hammah, R.E., Yacoub, T.E., Corkum, B. & Curran, J.H.
2005. The Shear Strength Reduction Method for the Gen-
eralized Hoek-Brown Criterion. In Proceedings of the 40th
U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Alaska Rocks 2005,
Anchorage, Alaska.
Hammah, R.E., Yacoub, T.E., Corkum, B. & Curran, J.H.
2005. A comparison of finite element slope stability
analysis with conventional limit-equilibrium investiga-
tion. In Proceedings of the 58th Canadian Geotechnical
and 6th Joint IAH-CNC and CGS Groundwater Specialty
Conferences – GeoSask 2005. Saskatoon, Canada.
Hammah, R.E., Curran, J.H., Yacoub, T.E. & Corkum, B.
2004. Stability analysis of rock slopes using the finite
element method. In Proceedings of the ISRM Regional
Symposium EUROCK 2004 and the 53rd Geomechanics
Colloquy, Salzburg, Austria.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2004. UDEC – Universal
Distinct Element Code, Version 4. Minneapolis: Itasca.
Jing, L. 2003. A review of techniques, advances and out-
standing issues in numerical modelling for rock mechan-
ics and rock engineering. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics & Mining Sciences 40: 283–353.
Lorig, L. & Varona, P. 2001. In Rock Slope Engineering by
Duncan & Mah, New York: Spon Press, pp. 218–244.
Matsui, T. & San, K.C. 1992. Finite element slope stability
analysis by shear strength reduction technique. Soils and
Foundations 32(1): 59–70.
PLAXIS BV 2006. PLAXIS V8 – 2D finite element program
for geotechnical analysis.
Rocscience Inc. 2005. Phase2 v6.0 – Two-dimensional finite
element slope stability analysis.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Three-dimensional kinematic conditions for toppling

M.R. Yeung & K.L. Wong

Civil Engineering Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Ca, USA

ABSTRACT: This paper reports some results from a study of toppling as a truly three-dimensional (3D)
problem using physical models and 3D Discontinuous Deformation Analysis (DDA). A series of physical models
consisting of blocks corresponding to different combinations of variables was built to study the effects of these
variables. The same models, as well as ones modified by adding lateral confinement, were analyzed using 3D
DDA. The physical modeling and 3D DDA results show that the tendency for toppling becomes greater if the
blocks are taller for the same base width, if the friction angle of all joints is larger, if the base inclination is
larger, and if there is no lateral confinement. For the cases studied, 3D DDA results agree well with the physical
modeling results not only in terms of the effective failure mode but also in terms of the displacement histories
of the blocks in the model. This may serve as a validation of 3D DDA.

1 INTRODUCTION the lateral confinement in the direction parallel to the

length of the slope. Studying the effects of all these
A jointed rock slope is susceptible to failure by top- variables would require a lot of time and resources. In
pling if the joints dip steeply into the slope. For this study, the effects of only a subset of these variables
toppling to be kinematically feasible, it is usually were investigated using physical models and 3D Dis-
assumed that the strike of the steeply dipping joint set continuous Deformation Analysis (DDA), a numerical
is roughly the same as that of the slope face. Therefore, model for blocky systems.
the problem can be reduced to a two-dimensional (2D)
one that can be analyzed by considering a section per-
pendicular to the slope face. Existing kinematic tests 2 PHYSICAL MODELING
for toppling usually allow for some deviation from the
condition that the strike of the joint set is the same A jointed rock slope was modeled as a prismatic rect-
as that of the slope face (same-strike condition). For angular block (the “slope block”), with a height of H, a
example, the kinematic test for toppling using stereo- length of L, and a depth of D, as shown in Figure 1. This
graphic projections in Goodman (1989) implies that slope block rests on an inclined base plane having an
for toppling to be kinematically feasible, the strike inclination angle of α. The slope block is cut by only
of the joint set must not differ from the strike of the one joint set that is perpendicular to the top surface
slope face by more than 30 degrees. This 30-degree of the block and parallel to the upslope, downslope
limit appears to be based on judgement and experi-
ence. This paper reports some results from a study of
toppling as a three-dimensional (3D) problem. This
study is aimed at understanding and defining the 3D
kinematic conditions for toppling, and in particular,
investigating the validity of the 30-degree maximum
allowable deviation from the same-strike condition.
When viewed as a general 3D problem, the vari-
ables that determine whether a jointed rock slope will
topple include (1) the geometry of the ground surface
including the slope face, which may be characterized
by the slope height, slope angle, and the slope length;
(2) rock mass characteristics, including the number of
joint sets, joint set orientations, joint spacings, joint
friction angles, and the intact rock strength; and (3) Figure 1. Configuration of model.

335
Table 1. Summary of physical modeling cases.

H L D α φ δ
(cm) (cm) (cm) (◦ ) (◦ ) (◦ )

9.7 20 10 10,20,30, 30,45,65 0,10,20,30,

40,50,60 40,50,60,
70,80,90
5 20 10 10,20,30, 30,45,65 30
40,50,60
9.7 10 10 10,20,30, 30,45,65 30
40,50,60

and, the two side planes bounding the block. The joint
spacing is 2.5 cm, and the friction angle is φ. The angle
between the strike of the top surface and the trace of a
joint on the top surface is defined as the angle δ.
A series of physical models with different combi-
nations of H, L, D, α, φ, and δ, as listed in Table 1, was
built to study the effects of these variables. Note that
for all physical models, the lower rightmost joint as
seen in Figure 1 intercepts the downslope plane of the
slope block at a distance that is 2.5 cm from the right
side plane. The physical models were made of wood.
To obtain the three different joint friction angles, the
wood surfaces were polished, which gives the lowest
φ value, and also covered with two different grades of
sand paper, giving the two higher φ values.
To perform a physical model test, the slope block
was placed on a tilt table set at the desired inclination
angle and held in place by a plastic bar across and
against the downslope plane of the slope block. The
plastic bar was then lifted quickly out of the way of
the slope block, and the behavior of the slope block
observed. Each physical model was tested twice and
video-taped digitally for later analysis.
Figure 2. Typical physical model test result.
The key to 3D DDA is a rigorous contact theory that
governs the interaction of many 3D blocks. This the-
ory must provide algorithms to judge contact locations
and the appropriate state of each contact (open, sliding
or locked). In 3D there can be six contact types for
polyhedral blocks: vertex-to-vertex, vertex-to-edge,
vertex-to-face, edge-to-edge, edge-to-face, and face-
to-face. Models of these six contact types have been
implemented into a 3D DDA computer program.
The 3D DDA program was used to analyze all the
cases studied using physical models in Section 2. In
addition, to study the effect of lateral confinement par-
allel to the length of the slope, for each of the cases
studied using physical models, the same case is re-
analyzed using 3D DDA with the slope block confined
on the sides by two fixed blocks, as shown in Figure 3.

3.1 Three-dimensional DDA results

2.1 Physical modeling results
A typical 3D DDA output showing the behavior of
A typical picture showing one of the physical model
one of the models is shown in Figure 4. This is from
tests in progress is shown in Figure 2. The failure mode
the same case and elapsed time as the physical model
of each physical model was observed and recorded.
test result shown in Figure 2. The failure mode of each
For some selected cases, the failure modes are listed
physical model was obtained from the 3D DDA output.
in Table 2. From all physical models, there are four dif-
For selected cases, the failure modes obtained from 3D
ferent failure modes observed: stability, toppling, top-
DDA are listed in Table 2, for comparison with those
pling and sliding simultaneously (toppling/sliding),
obtained from physical modeling, and in Table 3, for
and sliding.
confined cases.

3 THREE-DIMENSIONAL DDA
The original DDA developed by Shi & Goodman
(1985) is a 2D numerical model for the statics and
dynamics of discontinuous block systems. Signifi-
cant recent development of DDA has been focused
on extending the model to 3D (Jiang & Yeung 2004,
Yeung et al., in press).
4 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
4.1 Importance of 3D analysis
Results from both physical modeling and 3D DDA
show that for slope blocks that are not confined lat-
erally, the block is prone to fail in a direction out of
the plane of the greatest slope. A 2D model would

336
Table 2. Physical modeling and 3D DDA results for selected cases.

Failure mode

H L D α φ δ Physical
Case (cm) (cm) (cm) (◦ ) (◦ ) (◦ ) model 3D DDA

1 10 20 10 20 30 0 Toppling Toppling
2 10 20 10 20 30 10 Toppling Toppling
3 10 20 10 20 30 20 Toppling Toppling
4 10 20 10 20 30 30 Toppling Toppling
5 10 20 10 20 30 40 Toppling Toppling
6 10 20 10 20 30 50 Toppling Toppling
7 10 20 10 20 30 60 Toppling Toppling
8 10 20 10 20 30 70 Stable Stable
9 10 20 10 20 30 80 Stable Stable
10 10 20 10 20 30 90 Stable Stable
11 5 20 10 20 30 30 Stable Stable
12 10 10 10 20 30 30 Toppling Toppling
13 10 20 10 30 30 0 Toppling Toppling
14 10 20 10 30 30 10 Toppling Toppling
15 10 20 10 30 30 20 Toppling Toppling
16 10 20 10 30 30 30 Toppling Toppling
17 10 20 10 30 30 40 Toppling Toppling
18 10 20 10 30 30 50 Toppling Toppling
19 10 20 10 30 30 60 Toppling/ Toppling/
Sliding Sliding
20 10 20 10 30 30 70 Toppling/ Toppling/
Sliding Sliding
21 10 20 10 30 30 80 Sliding Sliding
22 10 20 10 30 30 90 Sliding Sliding
23 5 20 10 30 30 30 Toppling/ Toppling/
Sliding Sliding
24 10 10 10 30 30 30 Toppling Toppling

Figure 3. 3D DDA model confined by two fixed blocks.

not be adequate to accurately predict this behavior.

Furthermore, conventional 2D analysis techniques for
toppling often overlook the mode of toppling and slid-
ing simultaneously. Given the highly directional nature
of jointed rock mass behavior, a 3D analysis method
that can handle simultaneous toppling and sliding,
such as 3D DDA, is necessary for truly 3D problems
involving jointed rock masses.
Figure 4. Typical 3D DDA result (same case at same elapsed
time as physical model test result shown in Figure 2).
4.2 Effect of slope block dimensions
Results from cases having different slope block
heights, i.e. H = 9.7 cm versus H = 5 cm, show that

337
 Table 3. 3D DDA results for selected confined cases.

H L D α φ δ Failure mode
Case (cm) (cm) (cm) (◦ ) (◦ ) (◦ ) from 3D DDA

25 10 20 10 20 30 0 Toppling
26 10 20 10 20 30 10 Toppling
27 10 20 10 20 30 20 Toppling
28 10 20 10 20 30 30 Toppling
29 10 20 10 20 30 40 Stable
30 10 20 10 20 30 50 Stable
31 10 20 10 20 30 60 Stable
32 10 20 10 20 30 70 Stable
33 10 20 10 20 30 80 Stable
34 10 20 10 20 30 90 Stable
35 5 20 10 20 30 30 Stable
36 10 10 10 20 30 30 Toppling
37 10 20 10 30 30 0 Toppling
38 10 20 10 30 30 10 Toppling
39 10 20 10 30 30 20 Toppling
40 10 20 10 30 30 30 Toppling
41 10 20 10 30 30 40 Toppling
42 10 20 10 30 30 50 Stable
43 10 20 10 30 30 60 Stable
44 10 20 10 30 30 70 Stable
45 10 20 10 30 30 80 Stable
46 10 20 10 30 30 90 Stable
47 5 20 10 30 30 30 Sliding
48 10 10 10 30 30 30 Toppling

H has a large influence on the failure mode: some
of the toppling cases with H = 9.7 cm change to top-
pling/sliding, sliding, or even stable cases, when H
is changed to 5 cm. This phenomenon is reasonable
because the tendency for toppling of a block becomes
greater with the height of the block, for a given base
width.
Results from cases having different slope block
lengths, i.e. L = 10 cm versus L = 5 cm, show that L
has relatively little influence on the failure mode.
4.3 Effect of lateral confinement
The 3D DDA results show that lateral confinement has
a large effect on the behavior of the slope block. First,
the fixed blocks bounding the sides of the slope block
prevent the slope block from moving sideway, a dom-
inant tendency in the unconfined cases. Hence, the
slope block can only fail along the dip direction of the
base plane. Furthermore, the fixed blocks provide side
friction to resist block movement. Therefore, the num-
ber of stable cases increases substantially when lateral
confinement is provided through the fixed blocks.
4.4 Effect of α and φ on transition δ value
Based on the physical modeling and 3D DDA results,
there exists a transition δ value that separates the pure
toppling cases from other cases (stable, sliding, or
toppling/sliding). The inclination angle α and joint
friction angle φ are two major parameters that affect
the transition δ value.
Because of geometry, the tendency for blocks to
topple is smaller when δ is larger. If α is larger than φ,
the transition will occur at a relatively small δ. This is
because a smaller φ will favor sliding as a failure mode.
On the contrary, if α is smaller than φ, the transition
will occur at a relatively large δ. This is because a
relatively large φ will favor toppling as a failure mode.
Goodman & Bray (1976) suggested that the differ-
ence between the strike of the joint set and strike of
the slope face should be less than 15◦ for toppling
to be kinematically feasible. Later, Goodman (1989)
suggested that the limiting value for the strike differ-
ence should be 30◦ . This value is generally consistent
with the 3D DDA results from the laterally confined
cases. This may be because many actual situations in
the field would be closer to the confined cases than
the unconfined ones.
4.5 Comparison between physical modeling and
3D DDA results
All the cases analyzed can be categorized into four fail-
ure modes as discussed before. For the cases studied,
3D DDA results agree well with the physical modeling
results in terms of the effective failure mode. Further-
more, because the physical model tests were recorded

338
by a digital video camera, the progressive movement of
the blocks in the model can be compared with 3D DDA
results. For the cases studied, 3D DDA results agree
well with the physical modeling results in terms of the
displacement histories of the blocks in the model. This
is illustrated by Figures 2 and 4, which show the same
case at the same elapsed time from the physical model
test and 3D DDA run, respectively,
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper reports some results from a study of top-
pling as a truly 3D problem using physical models and
3D DDA. A jointed rock slope was modeled as a pris-
matic rectangular block (the “slope block”) resting on
an inclined base plane. The slope block is cut by only
one joint set that is perpendicular to the top surface of
the block. The angle between the strike of the top sur-
face and the trace of a joint on the top surface is defined
as the angle δ. A series of physical models with dif-
ferent combinations of variables was built to study the
effects of these variables. The same models, as well
as ones modified by adding lateral confinement, were
analyzed using 3D DDA.
The physical modeling and 3D DDA results show
that the tendency for toppling becomes larger if the
slope block is taller for the same base width, if the
friction angle of all joints is larger, if the base incli-
nation is larger, and if there is no lateral confinement.
Furthermore, as the angle δ changes for different cases,
there exists a transition δ value that separates the pure
toppling cases from other cases (stable, sliding, or top-
pling/sliding). The transition δ values obtained from
3D DDA results for the laterally confined cases are
generally consistent with the condition recommended
by Goodman (1989).
339
For the cases studied, 3D DDA results agree well
with the physical modeling results not only in terms
of the effective failure mode but also in terms of the
displacement histories of the blocks in the model. This
serves as a validation of the 3D DDA method used in
the study. With further development and validation,
and because of the highly directional nature of jointed
rock behavior, 3D DDA should become a very useful
tool for problems involving jointed rock masses.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Drs. Q.H. Jiang and
N. Sun for their help with the 3D DDA analyses, and
also Mr. N.C. Poon and Mr. Y.F. Lo for their assistance
with the physical modeling work.
REFERENCES
Goodman, R.E. 1989. Introduction to Rock Mechanics.
New York: Wiley.
Goodman, R.E. & Bray, J.W. 1976. Toppling of rock slopes.
In Proceedings of the Specialty Conference on Rock Engi-
neering for Foundations and Slopes, ASCE, Colorado,
pp. 201–234.
Jiang, Q.H. & Yeung, M.R. 2004. A model of point-to-face
contact for three-dimensional discontinuous deformation
analysis. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 37:
95–116.
Shi, G. & Goodman, R.E. 1985. Two-dimensional Discon-
tinuous Deformation Analysis. International Journal for
Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 9:
541–556.
Yeung, M.R., Jiang, Q.H. & Sun, N., in press. A model of
edge-to-edge contact for three-dimensional discontinuous
deformation analysis. Computers and Geotechnics.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A synthetic rock mass model for jointed rock

M. Pierce, P. Cundall & D. Potyondy

Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

D. Mas Ivars
Itasca Geomekanik AB, Solna, Sweden

ABSTRACT: A new methodology for the prediction of jointed rock mass behavior is described that involves
the construction and testing of “Synthetic Rock Mass” (SRM) samples. SRM samples are three-dimensional and
simulate rock as an assembly of bonded spheres (intact rock) with an embedded discrete network of disc-shaped
flaws (joints). The technique brings together two well-established methods, Bonded Particle Modelling (BPM)
in PFC3D (Potyondy & Cundall 2004) and Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) simulation. The methodology
also employs a new sliding joint model that allows for large rock volumes containing thousands of joints to be
simulated in a rapid fashion. The inputs to the SRM are from standard rock mass characterization methods while
the outputs are in the form of rock mass properties that may be employed in empirical, numerical or analytical
methods of analysis. Of particular interest is the ability to obtain predictions of rock mass brittleness. This is
considered a significant step forward as there is no established method for quantifying this property. Validation
of the SRM technique has been achieved through comparison of predicted and inferred induced fracturing at a
case study block cave mine (Reyes-Montes et al. 2007).

1 INTRODUCTION (1999) demonstrated that it is reasonable to assume

Although long recognized as a central concern of rock
mechanics, progress in estimating the strength and
brittleness of rock masses has been slow, with reliance
placed on empirical classification rules and systems
derived from practical observations. An important lim-
itation of such systems is the inherent uncertainty
of extrapolation beyond the limits of the experience
from which the rules have been derived. While, to
date, the Hoek-Brown approach has offered the most
viable means to estimate rock mass strength, it does not
specifically address rock mass brittleness. The unique
nature of mining methods such as block, panel and
sublevel caving (in which we desire to push the rock
mass from peak strength through to full disintegra-
tion) renders predictions of rock mass behaviour more
sensitive to this property than traditional analysis (e.g.
tunnel design).
Brittleness is generally accounted for within con-
tinuum analyses of rock mass behavior by considering
rock as a strain-softening material in which the cohe-
sion of the rock mass degrades with accumulated
plastic shear strain. Accumulated plastic shear strain
is a common metric for irreversible shear strains in
geomaterials and, in a more general sense, can be
considered as a measure of damage. Martin et al.
perfectly brittle behavior (i.e. instantaneous cohesion
loss) in cases where the failure process is dominated
by new stress-induced fracturing (e.g. in massive or
moderately fractured rock at the tunnel-scale). The
assumption of perfectly brittle behaviour may not be
valid in cases where the pre-existing joint fabric exerts
a stronger control on the failure process, such as
in large-scale slopes or caves. In these cases, rock
masses tend to exhibit a less brittle response and the
strains required for complete cohesion loss become
more important in the prediction of rock mass behav-
ior. For example, Hajiabdolmajid & Kaiser (2002)
demonstrated that slope stability in jointed rock is
sensitive to rock mass brittleness. Their work also
suggested that the extent of the failed zone within a
slope is proportional to brittleness, with more brit-
tle rock masses displaying a more deep-seated failure
surface. Unfortunately, we know very little about the
relations between cohesion loss and plastic shear strain
that control rock mass failure in such cases. To date,
engineers have relied mainly on back-analysis of well-
documented case histories as a means to constrain
these relations.
The Particle Flow Code (PFC) (Itasca 2005) and
other discrete element models offer an appealing alter-
native method for estimating a wide range of rock

341
mass properties, including brittleness and strength.
The approach involves construction of a synthetic
“sample” of the rock mass in two or three dimensions
by bonding together thousands of circular or spher-
ical particles. Jointing can be included explicitly in
such models by debonding particles along specific
joint surfaces. This approach overcomes the limita-
tions of other numerical modelling approaches to rock
mass simulation in which the results are governed by
a user-specified constitutive model. Kulatilake et al.
(2001) demonstrated the use of PFC3D in modelling
jointed rock block behavior under uniaxial loading.
Their model geometry was relatively simple, involv-
ing a few persistent through-going joints in a lab-scale
sample. Park et al. (2004) created more realistic two- Figure 1. Location of Northparkes E26 Lift 2 Mine. The
dimensional rock mass models in PFC2D by incorpo- SRM samples developed in this study are representative of
rating up to 100 impersistent joints from a Discrete five separate geomechanical domains within the orebody that
Fracture Network (DFN) into a 30 m × 30 m block. was caved.
The results from these simulations were encouraging,
allowing direct measurement of rock mass strength and
brittleness. They also demonstrated that the number of
joints has a significant impact on the strain-softening
behaviour, changing from brittle to ductile with an
increase in the number of joints. Plots of damage pat-
terns in the model suggest that the degree of intact
fracture versus coalescence of existing joints plays
a critical role in determining the brittleness. It is
also expected that the direction of loading relative
to the joint fabric will have a significant impact on
brittleness.
The present work extends the approach of Park et al.
(2004) to large three-dimensional volumes of rock
containing thousands of joints and subjects these “Syn- Figure 2. Conceptual model of caving (after Duplancic &
thetic Rock Mass” (SRM) samples to site-specific Brady 1999).
stress paths. Estimates of rock mass strength and brit-
tleness are derived from these tests for direct input
of the E26 orebody is being mined through block cav-
to standard continuum mine-scale models. The SRM
ing. In block caving, a horizontally oriented tabular
testing methodology is essentially used as a “virtual
slot (or undercut) is blasted to produce fracturing and
laboratory” to complement empirical methods of prop-
disintegration in the overlying rock mass induced by
erty estimation. The methodology employs three main
shear yield (from high horizontal stresses) or tensile
steps:
yield (from gravity). As the fractured rock is drawn
1 Conduct preliminary large-scale continuum simula- from the undercut, the cave grows upward and will
tions of the problem to estimate the range of induced continue to do so as long as shear and/or tensile yield in
stress paths. Identify geomechanical domains on the the cave back is sufficient to prevent the formation of a
basis of rock/joint properties as well as expected stable arch. The undercut level at Northparkes Lift 2 is
stress path. located at a depth of 830 m and is approximately 200 m
2 Create and test Synthetic Rock Mass (SRM) samples in diameter. Microseismic monitoring was used in Lift
for each geomechanical domain to obtain estimates 2 to track the progression of the seismogenic zone that
of rock mass strength and brittleness. marks the leading edge of the upward advancing cave
3 Refine the large-scale continuum model through (Fig. 2). Reyes-Montes et al. (2007) describe how anal-
use of SRM-derived rock mass strength and brittle- ysis of this microseismic data was used to validate the
ness and addition of major structures not considered SRM approach through direct comparison of inferred
within the SRM. and SRM-predicted induced fracture orientations in
five separate geomechanical domains within the Lift
This paper focuses on Step 2 of the methodology 2 block. As shown in Table 1, these domains were
(SRM creation and testing) as applied to the back anal- defined according to lithology and location relative
ysis of caving at Northparkes E26 Mine (Fig. 1). Lift 2 to the advancing cave (which controls the stress path).

342
 Table 1. Geomechanical domains at Northparkes E26 Lift 2 Mine subjected to detailed analysis.

Elevation
above Lift 2
Domain ID Lithology Location Undercut Mining Stage

1 Volcanics Back 50 m Early undercutting

2 BQM SE Haunch 100 m Late undercutting
3 QMP Back 100 m Late undercutting
4 QMP Back 200 m Early draw
5 Diorite NW Haunch 200 m Early draw

Table 2. Measured and simulated intact rock properties for lithologies at Northparkes Lift 2.

Volcanic QMP BQM Diorite

Lab* PFC3D Lab* PFC3D Lab* PFC3D Lab* PFC3D

UCS (MPa) 79.2 80 92 93 115 116 64.8 64

Young’s Modulus, E (GPa) 64.2 64 62 63 61 61 59 59
Poisson’s Ratio, v 0.26 0.26 0.24 0.25 0.26 0.26 0.37 0.36

*Scaled to account for the average in situ block size.

It should be noted that the SRM methodology
has been developed for jointed rock masses in the
scale of 10–100 m, therefore aspects affecting the rock
mass behavior at the grain-scale such as grain size,
mineralogical composition, metal content, foliation,
porosity, pore structure, inter and intra-grain cleavage,
etc, are not addressed explicitly.
2 CREATION OF SYNTHETIC ROCK MASS
SAMPLES
SRM samples are three-dimensional and simulate rock
as an assembly of bonded spheres (intact rock) with
an embedded discrete network of disc-shaped flaws
(joints). The samples are constructed in PFC3D and
are spherical in shape to permit application of strains
in any direction and to rotate these during testing. An
added advantage of using a spherical (rather than cylin-
drical or cubic sample) is that the number of particles
required to achieve a given resolution is significantly
reduced. The size of the SRM sample to be generated
for testing must be large enough to be considered a rep-
resentative volume but small enough to ensure rapid
solution times. A sample diameter of 12 m, containing
roughly 255,000 particles with a uniform distribution
in diameter from 12.4 to 20.6 cm, was employed in the
Lift 2 case study.
The three main inputs required for construction of
an SRM sample are the intact rock properties (UCS,
modulus and Poisson’s Ratio), a Discrete Fracture Net-
work (DFN) and the joint properties (stiffness and
shear strength).
2.1 Intact Rock Representation
The Bonded Particle Model (BPM) for Rock described
by Potyondy & Cundall (2004) provides a formal pro-
cedure for representation of intact rock using PFC. The
model is conceptually simple, consisting of spheres
bonded at their contacts, with the inputs (termed
microproperties) restricted to stiffness and strength
for the particles and bonds. Damage within PFC sam-
ples of intact rock is represented explicitly as broken
bonds, which form and coalesce into macroscopic frac-
tures when load is applied. Potyondy & Cundall (2004)
demonstrate that the model reproduces many features
of intact rock behaviour, including elasticity, fractur-
ing, acoustic emission, damage accumulation produc-
ing material anisotropy, hysteresis, dilation, post-peak
softening and strength increase with confinement.
The intact rock properties for the four lithologies
in Lift 2 were obtained from standard uniaxial com-
pression tests on 5-cm diameter core samples and then
scaled to account for the average in situ rock block
size. An approximate measure of the average rock
block size in Lift 2 was obtained from the mean joint
spacing, which is approximately 20 cm. According to
the empirical relation developed by Hoek & Brown
(1980), a 20-cm diameter specimen should have a
UCS that is approximately 80% of a 5-cm diameter
specimen. Based on these guidelines, the laboratory-
measured intact rock strengths were multiplied by 80%
to obtain a target rock block strength for the SRM sam-
ples. These target values, along with the target moduli
and Poisson’s Ratios are listed in Table 2.
Using the procedures outlined by Potyondy &
Cundall (2004) for creation and testing a parallel-

343
 Table 3. Microproperties used in SRM samples (parameters defined in Potyondy & Cundall 2004).

Volcanics QMP BQM Diorite

Particle properties
Density (kg/m3 ) 4109 4109 4109 4109
Particle contact modulus (GPa) 72 64 68 98
Ratio of particle normal to shear stiffness (kn/ks) 2.85 2.5 2.61 6.67
Particle friction coefficient 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Parallel bond properties
Parallel-bond radius multiplier 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Parallel bond modulus (GPa) 72 64 68 98
Ratio of parallel-bond normal to shear stiffness 2.85 2.5 2.61 6.67
Mean value of bond normal strength (MPa) 79 80 110 69
Standard deviation of bond normal strength (MPa) 15.8 16 22 13.8
Mean value of bond shear strength (MPa) 79 80 110 69
Standard deviation of bond shear strength (MPa) 15.8 16 22 13.8

bonded material, a series of uniaxial compression tests

were conducted on 1-m diameter × 2-m long cylinders
of PFC3D material to obtain a match to the target prop-
erties. In order to minimize particle size effects, the
particle size used in the simulated tests was the same
as that used in the SRM samples. The UCS, modu-
lus and Poisson’s ratio values obtained for the PFC3D
material are listed in Table 2 and the microproperties
used to achieve them are listed in Table 3.
Using the calibrated microproperties listed in
Table 3, a 12-m diameter spherical assembly of
bonded spheres, representing solid intact rock, was
constructed for each of the four lithologies.
2.2 Discrete Fracture Network (DFN)
Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) modelling tech-
niques represent the most logical choice for repre-
senting joints within the SRM sample. They can be
developed in external software from the measured
fracture data in situ and then imported into the SRM
samples to permit direct representation of the joint
network. DFNs were developed for the Northparkes
lithologies from both borehole and tunnel scanline
mapping information using 3FLO (ICSAS 2006). The
jointing is similar among the domains and so a sin-
gle DFN was produced for use in the SRM samples.
The DFN volume of study, whose center corresponds
to that of the SRM sphere, was made large enough
(15 m cube) to allow transfer of joint geometries to the
SRM sample without introducing boundary truncation
effects. The joint orientation distribution used in the
DFN production process is shown in Figure 3. Subver-
tical jointing is clearly predominant, with a preferred
orientation striking roughly East-West.
Fracture frequency measures from scanline map-
ping were used to calibrate the fracture density within
the DFN using a trial-and-error procedure. Because
Figure 3. Stereonet of poles to joint planes from bore-
hole logging and mapping within Lift 2. (These orientations
are used as input to the DFN generation process and are
considered representative of all domains).
these fracture frequencies have been divided on the
basis of scanline direction (horizontal versus vertical)
and trace length (1–4 m or >4 m), they also provide
some information on joint persistence. The calibration
is done by performing scanline “mapping” on simu-
lated DFN traces in the same manner as in the in situ
mapping campaign. This allows one to measure the
goodness of fit of the DFN, both in terms of fracture
density and persistence.An example vertical trace used
for simulated scanline mapping is shown in Figure 4.
A good match was obtained between the mapped and
simulated fracture frequencies.
In order to avoid the scenario in which a single large
persistent joint dominates sample behavior, all joints
with a diameter larger than 3 m were excluded from
the SRM sample, which eliminates approximately 5%
of the 20,225 joints within the DFN volume of study
(15 m cube). These larger joints were accounted for
within the larger mine-scale model employing SRM-
based properties.

344

Figure 4. Two-dimensional (E-W) vertical section
(15 m × 15 m) through the DFN used in the Northparkes
SRM samples.
2.3 Joint representation
Joints are normally represented in PFC3D by debond-
ing contacts along a plane. The problem with employ-
ing this approach is that even the assignment of very
weak (e.g. low friction) properties to the contacts on
the plane generally will not lead to realistic sliding
on the plane because of the roughness or bumpiness
induced by the particles. Small particles could be used
to keep the thickness of the joint plane to realistic
levels, as demonstrated by Kulatilake et al. (2001),
but this is not feasible here because the large number
of joints would require too many particles (computa-
tional constraint). In order to overcome the problem,
an alternate scheme, termed the sliding-joint model,
was developed. A sliding joint is created in a similar
manner as before — i.e. by identifying all contacts
between particles that lie upon opposite sides of a
specified plane and setting the properties of these con-
tacts. However, in this case, a new contact model is
assigned to these contacts that allows them to slide
past one another without over-riding one another. The
joint geometry consists of two initially coincident pla-
nar surfaces defined by a dip angle and dip direction.
During each timestep, the relative translational dis-
placement increment between the two ball surfaces is
decomposed into components normal and tangential to
the joint surfaces (Un and Us ). These increments
are multiplied by the joint normal and shear stiff-
nesses (kn and ks ) to produce increments of joint force
(Fn = kn Un and Fs = ks Us ). The joint force is
updated to satisfy the joint force-displacement rela-
tionship, which is Coulomb sliding: Fs ≤ µFn where
µ is the joint friction coefficient. The joint force is
then mapped back into the local contact system and
returned to the controlling PFC logic.
345
Table 4. Joint shear strength and stiffness employed in SRM
samples.
Friction angle (degrees) 30
Cohesion (MPa) 0
Normal stiffness (MPa/mm) 1.5e11
Shear stiffness (MPa/mm) 0.3e11
Table 5. Far-Field Stresses in Lift 2.
Stress Trend Plunge Magnitude
σ1 290 0 0.065 MPa/m (2.40 ∗ σ3 )
σ2 200 0 0.04 MPa/m (1.49 ∗ σ3 )
σ3 0 90 0.027 MPa/m
The sliding-joint model overcomes some of the
limitations of PFC in modelling jointed rock mass
behavior present in earlier work. By bounding angu-
lar blocks of bonded particles with smooth rather than
bumpy boundaries, it is possible to more accurately
model the role of block angularity and interlocking
on rock mass strength and brittleness. To date, sliding
joints have only been used for modeling existing joints
but new fractures could also be given the sliding joint
model as they develop within the SRM sample.
The properties assigned to the sliding-joint contacts
were based on assessment of the roughness and pla-
narity of the joints in Lift 2 (see Table 4). In cases
where two or more joints intersected at a single con-
tact, only one joint was selected for assignment with
the sliding joint model, effectively introducing a large
asperity on the remaining joint, or joints, that is con-
trolled by the particle size. In the base case samples
developed for the Lift 2 case study, this choice was
made randomly, effectively mimicking a random joint
hierarchy. In cases where a hierarchy is evident, then
the selection of joint set hierarchy within the sliding
joint contact assignment could be made accordingly.
3 TESTING OF SYNTHETIC ROCK MASS
SAMPLES
The expected induced stress changes at various
locations relative to the cave were obtained from a
mine-scale continuum model in which cave advance
is simulated through an imposed draw at the undercut
level. The far-field stresses in Lift 2 are outlined in
Table 5. The induced stress field is governed by the
location relative to the cave and the size/shape of the
undercut/cave at the stage of interest. An example of
the stress-change estimates obtained from the numeri-
cal model is shown in Figure 5. In order to mimic these
stress changes in the SRM test, a strain-path applica-
tion scheme was developed that permits application
Figure 5. Stress path expected above the center of an upward
advancing cave at Northparkes (Domain 3).
of increments in the full 3D strain tensor to the SRM
sample. Strain is chosen as the controlling parameter,
rather than stress, to ensure sample stability in the post-
peak range. As a first step, the compliance matrices
were derived for all samples from a series of six simple
compression increments. These are required to convert
the expected stress paths to strain paths that will be
applied to the sample. The strain path is broken up into
a large number of small increments and for each strain
increment, the corresponding velocity field is calcu-
lated so that every particle in the sample can be moved
appropriately. During subsequent equilibration only
the boundary particles are fixed; the remaining interior
particles rearrange themselves in order to accommo-
date the imposed strain field while maintaining force
equilibrium for each particle. The resulting stresses
and strains are measured within the spherical region
using the stress and velocity-gradient tensor measure-
ment procedures described by Potyondy & Cundall
(2004).
4 RESULTS
A total of 19 domain-specific Synthetic Rock Mass
(SRM) samples were created and tested in PFC3D.
This includes 5 base-case samples (one for each
domain) and 14 samples for sensitivity analysis. Each
test, involving application of a complete stress path on
a single SRM sample, took approximately 48 hours
to complete on a single-processor 3-GHz PC. Some
results of the base-case tests are discussed here.
The onset of damage in all SRM samples occurred
well before peak strength was reached and was indi-
cated by the breakage of inter-particle bonds, also
referred to as cracks. After approximately 1000 cracks,
the samples began to dilate and deviate from the
desired stress path (due to changes in compliance).
As shown in Figure 6, there is good correspondence
between this point and the lower limit of the empirical
346
Figure 6. Stress paths, fitted peak-strength envelope and
damage threshold observed in SRM sample of Domain 5.
damage threshold criterion discussed by Diederichs
(1999):
Figure 6 also shows how a second stress path devi-
ation was used to intersect the peak strength envelope
for the SRM material and soften it to a residual state.
More SRM tests could be conducted to better define
the shape of the envelope, particularly at low stress
values so that the tensile strength can be better defined.
A small subset of joints was found to be slipping
at the point of intersection with the failure envelope
(peak strength). By plotting the poles to these slipping
joints on a stereonet, it is possible to see the impact of
differing stress magnitudes and orientations relative
to the joint fabric (Fig. 7). For example, in Domain
1 (above the early undercut) joint slip is concentrated
on sub-vertical joints (peak at dip/dd = 74/252) while
in Domain 3 (impacted by the undercut when more
fully developed) joint slip is concentrated on more
intermediate-dipping joints (peak at dip/dd = 49/348).
These differences are attributed to the evolving shape
of the undercut, whose initially high aspect ratio
encourages anisotropy in the horizontal stresses and
slip on sub-vertical joints.
Two different techniques were employed to assist
in understanding the macroscopic fracturing (coales-
cence of existing joints and new fractures) that accom-
panies softening from the peak to residual strength
states. The first of these is qualitative in nature and
involves examination of contiguous blocks within the
SRM material — i.e. isolated blocks of intact rock
within the sample whose component grains can all be
reached via one another through bonded contacts. With
this technique, it is possible to see how the initially
intact rock mass disintegrates and to visualize the frac-
tures (in the form of block defining features) that lead
to this disintegration (Fig. 8). The evolving fragment
size distribution that accompanies fracturing was esti-
mated by converting the volume of each continuous
block to an equivalent spherical diameter, as shown in
Figure 9.The size distribution at the residual state (zero
cohesion) compares well with visual observations of
fragmentation made in the drawpoints at Northparkes.
Figure 7. Stereonet plots of poles to joints slipping in the
SRM samples of Domain 1 (top) and Domain 3 (bottom) at
the onset of damage.
Figure 8. Evolution of fracturing in Domain 1 sample on a vertical cross-section through the centre. Solid colours denote
contiguous blocks of bonded material (i.e. isolated rock blocks).
347
The second technique for fracture characterization was
more quantitative in nature and involved the fitting of
three-point planes to the clouds of cracks. As discussed
by Reyes-Montes et al. (2007), this latter technique
forms the basis for direct comparison of the fractures
inferred from seismicity and allows for validation of
the SRM approach.
The brittleness of the SRM samples was measured
by tracking plastic shear strains relative to the evolv-
ing cohesion as they softened from their peak strength
to residual strength. In order to determine the plastic
strains, it was necessary to obtain the elastic compli-
ance matrix at regular intervals along the softening part
of the stress path. This was accomplished by restoring
the model state at discrete points (peak strength, 66%
of peak cohesion, 33% of peak cohesion, and resid-
ual strength), increasing the joint friction and bond
strength to high values and executing six small strain
Figure 9. Evolution of isolated block size distribution
within the SRM sample of Domain 1 as it passes from peak
to residual strength.
 properties is capable of properly capturing the mech-
anism, rate and extent of rock mass softening and
disintegration.
3 The fragmentation predicted from Lift 2 SRM test-
ing was similar to the fragmentation observed within
drawpoints at Lift 2.
The next step will be to apply this complete method-
ology to additional case studies to test the robustness
under different geomechanical domains.

5 CONCLUSIONS

A new methodology for the prediction of jointed rock

mass behavior was described that involves the con-
Figure 10. Estimates of brittleness obtained from SRM test-
ing of base case samples from the five domains. (Steep lines
struction and testing of “Synthetic Rock Mass” (SRM)
indicate high brittleness — i.e. less plastic strain required to samples. SRM samples are three-dimensional and sim-
lose cohesion.) ulate rock as an assembly of bonded spheres (intact
rock) with an embedded discrete network of disc-
shaped flaws (joints). It was demonstrated that by
excursions. The resulting compliance matrix was then
combining bonded particle modeling techniques and
used to estimate the incremental elastic strain tensor
a more efficient model for representation of joints,
between sets of points. When this is subtracted from
yielding of large rock volumes containing thousands
the incremental total strain tensor, one obtains the
of joints can be rapidly simulated. SRM samples were
incremental plastic strain tensor. The cohesion versus
constructed for several different domains at a case
plastic shear strain curves obtained in this manner are
study mine (Northparkes Lift 2) and subjected to stress
normalized to cohesion for comparative purposes in
paths expected around an advancing block cave. It was
Figure 10. There is a significant variation in brittleness
possible to consider domain-specific induced stresses,
between the various domains; Domains 1 and 5 exhibit
anisotropic joint fabric, and intact strength variations
the most brittle response and Domain 2 the least brit-
in the evaluation of rock mass strength and brittleness.
tle. The lower brittleness of Domain 2 is attributed to
In addition, the fragmentation of the samples could be
both the higher intact strength within the BQM lithol-
monitored from peak to residual strength.
ogy and the rotation of stresses towards vertical in this
The approach has been validated by comparison of
location as the cave advances. Since the joint fabric is
the predicted fracture orientations with those inferred
predominantly sub-vertical, one would expect the rock
from microseismicity recorded in situ (discussed in
mass to be stronger under application of a sub-vertical
a companion paper by Reyes-Montes et al. 2007).
major principal stress.
In addition, mine-scale models employing the SRM-
The ability to obtain the predictions of rock mass
derived strength and brittleness measures were capa-
brittleness in this manner is considered a signifi-
ble of simulating the observed rate and extent of
cant step forward. Of particular value is the explicit
cave progression. Lastly, the fragmentation predicted
consideration of joint fabric and site-specific stress
from SRM testing was found to be similar to the
paths. These properties have since been employed
fragmentation observed within drawpoints at Lift 2.
within a mine-scale model of Lift 2 that success-
Additional case studies are currently being exam-
fully simulated the observed rate and extent of cave
ined to test the robustness of the methodology. Tech-
progression in Lift 2 (Pierce et al. 2006). This is con-
niques will also be developed to extract additional rock
sidered to represent a significant validation of the
mass properties from the SRM tests, including dila-
MMT cave modelling methodology, and constitutes
tion angle, tensile strength and modulus softening. In
the third of three validation studies performed on the
addition, the methodology will be refined through the
methodology:
development of a more robust joint intersection logic
1 As demonstrated by Reyes-Montes et al. (2007), and automated sample control and monitoring during
the orientations of fractures produced within the testing.
Lift 2 SRM tests under cave-induced strains were
the same as those inferred from analysis of Lift 2
microseismic data. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2 The predicted advance of the cave compares well
with in situ observations in Lift 2, indicating This research is funded by the Mass Mining Tech-
that a large-scale model employing SRM-derived nology project. The authors would like to thank

348
Northparkes Mines and Rio Tinto for providing the
data for this study and Caroline Darcel of Itasca Con-
sultants, S.A.S for conducting the DFN simulations.
REFERENCES
Itasca Consultants, S.A.S. 2005. 3FLO, Version 2.2. Lyon,
France: ICSAS.
Diederichs, M.S. 1999. Instability of Hard Rockmasses: The
Role of Tensile Damage and Relaxation. Ph.D. Thesis,
University of Waterloo.
Duplancic, P. & Brady, B.H. 1999. Characterisation of Caving
Mechanisms by Analysis of Seismicity and Rock Stress.
In Vouille & Bérest (eds.), Proceedings of the 9th ISRM
Congress on Rock Mechanics, Paris. Lisse: Balkema,
Vol. 2, pp. 1149–1053.
Hajiabdolmajid, V. & Kaiser, P.K. 2002. Modelling slopes
in brittle rock. In Hammah et al. (eds.), NARMS-TAC
2002: Mining and Tunnelling Innovation and Oppor-
tunity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Vol. 1,
pp. 331–338.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: IMM.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2006. PFC3D (Particle Flow
Code in 3 Dimensions), Version 3.1. Minneapolis: ICG.
349
Kulatilake, P.H.S.W., Malama, B. & Wang, J. 2001. Physi-
cal and Particle Flow Modeling of Jointed Rock Block
Behavior Under Uniaxial Loading. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 38: 641–657.
Martin, C.D., Kaiser, P.K. & McCreath, R. 1999.
Hoek-Brown parameters for predicting the depth of brittle
failure around tunnels. Canadian Geotechnical Journal
36: 136–151.
Park, E.-S., Martin, C.D. & Christiansson, R. 2004. Simula-
tion of the Mechanical Behavior of Discontinuous Rock
Masses Using a Bonded-Particle Model. In Yale et al.
(eds.), Gulf Rocks 2004: Rock Mechanics Across Borders
and Disciplines, Proceedings of the 6th North American
Rock Mechanics Symposium, Houston, Paper No. 04-480.
Pierce, M., Young, R.P., Reyes-Montes, J. & Pettitt, W. 2006.
Six Monthly Technical Report, Caving Mechanics, Sub-
Project No. 4.2: Research and Methodology Improvement,
& Sub-Project 4.3, Case Study Application. ICG Report to
Mass Mining Technology Project, 2004–2007, September.
Potyondy, D.O. &. Cundall, P.A. 2004. A Bonded-Particle
Model for Rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41:
1329–1364.
Reyes-Montes J., Pettitt, W. &.Young, R.P. 2007. Validation of
a Synthetic Rock Mass Model Using Excavation Induced
Microseismicity. In Eberhardt et al. (eds.), Proceed-
ings of the 1st Canada-US Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Vancouver.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Investigating raise stability using fracture system and particle flow tools

J. Hadjigeorgiou, K. Esmaieli & M. Grenon

Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada

ABSTRACT: This paper illustrates a methodology used to investigate the stability of raises in fractured rock
masses. A worked example is utilized to demonstrate how a rock mass can be represented by a fracture system
and the resulting system subsequently linked to a numerical stress analysis model. This paper discusses the
advantages and limitations of this approach and how it will eventually lead to a design tool that can take into
consideration both structure and stress. This paper is part of on-going work on the design of raise systems in
underground mines.

1 INTRODUCTION of major structures on the stability of vertical exca-

The design of underground excavations in rock must
account for the influence of structure, stress, as well as
the size, shape of an excavation and its intended use.
Although there are several analytical, empirical and
numerical tools available, it is recognized that these
tools have inherent advantages and limitations.
The design of mining infrastructure such as ramps,
shafts, ore and waste pass systems, and ventilation
raises, although critical has not received the same level
of attention as the design of drifts and stopes. Further-
more, although infrastructure excavations are often
grouped together there are important differences in the
underlying design philosophy. The design of the main
mine shaft, for example, can be conservative given the
important economic and operational ramifications of
failure. On the other extreme, there are cases where ore
pass raises have been treated as expendable structures
that are expected to fail after some time in operation.
The stability of ore pass systems, like other exca-
vations, is influenced by the resulting stresses and
prevalent structural regimes. They are also expected
to maintain their structural integrity, even when sub-
ject to impact loads, or wall wear as a result of material
being transferred though. Ore pass problems in Cana-
dian mines have been documented by Hadjigeorgiou
et al. (2005). Material flow in ore passes has been ana-
lyzed, using numerical models by Iverson (2003) and
Lessard & Hadjigeorgiou (2003).
The influence of stress on the stability of an ore pass
can be addressed by any number of 3D stress analy-
sis packages. This involves some degree of zoning to
establish material properties and the response to stress.
An important element of any numerical model is reli-
able model calibration. This in itself is not trivial as
indicated by Wiles (2006). Quite often, the influence
vations can be accommodated, to some degree, by
most commercially available stress modeling pack-
ages. Nevertheless, significant limitations remain on
how to best introduce and interpret fault or fracture
behavior in stress models.
Limit equilibrium models are often used to inves-
tigate structural failure along the walls of ore passes.
This is justified, provided that there are clearly defined
wedges formed along the excavation. This implies that
the major fractures are of infinite length. Further-
more, this type of analysis focuses on identifying the
maximum wedge that can form under a given set of
conditions. Software packages such as Unwedge (Roc-
science 2003) greatly facilitate analysis and render
themselves well to parametric investigations. Another
shortcoming of these limit equilibrium approaches is
that they often do not account for the influence of stress
on the stability of wedges. Recently, however Curran
et al. (2004) suggest that it is possible to investigate
the influence of clamping stresses on the stability of a
given wedge, by using a boundary element program.
A more realistic approach to determine the influ-
ence of structure on the stability of vertical or near
vertical excavations has been provided by Stacey et al.
(2004) and more recently by Hadjigeorgiou & Grenon
(2005). Both approaches rely on the generation of a
fracture system in order 1to establish the number of
potentially unstable generated wedges along the walls
of an excavation. The stability of individual wedges
can subsequently be established based on limit equi-
librium analysis. This approach can provide a series
of distributions describing wedge size, number of
unstable wedges etc.
The design of raises has also been addressed
through the use of empirical classification systems.
Hadjigeorgiou et al. (2004) report that the Q system

351
(Barton et al. 1974) was used to establish a threshold Table 1. Fracture sets characteristics.
to delineate stable and non stable ore pass systems in
Quebec mines, while McCracken & Stacey (1989) pro- Set1 Set2 Set3
vide a more complete design methodology for raised
Dip (0 ) 87 47 81
bored excavations by extending the Q system.
Dip direction (0 ) 311 178 70
At the present time there is no integrated design P32 (m−1 ) 0.6 0.7 0.85
methodology in existence that can arguably address Area (m2 ) 875 875 875
all analysis and design issues of vertical or near verti-
cal excavations. This paper aims to demonstrate that it
is possible to integrate both structural and stress anal-
ysis tools in the design of ore pass systems. The link
between material flow and the stability of ore pass
systems will be addressed in another forum.

2 FRACTURE SYSTEM MODEL

This paper demonstrates that it is feasible to construct

an integrated structure and stress analysis model. For
these purposes, an example was set up using an ore
pass (2.1 m × 2.1 m × 30 m) constructed in a fractured
rock mass, at approximately 800 m depth in the Cana-
dian Shield. Three persistent fracture sets were used to
define the structural domain, Table 1. P32 is the total
fracture surface area per volume of rock mass, after
Dershowitz & Herda (1992), while area is the fracture
set mean area.
There are several fracture system generators that use
structural data to develop 3D fracture models. For the
Figure 1. Size and distribution of wedges on the West and
purposes of this work an in-house generator was used
North wall sides.
that employs the Veneziano (1978) model for fracture
generation. This is the same generator used in previous
Table 2. Number and size of wedges on the sidewalls.
work by Hadjigeorgiou & Grenon (2005). Once the
fracture system was generated and validated, the raise North East South West
excavation was introduced in the rock mass model.
This results in a number of wedges being delineated Nb.Wedges 6 2 2 5
by the raise walls and the generated fracture system. Unstable Wedges 5 0 0 0
It is recognized that the resulting fracture system is Max. Size (m3 ) 3.2 0.81 0.22 1.2
one of many. In a real case study it is expected that Min. Size (m3 ) 0.006 0.33 0.005 0.011
a series of simulations would be undertaken in order
to establish the range of possible fracture systems for
any given data set. In this example, only the stability of the larger kinemat-
It is a relatively easy task to track the number and ically feasible wedge was investigated while ignoring
size of wedges formed along any side of the exca- the influence of smaller wedges within this wedge.
vation. This is illustrated in Figure 1 that displays This, however, may not always be appropriate, as fail-
wedges formed on the North and West sides of the ure may be initiated by the displacement of a smaller
raise. In all, 15 wedges were formed along the 4 sides wedge within a larger and subsequent unraveling of the
of the excavation for the 30 m long segment. Table 2 rock mass. This will be addressed in subsequent work.
summarizes the number of wedges and their respec- Another limitation is that the analysis is based on tetra-
tive maximum and minimum volumes. The maximum hedral wedges formed by three intersecting fractures.
wedge size of about 3.2 m3 was on the side wall facing Finally, this approach ignores the potential stabilizing
north while the smallest wedge (0.005 m3 ) was on the effect of rock bridges along fractures and the wedges
south facing wall. formed as a result of breaking of any of rock bridges.
Although this approach is arguably more realistic It was observed that all 5 unstable wedges were
than assuming infinitely long wedges, it is still lim- along the north face and sliding along fracture set 2
ited. It was observed that the simulations can result in (47◦ /178◦ ). In this analysis and for comparative pur-
the creation of both small and large size wedges, and poses to the PFC model a cohesion of 380 kPa and an
in areas larger wedge group or engulf smaller wedges. angle of friction of 40◦ were used.

352

Figure 2. Representation of cross section planes.
3 RAISE INSTABILITY ANALYSIS
USING PFC2D
A long term objective of the on-going work at Univer-
sité Laval is to develop structural, stress and material
flow models to predict the performance of ore pass
systems. Previous work on material flow employed the
particle flow codes developed by Itasca. Consequently,
it was decided to try and link these codes to in-house
developed fracture system generators. It is recognised
that it may have been equally advantageous to link
these models to other stress analysis packages.
The next engineering decision to be made was
whether to use 2D or 3D models.The use of a 3D model
has several significant advantages in both representa-
tion and data visualization. However, in this exercise,
it was decided to use a 2D model, strictly based on
time constraints, both for running and calibrating the
model.
The use of a 2D model required a series of simpli-
fying assumptions on how to represent a 3D rock mass
in two-dimensions. This was addressed by generat-
ing longitudinal sections intersecting the 3D generated
rock mass (Fig. 2). This has allowed the wedges along
the intersecting planes to be traced.
3.1 Identification of longitudinal section planes
In all, 6 cross section planes were used, with sections 2
and 5 intersecting the centre of the ore pass. The other
sections were at 0.5 m distance across each side of the
centre section (Fig. 2).
353
Table 3. Micro-properties of the intact rock.
Grain Bond
ρ = 2800 kg/m3 λ̄ = 1
Dmax /Dmin = 1.66 Ēc = 63.8 GPa
Ec = 63.8 GPa k̄n /k̄s = 2.5
kn /ks = 2.5 σc = τc = 137 MPa
µ = 0.5 Std. = 30 MPa
Table 4. Macro-properties of PFC model.
Property Model
UCS (MPa) 164
Elastic Modulus (GPa) 75
Poisson’s ratio 0.22
The spacing of the planes is of consequence as,
depending on the wedge size, it could potentially be
intercepted by more than one plane. The 2D shape and
dimensions of every wedge created by the fracture
system was transposed on each plane. Consequently
a PFC model was constructed that included all 2D
wedges traced along any of the 6 selected planes.
3.2 Fractured rock mass simulation in PFC2D
The Particle flow code uses the distinct element
method and employs circular particles that interact
through frictional sliding contact. A solid material is
represented by particles which are bonded together. In
PFC the behaviour of the rock mass does not have to
be defined a priori by the user. A calibration process
is required to establish the mechanical properties of
intact rock and rock fractures.
3.2.1 Simulation of intact rock properties
A common approach for validating the resulting sim-
ulated intact rock properties is to compare results
from laboratory tests to those obtained from computa-
tional models. In effect the objective is to establish
the necessary micro-mechanical parameters of the
material that result in appropriate intact and frac-
ture properties. The PFC was used to simulate a
series of laboratory tests assuming a series of micro-
mechanical properties (example Table 3) that resulted
in the macro-mechanical properties shown in Table 4.
3.2.2 Simulation of mechanical properties of
fractures
The strength and deformation of a rock mass is
defined by the mechanical properties of its fractures.
In the PFC model, joint planes represent surfaces
along which sliding and separation can occur between
 Figure 4. Close-up view of a section of the particle model.

Table 5. Magnitude of in-situ stresses in desired directions.

Direction σxx σyy

N–S 35.5 MPa 18 MPa

E–W 38.5 MPa 18 MPa

Figure 3. Shear stress versus shear displacement in

N = 0.3 MPa.

clusters of particles. In this work, all wedges generated

by the fracture system were delineated by joint plane
contacts. This has allowed the assignment of different
properties to all particles that fall on opposite sides of
the fracture plane.
In this illustrative example zero bond strengths were
assumed across the fracture surface. Particles directly
adjacent to a fracture were assigned zero friction coef-
ficients. The normal and shear stiffness values for the
particles along the joint plane were set to one-fifth
of the values assigned to the particle contacts in the
intact portion of assembly. The particles along fracture
Figure 5. The diagram of stress installation for N–S direc-
planes were bonded to the next layer of particles, on
tion planes.
each side of the fracture plane by bonds that were 10%
weaker than the bond strengths in the intact portion
minimum radius in each range of particles was kept
of the particle assembly. The mechanical properties
at 1.66. Fine particles with radius of rmin = 15 mm
of fractures can be simulated in PFC through direct
were generated in the adjacent walls of excavation
shear test simulation. A procedure of this simulation
and coarse particles with radius of rmin = 57 mm were
in PFC2D has been proposed by Wang et al. (2003).
generated in areas away from the excavation.
Both maximum and residual shear strengths were
defined at normal stresses of 0.1, 0.3, 0.45, 0.75 MPa.
Figure 3 represents shear stress versus shear displace- 3.4 Installation of in-situ stress
ment in normal stress of 0.3 MPa. Using the trend line The wedges were formed through intersecting frac-
for maximum and residual shear stress versus normal tures and the free face of the excavation. In this
stress, it was possible to determine the cohesion and example, wedges failure was either by gravity fall or
internal friction angle of the fractures, which are 380 sliding. The failure mechanism is controlled by wedge
kPa and 40◦ respectively. geometry, the mechanical properties of the fracture
planes and the surrounding stress regime.
3.3 Particle assembly generation The following stress regime was assumed for N–S
and E–W directions (Table 5).
Six rectangular assemblies of particles with the same The FISH stress installation environment was used
micro-mechanical properties as assumed for the intact Itasca (2002). Figure 5 present stress installation
rock during calibration were created to represent the diagrams in the N–S direction planes.
six section planes illustrated in Figure 2. Each particle
assembly was 11 m wide and 30 m high and con- 3.5 Linking a PFC model to a fracture system
sisted of 75087 particles. A close up of a section is
reproduced in Figure 4 where seven ranges of parti- Fracture traces in PFC2D were created using an
cles at various radii are used. The ratio of maximum to approach by Park et al. (2004) on how to create fracture

354
Figure 6. The section of wedges on the plane No.2.
sets in PFC2D from three dimensional fracture system
models. For each plane section, the fracture traces that
formed wedges on the side walls were introduced into
the corresponding particle assembly. Subsequently, the
mechanical properties of fractures, defined during the
calibration stage, were assigned to the fracture traces
in the model. Consequently, gravity was applied to
the particle assembly and the raise was excavated. The
cross section of wedges on the planes was identified
in Figures 6 and 7 which represents wedges on plane
No.2 and No. 5 in South-North and East-West direc-
tions respectively. In order to facilitate the analysis
and optimize the calculation time only wedges formed
along the walls of the ore pass, in the fracture system
were introduced in PFC.
4 RESULTS
At the present time, there are no comprehensive criteria
to define the stability of a wedge based on the results of
PFC modeling. In order to establish some sort of guide-
lines for this analysis the authors used an approach
355
Figure 7. The section of wedges on the plane No.5.
similar to Wang et al. (2003), whereby the physical
appearance of the “unstable” rock area and the dis-
placement of the moving destabilized rock are the only
leads. Figure 8 illustrates the displacement vectors for
a “stable” and “unstable” wedge along plane No.2.This
is also observed by a review of velocity vectors, where
the velocity of the north side wedge increases consid-
erably. This demonstrates the need for additional work
to establish more comprehensive interpretation rules.
The stability of the analyzed wedges in all the par-
ticle flow models for all six sections is summarized in
Table 6. It should be noted that in this particular exam-
ple, failure occurred along sliding fracture set J2 and
along the North wall of the ore pass.
Figure 9 present the evolution of sliding and falling
of the big wedge on the North side wall. It should
be remembered that, in this example, large wedges
surrounded smaller wedges.
Consequently, the results of particle flow anal-
ysis were compared with those obtained from the
Figure 8. Displacement of wedges along plane No.2.

Table 6. The result of wedge stability for the six sections.

Wedge size Failure

Section Wall (m3 ) Stability mode

1 N 3.2 Unstable J2
N 0.3 Stable –
S 0.005 Stable –
2 N 3.2 Unstable J2
N 0.35 Unstable J2
S 0.22 Stable –
3 N 3.2 Unstable J2
N 0.44 Stable –
N 0.29 Stable –
N 0.006 Stable –
4 E 0.81 Stable –
E 0.33 Stable –
W 1.2 Stable –
W 0.02 Stable –
5 E 0.81 Stable –
E 0.33 Stable –
W 1.2 Stable –
W 0.12 Stable –
6 E 0.81 Stable –
W 1.2 Stable –
W 0.06 Stable –
W 0.011 Stable –

N: North, S: South, E: East, W: West.

J2: Sliding along fracture set 2.

limit equilibrium analysis, Table 7. The first observa-

tion is that although there are five unstable wedges
in the North side wall using the limit equilibrium
method, only two were deemed unstable using the PFC
methodology.
In all fairness, given the multitude of assump-
tions in this illustrative example, the results are not in
themselves critical. The influence of stress for these
configurations is beneficial, as it further confines Figure 9. Evolution of wedge sliding in plane No.3.

356
Table 7. Comparison of the wedge stability condition.
N E S W
Total wedges 6 2 2 5
Unstable Wed.(Lim-Eqi.) 5 0 0 0
Unstable Wed. (PFC) 2 0 0 0
the wedges. The clamping effect of wedges has been
recognized for some time now (Sofianos 1986).
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has illustrated both the potential of linking
fracture systems to stress analysis software and the
practical limitations of such an approach. Although
several issues have yet to be addressed satisfactorily,
it is evident that the present approach merits further
attention.
As the fracture system models are based on the
stochastic generation of fractures, a number of sim-
ulations must be undertaken to account for the inher-
ent variability of the rock mass associated with the
probability of fracture intersections. Although small
diameter particles were used to define fracture planes
in the PFC model, fractures in the PFC model had an
inherent waviness, while the LEA analysis assumed
that all fractures had no roughness. The capability of
PFC to introduce fracture roughness will be explored
further in subsequent work.
The computational constraints that necessitated the
use of a 2D model, as opposed to a 3D model have
also imposed several simplifications on the way 3D
wedges were transposed upon a 2D plane. The use of
a 2D PFC model required that 3D structural data were
transposed upon a 2D plane. This in itself is some-
what problematic as it does not take into account the
shape of wedges as they are represented by apparent as
opposed to real dip potentially resulting in shallower
dip angles. This could eventually result to more stable
wedge geometries.
The number and spacing of planes will also influ-
ence the results of a PFC analysis. This limitation will
be overcome when using a 3D PFC model.
Despite these limitations it was possible to present
multiple wedges along the walls of an ore pass and
investigate their stability under average stress loads.
The results of this analysis were compared to those
obtained by multiple wedge limit equilibrium anal-
yses. It was noted that the stress analysis resulted in
less unstable wedges. There are several possible expla-
nations for this, including the stabilizing influence of
stress in providing ore confinement for wedges formed
along an excavation.
357
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the finan-
cial support of the National Science and Engineering
Research Council of Canada.
REFERENCES
Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of jointed rock masses for the design of tunnel
support. Rock Mechanics 6: 189–236.
Curran, J.H., Corkum, B. & Hammah, R.E. 2004. Three –
dimensional Analysis of underground wedges under the
influence of stresses. In Gulf Rocks, 6th North American
Rock Mechanics Symposium, Houston.
Dershowitz, W.S. & Herda, H.H. 1992. Interpretation of
fracture spacing and intensity. In Rock Mechanics,
Proceedings of the 33rd U.S. Symposium, Santa Fe.
Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema, pp. 757–766.
Hadjigeorgiou, J., Lessard, J.F. & Mercier-Langevin, F. 2005.
Ore pass practice in Canadian mines. The Journal of The
South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 105:
809–816.
Hadjigeorgiou, J. & Grenon, M. 2005. Design of ventilation
raises using fracture systems. In Alaska Rock, the 40th US
symposium on Rock Mechanics, Anchorage.
Hadjigeorgiou, J., Lessard, J.F. & Mercier-Langevin, F. 2004.
Issues in selection and design of ore pass support. In
Villaescusa & Potvin (eds.), Fifth International Sympo-
sium on Ground Support in Mining and Underground
Construction, Perth. Balkema, pp. 491–497.
Iverson, S., Jung, S.J. & Biswas, K. 2003. Comparison of
ore pass computer simulations for design against dynamic
load. In SME Annual Meeting, Cincinnati.
Lessard, J.F. & Hadjigeorgiou, J. 2003. Design tools to prevent
ore pass hang-ups. In 10th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics, Sandton, South Africa, Vol. 2,
pp. 757–762.
McCracken,A. & Stacey,T.R. 1989. Geotechnical risk assess-
ment for large-diameter raise-bored shafts. Trans. Inst.
Min. Metall. Sect. A: Min. Industry 98: A145–A150.
Veneziano, D. 1978. Probabilistic models of joints in rock.
Research Report. Department of Civil and Environmental
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Itasca 2002. Particle Flow Code 2D, version 3.0, user’s
manual. Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Park, E.S., Martin, C.D. & Christiansson, R. 2004. Simulation
of the mechanical behavior of discontinuous rock masses
using a bonded particle model. In Gulf Rock, the 6th North
American Rock Mechanics Symposium, Houston.
Rocscience 2003. Unwedge software, version 3.0.
Stacey, T.R., Wesseloo, J. & Bell, G. 2005. Predicting the sta-
bility of rockpasses from the geological structure. Journal
of the SouthAfrican Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 15:
803–808.
Sofianos, A.I. 1986. Stability of rock wedges in tunnel roofs.
Int. J. Roc. Mech. Min. Sci. 23: 119–130.
Wang, C., Tannant, D.D. & Lilly, P.A. 2003. Numerical anal-
ysis of the stability of heavily jointed rock slopes using
PFC2D. Int. J. Roc. Mech. Min. Sci. 40: 415–424.
Wiles, T.D. 2006. Reliability of numerical modeling predic-
tions. Int. J. Roc. Mech. Min. Sci. 43: 454–472.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Quantification of energy absorption capacity of trees against rockfall using

finite element analysis

M.J. Jonsson, A. Volkwein & W.J. Ammann

WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: The challenge when regarding the forest stand as a protection barrier against rockfall is to assess
and predict its protection effect. To investigate this, full-scale impact tests, which simulated the interaction
between a single tree and an impacting mass (trolley), were done in its natural environment. It was shown that
the complex interaction between the simulated rock and a single Norway spruce tree (Picea abies (L.) Karst.)
can be modelled with finite elements. By performing parameter studies using the developed model, the energy
absorption capacity Ecap of a single Norway spruce tree as a function of diameter at breast height DBH and
the position of the flying rock in terms of impact height Himp , eccentricity χ , and impact angle αimp could be
calculated.

1 INTRODUCTION located near the root-soil plate. Thus, if a rock impacts

A natural protection against falling rocks can be the
forest growing on mountain slopes. Its importance has
been recognized a long time ago and is highlighted by
several authors (Kienholz & Mani 1994, Stoffel et al.
2005). The challenge when regarding the forest stand
as a protection barrier is to assess and predict the pro-
tection function of the forest. A single tree dissipates
energy during and after a rock impact in several differ-
ent ways: rotation and translation of the root system,
deformation and oscillation of the tree stem, and pene-
tration of the rock at the impact location (Brauner et al.
2005, Dorren & Berger 2006).
The behaviour of the root-soil plate under a static
load has been studied for many years (Fraser &
Gardiner 1967). The ultimate bending moment for
the root system depends on the mass of the root-soil
plate, the failure strength of the soil, the resistance
to failure in tension for tree roots on the windward
side, and the bending resistance of the tree leeside
roots (Blackwell et al. 1990). To model the root-
soil interaction correctly, all these factors must be
considered.
To quantify the amount of energy absorbed by a
single tree, field experiments were performed on a
forested slope (Silver fir; Abies alba) in the French
Alps (Dorren & Berger 2006). However, these field
experiments do not consider the impact position of
the bouncing rock. This consideration is important for
mainly two reasons. (1) A tree has most of its mass
the tree high above the ground surface, the tree behaves
differently than if it hits close to the ground. In the lat-
ter case, more mass must be accelerated and a different
energy absorption capacity can be expected. (2) If the
rock impacts near the edge of the tree stem, a lower
amount of energy is absorbed than if the rock impacts
at stem centre (Dorren & Berger 2006). Furthermore,
the direction of the rock trajectory is constantly chang-
ing during its movement down the slope and thus,
the energy absorption capacity depends on the impact
position of the rock.
Field experiments are complex and time-consuming.
Therefore, a demand exists for a physical model that
can realistically predict the behavior of a single tree
during a rock-impact. To perform a numerical simula-
tion of the rock-tree impact, knowledge is required
about the entire tree structure including the mate-
rial properties, the root-soil interaction as well as
qualitative and quantitative data to calibrate the numer-
ical simulations. Most of the mechanical properties
available for wood originate from dry homogeneous
test samples without any defects. However, wood is
effected by knots, moisture content, temperature, and
strain-rate effects etc. (Bodig & Jayne 1982).
The objective of this study is to give a brief presen-
tation of the work performed in Jonsson et al. (2007a)
and Jonsson et al. (2007b) where a numerical Finite
Element singletree model was developed and applied
to a Norway spruce tree (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) to
quantify its protection effect.

359
2 FULL-SCALE IMPACT TEST For more information about the full-scale impact tests
see, Lundström et al. (submitted 2006) and Jonsson
Full-scale impact tests were performed at two differ- (submitted 2007).
ent sites in subalpine forests near Davos, Switzerland.
Due to the high effort and the number of tests they
were spitted for the vegetation periods (May/June –
3 NUMERICAL MODEL OF THE ROCK-TREE
September) of 2003 and 2004. For both sites, the
INTERACTION
vegetation type is a Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.)
Karst.) forest with single European larch trees (Larix
To model the full-scale impact tests, the general-
decidua L.). Davos is located in the central Alps in
purpose finite elements software LS-Dyna (Hallquist
the north-eastern part of canton Grisons (in German,
2003) was used. A number of simplification and
Graubünden) at an altitude of 1560 m. The surround-
assumptions were used in order to undertake the mod-
ings of Davos have an alpine topography with peaks
eling and these are described below. A visualisation of
reaching 3100 m. The climate is characterized by a
the model is given in Fig. 2.
mean annual precipitation of 1082 mm (Jan. 74 mm,
The transversely isotropic material model
Aug. 146 mm) of which ∼40% is snow and an aver-
*MAT_143 (Hallquist 2003), with relevant failure cri-
age daily temperature of 2.8◦ C (Jan. −5.3◦ C, Aug.
teria was used to characterize the wood. The measured
10.8◦ C). The soil was characterized as well-graded
diameter and mass distributions were used to model
gravel with silt or with silt and sand.
the correct shape, mass, and moment of inertia of the
The impacting rock was simulated by a trolley
tree. The tree stem was modeled with a cylindrical
guided by two catenary wires (Fig. 1) pre-stressed
cross-section and the material properties were kept
between two groups of trees. The positions of the cate-
constant over both the cross-section and the height.
nary wires were adjustable in vertical and horizontal
The mechanical properties of the bark were neglected
direction using mobile steel supports at both ends of
by removing the bark thickness from the cross-section.
the wires. A third cable was attached to the trolley-
The extension of the branches (angle and length)
back and connected to a jeep driving on a forest road.
was not modeled. Instead, the branch mass has been
By driving the jeep, the trolley was winched up along
transferred to be part of the tree stem.
the pre-stressed catenary wires. From there, the trol-
ley was released so it accelerated and impacted the tree
centrically.
To record the acceleration of the trolley, two
accelerometers were mounted on the trolley. Addi-
tional concrete blocks mounted on the trolley allow
the adjustment of the trolley mass from 292 to 892 kg.
The test trees were equipped with accelerometers posi-
tioned on the downhill side of the tree stem and four
cameras recorded the impact event simultaneously.

Figure 2. Deformations calculated after t = 40 ms using the

Figure 1. Full-scale impact tests. The tree shown has a diam-
eter at breast height DBH = 0.51 m, trolley impact velocity
vimp = 17.4 m/s, impact height Himp = 1.63 m, and trolley
impact mass mimp = 792 kg.
numerical singletree model (NSTM). Notice the failure of
the tree stem and the deformations of the root-soil plate
as well as the failure between the root-soil plate and the
surrounding soil. DBH = 0.51 m, Himp = 1.63 m, αimp = 27◦ ,
vimp = 17.4 m/s, mrock = 792 kg.

360
 The LS-Dyna soil-material model *MAT_
DRUCKER_PRAGER was used to characterize the
soil (Hallquist 2003). The shear modulus for small
strain Gmax was calculated by using empirical formu-
las. To account for the expected shear strain level in
the soil during the impact, Gmax was reduced with
the reduction factor R = 0.15. This approach gave val-
ues in the range 2.2 ≤ G ≤ 10.35 MPa. All values used
to characterize the soil are valid for a homogeneous
soil without any considerations to tree roots, large
rocks etc.
The extension of the soil surrounding the root-soil
plate is infinite in the nature. In this model, the sur-
rounding soil was modeled as three times the size of
the root-soil plate. The size of the root-soil plate was
taken from trees uprooted during winching experi-
ments (Jonsson et al. 2007a). The tree roots are not
evenly distributed; most roots are located close to the
ground and the number and size of the roots increase
and decrease with increasing distance from the tree
centre line r. To account for this, an equivalentYoung’s
modulus of elasticity Eeqv as a function of r was cal-
culated for the root-soil plate. During the full-scale
impact tests, the root-soil plate was separated from
the surrounding soil because the soil material reached
its maximum strength. This strength was modeled by
including an equivalent soil strength σeqv , assuming
the roots to be pulled out from the soil.
Finally, the trolley was modeled with its correct
shape and mass using a non-deformable, rigid material
model. For the trolley, a prescribed impact velocity vimp
with a given impact angle αimp , impact height Himp , and
impact mass mrock was applied as boundary condition.
The interaction between the simulated rock and the tree
was modeled with an efficient algorithm controlling
all surfaces in the model for penetration during every
time step. When the simulated rock penetrates the
tree stem the failed elements erode (To avoid numeri-
cal problems with highly distorted elements when the
strength is close to zero in the softening phase, this
element is removed from the calculations, this process
is referred to as element erosion) and a new con-
tact area is automatically created using the remaining
elements.
For a full overview of the numerical single tree
model (NSTM) see Jonsson (in press 2007) and
Jonsson et al. (in press 2007a).
4 CALIBRATION OF THE NUMERICAL
SINGLE TREE MODEL (NSTM)
Four trees were used to calibrate NSTM. All trees
were tested in winching (Jonsson et al. 2006b), sway-
ing (Jonsson et al. 2006a), and full-scale impact tests.
When modelling the winching tests using NSTM and
comparing the measured and calculated stem base
361
rotation, it was found that the decrease in the equiv-
alent Young’s modulus of elasticity for the root-soil
plate was described best by Eeqv ∼ r −6 in combina-
tion with σeqv = 0.035 N/mm2 and G = 2.2 MPa.These
values are therefore used for all simulations. For the
full-scale impact tests, the simulation time was set to
t = 40 ms because ∼90% of the initial kinetic energy
of the trolley was absorbed until 30 ms (Jonsson et al.
2007a).
The full-scale impact tests presented here were
performed with a lower energy than the required
energy for a rock to fully penetrate through the tree
stem (Dorren & Berger 2006). To validate the energy
absorption capacity for a single tree, full-scale rockfall
experiments performed on natural slopes were used
(Dorren & Berger, 2006). These tests were performed
on Silver fir (Abies alba) trees. However, as this is the
only existing investigation where the energy absorp-
tion capacity is quantified, these tests where also used
within this study to validate NSTM.
5 PARAMETER STUDY USING NSTM
To investigate the energy absorption capacity Ecap , of
a single tree, as a function of diameter at breast height
DBH, impact height Himp , eccentricity χ , and impact
angle αimp the following assumptions were made For
all simulations, a single tree standing on a slope with
the slope angle βs = 38◦ was studied; the material
properties for the soil and the wood were the same as
when simulating the full-scale impact tests (Jonsson
2007); the rock was always modeled as a perfect
sphere, and impacted the tree centrically unless noted
otherwise. During the full-scale rockfall experiments
(Dorren et al. 2006), it was found that the maximum
vimp inside a forest stand was ∼24 m/s (βs = 38◦ ). This
value was therefore used for all simulations.
The general guidelines, used by the forest prac-
titioners to determine whether a given rock will be
stopped inside a forest stand are based on the num-
ber of tree stems and their DBH (Frehner et al.
2005). For rocks in the range 0.4 m ≤ Drock ≤ 0.6 m
and 0.6 m ≤ Drock ≤ 1.8 m it is recommended to man-
age the forest in a way that trees with 0.22 m ≤
DBH ≤ 0.58 m dominate. As the general guidelines
relate DBH to be used in a protection forest to
the expected size of the falling rock, the same
approach was used within this study. To differen-
tiate this relationship, Drock was always defined as
2.5 DBH.
6 RESULTS
The original results obtained from both the calibra-
tion of the full-scale impact tests and the parameter
Figure 3. Measured and calculated displacement for differ-
ent sensor heights as a function of time t. Picture reprinted
from (Jonsson et al. 2007a).
study are presented in Jonsson (2007) and Jonsson
et al. (2007b).
6.1 Result from the calibration of the numerical
single tree model (NSTM)
During the full-scale impact tests, failure in the tree
stem was observed for two trees when studying the
images obtained from the high-speed cameras. When
a failure in the tree stem was observed, the failure was
always located in the tension zone on the opposite side
to where the trolley impacted the tree. The same as
observed in the numerical single tree model (NSTM).
The distance above the impact location was not mea-
sured. Due to a remaining flexibility of the prestressed
catenary wires, the trolley started a rotational move-
ment when impacting the tree. This caused the front of
the trolley to slip against the tree stem and the accelera-
tion was overestimated. In reality, the presence of bark
might give a softer penetration of the trolley into the
tree stem; thus, decreasing the peak acceleration and
delaying the decrease in the acceleration. The effect of
the bark was not investigated due to lack of quantitative
material properties.
The predicted displacements of the tree stem at
the position for the two lower sensors were always
underestimated (Fig. 3). One tree was exposed to root
(Jonsson, 2007), and had a weaker root system than the
other trees. However, even for this tree, a good agree-
ment was observed. For a tree without a failure in the
tree stem, the correct displacements were estimated for
all the three sensors placed at different heights. Pre-
dicting the overall tree response when a failure occurs
is difficult. In nature, a failure is not as well defined
as in the NSTM and some stiffness remains in the tree
stem, which can continue to transfer forces.
362
Figure 4. Measured (•) and calculated (*) energy absorp-
tion capacity as a function of DBH. The error bars indicate
the error in the kinetic energy when assuming 10% accuracy
of vimp (Pers. comm. Dr. Luuk Dorren, Cemagref). Picture
reprinted from (Jonsson et al. 2007b).
During the full-scale impact tests with the trolley,
it was observed that more than 90% of the initial energy
was absorbed during the first 30 ms (Jonsson et al.
2007a). This was independent of the impact velocity,
impact height, and impact mass of the trolley. There-
fore, if the first 30 ms of the impact are simulated
close to the real rockfall events, the achieved pre-
ciseness of the simulation already has reached around
90%. Comparing the measured and predicted displace-
ments, it is believed that NSTM can predict a rock tree
impact accurately until at least t = 40 ms (Jonsson et al.
2007b). Thereafter, different phenomena such as the
behavior of the root-soil system under dynamic load-
ing and the movement of the tree crown start to play
a more significant role. To model this behavior, more
knowledge and further research is required. Therefore,
it was decided to define Ecap as the energy absorbed
until t = 40 ms (Jonsson et al. 2007b).
Comparing the measured energy absorption capac-
ity (Dorren & Berger 2006) as a function of DBH
obtained from the field experiments with the values
calculated using NSTM, the general trend was that
NSTM overestimated the energy absorption capac-
ity for DBH > 0.55 m, and underestimated it for
DBH < 0.25 m. Between these values, NSTM was able
to predict the absorbed energy correctly (Fig. 4).
6.2 Results obtained from the parameter study
using NSTM
The major results obtained from the parameter study
were four regression models that can be used to predict
the energy absorption capacity Ecap for a single tree as
function of diameter at breast height DBH for the tree
and the impact position of the flying rock in terms of
relative impact height hH , eccentricity χ , and impact
angle αimp as follows:
where each term can be calculated separately. These
parameters all affect Ecap to different amount; how-
ever, the most important individual parameter is DBH
(Jonsson et al. 2007b).
7 DISCUSSION
It is shown that the complex interaction between the
simulated rock and a single Norway spruce tree (Picea
abies (L.) Karst.) can be simulated with finite ele-
ments. Despite the large natural variations in the wood
material properties, the complex interaction between
single roots, and the surrounding soil, the developed
numerical singletree model (NSTM) showed results,
which agreement excellent with the full-scale impact
tests. However, several assumptions and simplifica-
tions were made when developing NSTM:
• *MAT_143 assumes a transversely isotropic
behaviour even though the material properties differ
in all three fibre directions. Wood is also affected by
the internal structure such as knots, annual tree ring
width, amount of late and early wood, strain-rate
effects etc. (Kollman & Côté 1968, Bodig & Jayne
1982). None of these factors were considered.
• The shear modulus for small strain Gmax was calcu-
lated by empirical formulas as no field investigation
was performed, i.e., Gmax is determined with a high
level of uncertainty. Furthermore, G was reduced to
match the expected shear strain level γ in the soil
during the impact. To obtain a realistic behavior of
the soil, the curve describing G as a function of
γ must be implemented. However, this possibility
does not exist in LS-Dyna for the selected material
model. The soil-material model itself would then
give the correct value for G. For this work, a gravely
soil with sand was used. Such a soil has gener-
ally a low plasticity index and the strain-rate can
be neglected (Studer & Koller 1997).
• The soil surrounding the root-soil plate is infi-
nite in nature. In NSTM, the surrounding soil was
three times the size of the root-soil plate. With
soil boundaries included, the shear and compression
waves are reflected and thus effecting the solution.
The distance to the boundaries must be selected
so the solution is not intolerably influenced by
the reflected waves (Studer & Koller 1997). How
the size of the surrounding soil influences the tree
response was not investigated.
• A simplified approach was used to calculate the
decrease of the equivalent elasticity Eeqv of the
root-soil plate as a function of distance from the tree
363
center line r. It was possible to show that Eeqv ∼ r −6
gave the best results (Jonsson 2007). However, the
root-soil plate was modeled as one single piece
of wood, and branching of the roots was not con-
sidered. There might be an infinitive number of
possibilities relating Eeqv to r because this relation
is a combination of the branching pattern, G, CSA,
and EL etc.
When comparing the measured energy absorp-
tion capacity as a function of DBH calculated with
the NSTM and those in Dorren & Berger (2006), a
good agreement was obtained. However, the observed
differences originate from the fact that NSTM was
developed for Norway spruce trees. In the real
size experiments, Silver fir trees (Abies alba) were
impacted. Even though these trees are related to the
Norway spruce trees, neither the material properties
(Dorren & Berger 2006) nor the size of the root-soil
plate are the same (Stokes et al. 2005). Furthermore,
the full-scale rockfall experiments were performed on
trees growing in a completely different stand, with
different expositions, growth conditions, and history.
Despite this difference it could be shown that the
numerical simulation needs only small model correc-
tion to produce possible results for silver fir trees.
Trees adapt to growth conditions (Brüchert et al.
2000) and therefore, trees growing in other stands
might show a different behavior, when impacted by
a rock. The transferability of the obtained results to
forests with different expositions and climate need to
be further investigated. These are further application
that can be performed using the methods described in
this article.
8 CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
Full-scale impact tests were simulated with finite ele-
ments. Despite the large natural variations in the wood
material properties, the soil, and the complex inter-
action between single roots and the surrounding soil,
the developed numerical singletree model (NSTM)
showed results corresponding with observations done
in nature and the full-scale impact tests. Due to the
highly dynamic event, the most important parameters
are believed to be the dynamic properties such as the
mass and inertia distributions for the tree, the root-soil
plate, and the surrounding soil.
By performing parameter studies with a spherical
rock, the energy absorption capacity Ecap of a single
tree as a function of diameter at breast height DBH
and the position of the flying rock in terms of impact
height Himp , eccentricity χ, and impact angle αimp were
predicted. Using DBH to define Ecap is insufficient as
its value depends upon all these factors. The devel-
oped approach used to model the rock-tree interaction
can be applied to different tree species. In this way,
the protection effect can be investigated with a clearly
reduced number of time-consuming field experiments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was supported by the Board of the
Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology. We thank the
landowners of the experimental sites for allowing us to
perform the experiments, Joachim Heierli and Dénes
Szabó at SLF for all the fruitful discussions.
REFERENCES
Blackwell, P.G., Rennolls, K. & Coutts, M.P. 1990. A root
anchorage model for shallowly rooted Sitka Spruce.
Forestry 63: 73–91.
Bodig, J. & Jayne, B.A. 1982. Mechanics of Wood and
Wood composites. Scarbourough, Ontario: Von Nostrand
Reinhold Company Inc., 712 pp.
Brauner, M., Weinmeister, W., Agner, P., Vospernik, S. &
Hoesle, B. 2005. Forest management decision support for
evaluating forest protection effects against rockfall. Forest
Ecology and Management 207(1–2): 75–85.
Brüchert, F., Becker, G. & Speck, T. 2000. The mechanics of
Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst]: mechanical prop-
erties of standing trees from different thinning regimes.
Forest Ecology and Management 135(1–3): 45–62.
Dorren, L.K.A. & Berger, F. 2006. Stem breakage of trees and
energy dissipation at rockfall impacts.Tree Physiology 26:
63–71.
Dorren, L.K.A., Berger, F. & Putters, U.S. 2006. Real-size
experiments and 3-D simulation of rockfall on forested
and non-forested slopes. Natural Hazards and Earth
System Sciences 6: 145–153.
Fraser, A.I. & Gardiner, J.B.H. 1967. Rooting and stability in
Sitka Spruce. For. Commission Bull 40: 1–28.
Frehner, M., Wasser, B. & Schwitter, R. 2005. Nachhaltigkeit
und Erfolgskontrolle im Schutzwald. Wegleitung für
Pflegemassnahmen in Wäldern mit Schutzfunktion. Bun-
desamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft (BUWAL),
Bern. 564 pp.
364
Hallquist, J.O. 2003. LS-DYNA keyword user’s manual-
version 970. Livermore SoftwareTechnology Corporation.
Jonsson, M.J. 2007. Energy absorption of trees in a rockfall
protection forest. Ph.D. thesis, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Submitted.
Jonsson, M.J., Foetzki, A., Kalberer, M., Lundström, T.,
Ammann, W. & Stöckli, V. 2006b. Root-soil rotation
stiffness of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) grow-
ing on subalpine forested slopes. Plant and Soil 285:
267–277.
Jonsson, M.J., Foetzki, A., Kalberer, M., Lundström, T.,
Ammann, W. & Stöckli, V. 2006a. Natural frequencies and
damping ratios of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst)
growing on subalpine forested slopes. Trees-Structure and
Function: In Press.
Jonsson, M.J., Volkwein, A., Dazio, A., Eriksson, A. &
Ammann, W.J. 2007a. Numerical simulations of trees
exposed to rockfall. Tree Physiology: Submitted.
Jonsson, M.J., Volkwein, A., Dazio, A., Eriksson, A. &
Ammann, W.J. 2007b. Prediction of energy absorption
capacity of trees exposed to rockfall. Tree Physiology:
Submitted.
Kienholz, H. & Mani, P.J. 1994. Assessment of geomor-
phic hazards and priorities for forest management on the
Rigi North Face, Switzerland. Mountain Research and
Development 14(4): 321–328.
Kollman, F.P.P. & Côté, W.A. 1968. Principles of wood sci-
ence and technology: I, Solid wood. Springer-Verlag.
502 pp.
Lundström, T., Simon, H. & Jonsson, M.J. 2006. Assess-
ing reaction and energy absorption of trees exposed to
rockfall. Plant and Soil: Submitted.
Stoffel, M., Schneuwly, D., Bollschweiler, M., Lievre, I.,
Delaloye, R., Myint, M. & Monbaron, M. 2005. Analyz-
ing rockfall activity (1600–2002) in a protection forest – A
case study using dendrogeomorphology. Geomorphology
68: 224–241.
Stokes, A., Salin, F., Kokutse, D.A., Berthier, S., Jeannin, H.,
Mochan, S., Dorren, L.K.A., Kokutse, N., Abd.Ghani, M.
& Fourcaud, T. 2005. Mechanical resistance of different
tree species to rockfall in the French Alps. Plant and Soil
278: 107–117.
Studer, A.J. & Koller, M.G. 1997. Bodendynamik: Grundla-
gen, Kennziffern, Probleme. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-
Verlag, 262 pp.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Validation of a synthetic rock mass model using excavation induced

microseismicity

J.M. Reyes-Montes & W.S. Pettitt

Applied Seismology Consultants, Shrewsbury, UK

R.P. Young
Lassonde Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: Microseismicity has been extensively used to monitor rock mass response to stress changes;
in particular excavation induced damage at underground mines and engineered structures. A methodology has
been developed to extract information on fracturing mode and orientation from existing microseismic catalogues.
The method is based on the statistical analysis of event locations to determine the dominant structure defined
within the seismic cloud. The interpretation is completed with the analysis of the temporal evolution of the
energy content and growth patterns of the yielded volumes. The results from this analysis form the basis for
the validation of the Synthetic Rock Mass Model for jointed rock presented in a companion paper by Pierce
et al. Particle bond breaks in PFC3D are clustered into synthetic microseismic events following size and spacing
criteria in order to simulate the activity recorded by a typical seismic array. The method to characterise the
seismicity recorded in-situ is also applied to the clustered PFC3D bond breaks. The validity of the approach will
be demonstrated by the good correlation found between the fracturing orientation and modes predicted by the
model and those observed from in-situ recorded microseismicity. This combined approach can provide a robust
method for understanding the factors controlling the behaviour and damage development within a jointed rock
mass subject to different stress paths.

1 INTRODUCTION in previous studies to reproduce in-situ seismicity

Block cave mining is an effective method for the
exploitation of large underground orebodies with rela-
tively low grade.At present, this method is extending to
deeper bodies, for which it is impossible to obtain rep-
resentative samples for laboratory testing in order to
understand the critical factors controlling the fractur-
ing process. The development and testing of Synthetic
Rock Mass (SRM) samples in PFC3D provides a
unique method to simulate the stress conditions under-
gone by the rock mass under the conditions typical of
deep block caved orebodies.
Microseismicity (MS) induced during the different
mining processes has been used to quantify the induced
damage and localize the damaged zone. This study
presents the results from the application of a series of
statistical tools to extract further information from the
MS catalogue and infer the orientation and fracture
mode of the major fractures involved in the process.
These observations are the primary source of valida-
tion of the SRM. The combined application of numer-
ical models and seismic analysis has been employed
measured in brittle rock (Hazzard & Young 2004) and
has been applied to the analysis of damage around
underground excavations (e.g. Young et al. 2004).
2 DATA
The MS events used in this study were recorded dur-
ing the undercut and caving periods of the E26 ore
body at Northparkes Mine (Fig. 1). The undercut level
locates at a depth of 830 m and covers a footprint of
approximately 200 m in diameter.
For the analysis, the monitored volume is divided
into five geomechanical domains, defined according
to the different lithologies, seismic response and loca-
tion relative to the advancing mining works (Table 1).
SRM samples were created for each of the geome-
chanical domains. The samples are generated by
combining the Bonded Particle Model of Rock
(Potyondy & Cundall 2004) with a Discrete Frac-
ture Network and Sliding Joint Model to simulate the
pre-existing joints. A full description of the models

365
 Figure 2. Example of a 3D view of the distribution of
PFC3D cracks clustered into seismic events visualized using
InSite seismic processor (Pettitt & Young, 2006). Events are
color scaled to magnitude calculated from the number of
cracks clustered. a) all seismic events, b) events with more
than 4 cracks.
Figure 1. Location of Northparkes Mine. The MS events
used in this study are taken from the undercutting and early
draw stages from 830 m depth level at volume E26.
the PFC samples, considering both the minimum and
maximum values of ball diameter in the separation
Table 1. Location and characteristics of the five sub- criterion respectively. The clustering of cracks using
volumes considered in this study. these values of ball diameter yielded similar trends to
that found using the average ball diameter. Therefore
Elevation average ball diameters were used for the complete set
above of experiments. Due to the static nature of the PFC
undercut MS experiments, no temporal criteria in terms of rupture
Domain (m) Mining stage events propagation are taken into account in the definition of
a PFC seismic event.The temporal correlation between
1 0–106 Early undercutting 7940
bond breaks of the same seismic event is incorpo-
2 0–106 Late undercutting 991
3 0–106 Late undercutting 2549 rated by the constraint of breaking at the same strain
4 106–226 Early draw 7020 increment step.
5 106–226 Early draw 2400 Following this logic, the series of PFC bond breaks
is converted into a catalogue of synthetic microseismic
events consisting of clustered bond breaks (Fig. 2).
The number of bond breaks in each event defines a
is presented by Pierce et al. (2007). Each sample magnitude scale that is used in the analysis to filter out
contains approximately 255,000 particles distributed events that would be below the sensitivity threshold of
along spheres of 12 m diameter. the seismic array.
The main comparison tool between the synthetic
events catalogue and the in-situ seismicity is based on
the internal structure defined within the seismic cloud.
3 METHOD This is done through a statistical approach applying the
three point method (e.g. Reyes-Montes &Young 2006,
In order to correlate SRM sample crack histories with Fehler et al. 1987). This method has been applied to
the microseismic catalogue from the mine, individ- MS induced at underground excavations identifying
ual cracks are grouped into PFC seismic events as dominant structures that matched observations at cuts
individual cracks in PFC would not radiate sufficient performed in the damaged zone after the completion
elastic energy to trigger a typical seismic array. In this of the test tunnel (Reyes-Montes et al. 2005). This
study, a PFC seismic event is defined as the clus- method, applied to located events in both catalogues
ter of neighboring PFC bond breaks spaced by less identifies the existence of a dominant structure within
than two PFC ball diameters and occurring within the the cloud of events.
same computation step. In the numerical experiment, A second validation tool is provided by the anal-
PFC ball diameters follow a uniform distribution with ysis of the fracturing mechanism. For SRM samples,
extreme values of 0.062 and 0.10 m. The clustering it is possible to directly identify bond breaks corre-
was performed using an average ball diameter for the sponding to slip on pre-existing joints and opening
separation criterion. The sensitivity of the method was of new fractures. A similar analysis of the rela-
tested by repeating the clustering analysis for one of tive abundance of slip versus new opening can be

366
performed on in-situ MS events by calculating the ratio
of the energy contained in the P and S phases of the
seismic wave.
4 RESULTS
To determine the threshold magnitude to be consid-
ered for synthetic events the structure analysis was
performed for one test sample, using events consist-
ing of an increasing number of clustered cracks (2,
4, 8 and 16). It was found that the dominant struc-
tures were outlined by events with larger numbers of
clustered cracks; pole densities exhibited clearer max-
ima as the lower boundary of the number of cracks
was increased. When all events with 4 or less cracks
were filtered out, the number of events reduced dras-
tically. This left a sample population too small to draw
any statistically significant conclusion from the use
of the three point method. Therefore, to optimize the
pole density resolution and the population size only
events with 4 or more cracks are considered in this
analysis.
The analysis of the ratio of energy content of the
P- and S-waves of the MS events suggest that new
fracture creation is the cause of a large proportion of
the recorded events. Therefore for the analysis of the
structure, slip on existing joints has been considered
separately from new cracks in the SRM samples.
SRM samples were created for the five geo-
mechanical domains described previously and subject
to stress changes induced during the processes of
undercutting and caving of the modeled volume.
A series of random populations of events were also
generated to normalize the pole distributions obtained
from the application of the three point method to the
SRM samples and to the microseismic in-situ data. The
different random populations were created to account
for the difference in shape and number of events of the
SRM samples and the sampled populations of in-situ
MS events.
The comparison of fracture orientations and fracture
mode between both data sets shows similar trends for
all the examined domains (Figs. 3 and 4).
For domain 1, located at the point of initial seismic
response to the undercutting, both SRM and in-situ
data show fracturing following a predominantly ver-
tical to sub-vertical orientation with consistent NNW
trends. A consistency is also found in the dominant
fracture mode in this domain. The initial stage of frac-
turing in the SRM sample is dominated by the slip
along preexisting joints with a wide range of ori-
entations. Similarly, relatively high Es/Ep ratios are
observed for early stages of microseismicity in this
volume.
Domain 2 exhibits a very low MS activity com-
pared to the rest of the volumes analyzed in this study.
367
Figure 3. Evolution of the Es/Ep ratio in the five study
sub-volumes. The ratio shown is the median over sequential
intervals of 500 MS events.
This volume locates at the undercut level reached in
late stages of drilling and blasting. The analysis of
the radiated energy shows a weaker shear component,
suggesting reduced initial slip on pre-existing joints.
This agrees with the SRM sample, in which slip is con-
fined to a single set of E–W striking joints, favored
by the rotation of stresses after reaching the end of
the undercut volume. The structure is poorly defined,
with a weak maximum indicating sub-vertical fractur-
ing, similarly to the structure defined by the clustered
bond breaks in the SRM sample.
Domains 3 and 4, located at a higher level above the
initial and middle stages of undercutting, show a domi-
nant horizontal fracturing. As in the previous domains,
this structure is consistent with the results from the
SRM tests. The modes of yield are also consistent,
with a weak early shear component in the recorded
MS events matching the observations for the SRM
test of slip being restricted to a relatively small subset
of sub-horizontal joints. This can be explained by the
stress conditions at late undercutting clamping the set
of vertical joints.
The final study sub-volume, Domain 5, shows a
strong early shear component in the MS events, con-
sistent with the widespread slip on both horizontal and
al structures within the SRM sample at peak strength.
Fracturing in this sub-volume defines sub-horizontal
planes both in the in-situ MS activity and in the
SRM test.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The statistical analysis of the spatial distribution of
MS induced by the undercut and caving of the ore
volume at Northparkes Mine has allowed the visual-
ization of the structure underlying the cloud of events.
This approach, combined with the analysis of the frac-
ture mode based on the energy content of the P- and
Figure 4. Summary of preferential structures observed in the SRM samples and in the MS clusters recorded at each of the
five domains considered in this study. The stereographs show the relative density of poles to the planes fitting the events
clusters, with darker areas indicating high pole density. The corresponding diagrams show the interpreted dominant planar
structure in each case.

S-waves of the MS events, provides crucial infor-
mation for the validation of the observations from
SRM samples tests. Good correlations are obtained
between predicted and in- situ fracture orientations in
all the sub-volumes analyzed in this study. This sug-
gests that this combined approach can provide a robust
method for understanding the factors controlling the
behaviour and damage development within a jointed
rock mass subject to different stress paths. This rep-
resents a significant step forward in the study of the
processes involved in rock fracturing by caving in deep
strong ore bodies, since it is not possible at present to
obtain representative in-situ rock mass samples for lab
testing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded by the SMI Mass Mining
Technology project (University of Queensland). The
authors would like to thank Northparkes Mines and
Rio Tinto Group for providing the data for this study.

368
We also thank our research partners Itasca who carried
out the synthetic rock mass modeling.
REFERENCES
Fehler, M., House, L. & Kaieda, H. 1987. Determining planes
along which earthquakes occur – Method and applica-
tion to earthquakes accompanying hydraulic fracturing.
J. Geophys. Res. – Solid Earth and Planets 92(B9):
9407–9414.
Hazzard, J.F. & Young, R.P. 2004. Numerical investigation of
induced cracking and seismic velocity changes in brittle
rock. Geophys. Res. Lett. 31: L01604.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundall, P.A. 2004. A bonded-particle
model for rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41:
1329–1364.
Pierce, M., Mas Ivars, D., Cundall, P.A. & Potyondy, D.O. (in
press). A synthetic rock mass model for jointed rock.
369
Pettit, W.S. & Young, R.P. 2006. InSite Seismic Processor –
User Operations Manual, version 2.13d. Applied Seismol-
ogy Consultants.
Reyes-Montes, J.M. & Young, R.P. 2006. Interpretation of
fracture geometry from excavation induced microseismic
events. In Van Cotthem (eds.), Multiphysics Coupling and
Long Term Behaviour in Rock Mechanics, Proc. Intern.
Symp., Int. Soc. Rock Mechanics, Liege. Rotterdam:
Balkema.
Young, R.P., Collins, D.S., Hazzard, J., Heath, A., Pettitt, W.S.,
Baker, C., Billaux, D., Cundall, P., Potyondy, D.,
Dedecker, F., Svemar, C. & Lebon, P. 2004. An innova-
tive 3-D numerical modelling procedure for simulating
repository-scale excavations in rock – SAFETI. In Pro-
ceedings of the Euradwaste’04 Conference on Radioac-
tive Waste Management Community Policy and Research
Initiatives, Luxembourg.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Effect of dilation angle on failure process and mechanical behavior

for a rock specimen with initial random material imperfections

X.B. Wang
Department of Mechanics and Engineering Sciences, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: For heterogeneous rock specimen with initial random material imperfections in uniaxial plane
strain compression, the effect of shear dilatancy on the failure process and stress-strain curve is numerically
modeled using FLAC. For intact rock exhibiting linear strain-softening behavior beyond the occurrence of
failure and then ideal plastic behavior, the failure criterion is a composite Mohr-Coulomb criterion with tension
cut-off. Initial imperfection undergoes ideal plastic behavior beyond the occurrence of failure. The number of
yielded elements within the specimen increases with dilation angle. Higher dilation angle causes no significant
change in peak strength, slight changes to the post-peak stress-axial strain behavior, wider and steeper shear
bands and more ductile stress-lateral strain curve in strain-softening stage because of the wider and steeper shear
bands. At much higher dilation angle, the peak stress is slightly lower. It is possible that higher brittleness leads
to earlier occurrence of failure. Strictly speaking, higher dilation angle leads to ductile post-peak stress-axial
strain curve. This means that the contribution of the increase in shear band width exceeds the contribution of
the increase in shear band inclination. The specimen with higher dilation angle has more apparent precursor to
failure. The well-developed shear band inclination angle is closer to Arthur theory and is lower than Coulomb
theory. Usually, Roscoe theory underestimates the well-developed shear band inclination angle unless dilation
angle is much higher. At the same axial strain, higher dilation angle results in higher shear strain increment and
higher volumetric strain increment in shear bands.

1 INTRODUCTION flow as their yield limits are reached (Cundall 1989).

Geomaterials such as rock and soil are heterogeneous
materials. In compression, with an increase of axial
strain, microcracking may occur in the vicinity of
material imperfections, such as voids, pores and
cracks. Further loading will result in the progressive
coalescence of microcracks to eventually form the
macroscopic fractures (Scholz 1968). As we know,
using fracture mechanics theory, the coalescence and
propagation of cracks are difficult to describe since
the dynamic microcracking events cause complicated
boundary condition changes (Fang & Harrison 2002).
Recently, the failure process and mechanical behav-
ior are numerically studied considering the hetero-
geneity of geomaterials (Tang & Kou 1998, Fang &
Harrison 2002). Usually, the Weibull distribution func-
tion is used to describe the random variation of
material strength for the elements. In these numerical
simulations, the elastic-brittle constitutive relation is
widely used. The relatively complex post-peak strain-
softening constitutive relation is not considered.
FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua) is
an explicit finite-difference code that can effectively
model the behavior of geomaterials undergoing plastic
One outstanding feature of FLAC is that it contains a
powerful built-in programming language, FISH, which
enables the user to define new variables, functions
and constitutive models. The developed FISH func-
tions by the user to suit the specific need extend FLAC
usefulness or add user-defined features.
Recently, Wang wrote some FISH functions to cal-
culate the overall deformational characteristics (such
as average lateral strain, volumetric strain and the cal-
culated Poisson’s ratio through axial and lateral strains)
of rock specimen in plane strain compression. Using
the FISH functions, the effects of dilation angle
(Wang 2005d), softening modulus or post-peak brit-
tleness (Wang 2006b), pore pressure (Wang 2005b,
2006a), initial cohesion and initial internal friction
angle (Wang 2005c) on the failure process, final failure
mode, precursor to failure and overall deformational
characteristics were investigated for a rock specimen
with a material imperfection at the left edge of the spec-
imen. For a jointed rock specimen, the effect of joint
inclination on the failure process, anisotropic strength,
final failure mode, precursor to failure and overall
deformational characteristics (Wang 2005e, 2006c)
was investigated using the FISH function mentioned

371
 v 0.3
Intact rock

Cohesion/MPa
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05 Imperfection
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Plastic strain/10-4
(a)
46

Internal friction
angle /Degree
44 Intact rock
42
40
38
Figure 1. Model geometry and boundary conditions. Imperfection
36
0 1 2 3 4 5
Plastic strain/10-4
above and a FISH function written to automatically (b)
find the addresses of elements in the joint.
In the paper, for a heterogeneous rock specimen Figure 2. Post-peak constitutive relations for intact rock and
with initial random material imperfections in uniaxial imperfections.
plane strain compression, the effect of dilation angle
on the failure process, final failure mode, stress-axial tension cut-off and tensile strength of 2 MPa. Beyond
strain curve, stress-lateral strain curve and precur- the yield strength, a linear strain-softening relation is
sor to failure was modeled using FLAC. Intact rock selected and the variation of cohesion and internal fric-
is assigned to obey linear strain-softening behavior tion angle with plastic strain is shown in Figure 2.
once failure occurs and then ideal plastic behavior.
A FISH function is generated to prescribe the initial
imperfections within the specimen using Matlab.

3 FISH FUNCTIONS PRESCRIBING THE

2 SCHEME AND CONSTITUTIVE RELATION MATERIAL IMPERFECTIONS

The height and width of rock specimen with smooth
ends are 0.1 m and 0.05 m, respectively (Fig. 1). The
specimen is deformed in small strain mode and
plane strain condition with a constant velocity of
v = 5 × 10−10 m/time-step at the top. The specimen is
divided into 3200 square elements with the same area.
Four schemes are adopted in the present paper. For
schemes 1, 2, 3 and 4, the dilation angles ψ are 5◦ , 15◦ ,
25◦ and 35◦ , respectively. Schemes 1 to 4 have the same
distribution of initial random material imperfections,
as seen in Figure 1. Black elements are the material
imperfections, while white elements are intact rock.
In linear elastic stage, the intact rock and the imper-
fections modeled by square elements have the same
constitutive parameters. Shear modulus and bulk mod-
ulus are 11 GPa and 15 GPa, respectively.
Beyond the failure of the initial imperfection, the
element or imperfection undergoes ideal plastic behav-
ior. Cohesion and internal friction angle for the
imperfection are 0.1 MPa and 38◦ , respectively.
The elements except for the imperfections are the
intact rock. Once these elements yield, they undergo
linear strain-softening behavior and then ideal plastic
behavior. The adopted failure criterion for the intact
rock is a composite Mohr-Coulomb criterion with a
Three steps are implemented in order to randomly
prescribe the initial material imperfections within the
specimen.
1. Choose random numbers from 1 to 3200 for 300
times using Matlab. The random numbers are
chosen according to uniform distribution.
2. Remember the identification numbers equal to the
chosen random numbers. In FLAC, every zone
or element has an identification number. In the
paper, the minimum and maximum identification
numbers are 1 and 3200, respectively.
3. Give material properties of the ideal plastic con-
stitutive relation to the elements remembered (the
imperfections) and provide material properties of
the linear strain-softening and ideal plastic con-
stitutive relations to the other elements (the intact
rock).
It is noted that we choose random numbers for 300
times in schemes 1 to 4. Therefore, the number of the
imperfections can be less than 300 since a random
number can be chosen more than one time. Using Mat-
lab, a FISH function is generated to prescribe the initial
random material imperfections within the specimen.

372
 t=5000 t=6000 t=7000 t=8000 t=5000 t=6000 t=7000 t=8000

(a) (b) (c) (d)

(a) (b) (c) (d)
t=9000 t=10000 t=11000 t=12000
t=9000 t=10000 t=11000 t=12000

(e) (f) (g) (h)

(e) (f) (g) (h)
1.2 e
1.2 e
1.0 d
c f f
Stress/MPa

1.0 d
0.8 c
b
Stress/MPa

a h 0.8 b
0.6
g a
0.6 h
0.4 g
0.2 0.4

0 0.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
0
Axial strain/10-5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
(i) Axial strain/10-5
(i)
Figure 3. The failure process (a-h) and macroscopic
stress-axial strain curve (i) for scheme 1. Figure 4. The failure process (a-h) and macroscopic
stress-axial strain curve (i) for scheme 2.

4 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS where L is the length of the specimen; and εa is positive
for axial contraction.
Figures 3–6(a–h) show the failure processes for According to the time-steps (t), the height (L)
schemes 1 to 4, respectively. Black elements mean of the specimen and the velocity (v), we can cal-
that these elements have yielded, while white elements culate the axial strain (εa ) of each picture in Fig-
always remain elastic state. ures 3–6. For example, in Fig. 3(a), εa = v0 t/L = 5 ×
In Figures 3–6, the time-steps t are: (a) 5000; 10−10 × 5 × 103 /10−1 = 2.5 × 10−5 .
(b) 6000; (c) 7000; (d) 8000; (e) 9000; (f) 10000; The average lateral strain εl is defined as (Wang
(g) 11000; (h) 12000. 2005c, 2006a, b, c)
Figures 3–6(i) show the stress-axial strain curves
for schemes 1 to 4, respectively. The point “a” in Fig-
ure 3(i) corresponds to Figure 3(a); the point “b” in
Figure 3(i) corresponds to Figure 3(b), and so on.
The stress-axial strain curves and the stress-lateral
strain curves for schemes 1 to 4 are shown in where B is the width of the specimen; and n is the num-
Figure 7(a-b). The axial strainεa is defined as (Wang ber of nodes at one lateral edge of the plane specimen.
2005c, 2006a, b, c) Parameters ui and vi are magnitudes of horizontal dis-
placements at the same height at left and right edges
of the specimen, respectively. The difference ui − vi
is the magnitude of relative horizontal displacement.

373
 t=5000 t=6000 t=7000 t=8000 t=5000 t=6000 t=7000 t=8000

(a) (b) (c) (d) (a) (b) (c) (d)

t=9000 t=10000 t=11000 t=12000 t=9000 t=10000 t=11000 t=12000

(e) (f) (g) (h) (e) (f) (g) (h)

1.2 e
1.2 e f
f 1.0 d
1.0 d c
c 0.8 b g
Stress/MPa

0.8 b a
Stress/MPa

g 0.6
a h
0.6
h 0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Axial strain/10-5
Axial strain/10-5 (i)
(i)
Figure 6. The failure process (a-h) and macroscopic
Figure 5. The failure process (a-h) and macroscopic stress-axial strain curve (i) for scheme 4.
stress-axial strain curve (i) for scheme 3.

in horizontal direction denotes the i-th element in

Summing the magnitude of the relative horizontal dis- horizontal direction.
placement leads to the magnitude of total horizontal
displacement.
4.1 Progressive failure process for specimen with
Using the magnitude of the total horizontal dis-
initial random material imperfections
placement and n, we can get the magnitude of average
horizontal displacement. The average lateral strain εl The failure of a specimen with initial random material
can be obtained if the magnitude of the average hor- imperfections is outlined as follows.
izontal displacement is divided by the width of the
1. Firstly, a few imperfections fail and finitely extend
specimen. εl is negative for lateral expansion.
in the vertical direction.
When strain-softening behavior just starts to occur,
2. Secondly, many imperfections extend axially and
the contour maps of shear strain increment for schemes
compete each other in a disordered manner.
1 to 4 are shown in Figure 8.
3. Then, the yielded elements coalesce to form shorter
At 12000 time-steps, the contour maps of shear
cracks.
strain increment for schemes 1 to 4 are shown in
4. Finally, orderly longer shear cracks (shear bands)
Figure 9 and the contour maps of volumetric strain
are formed in the inclined direction through the
increment for schemes 1 to 4 are shown in Figure 10.
linkage of shorter cracks.
The number (from 1 to 80) in vertical direction
in Figures 8-10 denotes the i-th element in verti- The failure is progressive until the inclined macro-
cal direction; similarly, the number (from 1 to 40) scopic fractures intersecting the specimen are formed.

374
 1.2 Scheme 3 Scheme 1 Scheme 2 Scheme 3 Scheme 4
80 80 80 80

Scheme 4 70 70 70 70
1.0
60 60 60 60

0.8 50 50 50 50
Stress/MPa

40 40 40 40

Scheme 1
0.6 30 30 30 30

Scheme 2 20 20 20 20

0.4 10 10 10 10

10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40

0.2 (a) (b) (c) (d)

0 Figure 9. Shear strain increments for schemes 1 to 4 at

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
12000 time-steps.
Axial strain/10-5
(a) Scheme 1 Scheme 2 Scheme 3 Scheme 4
1.2 80 80 80 80

70 70 70 70

1.0 60 60 60 60

50 50 50 50

0.8
Stress/MPa

40 40 40 40

Scheme 4 30 30 30 30

0.6 Scheme 1 20 20 20 20

Scheme 3 Scheme 2 10 10 10 10

0.4
10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40

(a) (b) (c) (d)

0.2

0 Figure 10. Volumetric strain increments for schemes 1 to 4

-1.6 -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 at 12000 time-steps
Lateral strain/10-4
(b) After the peak of stress-axial strain curve is reached,
the curve exhibits strain-softening behavior. The num-
Figure 7. The stress-axial strain curves (a) and the ber of the yielded elements within the specimen no
stress-lateral strain curves (b) for schemes 1 to 4. longer increases. The number of the failed elements
within the specimen with higher dilation angle is
greater than that within the specimen with lower
dilation angle (‘f-h’ in Figs. 3–6).
Scheme 1 Scheme 2 Scheme 3 Scheme 4
80 80 80 80
Shear bands are steeper for the specimen with
70 70 70 70
higher dilation angle. Moreover, the specimen with
60 60 60 60
higher dilation angle has wider shear bands (‘f-h’ in
50 50 50 50
Figs. 3–6). These numerical results are in agreement
40 40 40 40
with previous numerical results (Hobbs & Ord 1989,
30 30 30 30
Wang et al. 2003, Wang 2005d).
20 20 20 20
In classical elastoplastic theory, a shear band with
10 10 10 10
a certain thickness is simplified as slip line without
10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40
thickness. The extensive experimental observations
(a) (b) (c) (d)
and theoretical analyses (Mühlhaus & Vardoulakis
Figure 8. Shear strain increments for schemes 1 to 4 when
1987, Vardoulakis & Aifantis 1991, Alshibli & Sture
strain-softening behavior just occurs. 1999) do not support this simplification. It is believed
that the thickness of a shear band is influenced by
the average grain diameter or the maximum aggre-
gate diameter. Using gradient-dependent plasticity,
4.2 Effect of dilation angle on failure process
the thickness w of a shear band is 2πl(De Borst &
At 5000 time-steps, the distributions of the yielded Mühlhaus 1992, Pamin & De Borst 1995), where l is
elements within the specimens with different dilation the internal length parameter. However, this formula
angles have no apparent difference (‘a’ in Figs. 3–6). does not consider the effect of shear dilatancy. After
With an increase of axial strain or time-steps (‘b-d’ the effect is taken into account, the thickness w of
in Figs. 3–6), the specimen with higher dilation angle shear band is 2πl(1 + γ̄ p sin ψ) (Wang et al. 2004c),
has greater number of the yielded elements. where γ̄ p is the average plastic shear strain in shear

375
band and ψ is the dilation angle. For post-peak linear
strain-softening geomaterial, γ̄ p is dependent on shear
strength, shear stress and strain-softening modulus
describing the post-peak brittleness.
From the generalized expression for the thickness
of shear band (Wang et al. 2004c), it can be found
that the thickness of shear band increases with dilation
angle, as is in agreement with the present numerical
prediction.
4.3 Effect of dilation angle on macroscopic axial
mechanical behavior
Figure 7(a) shows that the influence of dilation angle
on the pre-peak stress-axial strain curve is negligible.
For schemes 1 to 4, the predicted peak stresses (com-
pressive strength in uniaxial plane strain) are 1.131,
1.137, 1.141 and 1.14 MPa, respectively. For schemes
1 to 4, the time-steps when strain-softening behavior
just occur are 9130, 9340, 9400 and 9390, respec-
tively. Therefore, as dilation angle increases, the peak
stress has a negligible change and the corresponding
axial strain has an increasing tendency. However, at
much higher dilation angle, they slightly decrease. It
is possibly that higher inclination angle results in more
apparent brittleness so that earlier occurrence of the
failure is observed.
The effect of dilation angle on the post-peak slope
of stress-axial strain curve is less apparent. However,
strictly speaking, the post-peak branch of the curve
becomes slightly ductile as dilation angle increases.
An analytical solution of the post-peak slope of
stress-axial strain curve for rock specimen in uniax-
ial compression subjected to single shear failure in
the form of a shear band bisecting the specimen was
derived (Wang et al. 2004b, Wang 2005a, 2006d).
The post-peak slope of the curve is influenced by
the constitutive parameters of rock (elastic modulus,
post-peak softening modulus, shear band thickness
dependent on characteristic length of rock), the height
of rock specimen and the orientation of shear band.
The analytical solution shows that a wider shear
band causes the stress-axial strain curve to be more
ductile in strain-softening stage, while steeper shear
band has an opposite effect.
The present numerical results reveal that higher
dilation angle leads to wider and steeper shear bands
and that the post-peak stress-axial strain curve
becomes slightly less steep as dilation angle increases.
It means that the contribution of the increase in shear
band width exceeds the contribution of the increase in
shear band inclination.
4.4 Effect of dilation angle on macroscopically
lateral mechanical behavior
It can be seen from Figure 7(b) that the stress-lateral
strain curve can be divided into three stages. In the
376
first stage, the stress-lateral strain curves at different
dilation angles overlap. In the second stage, the value
of lateral strain increases with an increase of stress
until the peak stress is reached. The stress-lateral strain
curve becomes less steep at higher dilation angle. In
the third stage, the value of lateral strain increases with
a decrease of stress. At the same stress, the specimen
with higher dilation angle can obtain higher lateral
expansion.
An analytical solution of the post-peak slope of
stress-lateral strain curve for rock specimen in uni-
axial compression subjected to single shear failure
in the form of a shear band bisecting the specimen
was derived (Wang et al. 2004a, Wang 2006d). The
slope is partly influenced by the shear band inclina-
tion angle and width. The two factors have an opposite
effect on the post-peak slope of the stress-lateral strain
curve. Higher shear band inclination angle leads to
a steeper post-peak stress-lateral strain curve, while
wider a shear band results in a less steep post-peak
stress-lateral strain curve.
The present numerical results show that a higher
dilation angle results in wider and steeper shear bands,
as mentioned above. Moreover, in the strain-softening
stage, the predicted stress-lateral strain curve is less
steep at a higher dilation angle. This suggests that
the contribution of the increase in shear band width
exceeds the contribution of the increase in shear band
inclination.
4.5 Effect of dilation angle on precursor
to failure
Figure 8 shows that when strain-softening behavior
just occurs, several shorter inclined shear bands can
be observed within each specimen. These shear bands
can be seen as a kind of precursor to failure.
The predicted maximum shear strain increments
corresponding to the initial strain-softening behavior
are increased with dilation angle. Therefore, the pre-
cursor to failure is more apparent for the specimen with
higher dilation angle. The result is consistent with the
previous result (Wang 2005d).
At higher dilation angle, the shorter shear bands are
steeper. Moreover, several shorter and narrower zones
with shear strain concentrations in axial direction can
be observed within the specimen with higher dilation
angle (Fig. 8c-d). The phenomenon can also be seen
from Figure 9(c-d).
4.6 Effect of dilation angle on final
failure mode
For scheme 1, finally, three well-developed shear
bands can be observed within the specimen (Fig. 9a),
while for schemes 2 to 4, there are four well-developed
shear bands (Fig. 9b-d). Shear strain increments at
12000 time-steps also show that the well-developed
Table 1. The predicted inclination angles according to
Coulomb, Roscoe and Arthur’s theories and the present
numerical results.
Dilation Coulomb Roscoe Arthur Numerical
angle inclination inclination inclination result
5◦ 67◦ 47.5◦ 57.25◦ 57.6◦
15◦ 67◦ 52.5◦ 59.75◦ 58.3◦
25◦ 67◦ 57.5◦ 62.25◦ 60.6◦
35◦ 67◦ 62.5◦ 64.75◦ 62.2◦
shear bands becomes steeper and wider as dilation
angle increases.
The inclination angle of the well-developed shear
band closer to the lower-left corner of the speci-
men was measured in each scheme. For schemes 1
to 4, the measured shear band inclination angles are
57.6◦ , 58.3◦ , 60.6◦ and 62.2◦ . Therefore, the inclina-
tion angle of the shear band tends to increase as dilation
angle increases. Coulomb theory (Vardoulakis 1980,
Vermeer 1990) where only internal friction angle is
considered cannot explain this numerical result. Qual-
itatively, Roscoe theory (Vardoulakis 1980, Vermeer
1990) considering only dilation angle and Arthur the-
ory (Vardoulakis 1980, Vermeer 1990) considering
both dilation angle and internal friction angle agree
with the numerical result.
Table 1 shows the predicted results according to
Coulomb theory, Roscoe theory and Arthur theory and
the present numerical result. The adopted mobilized
internal friction angle is the internal friction angle of
intact rock. It can be found that the numerical shear
band inclination does not exceed Coulomb inclination.
The numerical result is closer toArthur theory. Usually,
Roscoe inclination is lower than the numerical result
unless the dilation angle is very large.
Figures 9 and 10 show that the contour map of
shear strain increment is similar to that of the vol-
umetric strain increment. Results showing that the
well-developed shear bands become wider and steeper
as dilation angle increases can also be seen in Fig-
ure 10. For scheme 1, volumetric strains are concen-
trated in the well-developed shear bands and some
regions outside the bands (Fig. 10a). The difference
between volumetric strains in the bands and those out-
side the bands is less apparent. For scheme 4, large
volumetric strains are only concentrated in the well-
developed shear bands (Fig. 10d), while the regions
outside the bands possess relatively lower values of
volumetric strains.
At 12000 time-steps, the predicted shear strain
increments in the developed shear bands are larger
with an increase of dilation angle. The numerical vol-
umetric strain increments also increase with dilation
angle. As a result, at the same axial strain, higher
dilation angle results in higher shear strain increment
377
and higher volumetric strain increment in shear
bands.
An interesting phenomenon can be found from Fig-
ures 9 and 10. It is called “shear band reflection”
(Wang & Pan 2005). The top or base of the specimen
is like a mirror. When the tip of shear band reaches
the top or base of the specimen, its direction of prop-
agation changes greatly. The reflected shear band is
conjugate to the original incident shear band.
Desrues & Viggiani (2004) showed the final stereo-
photogrammetry-based incremental fields of shear
strain intensity for drained plane strain compression
tests on sand carried out in Grenoble and pointed
that when a shear band intersected the top platen
it was ‘reflected’ into another shear band in the
conjugate direction. The observed experimental phe-
nomenon is similar to the present numerical result and
the previously numerical result for plane strain rock
specimen subjected to biaxial compression (Wang &
Pan 2005).
5 CONCLUSIONS
The number of yielded elements within a speci-
men with initially random material imperfections
increases with dilation angle. Higher dilation angle
leads to wider and steeper shear bands.
Higher dilation angle causes no significant change
in peak strength. However, at much higher dilation
angle, the peak stress is slightly lower. It is possible
that higher brittleness leads to earlier occurrence of
failure.
The effect of dilation angle on the post-peak slope
of stress-axial strain curve is less apparent. Strictly
speaking, higher dilation angle leads to more ductile
post-peak stress-axial strain curve. This means that
the contribution of the increase in shear band width
exceeds the contribution of the increase in shear band
inclination.
Higher dilation angle results in more ductile stress-
lateral strain curve in strain-softening stage. This
means that the contribution of the increase in shear
band width also exceeds the contribution of the
increase in shear band inclination.
A specimen with a higher dilation angle has more
apparent precursor to failure. At higher dilation angle,
when strain-softening behavior just occurs, some
shorter inclined shear bands can be observed. More-
over, several shorter zones with a certain shear strain
concentrations in axial direction can be observed
within the specimen.
The numerical well-developed shear band incli-
nation angle is close to Arthur theory and is lower
than Coulomb theory. Usually, Roscoe inclination is
lower than the numerical well-developed shear band
inclination angle unless dilation angle is very large.
 For specimen with non-zero dilation angle, the con-
tour map of shear strain increment is similar to that of
volumetric strain increment. At the same axial strain,
higher dilation angle results in higher shear strain
increment and higher volumetric strain increment in
shear band.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study is funded by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (50309004).
REFERENCES
Alshibli, K.A. & Sture, S. 1999. Sand shear band thickness
measurements by digital imaging techniques. Journal of
Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE 13(2): 103–109.
Cundall, P.A. 1989. Numerical experiments on localization
in frictional material. Ingenigeur-Archiv 59(2): 148–159.
De Borst, R. & Mühlhaus, H.B. 1992. Gradient-dependent
plasticity: formulation and algorithmic aspects. Interna-
tional Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering
35(3): 521–539.
Desrues, J. & Viggiani, G. 2004. Strain localization in
sand: An overview of the experimental results obtained
in Grenoble using stereophotogrammetry. International
Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geome-
chanics 28(4): 279–321
Fang, Z. & Harrison, J.P. 2002. Development of a local
degradation approach to the modeling of brittle fracture
in heterogeneous rocks. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 9(4): 443–457.
Hobbs, B.E. & Ord, A. 1989. Numerical simulation of
shear band formation in a frictional-dilational material.
Ingenigeur-Archiv 59(2): 209–220.
Mühlhaus, H.B. & Vardoulakis, I. 1987. The thickness of
shear bands in granular materials. Géotechnique 37(3):
271–283.
Pamin, J. & De Borst, R. 1995. A gradient plasticity approach
to finite element predictions of soil instability. Archives of
Mechanics 47(2): 353–377.
Scholz, C.H. 1968. Microfracturing and the inelastic defor-
mation of rock in compression. Journal of Geophysical
Research 73(4): 1417–1432.
Tang, C.A. & Kou, S.Q. 1998. Crack propagation and coales-
cence in brittle materials under compression. Engineering
Fracture Mechanics 61(3–4): 311–324.
Vardoulakis, I. 1980. Shear band inclination and shear mod-
ulus of sand in biaxial tests. International Journal for
Numerical andAnalytical Methods in Geomechanics 4(2):
103–119.
Vardoulakis, I. & Aifantis, E. 1991. A gradient flow theory of
plasticity for granular materials. Acta Mechanica 87(3–4):
197–217.
Vermeer, P.A. 1990. The orientation of shear bands in biaxial
tests. Géotechnique 40(2): 223–236.
378
Wang, X.B., Pan, Y.S., Sheng, Q. & Ding, X.L. 2003. Numer-
ical simulation of localized deformation field for rock in
plane strain state. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 22(4): 521–524. (in Chinese)
Wang, X. B., Liu, J., Wang, L. & Pan, Y.S. 2004a. Analysis of
lateral deformation of rock specimen based on gradient-
dependent plasticity (II): Size effect and snap-back. Rock
and Soil Mechanics 25(7): 1127–1130. (in Chinese)
Wang, X.B., Ma, J., Liu, J. & Pan, Y.S. 2004b. Analy-
sis of lateral deformation of rock specimen based on
gradient-dependent plasticity (I)-basic theory and effect
of constitutive parameters on lateral deformation. Rock &
Soil Mechanics 25(6): 904–908. (in Chinese)
Wang, X.B., Tang, J.P., Zhang, Z.H. & Pan, Y.S. 2004c. Anal-
ysis of size effect, shear deformation and dilation in direct
shear test based on gradient-dependent plasticity. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 23(7):
1095–1099.
Wang, X.B. 2005a. Analytical solution of complete
stress-strain curve in uniaxial compression based on
gradient-dependent plasticity. In Koneèný (ed.), Eurock
2005-Impact of Human Activity on the Geological Envi-
ronment. Leiden: Balkema, pp. 661–667.
Wang, X.B. 2005b. Effect of pore pressure on entire defor-
mational characteristics of rock specimen. Journal of
Shenyang Jianzhu University (Natural Science) 21(6):
625–629. (in Chinese)
Wang, X.B. 2005c. Effects of initial cohesions and fric-
tion angles on entire deformational characteristics of
rock specimen. Journal of Shenyang Jianzhu University
(Natural Science) 21(5): 472–477. (in Chinese)
Wang, X.B. 2005d. Effects of shear dilatancy on entire defor-
mational characteristics of rock specimen. Journal of
Sichuan University (Engineering Science Edition) 37(5):
25–30. (in Chinese)
Wang, X.B. 2005e. Joint inclination effect on strength, stress-
strain curve and strain localization of rock in plane strain
compression. Material Science Forum 495–497: 69–74.
Wang, X.B. & Pan, Y.S. 2005. Effect of confining pressure
on deformation and failure of rock at higher strain rate.
Journal of Coal Science and Engineering 11(2): 32–36.
Wang, X.B. 2006a. Effect of pore pressure on failure mode,
axial, lateral and volumetric deformations of rock spec-
imen in plane strain compression. In Van Cotthem et al.
(eds.), Multiphysics Coupling and Long Term Behaviour
in Rock Mechanics (Proceedings of ISRM Eurock 2006),
London: Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 105–111.
Wang, X.B. 2006b. Effect of softening modulus on entire
deformational characteristics of rock specimen. Chinese
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 28(5): 600–605. (in
Chinese)
Wang, X.B. 2006c. Entire deformational characteristics and
strain localization of jointed rock specimen in plane
strain compression. Journal of Central South University
of Technology 13(3): 300–306.
Wang, X.B. 2006d. Shear deformation, failure and insta-
bility of rock specimen in uniaxial compression based
on gradient-dependent plasticity. In Luna et al. (eds.),
Proceedings of Sessions of GeoShanghai, Geotechnical
Special Publication 150: 213–219.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Boundary conditions effects on the formation of kink bands in

fractured rock masses

J.-F. Noël & G. Archambault

Centre d’études sur les ressources minérales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, Québec, Canada

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the conditions favourable to the development of a kink zone instability
in jointed rock masses in relation with: 1) the rate of deformation and 2) the boundary conditions. Numerical
simulations using the distinct element code UDEC have shown that the rate of deformation influences the peak
strength, volume variation and post-peak behaviour of kink bands. The model’s peak strength is influenced by
the rate of deformation. An increase of the deformation rate leads to an increase up to five times the peak
strength. Slow rates show a consistent strength-deformation-dilatancy relationship. Boundary conditions have
an important influence on the initiation, orientation and dilatancy within the kink band. Non-coaxial deformation
occurs when the boundaries are frictionless, and it does not lead to kink band development. Finally, the numerical
modelling results also suggest that lateral freedom of movement of the upper platen is essential for the kink
band’s formation.

1 INTRODUCTION joints orientation, jointing frequency, and joints con-

The stability of rock slopes, underground openings
and other works in intensely foliated or jointed rock
masses, may be at risk with an unusual failure mode:
kink zone instability. This type of instability is devel-
oped by buckling of brittle, ductile foliated or layered
rock. Jointed and fractured rock masses also show
the development of kink zone instability as a mode
of failure or deformation. Goodman & Kieffer (2000)
classified this mode of failure as “buckling and kink
band slumping”. This happens under particular condi-
tions of loading path, joint pattern geometry and ori-
entation relative to the stress tensor and joint spacing
relative to their length and stress level. Geomechanical
designs of works in jointed and foliated rock masses
rarely take into account such a mode of failure, and
few studies have considered this problem (Hayashi
1966, Kawamoto 1970, Archambault 1972, Ladanyi &
Archambault 1972, 1980, Rizopoulos & Boehler
1992). Very few experimental and theoretical studies
were dedicated to progressive failure in shear zone and
by kink instability. Recently, numerical modeling has
been proven to be suitable for simulating the forma-
tion of kink bands (Nichols 2002, Preh & Poisel 2004,
Noël & Archambault 2006).
Noël & Archambault (2006) showed that the devel-
opment of kink bands can be simulated with numer-
ical models using the 2D distinct element code
UDEC. Important parameters were tested in Noel &
Archambault (2006): confining pressure, primary
tact friction. These parameters concern internal fea-
tures of the rock mass, but no simulations dealt with
external features like boundary conditions and the rate
of deformation.
This paper considers the optimum conditions for the
development of kink zone instability in jointed rock
masses and their stress – strain – dilatancy behaviour.
The characterization of the behaviour of these struc-
tures in relation to: 1) the rate of deformation and 2) the
boundary condition is done using a previously devel-
oped UDEC numerical model (Noël & Archambault
2006).
2 BASIC CONCEPTS ON KINK ZONE
INSTABILITY
Kinking is the result of bucking instability and unstable
yielding on planes of anisotropy. The main mecha-
nisms of this rotational deformation are slip along the
planes and simultaneous rotation of these planes. Few
mechanical models of kinking have been proposed,
although complex theoretical approaches were elab-
orated on the basis of instability theories of folding
combined with limit equilibrium methods (Honea &
Jonhson 1976). Phenomenological models, geomet-
rical properties and deformation characterization are
developed in the literature for strongly foliated bod-
ies (Archambault & Ladanyi 1993). Kink bands are

379
 Table 1. Properties and parameters of the numerical model.

Blocks1 Platens2 Joints

Type Concrete Steel Concrete

Blocks and joints properties

ρ (kg m−3 ) 2700 7800 –
Friction (◦ ) 39.0 – 30.0
Cohesion (MPa) 5.92 – 0.0
G (GPa) 4.94 76.9 –
K (GPa) 5.61 166.7 –
Co (MPa) 24.82 – –
To (MPa) 2.76 – –
Kn (GPa m−1 ) – – 5.6∗
Ks (GPa m−1 ) – – 0.5∗
Model dimensions
Height (m) 10
Width (m) 7.5
θ (◦ ) 15
Joint frequency (m−1 ) 2.0
Boundary conditions
σ3 (MPa) 0.5
Vy (% min−1 ) 0.06; 0.3; 0.6; 1.5; 3.0; 6.0
Platens displacement Axial and rotation and/or lateral
freedom

1. Archambault (1972). 2. Bazergui et al. (1993).

∗
Determined in laboratory, not published.

with εf during rotation) on the segment surfaces within

Figure 1. Geometry of ideal kink band in jointed rock
material. (Donath 1968).
characterized by the angular relationships α, β, γ, θ,
and the width (W; Fig. 1).
the kink zone (Ramsay 1967).
The volume variation (V) in the kink band show
two components. The first is the amount of thicken-
ing or thinning of the segments in the kink band and
delaminating produce voids between the lamellae or
dilation (V1 ):

2.1 Strain-angular relationships

Several strain-angular relationships are formulated
on the geometrical basis illustrated in Figure 1. while the second component is caused by width varia-
The amount of shortening or axial deformation (εyy ) tion (W) of the kink band during the segments rotation
attributable to the rotational mechanism of kinking is: between kink band boundaries and is denoted (V2 ):

while the shortening parallel to joint planes (εf ) is

given by: 3 NUMERICAL MODEL

3.1 Modeling procedure

The shear strain (s) by internal rotation in the kink
band is given by:
while other shear strain relationships may be formu-
lated for the strain and strain increments (in relation
The joints and the deformable blocks properties used in
this numerical simulation program are listed in Table 1.
The blocks and joints properties had been defined to
represent the physical model developed by Archam-
bault (1972). The steel platens are assumed to be fully
elastic with no possible failure. This assumption is
valid because the steel’s yielding point is far greater
than the model’s strength.

380
Figure 2. Model’s geometry.

The shear strength of the joints and the strength of

the block material are limited by linear Mohr-Coulomb
envelopes defined by the user. The user is also respon-
sible to determine when and how model failure occurs
by monitoring parameters such as block or grid-point
velocity, stress, and displacement. These parameters
are computed with FISH, the programming language
embedded within UDEC. Figure 3. Strain localization in the kink band. Small rect-
angle indicates the computation zone for volume variation.

3.2 Model geometry and parameters

The model’s geometry used for UDEC simulations of
kink banding in heavily fractured rock masses is repre-
sented in Figure 2. The proposed geometry represents
a biaxial test on a rectangular block model composed
of squared cross-section rods of concrete, piled up in
a staggered joint pattern. This pattern is composed
of a set of continuous joints named “primary joints”
and a set of discontinuous joints (secondary joints).
The basic model dimensions and parameters are listed
in table 1. Because kink banding is a deformation
characterized by strain localization, the computation
of volume variation is done for a zone centered on
the kink (Fig. 3). In this way, boundary effects are
omitted.
3.3 Boundary conditions
The block model is loaded between steel platens offer-
ing various degrees of freedom in their movements:
axial displacement, lateral displacement and/or rota-
tion. Axial displacement of the upper platen is fixed at
a constant rate (Vy). The lower platen is fixed. Con-
fining pressure (σ3 ) is applied laterally and directly on
the block model. A typical loading path is divided in
two steps:
1) Confinement: the upper platen is fixed and confin-
ing pressure is applied laterally. The computations
are done until a near equilibrium state is reached.
2) Loading: a fixed velocity is applied on the upper
platen. The computations are done until a kink band

381
Figure 4. Model’s strength and dilatancy. Top curves:
strength; bottom curves: dilatancy. Deformation rates in Figure 5. Strength and dilatancy of models with higher
% min−1 appear at the end of each curve. deformation rate.

is well defined or until blocks overlaps became

unrealistic.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Rate of deformation

Simulations with different deformation rates were con-
ducted on a model in which the upper platen could
move axially and laterally only. Six different rates of
deformation were tested: 0.06, 0.3, 0.6, 1.5, 3.0 and
6.0% min−1 . The typical deformation rates for the
ASTM physical tests on rock samples are between 0.07
and 0.5% min−1 .
4.1.1 Stress-strain-dilatancy curves
Simulations with small deformation rates (0.06 to
0.6% min−1 ) show similar deformation curves (Fig. 4).
These curves can be described in five steps:
A) Joints closure and elastic mobilization: linear
increase in stress associated with a negative dila-
tancy.
B) Dilatancy mobilization: the stress increment is not
linear anymore and the rate of dilatancy passes from
negative to zero.
C) Peak strength: at the peak, the rate of dilatancy
increases, but is not maximal.
D) Kink band initiation: in this part, unstable rotation
and slip occurs and leads to a drop in stress. The
rate of dilatancy increases rapidly.
E) Kink band development: deformation occurs at
constant stress. This part is associated with posi-
tive dilatancy at maximal rate. Finally another stress
Figure 6. Relation between peak strength and deforma-
tion rate.
diminution occurs associated with a decrease in the
dilatancy rate.
Simulations with higher rates of deformation (1.5
to 6.0% min−1 ) behave differently (Fig. 5). The three
first steps described for the small rates of deforma-
tion are similar, except that the peak strength is not
well defined. Instead of having a clear peak, there’s
a yielding zone. This zone is followed by post-failure
strain hardening. This part is associated with a constant
rate of dilatancy.
4.1.2 Peak strength
Peak strength of the models is influenced by the
rate of deformation. There’s a non linear relation
between the peak strength and the rate of deforma-
tion. The higher the deformation rate, the higher the
peak strength (Fig. 6). For the rates tested, the model

382
Figure 7. Effect of frictionless boundaries. a) Upper bound-
ary only. b) Upper and lower boundaries. Small triangles
represent relative rotation of the blocks.
strength changes from 3.76 MPa to 18.7 MPa, this is a 5
times increase in peak strength for a 120 time increase
in deformation rate.
4.1.3 Volume variation
The model’s deformation leads to volume variation up
to 3% and more. The rate of dilatancy is influenced by
the rate of deformation. The faster the deformation, the
lower is the rate of dilatancy (Fig. 4). Small rates of
deformation (0.06 to 0.6% min-1) show little variation
of the rate of dilatancy, but high rates of deformation
(1.5 to 6.0% min−1 ) show an important decrease in the
rate of dilatancy.
4.2 Boundary conditions
Two main features of the boundary conditions were
tested: the effect of friction and the upper platen’s free-
dom of movement. Simulations were conducted with
a deformation rate of 0.6% min−1 .
4.2.1 Effect of friction
Simulations with one or two frictionless axial bound-
aries have been conducted. Friction along the bound-
aries is essential for the development of kink bands.
Frictionless boundaries lead to a non-coaxial defor-
mation or toppling instead of kink banding (Fig. 7).
The main mechanism of deformation is slipping on
primary joints.
4.2.2 Upper platen’s freedom of movement
Kink bands formation is facilitated by possible dis-
placements of the upper platen. It is shown in Figure 8
that kink bands develop when lateral displacement
of the upper platen is possible. In this case, there’s
not an important variation in the behaviour of the
model with or without rotation of the platen (Fig. 8a,
b). In these cases, only the blocks within the kink
band rotate. Important dilatancy is associated with this
deformation. Voids appear between rotating slabs and
at the kink band hinges. With only axial displacement
383
Figure 8. Blocks rotation related to the upper’s platen free-
dom of movement. a) Axial and lateral displacement only.
b) Axial, lateral displacement and rotation. c) Axial displace-
ment only. d)Axial displacement and rotation. Small triangles
represent relative rotation of the blocks.
as freedom of movement (Fig. 8c) no singular rotation
zone is defined. Also, dilatancy occurs principally at
the upper right and lower left corners of the model,
where it causes an important extrusion of the blocks.
This dilatancy is more of a boundary effect than a real
phenomenon.The rotation of the platen accommodates
part of the deformation (Fig. 8d), while dilatancy and
extrusion of the corners are reduced. There’s no sin-
gle rotation zone and the deformation is more like
buckling than kinking. Model’s strength and dilatancy
variations related to boundary condition are illustrated
in the Figure 9.
Models with lateral displacement freedom (Fig. 9a,
b) show low strength of about 5.7 MPa and high dila-
tancy rates. Behaviour of these two simulations is very
similar. Models without lateral displacement freedom
(Fig. 9c, d) show high strength and negative dilatancy.
When rotation is not possible, the model axial strength
is the highest (20.2 MPa) and the dilatancy is the low-
est. When rotation is possible, the model’s strength is
14.3 MPa.
5 CONCLUSION
The strength and dilatancy of jointed rock masses
deformed by kink banding depend on the rate of
deformation. Small rates of deformation (0.06 to
0.6% min−1 ) lead to smaller strength, but higher

Figure 9. Model’s strength and dilatancy. Top curves:
strength; bottom curves: dilatancy. Possible displacements:
a) Axial, lateral and rotational. b) Axial and lateral. c) Axial
and rotational. d) Axial only.
dilatancy and dilatancy rates. They show more sim-
ilar stress-strain-dilatancy curves with five steps of
deformation:
1) Joint closure and elastic mobilization
2) Dilatancy mobilization
3) Peak strength
4) Kink band initiation
5) Kink band development
High rates of deformation (1.5 to 6.0% min−1 ) lead
to higher strength and lower dilatancy and dilatancy
rates. They show an important variability of the two
last steps of deformation.
Because practical rates of deformation are far
slower than those simulated in this research, it should
be noted that real strength of a rock mass similar to the
model tested may be below calculated strength.
Friction at the boundaries is essential for the for-
mation of kink bands. Frictionless boundaries lead to
non-coaxial deformation or toppling.
The upper platen’s freedom of movement is critical
for the formation of kink bands. Kink bands form only
when the platen is free to move laterally. In this case,
the model’s strength is the lowest.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
National Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada (NSERC) and the “Institut de Recherche
384
Robert Sauvé en Santé et en Sécurité au Travail”
(IRSST) for the scholarships. Also NSERC for the
grants to G. Archambault.
REFERENCES
Archambault, G. & Ladanyi, B. 1993. Failure of jointed rock
masses by kink zone instability: An important and dan-
gerous mode of rupture. In Ribeiro e Sousa & Grossmann
(eds.), EUROCK 93, pp. 761–769.
Archambault, G. 1972. Comportement mécanique des mas-
sifs rocheux. Ph.D. thesis, Montréal: École Polytechnique.
Bazergui, A., Bui-Quoc, T., Biron, A., McIntyre, G. &
Laberge, C. 1993. Résistance des matériaux, 2e ed.
Montréal: École polytechnique de Montréal. pp 595.
Donath, F.A. 1968. Experimental study of kink band devel-
opment in strongly anisotropic rock. In Baer & Norris
(eds.), Conference on Research in Tectonics: Kink Bands
and Brittle Deformation, pp. 255–293
Goodman, R.E. & Kieffer, D.S. 2000. Behavior of rock in
slopes. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering 126: 675–684.
Hayashi, M. 1966. Strength and dilatancy of brittle jointed
mass. The extreme value stochastics and anisotropic fail-
ure mechanism. In Proc. 1st Cong. Int. Soc. Rock Mech.,
Lisbon.
Honea, E. & Jonhson, A.M. 1976. A theory of concen-
tric, kink and sinusoidal folding of monoclinal feluring
of compressible, elastic multilayers. IV. Development of
sinusoidal and kink folds in multilayers confined by rigid
boundaries. Tectonophysics 30: 197–239.
Kawamoto, T. 1970. Macroscopic shear failure of jointed and
layered brittle media. In Proc. 2nd Cong. Int. Soc. Rock
Mech., Belgrade, 2.
Ladanyi, B. & Archambault, G. 1972. Évaluation de la résis-
tance au cisaillement d’un massif rocheux fragmenté.
Compte-rendu du 24e Congrès géologique international,
Montréal, Sec. 13D.
Ladanyi, B. & Archambault, G. 1980. Direct and indirect
determination of shear strength of rock mass. In AIME
Annual Meeting Proc., SME of AIME edition, Las Vegas.
Nichol, S.L, Hungr, O. & Evans, S.G. 2002. Large-scale
brittle and ductile toppling of rock slopes. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 39: 773–788.
Noël, J.-F. & Archambault, G. 2006. A numerical modeling
attempt of failure in jointed rock masses by kink zone
instability. In Proc. 41st U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Golden, CO. (In press).
Preh, A. & Poisel, R. 2004. A UDEC model for “kink band
slumping” type failures of rock slopes. In Konietzky (ed.),
Numerical modeling of discrete materials. London: Taylor
& Francis Group.
Ramsay, J.G. 1967. Folding and fracturing of rocks.
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rizopoulos, G. & Boehler, J.P. 1992. Mechanical behavior of
jointed rock masse: an experimental approach on physical
model. In Homand et al. (eds), Structure et comportement
mécanique des géomatériaux; Colloque René Houpert.
Nancy, France.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

DEM boundary conditions for modeling uniaxial and biaxial tests

D.D. Tannant
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

C. Wang
St Barbara Limited, Perth, Australia

ABSTRACT: Several techniques for creating boundary-loading conditions for discrete element models of
uniaxial and biaxial, tensile or compressive laboratory tests are presented. Planar walls are typically used to
represent the loading platens and servo-controlled walls to apply a confining stress. While servo-controlled
walls may be suitable for modeling confining stress on hard rock, the use of a string of bonded elements better
represents confining pressure boundary conditions when modeling softer materials subject to large strains.
A connected string of discrete elements can also simulate end effects from the loading platens.

1 INTRODUCTION insufficient information about how the boundary con-

The discrete element method (DEM) is used increas-
ingly to simulate and analyze problems involving
geologic materials. This paper focuses on how to
implement features found in two-dimensional versions
of DEM software to model biaxial tests on a vari-
ety of materials. The intension of this paper is not
to provide fundamental insight into the behaviour of
materials under different boundary conditions. Rather,
the purpose is to show how features available in dis-
crete element software can be used to best simulate
appropriate boundary conditions when trying to simu-
late some commonly used tests for measuring material
properties.
Models of 2D biaxial or uniaxial tests are commonly
used for comparison and calibration purposes with
standard triaxial and uniaxial test data from the lab-
oratory (Potyondy et al. 1996, Camborde et al. 2000,
Boutt & McPherson 2002, Fakhimi et al. 2002, Nardin
& Schrefler 2004, Holt et al. 2005). The discrete ele-
ment input parameters are often iteratively selected for
a simple biaxial model and the model results are com-
pared to laboratory test data to determine appropriate
combinations of DEM parameters that capture the
salient macroscopic behaviour of the material in ques-
tion. Therefore, the creation of an appropriate DEM
model, including the sizes and relative positions of the
elements and the model boundary conditions, is an
important step needed before calibration of the DEM
parameters can begin. Most publications dealing with
model calibration, including those cited above, provide
ditions for the DEM calibration models were created.
Failure to construct and use an appropriate loading
boundary for the biaxial DEM model may compromise
the calibration process.
The process of creating a discrete element biax-
ial test model involves discrete element generation,
application of element and contact properties, and
application of boundary conditions. There are issues
related to the choice of element size and packing, how
to apply boundary conditions, and how to best run a
model for comparison with laboratory data. This paper
examines these challenges and presents some practical
suggestions to best simulate the overall behaviour of
a test specimen subject to either compressive or ten-
sile loading. Of particular interest to modellers, this
paper examines techniques that can be used to repre-
sent the platens on the ends of a test specimen and the
confining stresses along the sides of a specimen.
The modeling results presented here were obtained
with PFC2D version 2.0 Itasca (2001) and the term
‘particle’ is used for the circular discrete elements to
be consistent with the DEM formulation in PFC2D.
It is recognized that many other two-dimensional dis-
crete element software packages exist. However, rather
than debate the merits of one software package versus
another, instead we choose to examine techniques to
obtain the best performance from one widely used,
commercially available software package. The model-
ing approaches presented here to simulate the bound-
ary conditions for models of test specimens can be
used with other discrete element modeling packages.

385
2 GENERATION OF A BIAXIAL TEST MODEL
A DEM model uses an assembly of many smaller
particles to create a numerical model. The mechan-
ical properties and deformational behaviour of the
particle assembly as an entity are dominated by the
particle contact properties and the particle geometry.
The controlling parameters include the type of bond
applied at contacts between particles, the properties
assigned to the bonds between particles, the particle
size and stiffness, particle packing, etc. By adjusting
these particle properties, the particle assembly as a
whole can exhibit diverse mechanical properties and
deformational behaviour.
The process of generating a particle assembly to
represent a biaxial test model typically involves the
following steps:
1. particle generation
2. packing the particles
3. isotropic stress installation (stress initialization)
4. bond installation at particle contacts.
The PFC2D user manuals provide details on how to
perform these steps and discuss the difference between
parallel and contact bonds that can be assigned at
contacts between individual particles.
Potyondy & Cundall (2001) described how to model
a hard rock sample subject to a compression test. Using
PFC2D, they created a biaxial compression model that
used elements known as ‘walls’ to both apply confin-
ing pressure and to load the model in the axial direc-
tion. This is a convenient approach to input parameter
calibration for modeling hard rock. However, many
materials, such as soft rock or soil, are much softer and
typically experience large strains during laboratory
testing. When tested, these types of materials deform
with a significant bulge occurring at the sample side
and the use of a single rigid wall to apply confining
pressure to the specimen side may not be suitable.
3 BOUNDARY CONDITION OPTIONS
A discrete element model prepared using the procedure
described above can be used to simulate uniaxial com-
pression, biaxial compression, and uniaxial tension
tests (Tannant & Wang 2004). Just like a laboratory
test, a numerical simulation needs a method to apply
confinement and axial loading. These are the model
boundary conditions and they are selected to ensure
the load is applied to the particle assembly in a simi-
lar manner to that in the laboratory test. The velocity
at which the model is deformed, the time step, and
the damping coefficient must be selected such that
the model executes in a pseudo-static manner and
that dynamic stress waves propagating throughout the
model are essentially eliminated.
386
end wall
free side free side
boundary boundary
end wall
Figure 1. Uniaxial compression model with a wall as a
boundary on each end and free side boundaries (a small
number of particles is used for illustrative purposes).
Particles and walls can be forced to move at a
specified velocity or a specified force/stress can be
applied to either particles or walls. PFC2D does not
use displacement boundary conditions.
There are several ways to apply boundary condi-
tions to a rectangular particle assembly for a biaxial
compression test simulation. Three simple methods for
applying boundary conditions are using:
1. free boundary for the sides of the model
2. walls at the ends and possibly along the sides of the
model
3. connected string of particles along the sides.
The discrete element model must be constructed
with the appropriate type of boundary to match the
laboratory test conditions (unconfined tension, uncon-
fined compression, or biaxial compression) and the
expected degree of strain (especially lateral) that
occurs during the test.
3.1 Free model boundaries
When modeling an unconfined test, the model sides
can be set free by simply removing the side walls used
to create the particle assembly. Immediately after the
side walls are removed, the model should be cycled a
number of times to allow dissipation of any small lat-
eral forces that may have been acting on the walls.
Then the model is ready for either an unconfined
compressive or a tensile test simulation.
3.2 Walls as model boundaries
Walls can be used as boundaries to simulate biaxial
compression tests. For unconfined compressive or ten-
sile tests, the two side walls are deleted, leaving the two
end walls with a friction coefficient for applying axial
load as shown in Figure 1. There are two ways to run
 original end string
end wall of particles
side string
side string
of particles main particle
of particles
assembly
original side wall
Figure 2. Model side boundary represented by a string of
connected particles.
the model. One is to assign equal velocities to each of
the two end walls such that they move towards each
other. The other way is to specify a velocity to one end
wall with the other wall fixed such that the moving wall
moves towards the fixed wall. The better option, from
a computational point of view, is to have both walls
move towards each other at half the velocity compared
to one end wall moving. This is because the unbalanced
forces throughout the model reach equilibrium or drop
below a threshold in fewer calculation cycles.
Four walls are needed to conduct a biaxial com-
pression test. In this case, the two end walls work the
same way as in a uniaxial compression test. The two
side walls are used to apply a constant confinement
to the particle assembly. Throughout the loading pro-
cess, the confining stress is kept constant by adjusting
the side wall velocities using a numerical servo con-
trol mechanism that is implemented by a piece of code
known as a FISH function Itasca (2001). The contact
force between the end particles and end walls gives the
axial stress while the contact force between side wall
and side particles gives the confining stress.
3.3 Strings of particles as model boundaries
Another technique for applying boundary conditions
to a particle assembly is to create a string of bonded
particles along the walls. Bonded strings of particles
can be generated around the perimeter of the main
particle assembly and can contact the walls used for
initial particle generation in the model (Fig. 2). The
particles are generated such that they just contact each
other and lie centered outside and parallel to the model
sides. It is convenient to use a constant particle size for
all particles in the string and to keep the particle size
roughly the same as the minimum size from the main
particle assembly.
A bond is installed between each particle along the
string. The choice of bond type and the strength of the
bond depend on the nature of the confinement applied
to the actual laboratory specimen. For example, it is
possible for the string of particles to replicate the prop-
erties of a latex membrane around a test specimen or
the properties of a steel platen at the end of a specimen.
387
platen
confinement
provided by
end effect
original sample
shape string of particles
deformed
sample shape particle
dilation
main
platen particle
assembly
Figure 3. (a) End effect on sample deformation during
compression testing and (b) mechanical interaction between
particles in the string and the main assembly result in dilation
as the model is deformed.
The use of contact bonds and low particle stiffness is
recommended for representing a flexible membrane as
these avoid introduction of bending resistance to the
string. To simulate a steel platen, high particle stiffness
and strong, stiff parallel bonds are recommended.
Typically, no bonds are installed between particles
in the string (representing a membrane or platen) and
those in the main particle assembly (representing the
test specimen).The string of particles interacts with the
particles in the main body of the model as it deforms
by developing normal and shear forces at particle
contacts. The normal and shear forces that develop
between the boundary string of particles and the main
body of the model depend on the friction coefficients
and particle stiffnesses as well as the deformation that
develops in the model.
The original walls may be deleted after the genera-
tion of the strings of particles. Depending on how the
axial load is applied, two new end walls, above and
below the model, may be created and used to load the
model or the end strings of particles may be given a
specified velocity.
4 SIMULATING END EFFECTS
In a typical laboratory compression test, inward shear
stresses develop at the specimen ends due to friction
between the specimen and the platens and differences
between the elastic properties of specimen and steel
(Brady & Brown 1993). A complex state of stress
forms near the specimen ends (hatched areas of Fig. 3).
This boundary disturbance is called the ‘end effect’and
it influences the stress-strain response of the specimen.
One result of the end effect during a compression test
is non-uniform deformation of the cylindrical sample
and the occurrence of sample bulging.
Highly deformable materials can exhibit signifi-
cant bulging during a compression test. Therefore, it
is important and sometimes desirable to create a DEM
model for such materials that mimics not only the
overall stress-strain response but also the deformed
specimen shape. Two techniques can be used to model
the ends of a specimen during a compression test: (a)
end walls or (b) additional end strings of particles.
Each technique results in a slightly different over-
all model response and different shapes for the final
deformed model.
The choice of using either end strings of particles
or end walls to apply axial load for a compression test
depends on the desired friction force to be developed
between the simulated platen and sample ends. This
is because the friction and hence, shear force devel-
oped between the simulated platen and the assembly
end are controlled by the lower friction coefficient of
elements in contact. In cases where the friction coef-
ficient assigned to particles has a very low value to
match deformation characteristics in the material, it
may be desirable to use end strings of particles to cre-
ate mechanical interlock (imposed dilation) between
the end string and the assembly, and to provide greater
resistance to sample end expansion. This restraint may
better simulate the frictional force that is developed in
a real test between a sample end and a loading platen.
The use of a wall provides confinement only
through generation of shear forces acting along the
wall as the particles deform and move outwards. The
magnitude of this shear force is limited by the friction
coefficient. In contrast, a string of strong, stiff particles
provides confinement through both friction (base fric-
tion) and the mechanical interlock (dilation) between
particles in the string and in the main particle assembly.
When a wall is used as the model boundary, it func-
tions as a perfectly smooth surface and hence has a
zero dilation angle. When a string of particles are used
as the end condition, these particles themselves form
asperities (Fig. 3) and hence induce dilation within
the model along the interface between the end parti-
cles and the rest of the particle assembly. The stronger,
stiffer bonds between the particles on a string inhibit
relative particle movement at these locations. This
forces the contacting particles in the main body of
the model to ride up and over the end particles, thus
causing particle dilation.
The dilation phenomenon restricts particle move-
ments near the ends of the model and hence when
a compression test is modeled, greater lateral parti-
cle movements occur near the middle of the model,
accentuating a bulged shape to the overall model. The
introduction of dilation also tends to increase the over-
all strength of the model. The dilation created by a
string of particles depends on the size of the parti-
cles in the string. Smaller particles tend to cause lower
dilation angles and at the extreme of infinitely small
particles, the string will function like a perfectly flat,
frictional wall.
388
Table 1. Particle string parameters for simulating a steel
platen.
Particle Parallel bond
stiffness stiffness Parallel bond Parallel bond
(N/m) (Pa/m) strength (Pa) radius ratio
4e11 E/D 5e8 1.0
F wall
kn
string o D
kn
kn particles F
pb_kn
particle from
main assembly
Figure 4. Parallel contact and particle stiffness for a con-
nected string of particles.
When a string of particles is used to represent
a platen, the parameters selected for these particles
should be somewhat similar to those of steel. The
end string particles will typically have much higher
modulus, parallel bond stiffness, and parallel bond
strength than the particles representing the specimen.
For example, a steel platen may have a Young’s mod-
ulus E of 200 GPa and yield strength of 500 MPa. To
simulate this platen with PFC2D, the values in Table 1
can be used. The friction coefficient assigned to the
platen particles is up to the modeller although only val-
ues less than the friction coefficient for the specimen
particles will be used in the simulation.
The stiffness values are obtained by examining a
string of particles loaded in two different directions,
one perpendicular to the string and the other along
the string (Fig. 4). For convenience, the parallel bond
shear stiffness is set the same as the parallel bond nor-
mal stiffness. The strength of parallel bonds assigned
to the string of particles should be high enough to
ensure that no bonds rupture along the string during
the simulation of a test.
The stiffness of a string of particles measured per-
pendicular to the string is only composed of particle
stiffness because no bonds exist between the string
and particles from the main assembly (or a wall if
one is present). When a wall and a string are used, as
shown in Figure 4, two ‘springs’ are involved and the
stiffness assigned to the string particles (400 GPa·m)
representing the steel platen must be twice the desired
modulus.
The ‘1’ in the equation refers to a unit out-of-plane
thickness in the 2D model. When only a string of par-
ticles is used and the string is assigned a velocity to
load the model, only one ‘spring’ is involved and the
stiffness assigned to the string particles representing
the steel platen must equal the desired modulus.
When examining the stiffness of the string along the
line of particles, the string stiffness is composed of
particle stiffness and parallel bond stiffness because
the particles are bonded to each other along the string.
These two stiffnesses act in parallel when the string is
under compression while the contact stiffness drops to
zero as soon as tension develops between particles. The
contact stiffness assigned to the particles in the string
is determined from Equation 2. The parallel bond stiff-
ness pb_kn can be determined by examining the string
acting in tension. For a given tensile force F between
two particles of diameter D in a string connected by
a parallel bond, the change in distance between the
particles D is given by:
The resulting strain is:
Therefore, by substituting Equation 3 into 4, the
required parallel bond normal stiffness can be deter-
mined. Equation 5 shows that the parallel bond stiff-
ness needed for the string is a function of the particle
size.
5 SIMULATING CONFINEMENT
When a particle assembly is generated for simula-
tion of a biaxial compression test, a mechanism is
needed to apply a specified lateral or confining stress
on the particles in the model. Two methods can be
used to apply confinement: a servo-controlled wall or
a flexible string of connected particles.
Itasca (2001) and Potyondy & Cundall (2001) dis-
cuss the use of PFC2D to model biaxial compression
tests on hard brittle rock. They used servo-controlled
sidewalls to apply the confining pressure and achieved
satisfactory results by taking advantage of the negligi-
ble bulge of a hard rock sample during a compression
test. This modeling strategy may not be suitable for
modeling highly deformable materials.
389
5.1 Servo-controlled wall to apply confining stress
When a wall is used to provide confining stress to the
model, it takes advantage of a numerical servo-control
function implemented in FISH that serves to keep
the overall stress on the side of the model constant
throughout the test simulation. The servo FISH func-
tion is called once per calculation cycle and determines
the current wall ‘stress’ from which the difference
between the current stress and the requested stress
can be calculated. The stress difference is then used to
adjust the two side wall velocities for the next cycle.
Since the servo-control function effectively aver-
ages forces over the whole wall, there may be local
areas of high and low forces and the confinement
applied by the wall will not be uniform. Furthermore,
the wall is rigid and does not bend. If the model wants
to bulge, the wall prevents this from happening. There-
fore, the use of a wall to provide confining stress to
models that are expected to undergo large non-uniform
lateral deformation is not recommended.
5.2 Using particle string to provide
confining stress
A string of particles can be used along the sides of
the model in a manner similar to the use of a string
of particles at the ends of the model. However, since
confining stress is typically applied to a laboratory
specimen using fluid pressure and a flexible liner, the
nature of the bonds between the particles along the
sides of a model differ markedly from those at the ends.
Whereas the end string of particles typically represents
a steel platen, the side string of particles needs to rep-
resent a thin, deformable membrane. To achieve this,
the use of contact bonds is recommended (as opposed
to stiff parallel bonds for the end strings).
Various methods can be used to allow a string of
particles to represent a flexible liner. One is to set the
friction coefficient to zero between the string particles
while keeping their stiffness and contact strength about
the same as the values for the main particle assem-
bly. Another method is to set the particle normal and
shear stiffness to values that match the elastic elonga-
tion characteristics of the actual liner material. In both
cases, the contact bond strength may be set arbitrarily
high since the liner typically does not break during a
test simulation.
When a zero friction coefficient is used, the parti-
cles in the string are free to slide and rotate relative to
each other. As the biaxial test progresses, shear stresses
do not develop between the liner and the main par-
ticle assembly. If high axial strains are imposed on
the model, the side strings of particles can accommo-
date these by local buckling and folding of the string
particles as shown in Figure 5a.
When particles with relatively low stiffness are
used in the string, the particles will overlap as axial
 600
wall for wall for
loading loading

Deviatoric axial stress (kPa).

500
particles
particles side string side string
of main
of main particles particles
assembly
assembly 400
overlap of
local folding soft string
of string particles 300
zero friction
same friction
Figure 5. Behaviour of side string of particles when simu- 200
lating a membrane for confinement (a) local buckling and
folding of the membrane and (b) overlap of soft string 100
particles.
0
strain is imposed on the model. The particles will also 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10%
locally rotate and translate with respect to each other Axial strain
to accommodate the shape of the main particle assem-
bly. Since there is friction between the particles, the Figure 6. Impact of side string particle friction coefficient
string tends to exhibit less local buckling as seen in on stress-strain behaviour of biaxial compression model.
Figure 5b.
Since the confining stress is created through a force 600
applied at each particle along the string, a string with Devitatoric axial stress (kPa)
equal sized particles uniformly distributed along the 500
sides of the model is easiest to use to create a uniform
confining stress. Therefore, the use of a string of parti- 400

cles with stiffness parameters equivalent to the actual

specimen liner material may be preferred over a string 300

of particles with zero friction coefficient. PFC

For example, a latex membrane is often used during 200 Lab test
triaxial tests on soil. A typical latex liner for a soil spec-
100
imen has a thickness of about 0.26 mm and an elastic
modulus of approximately 0.6 MPa. The required con-
0
tact stiffness for the particles representing the liner can
0% 2% 4% 6% 8%
be calculated from Equation 3. The choice of the fric- Axial strain
tion coefficient to use with the particles in the side
string appears to have little influence on the behaviour Figure 7. Stress-strain behaviour for reconstituted oil sands
of the whole particle assembly. For example, two mod- at 100 kPa confining stress.
els were run, one with side string particles having the
same surface friction as the sample particles, the other the length of the model changes as the simulation pro-
with side string particles having zero surface friction. gresses. The current value for the model length is used
Figure 6 shows that the stress-strain curves for these to determine the force applied to each particle. This
two models were similar under a confining pressure value can be determined from the two new end wall
100 kPa. positions.
A string of identical size particles facilitates the It is often necessary to increase the magnitude of
application of the same force to each particle for the confining and axial stresses applied to a model in
confinement simulation. The FISH function for cal- a series of gradual steps, allowing the model to cycle
culating the force applied to each particle uses the a number of times between steps. This prevents exces-
following equation: sive sudden forces from being applied to the model
that may rupture bonds.

5.3 Example: Biaxial compression test on a model

where Fp is the force applied to each particle in the
string (N), P is the desired confining pressure (N/m2 ),
Ns is the number of particles in the particle string and
L is the length of the model (m).
To maintain a constant confining pressure on the
numerical sample, the forces applied to the particles
along the string are calculated for each cycle because
of oil sands
The light line in Figure 7 presents laboratory stress-
strain behaviour obtained from triaxial compression
tests on high-grade (12% bitumen) reconstituted oil
sands at a confining stress of 100 kPa. A biaxial com-
pression model was constructed and the particle and
contact properties were calibrated using the laboratory

390
Table 2. Particle attributes for oil sands model.

Min. Max.
particle particle Number
radius radius of Bond
Component (mm) (mm) particles type

Main 1.2 2 1342 Parallel

assembly
Side string 1.195 1.195 69 Contact

Table 3. Particle and bond properties for oil sands and

confining side string of particles.
Figure 8. Biaxial compressive model of oil sands at 4% and
Side
8% axial strain.
Parameter Oil sands string

Particle normal stiffness (MPa) 66
Particle stiffness ratio (normal to shear) 0.2
Particle friction coefficient 1 0.5
Parallel bond radius multiplier 0.5
Parallel bond normal modulus (MPa) 0.1
Parallel bond stiffness ratio 2 –
(normal to shear)
Parallel bond normal & shear strength, 0.5
mean (MPa)
Contact bond normal & shear strength, 0.5
mean (MPa)
Contact bond normal & shear strength, 0.1
std. dev. (MPa)
data. The objective was to make the overall model
behave similarly to the laboratory results. A particle
assembly with dimensions of 80 mm by 160 mm was
created using the parameters listed in Tables 2 and 3.
The oil sand model is quite complex since it uses both
parallel and contact bonds between particles. Models
with only one bond type did not seem to provide a
close match to all the laboratory test data that were
available. The model used side strings of particles to
apply the confining stress and end walls to represent
the loading platens.
The deformational behaviour of the model at a con-
fining pressure of 100 kPa is presented in Figure 7 with
a dark line. Figure 7 shows it was possible to produce
almost the same stress-strain behaviour as that exhib-
ited by the laboratory tests. The deformed model at
axial strains of 4% and 8% is presented in Figure 8.
Clearly, the model shows bulging at the sides similar
to that experienced in the laboratory. This deformed
model shape is only possible with the use of side strings
of particles to apply confining stress to the model.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Suggested techniques are presented to improve the dis-
crete element simulation of standard material property
2 laboratory tests by improving the simulation of the
1.0 loading boundary conditions in the models of these
tests. Different techniques can be used to create the
– boundary conditions for discrete element models of
– uniaxial and biaxial tests. Planar walls are typically
used to represent the loading platens and servo-
– controlled walls to apply a confining stress. While
using servo-controlled rigid walls may be suitable for
10 modeling confining stress on stiff brittle materials
such as hard rock, the use of a connected string of
– discrete elements may be a better way to represent con-
fining pressure boundary conditions when modeling
materials that are subject to larger strains. The use of a
wall to apply confining stress prevents the model from
deforming to a bulged shape as the model deforms.
The discrete elements or particles in a string can be
connected with either contact bonds or parallel bonds
in PFC2D. Contact bonds are recommended for simu-
lating confining pressure applied to a specimen across
a thin flexible membrane. In this case, the particle
stiffness could be set close to the stiffness of the mem-
brane material. When a connected string of particles
is used to model the loading platens, parallel bonds
with stiffness close to the stiffness of the platen are
recommended.
When modeling a platen, a wall or a wall plus a
string of bonded particles can be used. The use of a
string of particles connected by strong parallel bonds
introduces a dilation angle at the interface between the
main particle assembly and the string. This mechanical
interlock increases the effective friction angle at this
interface and restricts particle movement in the model
near the loading platens. The use of a string of particles
at the model ends may be useful a higher frictional
resistance is needed at the specimen ends.
When modeling the confining stress, the use of a
string of particles connected by contact bonds cre-
ates a flexible surface upon which to apply the stress.
The sides of the model are allowed to bulge outwards
during a biaxial compression test, a phenomenon that
cannot occur when a servo-controlled rigid wall is

391
used. A simple function can be used to ensure the con- laboratory experiments and discrete particle simulations
fining stress remains constant as the overall height of of the mechanical behaviour of rock. Int. J. Rock Mechan-
the specimen changes. ics & Mining Sciences 42: 985–995.
Itasca 2001. Particle Flow Code in 2 Dimensions, version 2.0.
Itasca Consulting Group Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Nardin A. & Schrefler B.A. 2004. Numerical simulation of
REFERENCES rock behaviour through a discrete model. Int. J. Solids and
Structures 41: 5945–5965.
Boutt D.F. & McPherson B.J.O.L. 2002. Simulation of
Potyondy D. & Cundall P. 2001. The PFC model for rock: pre-
sedimentary rock deformation: lab-scale model calibra-
dicting rock-mass damage at the Underground Research
tion and parameterization. Geophysical Research Letters
Laboratory. Ontario Power Generation, Nuclear Waste
29(4): 1054.
Management Division Report No. 06819-REP-01200-
Brady B.H.G. & Brown E.T. 1993. Rock Mechanics for
10061-R00.
Underground Mining, 2nd edition, Chapman & Hall,
Potyondy D.O., Cundall P.A. & Lee C.A. 1996. Modelling
571 pp.
rock using bonded assemblies of circular particles. In
Camborde F., Mariotti C. & Donzé, F.V. 2000. Numerical
Aubertin et al. (eds.), Rock Mechanics: Tools and Tech-
study of rock and concrete behaviour by discrete element
niques. Balkema, pp. 1937–1944.
modelling. Computers and Geotechnics 27: 225–247.
Tannant D.D. & Wang C. 2004. Thin tunnel liners modelled
Fakhimi A., Carvalho F., Ishida T. & Labuz J.F. 2002. Simu-
with Particle Flow Code. Engineering Computations: Int.
lation of failure around a circular opening in rock. Int. J.
J. for Computer-Aided Engineering 21(2–4): 318–342.
Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 39: 507–515.
Holt R.M., Kjølaas J., Larsen I., Li L., Gotusso Pillitteri
A. & Sønstebo E.F. 2005. Comparison between controlled

392
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Compaction behavior of unbonded granular media: Discrete particle vs.

experimental vs. analytical modeling

R.M. Holt
NTNU Norwegian Univ. of Science & Technology and SINTEF Petroleum Research, Trondheim,
Norway (currently at New Mexico Tech., Socorro, USA for 2006/07 academic year)

L. Li & J.F. Stenebråten

SINTEF Petroleum Research, Trondheim, Norway

ABSTRACT: Static stress vs. strain response and stress dependent P- and S-wave velocities have been measured
in isotropic and uniaxial compaction experiments with uncemented glass beads. Discrete particle modeling
reproduces within experimental uncertainty the experimental behavior during hydrostatic loading and the axial
stress vs. strain as well as axial P-wave velocity in uniaxial compaction. The numerical model underestimates the
lateral stress response in uniaxial compaction, and as a consequence thereof, underestimates S-wave velocities
and P-wave velocity in the symmetry plane. Analytical modeling gives a good representation of the static stress
vs. strain data in isotropic stress conditions, anticipating a coordination number ∼ = 6, but also underestimates
lateral stress response. Wave velocities increase more with stress than expected from pure Hertz-Mindlin contact
theory, as a result of increasing number of load bearing contacts and / or a gradual transition from slip to non-slip
at grain contacts with increasing stress.

1 INTRODUCTION For packed and equally sized spheres, analytical

The use of discrete particle modeling as a practical tool
in rock mechanics analysis is becoming more and more
realistic due to improvements in computer technology
and availability of 3D pore structure characterization.
The work presented here is part of the develop-
ment of a “numerical laboratory” for computation
of constitutive rock mechanical behavior and stress
dependent petrophysical properties. An important part
of this development is a comparison between results
of numerical simulations and controlled laboratory
experiments.
The model forming the basis of our numerical lab-
oratory is PFC (Itasca 2005), in which the building
blocks are spherical particles (disks in 2D) (Cundall &
Strack 1979, Potyondy & Cundall 2004). Quantita-
tive comparison between modeling and experiments
can hence be obtained by performing experiments
with unbonded spherical particles. Since spheres inter-
act through the Hertzian contact law (Johnson 1987),
contact stiffnesses are controlled by the elastic param-
eters of the particle forming material. We present here
results of compaction experiments with glass beads,
and the results of discrete particle simulations using
the same particle size distribution as in the laboratory.
The stress vs. strain behavior was measured, along with
stress dependent elastic wave velocities.
models for computation of elastic moduli exist (Walton
1987). This study also serves as an opportunity to
compare experimental and discrete particle modeling
results with analytical theory.
The static and dynamic behavior of uncemented
granular media is clearly relevant for many onshore
and offshore soil mechanics applications, including
compaction and stability of unconsolidated sands in
petroleum reservoirs. Discrete element modeling of
real soils requires handling of realistic particle shapes,
which can be done by grouping spheres into super-
particles. Clearly, simulation of real rock behavior
requires bonding between the particles (Potyondy &
Cundall 2004), and calibration procedures to establish
the micromechanical parameters associated with the
bonds (Holt et al. 2005). We will leave these issues
out of this paper, and instead focus on the idealized
system of unbonded spheres.
2 EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY SET-UP
2.1 Glass beads
Several experiments have been performed with glass
beads of various size distributions. In this paper, we
will focus on experiments with beads having grain

393

Figure 1. SEM image of glass bead treated with Hydrogen
Fluoride acid.
diameters ranging between 112 and 125 µm. The man-
ufacturer lists the following properties of the glass
material:
The glass beads were treated chemically with
Hydrogen Fluoride acid, making the particle surfaces
smooth, but somewhat cratered (Fig. 1). The glass
beads were room dried before testing.
2.2 Experimental test procedures
Tests were performed in an oedometer cell as well
as in a standard triaxial apparatus in the Formation
Physics Laboratory at SINTEF Petroleum Research.
The samples used in the oedometer cell were 20 mm
thick and 50 mm in diameter. A dead weight system
was used for axial loading in order to reduce wall
friction effects. Pistons were made from Plexiglas, in
order to improve acoustic coupling to the soft sam-
ple enabling measurements of slow axial ultrasonic
P- and S-wave velocities. In the triaxial cell, samples
were 77 mm long and 37 mm in diameter. Ultrasonic
P- and S-wave velocities were measured along the axis
as well as in the diametrical plane of the specimen. In
both experimental set-ups, the frequency range was
300–500 kHz.
Figure 2 shows the axial stress and confining pres-
sure throughout one of the tests with glass bead
samples in the triaxial set-up. Two hydrostatic load –
unload cycles were imposed up to 15 MPa stress,
394
25
Uniaxial Compaction
20 (K0 Loading)
Hydrostatic Loading & Unloading
Stress [MPa]
Cycles
15
Axial Stress
10
Confining Pressure
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Time [s]
Figure 2. Stresses applied to one of the glass bead samples
in the triaxial apparatus.
before the sample was loaded in oedometric (K0 or uni-
axial compaction) conditions to 25 MPa axial stress. In
the triaxial cell the confining stress required to keep
zero lateral strain was measured during the K0 load
segment. In the particular test shown here, which will
be focused in the presentation of experimental results
(Section 4), stresses were reduced to 1 MPa in the
unloading segments.
In the oedometer, where the sample was under uni-
axial strain (K0 ) conditions all the time, two load –
unload cycles up to 15 MPa axial stress were applied.
No measurement of confining pressure could be made
in this set-up.
In all experiments, procedures were applied to
obtain a truly dense packing. A main problem, both
in the oedometer and in the triaxial apparatus, is to
control that this has been actually achieved by an
accurate measurement of sample volume and sam-
ple porosity. Differences in wave velocities and static
compressibility between different samples may thus be
related to different initial packing. Furthermore, diffi-
culties in picking (in particular S-wave) arrival times
create uncertainty. Indications of velocity dispersion
was noticed in initial experiments and attributed to
humidity in the sample. Therefore, the test in the tri-
axial apparatus presented here was performed under
vacuum.
3 NUMERICAL LABORATORY SET-UP
3.1 Numerical samples
Five different discrete particle models were created to
represent the glass bead samples used in the exper-
iments described above. In Model I, the specimen
was cylindrical and comprised of 44,812 particles
with a uniform size distribution between 104 and
150 µm. The particles were deposited in a cylindrical
cell under gravity and 0.5 MPa stress in the vertical
direction. Notice that the numerical sample volume

Figure 3. Implementation of wave propagation in discrete
particle model.
was only∼ 1/500 of the volume of the laboratory spec-
imen. In Model II, the sample size was increased to
137,833 particles with size distribution between 112
and 125 µm. The sample was 10 mm long and 5 mm in
diameter. Model III was essentially the same as Model
II, except that more time was permitted for the sample
to settle through initial cycling, resulting in a better
compacted sample. Model IV consisted of a cubic
4 × 4 × 4 mm sample with 44,073 spheres and Model
V of a cubic 2 × 2 × 2 mm sample with 5,509 spheres.
Model IV was used to simulate anisotropic wave prop-
agation and Model V was used to address the effect of
intergranular friction on the stress evolution during
compaction.
All these models consisted of spherical particles
interacting through Hertzian contacts, so contact stiff-
nesses are controlled by the elastic parameters of the
glass beads (as specified under Section 2.1 above). In
addition, required input parameters are particle size
distribution and the interparticle friction coefficient.
This parameter was not known a priori, but it was not
thought to have significant impact on wave propaga-
tion. It was arbitrarily set equal to 0.9, except in Model
V where it was set equal to 0.5.
3.2 Numerical test procedures
Discrete particle model simulations of P- and S-wave
propagation in unbonded granular assemblies have
been performed with PFC 3D . A pulse transmission
technique, similar to the procedure applied in the
experimental laboratory, was developed by Li (2002).
In this approach, arrays of particles inside the sample
act as transmitting and receiving transducers (Fig. 3).
At time t = 0, the transmitting array particles are
excited with a pulse (sinusoidal, Ricker wavelet, or
other), by either displacing them in the direction of
wave propagation (perpendicular to the array; result-
ing in a P-wave), or by displacing them in a transverse
direction (resulting in an S-wave). The propagating
pulses are picked-up at the receivers. The velocities
are calculated from the distance between the source
and a receiver and the corresponding travel time or
395
from the distance and travel time difference between
two receivers.
The frequency band was similar to that used in
the laboratory (300–700 kHz). The wavelength var-
ied between 0.5 mm and 5 mm. This is always much
larger than the particle diameter. The near field limit
is normally 0.5 mm or smaller. Hence, even in small
samples, our measurements should not be significantly
influenced by the near field. In Model I, a transmis-
sion path of one wavelength was used, which means
that the measurement frequency was scaled according
to the velocity and therefore varied throughout a simu-
lated loading experiment. Some numerical dispersion
may be present, because of the damping imposed on
the particles by PFC in order to reach static equilib-
rium. In Models II and III, the frequency was kept
constant at 500 kHz.
Hydrostatic as well as uniaxial compaction was
performed with the numerical specimens, permitting
comparison with the results from the experiments
described under Section 2.2 above.
The numerical model is also associated with uncer-
tainties. The initial packing may be controlled, and
the porosity measured, but to reach full equilibrium is
time-consuming, in particular for large samples. There
is uncertainty associated with the picking of arrival
times (like in the laboratory), and there is, as men-
tioned above, numerical dispersion. Finally, the travel
path is short – at best a couple of wavelengths long –
which gives additional uncertainty. Comparing results
obtained from different numerical samples (Models I –
IV in Section 3.2) under the same loading conditions,
using different interpretation techniques, the scatter in
the data was 3–5%.
3.3 Analytical approach
An effective medium theory for a random dense pack-
ing of equally sized spheres was established by Walton
(1987). The Hertzian contact law is applied to the grain
contacts, and the response of the particle assembly was
obtained by averaging over all contacts in the system
(so-called “mean field” approach). Two limiting cases
are considered; one in which the contacts are “perfectly
rough” (no slip), and one in which they are “perfectly
smooth” (no contact shear force, i.e. no friction per-
mitted). Walton computed elastic moduli for isotropic
as well as K0 (uniaxial strain) loading conditions. In
the former case, and using the rough contact limit, his
results are equivalent to the “Hertz-Mindlin” model
as referenced by e.g. Mavko et al. (1998), and to the
model of Digby (1981).
For hydrostatic loading, the stress vs. strain behav-
ior from Walton’s model is given as
 Here, σ is the external stress, εvol is the volumetric where
strain, ϕ is porosity, n is the coordination number (aver-
age number of nearest neighbors per particle), while
Gs and νs are shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio of
the grain material. Notice that the porosity is assumed
to be that of a dense random packing (∼37%) and
therefore does not change during compaction. No new
contacts are assumed to be generated, and no contacts In the perfectly smooth contact limit (no friction),
are assumed to be lost, so the coordination number the elastic moduli can be calculated by setting β = 0.
is also modeled as constant. Thus, the macroscopic In this case, the static stress – strain relationship and
stress is expected to be proportional to strain raised to the wave speeds become:
the power 3/2.
The elastic bulk and shear moduli are given by:

The 2 indices on the S-wave velocities denote direc-

Thus, P- and S-wave speeds, which are given as (ρ
is the bulk density)
tion of propagation and polarization (index t means
tangential). Notice that Walton’s model only describes
the behavior along the two (isotropic and uniaxial
strain) stress paths described here. Note also that some
misprints in the original paper by Walton (1987) are
corrected here.

are predicted to be proportional to stress raised to the 4 COMPARISON BETWEEN EXPERIMENTAL

power 1/6. AND NUMERICAL RESULTS
For uniaxial compaction, the effective medium the-
ory of Walton captures stress-induced anisotropy. The 4.1 Static behavior
stress evolution for perfectly rough contacts (no slip) Figure 4 shows the experimentally measured volumet-
is given by: ric strain resulting from hydrostatic loading of the

20
Hydrostatic loading
PFC
Confining Pressure [MPa]

15 Lab: Tests in triaxial cell

Here, axial stress and strain are denoted by index z, 10

while index r refers to the radial plane perpendicular
to the symmetry axis. The components Cij (index 3
refers to the z-axis) of the elastic stiffness tensor (with 5

TI – transversely isotropic – symmetry, corresponding

to the stress anisotropy) are:
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Volumetric Strain [milliStrain]

Figure 4. Confining pressure vs. volumetric strain during

isotropic loading and unloading of glass beads in the triax-
ial cell (data from 2 different tests are shown), and during
discrete particle modeling of the same experiment using
PFC 3D .

396
uncemented glass beads sample in the triaxial set- 4.2 Wave velocities
up. Data from two different experiments are included.
Figure 7 shows the P- and S-wave velocities vs. con-
Also shown is the stress – strain curve simulated with
fining stress during the hydrostatic load cycles in
the discrete particle model (PFC 3D ). The laboratory
the experiment performed in the triaxial cell. The
curve from one of the tests is steeper than the numer-
velocities are practically the same during loading and
ically simulated one at high stress, while the second
unloading in this case. The stress dependence is well
test shows almost perfect agreement with the modeled
characterized by a power law, i.e.
curve. The laboratory measurements do however show
hysteresis, which is absent in the discrete particle mod-
eling. Notice that the permanent strain associated with
this hysteresis is quite small.
Figure 5 shows the axial stress vs. axial strain where q ∼= 0.22 for P-waves and 0.26 for S-waves.
behavior during uniaxial compaction measured in two The discrete particle model simulation shows agree-
different tests in the triaxial set-up as well as in the sim- ment with the laboratory data well within the limits set
pler oedometer.The three experimental curves are very by uncertainties in both approaches. Fitting to a power
similar. Notice the significant hysteresis observed in law like eq. (12), the value of q in this case is ∼
= 0.19
the oedometer, but again, negligible permanent strain. both for P- and S-waves.
In the triaxial cell, stress was not cycled in uniaxial Figure 8 shows axial P- and S-wave veloci-
strain conditions. As also seen from the figure, the fit ties during uniaxial compaction. Because of the
between the experimental and numerical axial stress better impedance matching in the oedometer cell,
vs. axial strain curves is excellent.
There is however, as illustrated in Figure 6 signifi- 10
cant discrepancy between the lateral stress responses, Uniaxial Compaction
(K 0 loading)
as defined by the K0 factor, between laboratory exper-
Confining Stress [MPa]

iments and numerical simulations: Laboratory test

K0 = 0.42

PFC
The laboratory measured K0 was 0.42 for this test K = 0.28

(two additional experiments gave values of 0.43 and

0
0.49), while the discrete particle model produced a 0 5 10 15 20
K0 value of 0.28. By reducing the intergranular fric- Axial Stress [MPa]
tion coefficient from 0.9 to 0.5 (using Model V as
described in Section 3.2), the numerically calculated Figure 6. Confining vs. axial stress during uniaxial com-
K0 increased to 0.34, but the uniaxial compaction mod- paction (K0 loading) of glass beads in the triaxial cell, and
ulus was reduced at the same time, so the numerical during discrete particle modeling of the same experiment
modeling would no longer fit with axial stress vs. axial using PFC 3D .
strain curve.
20 2000
Uniaxial Compaction Hydrostatic loading
(K0 loading) Lab:
Wave Velocities [m/s]

Tests in triaxial cell vP

15 1500
Axial Stress [MPa]

PFC
1000
10

500 vS
5 vP LAB vP PFC

Lab: vS LAB vS PFC

Test in Oedometer cell 0
0 0 5 10 15
0 5 10 15 Confining Stress [MPa]
Axial Strain [milliStrain]
Figure 7. P- and S-wave velocities vs. confining stress dur-
Figure 5. Axial stress vs. axial strain during uniaxial com- ing isotropic (hydrostatic) loading cycles with uncemented
paction (K0 loading) of glass beads in the triaxial cell and in glass beads in the triaxial apparatus, and as simulated with
the oedometer, and during discrete particle modeling of the PFC 3D for the same stress path (data obtained using Model
same experiment using PFC 3D . I and IV, see Section 3.2).

397
 Uniaxial Compaction 2000
1500
(K 0 loading) Axial P-waves
Uniaxial Compaction

Wave Velocities [m/s]

Wave Velocities [m/s]

1500
1000 Radial P-waves

1000

500 S-waves
vPz K0 test in 3ax
vPz PFC 500
Oedometer VSz K0 test in 3ax vPz Exp vPr exp vPz PFC vPr PFC
cell data vSz PFC
vSzr Exp vSrt Exp vSzr PFC vSrt PFC
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Axial Stress [MPa]
Axial Stress [MPa]

Figure 8. Axial P- and S-wave velocities vs. axial stress

Figure 9. Axial and radial P- and S-wave velocities vs. axial
during uniaxial compaction (K0 loading) with uncemented
stress during uniaxial compaction (K0 loading) with unce-
glass beads in the triaxial apparatus and in the oedometer
mented glass beads in the triaxial apparatus, and as simulated
cell, and as simulated with PFC 3D for the same stress path
with PFC 3D for the same stress path (data obtained using
(data obtained using Model I and IV, see Section 3.2).
Model IV, see Section 3.2).

measurements of P- as well as S-wave velocities could 15

Hydrostatic Loading & Unloading
be made for stresses well below 1 MPa. In the triax-
Confining Pressure [MPa]

ial cell, axial P-waves could be reliably detected down

to 1 MPa axial stress, while S-wave data were only
captured from 5 MPa and upwards. The two experi-
mental data sets show the same behavior, within limits
of uncertainty. Fitting data from various experiments
to the power law in Eq. (12) gives average q-values near
0.19 for the P-wave velocity and 0.22 for the S-wave
velocity.
The predictions from the discrete particle model
are in reasonably good agreement with the measure-
ments for the P-wave velocity (q ∼ = 0.19), whereas
the stress dependence of the S-wave velocity is sig-
nificantly lower (q ∼ = 0.11) than the measured one,
also causing the S-wave velocity to be underestimated
at high stresses. The axial S-wave velocity is influ-
enced both by the axial stress (acting parallel to the
direction of wave motion) and the confining stress
(acting in the direction of particle motion). Thus,
this discrepancy may be attributed to the underesti-
mated lateral stress evolution, which was displayed in
Figure 6.
This picture becomes even clearer when looking at
Figure 9. Here, anisotropic P- and S-wave velocities
are shown, in this case for a uniaxial compaction test
that was run all the way up to 80 MPa axial stress.
The axial P-wave velocity from the discrete particle
model shows good agreement with the experimen-
tal data, while the radial P-wave velocity is severely
underestimated. This is again caused by the radial
(confining) stress being underestimated by PFC. The
same discrepancy as in Figure 8 is seen for the axi-
ally propagated S-wave (with velocity vSzr ), and a
larger difference between experiment and modeling
is observed for the S-wave propagating and polarized
within the radial plane (having velocity vSrt ).
Walton
10 Laboratory test data n=6
5
0
0 5 10 15 20
Volumetric Strain [milliStrain]
Figure 10. Confining stress vs. volumetric strain during
isotropic (hydrostatic) stress cycling with glass beads in the
triaxial cell (cfr Fig. 4). Shown is also the predicted stress –
strain curve from the theory of Walton (1987) (Eq. 1), using
a coordination number n = 6.
5 ANALYTICAL MODELING
The experimental results presented above are largely
in agreement with previously published measurements
on glass beads and loose sand (e.g. Domenico 1977).
In particular, there is clear evidence that a power law
behavior like in Eq. (12) fits data, but the exponent q is
found to be consistently larger than the value 1/6 which
is expected from effective medium theories based on
Hertz-Mindlin contact theory.
Figure 10 shows a comparison between Walton’s
effective medium model (1987) as described in Sec-
tion 3.3, and the static stress vs. strain response during
hydrostatic loading. The input parameters are elastic
properties and density of the glass bead material, as
specified in Section 2.1.These are the same parameters

398
 1500 Hydrostatic Stress 20
No slip vP Uniaxial Compaction Slip
(K 0 loading)
Wave Velocities [m/s]

Slip

Axial Stress [MPa]

15
1000 vS
LAB
No slip No slip
10
500 Slip
Walton
n=6
Walton limits; n = 6 5
0
0 5 10 15
Confining Pressure [MPa] 0
0 5 10 15
Figure 11. P- and S-wave velocities vs. confining stress dur- Axial Strain [milliStrain]
ing isotropic (hydrostatic) loading cycles with uncemented
glass beads in the triaxial apparatus (cfr. Fig. 7), and as com- Figure 12. Axial stress vs. axial strain during uniaxial com-
puted from Walton’s theory (1987) in the limits of perfectly paction (K0 loading) of glass beads in the triaxial cell (cfr
rough (“no slip”) and perfectly smooth (“slip”) grain contacts. Fig. 5), and as predicted from Walton’s analytical model
The coordination number n is set = 6. (1987) in the limits of perfectly rough (“no slip”) and
perfectly smooth (“slip”) grain contacts. The coordination
as required by the PFC simulation, which in addition number n is set = 6.
needs information about the grain size distribution. For
the analytical model, porosity is specified (here esti-
mated to 41.6% in unloaded condition), while grain
size distribution is not an issue, since it is assumed
monodispersive. Finally, the coordination number n 2000
Uniaxial Compaction
is a key input parameter. From the discrete particle
P-Wave Velocities [m/s]

(K 0 Loading)
model, the number of contacts per particle can be
traced for all particles. Based on this, the value of 1500
n∼= 6 seems to be a best estimate. This is in agreement
with the teoretical value for a random dense packing of
equally sized spheres (Bernal & Mason 1960, Makse 1000
et al. 1999). Notice however that this value is sig- vPz Exp vPr exp
nificantly lower than what is predicted (n ∼ = 9) from vPz no slip vPr no slip

empirical relationships such as the one referenced in 500

vPz slip vPr slip

Mavko et al. (1998). We have chosen to use n = 6 in 0 20 40 60 80

our analytical model calculations. Axial Stress [MPa]

As can be seen from Figure 10, the static behavior
Uniaxial Compaction
during isotropic loading is reasonably well reproduced 1000
(K 0 Loading)
S-Wave Velocities [m/s]

with the Walton model and the selected n – value.

If one looks in more detail, however, and considers
the dependence of hydrostatic stress on P- and S-wave
velocities (Fig. 11), it is observed that the experimen-
tal data deviate from the theoretical predictions. The 500
velocities appear to be closer to the perfect slip limit
vSzr Exp
of the model at low stress, while they approach the no vSrt Exp
vSzr no slip
slip limit at high stress. This is a manifestation that the vSzr slip
vSrt no slip
exponent q > 1/6. vSrt slip
Figure 12 shows the static axial stress vs. axial 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
strain behavior in uniaxial strain conditions. The mea-
sured curve is below both limits of Walton’s model, Axial Stress [MPa]
for the particular choice of coordination number that
was made here. The lateral stress development fac- Figure 13. Axial and radial P-wave (top) and S-wave (bot-
tom) velocities vs. axial stress during uniaxial compaction
tor K0 (Eq. 11) is 0.25 according to the perfect slip (K0 loading) with uncemented glass beads in the triax-
limit (Eq. 9), while it is as low as 0.02 for the no ial apparatus, and as calculated using Walton’s analytical
slip limit (Eq. 6); in both cases significantly below model (1987) in the limits of perfectly rough (“no slip”) and
the experimental values (above 0.40). It is therefore perfectly smooth (“slip”) grain contacts. The coordination
not surprising, as seen from Figure 13, that radial number n is set = 6.

399
P-wave velocity and the S-wave velocity with in-plane
propagation and polarization, are strongly underesti-
mated by the effective medium theory of Walton. The
axial P-and S-wave velocities are however in reason-
able agreement with the experimental data, but again,
the experimental q-values are >1/6.
6 DISCUSSION
The preceding paragraphs have shown that neither
discrete particle modeling nor analytical modeling is
able to fit both static and dynamic experimental data.
Several possible explanations exist for the discrep-
ancy between Hertz-Mindlin based contact theory and
experimental observations.
The coordination number n may not be treated as a
constant, but it rather should increase with increasing
load, as was demonstrated in a DEM study by Gar-
cía & Medina (2006), and as pointed out by Makse
et al. (1999). One should think of the coordination
number as a measure of the effective number of load-
bearing contacts. This would explain why q > 1/6. The
appropriate n value would depend on the force chains
through the grain contact network, which again is
stress path dependent. The work presented here does
not disconfirm this explanation. However, one may
also explain the observed q values through a crossover
from slipping grain contacts at low stress to no slip
contacts at high stress. The details of this crossover
are also expected to be stress path dependent. In addi-
tion, porosity changes during compaction, but this has
small influence on the resulting behavior.
Clearly, the discrete particle model captures all
these issues directly. We do also find a better over-
all agreement between experiments and numerical as
compared to analytical modeling, and there are fewer
adjustable parameters as well. Still, there are discrep-
ancies, in particular the underestimation of lateral
stress evolution in the uniaxial strain test, which is
also largely responsible for the erroneous prediction
of horizontal P-wave and S-wave velocities from PFC.
Also, hysteresis is largely absent in the discrete parti-
cle model, whereas it is evident in the experiments.
The simplest way to improve the predictive ability of
the discrete particle model is by adjusting the contact
law: The contact law for a single grain contact is more
complex than the Hertz-Mindlin formulation applied
here. Mindlin & Deresiewicz (1953) showed that for
finite strain, one expects hysteresis, and stress history
dependent behavior. The assumption of infinitesimally
small contact areas in the Hertzian theory may break
down at high stress, leading to higher contact stiffness
(and thus higher q value) than predicted by the cur-
rent model. On the other hand, onset of grain contact
plasticity and grain crushing would act the opposite
way. The soft contact approach used in most discrete
400
particle models treats particles as rigid object (no
coupling between the separate deformations at each
contact between spheres), but permits them to over-
lap in order to simulate deformation. Grain rotation
and rearrangement, although permitted, is likely to
be suppressed. This may be one source of discrep-
ancy causing the Poisson effect to be underestimated.
Finally, the resulting behavior is likely to depend on
the initial packing of the sphere assembly, which could
be varied by using different procedures for numerical
sample generation.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Isotropic and uniaxial compaction experiments have
been performed with uncemented glass beads, mea-
suring elastic static stress vs. strain response, and
stress dependent P- and S-wave velocities. The exper-
iments showed, as expected, nonlinear stress – strain
curves and velocities that depend on stress accord-
ing to a power law. This indicates that the nonlinearity
of the intergranular contact law largely controls the
macroscopic behavior.
Discrete particle modeling of these experiments has
been performed, using PFC 3D . Input data were grain
material properties and particle size distribution, and
the intergranular contact law was nonlinear in accord
with Hertz-Mindlin theory. The numerical simulations
reproduced within experimental uncertainty the exper-
imental behavior during hydrostatic loading and the
axial stress vs. strain as well as axial P-wave velocity in
uniaxial compaction. The lateral stress response in uni-
axial compaction was however underestimated, prob-
ably because grain reorientation is not fully accounted
for in the model. As a consequence, S-wave velocities
and the P-wave velocity perpendicular to the maxi-
mum principal stress were underestimatred in uniaxial
compaction experiments. Also, the numerical model
displays no significant hysteresis, contrary to what
was observed in the laboratory tests. The discrepan-
cies may however be largely removed by refining the
description of the intergranular contact law.
Analytical modeling was performed using Walton’s
model (1987), which is an effective medium theory
based on the Hertz-Mindlin contact law. Anticipat-
ing a coordination number ∼ = 6, which is reasonable
from microstructural considerations, this model gave
a good representation of the static stress vs. strain
data in isotropic stress conditions. It did however also
underestimate lateral stress response. Wave velocities
were found to increase more with stress than expected
from pure Hertz-Mindlin contact theory, as a result of
increasing number of load bearing contacts and/or a
gradual transition from slip to non-slip at grain con-
tacts with increasing stress. In this model, particle
rotation and reorganization is neglected.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the finan-
cial support to this work provided by the Norwegian
Research Council through the Strategic University
Program “ROSE – Rock Physics & Seismics for
Improved Overburden & Reservoir Characterization”
at NTNU, and for partial financial support to the
Joint Industry Project “PET
US – Petrophysics under
Stress” at SINTEF. This JIP was financed by Cono-
coPhillips, Norsk Hydro, Petrobrâs, Shell, and Sta-
toil. The technical support of Reidar Bøe, Johannes
Stavrum and Eyvind F. Sønstebø is largely appreci-
ated. Peter A. Cundall and David Potyondy at Itasca
are acknowledged for providing valuable comments
to the manuscript.
REFERENCES
Bernal, J.D. & Mason, J. 1960. Packing of spheres:
Co-ordination of randomly packed spheres. Nature 188:
910–911.
Cundall, P.A. & Strack, O.D.L. 1979. A discrete numerical
model for granular assemblies. Géotechnique 29: 47–65.
Digby, P.J. 1981. The effective elastic moduli of porous
granular rock. J. Appl. Mech. 48: 803–808.
401
Domenico, S.N. 1977. Elastic properties of unconsolidated
porous sand reservoirs. Geophysics 42: 1339–1368.
García, X. & Medina, E.A. 2006. Hysteresis effects studied
by numerical simulations: Cyclic loading-unloading of a
realistic sand model. Geophysics 71: F13–F20.
Holt, R.M., Kjølaas, J., Larsen, I., Li, L., Pillitteri, A.G.
& Sønstebø, E.F. 2005. Comparison between controlled
laboratory experiments and discrete particle simulations
of the mechanical behaviour of rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. &
Min. Sci. 42: 985–995.
Itasca, 2005. PFC (Particle Flow Code). Minneapolis: HC
Itasca Consulting Group.
Johnson, K.L. 1987. Contact Mechanics. Cambridge Univ.
Press, 452 pp.
Li, L. 2002. Particle Scale Reservoir Mechanics. PhD Thesis
2002:116, NTNU.
Makse, H.A., Gland, N., Johnson, D.L. & Schwartz, L. 1999.
Why effective medium theory fails in granular materials.
Phys. Rev. Letters 83: 5070–5073.
Mavko, G., Mukerji, T. & Dvorkin, J. 1998. The Rock Physics
Handbook. Cambridge Univ. Press.
Midlin, R.D. & Deresiewicz, H. 1953. Elastic spheres in
contact under varying oblique forces. J Appl. Mech. 20:
327–344.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundall, P.A. 2004. A bonded-particle
model for rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 41:
1329–1364.
Walton, K. 1987. The effective elastic moduli of a random
packing of spheres. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 35(2): 213–216.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Effect of characteristic length in the finite element solution of elastic

deformation of layered materials

A. Riahi
Lassonde Institute, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

J.H. Curran
Rocscience Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the performance of the finite element (FE) equivalent continuum approach
in simulating the behaviour of layered rock. The effect of length scale, which is a function of the layer thickness
or joint spacing and shear stiffness of the joints, is investigated through the elastic behaviour of the laminar
continuum. The performance of the classical equivalent continuum approach based on a conventional transversely
isotropic formulation is been compared with that of a Cosserat equivalent continuum approach, and the FE explicit
joint model.

1 INTRODUCTION element (FE) formulation are discussed. Section 3

Rock mass discontinuities include structural features
such as fractures, faults and bedding planes that may
be treated as thin layers of material distinct from the
adjacent intact material.The joint planes separating the
layers result in a directional dependence in behaviour
of the continuum.
Two main approaches have been used to simulate
these highly anisotropic materials: i) techniques which
explicitly model the jointed nature of the material,
e.g., Discontinuous Displacement Analysis (DDA),
Shi (1998), Discrete Element Method (DEM), Cundall
et al. (1978), and the Finite Element Method (FEM)
utilizing an explicit joint model, Goodman (1968),
and ii) the FEM equivalent continuum approach,
Zienkiewicz & Pande (1977).
Due to its many advantages, the equivalent con-
tinuum or smeared joint model using FEM has been
widely used to simulate the behaviour of layered
rock masses. In this approach, the layered material
is replaced by a conventional anisotropic material.
Consequently, despite its widespread use, it remains
problematic where the characteristic length of the
problem or bending stiffness cannot be neglected.
This shortcoming is a consequence of the fundamen-
tal assumption of classical continuum theory which
neglects the effects of micro moments on equilibrium
of the system.
This paper focuses on the elastic behaviour of lay-
ered materials. In Section 2, the basics of the equivalent
continuum approach, its mathematical basis and finite
briefly explains Cosserat theory and its application to
simulation of layered materials. Finally, in Section 4,
two examples are solved using the classical equivalent
continuum approach, Cosserat continuum approach
and FE explicit joint model. Subsequently, it is shown
that the classical anisotropic continuum approach is
unable to correctly predict the magnitude and the pat-
tern of deformation of layered materials. However, by
introducing a bending module into the system through
the use of Cosserat theory, the correct deformation
behaviour is obtained.
2 EQUIVALENT CONTINUUM APPROACH
2.1 Introduction
The finite element equivalent continuum method is
based on the application of a technique to smear joints
into the continuum material. This approach was first
introduced by Zienkiewicz & Pande (1977), and has
been extensively used since then (Sharma & Pande
1988, Amadei & Savage 1993).
Due to presence of an oriented plane of weak-
ness, the elastic matrix of the equivalent continuum
is similar to that of a transversely isotropic material.
In Section 2.1, the definition and properties of trans-
versely isotropic material based on elasticity theory
are discussed. Section 2.2 presents a method to calcu-
late this matrix based on the properties of the intact or
matrix material and the discontinuities.

403
 X2
xˆ2
xˆ1
θ
X1
Figure 1. Global and local coordinate system for oriented
materials.
2.2 Elastic modulus of transversely isotropic
material
For transversely isotropic materials, there exists one
plane of isotropy. As a result, the number of indepen-
dent elastic components reduces to five. For complete
discussion on this subject one can refer to Nemat-
Nasser (1999). In the case of 2D plane strain prob-
lems where X1 , X3 represents the plane of isotropy,
the compliance matrix is defined in the following
form:
where E1 and ν1 correspond to Young’s modulus and
Poisson’s ratio in the plane of isotropy, respectively,
and E2 , ν2 and G12 correspond toYoung’s modulus and
Poisson’s ratio and shear modulus in direction perpen-
dicular to that plane. The elastic modulus which relates
the increment of stress to increment of strain is the
inverse of the compliance matrix.
2.3 Mathematical model and elastic modulus of
layered rock
Layered rock has transversely isotropic characteristics.
This type of anisotropy is due to the existence of dis-
continuities with a preferred orientation. In this paper
we consider an isotropic intact rock embedded with
joints with a preferred orientation of θ with respect to
global axis X1 . See Figure 1.
404
Intact Material
First set of Joints
Last set of Joints
Figure 2. Rheological model of jointed material. After
Zienkiewicz & Pande (1977)
The jointed rock material can be represented by a
rheological model, in which the intact material and
joints are each represented by an elasto-viscoplastic
module (Fig. 2). These modules interact like a number
of springs in series. Since this paper mainly deals with
elastic deformation, the model further simplifies to a
number of elastic springs in series.
Using the above rheological model, the compliance
of the equivalent material is given by:
where C is the compliance matrix of the material, EQ
denotes the equivalent continuum and Jn refers to the
nth set of joints. The stiffness of the joint is a function
of normal stiffness, kn , shear stiffness, ks and joint
spacing h. In 2D problems, in the local coordinate
system of the joints, the joint stiffness matrix can be
defined as:
In equation (3), the off diagonal terms are zero indi-
cating that the normal and shear forces are decou-
pled. Using equations (2) and (3) and considering
an isotropic intact material with elastic coefficients
E and ν, the following relations hold for compliance
(CEQ ) and elastic modulus (DEQ ) of the equivalent
continuum:
and
with the coefficients defined as:
The global elastic matrix can be obtained from the
local elastic matrix using:
where R is the rotation matrix defined as:
405
µ32
σ22
σ21
σ12
µ31 σ11 σ11 µ31
σ12
21
σ22
µ32
Figure 3. Stress distribution of a micro element in Cosserat
theory.
with
where θ is the angle between global axis X1 and joint
orientationx̂1 .
The above formulation implies that the elastic
behaviour of jointed materials depends only on the
product values of hkn and hks . The effect of his not
explicitly taken into account in the formulation, and
the model therefore yields similar results for laminar
materials with a different joint spacing parameter but
similar values of hkn and hks . In the following sec-
tion a FE formulation based on micro polar theory
is discussed. The joint spacing parameter is explicitly
introduced into the governing equations of the system,
making the deformation behaviour of the continuum as
well as the stress distribution affected by the bending
stiffness of the layers.
3 COSSERAT THEORY
3.1 Introduction
Cosserat (1909) assumes the existence of coupled
micro moments at each point of the continuum (Fig. 3).
As a result the stress field in general is not symmetric
and the difference in shear components of the stress
tenor is balanced by the micro moments. In Cosserat
theory the rotation of each point of the material con-
sists of the rigid body rotation of the continuum and
the Cosserat rotation C .
Cosserat theory was first applied in FE modeling
of granular materials by Deborst (1991). In the post
peak analysis of a granular material exhibiting strain
softening, the governing equations of the system lose
 Using Voigt notation, the FE operator which defines
the above measures of strain with respect to the nodal
degrees of freedom has the following form:

Ωz
h

Figure 4. Interacting layers of material. After Muhlhaus

(1995).

ellipticity and the solution becomes mesh dependent.

However, with introduction of length scale through
Cosserat formulation, this problem can be eliminated. where φN is the shape function of the node and φN,i is
The application of Cosserat theory in layered mate- the derivative of shape function with respect to Xi .
rials was developed by Muhlhaus (1993), Muhlhaus The matrix of elastic properties relates the measures
(1995) and Adhikary & Dyskin (1997). In this formu- of stress to measures of strain in the local coordinates
lation, as a result of the introduction of micro moments, in the following form:
the characteristic length of the problem is explicitly
introduced into the FE system of equations through a
bending coefficient. Figure 4 shows a layered material
under bending. In this case if the interface between
layers does not undergo sliding, the Cosserat contin-
uum simplifies into the classical transversely isotropic
continuum. However, if slippage happens, the rotation
of each material point is different from the continuum
rotation at that point; this difference is denoted by c .
As the slippage between the layers increases, the effect
of bending stiffness becomes more dominant in the
system. where µ31 and µ32 are the micro moment stresses
Moreover, the rigid crosses shown in Figure 4 will and are related to curvatures through the bending stiff-
have a relative rotation with respect to each other. The nesses, B1 and B2 , of the layers. A11 , A12 , A21 and
difference in rotation between the neighboring crosses A22 are the same as those derived for the conventional
represents the curvature. equivalent continuum. However the shear components
are defined in the following form:
3.2 Strain measures and elastic modulus
In a 2D small deformation framework, the Cosserat
measures of deformation reduce to four strain compo-
nents defined as:

In the case of a layered material the bending stiff-

ness perpendicular to the layers is zero and the bending
stiffness parallel to the layers is defined as:

and two curvature measures are defined as:

The local Cosserat elastic modulus can be trans-

ferred into global coordinate using the following
transformation:
In the FE formulation of the Cosserat continuum,
the Cosserat rotation becomes the third degree of
freedom at each point.

406
where R is Table 1. Input joint parameters for the models.

hks (MPa) h (m)

Model (a) 194.3 0.0

Model (b) 194.3 0.088388
Model (c) 194.3 0.176777
Model (d) 194.3 0.353553

with S and C defined according to equation (9).

It is interesting to note that in the limiting case
where ks approaches zero, G11 approaches zero and B1
becomes the bending stiffness of the individual lay-
ers. Thus, the layers will behave independently and
the response of the material will be similar to that of
a number of non interacting plates. On the other hand,
when ks becomes very large, G11 approaches Gand
B1 becomes zero. Hence, the layers cannot slip with
respect to each other and the Cosserat formulation
reduces to the conventional anisotropic formulation. (a) (b)
In this case, micro moments are zero and equilibrium
necessitates that the shear components of stress ten-
sor be equal. One outcome of the absence of micro
moments in classical continuum theory is that the
shear stresses σ12 and σ21 of an anisotropic material
are always determined from the shear resistance on
the plane of isotropy. However, as it is noted in equa-
tions (13) and (14), the stress component σ12 has a
contribution from bending. A simple example where
classical anisotropic theory entirely fails to explain the
resulting response is the behaviour of a deck of playing
cards under bending.
(c) (d)

4 EXAMPLES Figure 5. Geometry and boundary conditions for (a) classi-

cal anisotropic model, (b) h = 0.088388, (c) h = 0.17677 and
4.1 Jointed rock under uniaxial compression (d) h = 0.35353.

The first example consists of a column of layered
rock under uniaxial compression. The examples were
solved using three different models; i.e., classical
anisotropic model, Cosserat model and explicit joint
model. For the formulation of the explicit joint model,
one can refer to the Phase2 Finite Element code manual
(2005).
The column has a width of 1 m and a height of
2 m. The joints are oriented at an angle of 45 degrees
with respect to the horizontal axis. Both horizontal and
vertical displacements are fixed at the bottom of the
sample. In the Cosserat model, the rotational degrees
of freedom are also constrained at the bottom. Figure 5
shows the boundary condition and joint geometry of
the models. This example will demonstrate the effect
of layer bending or joint spacing on the deformation
behaviour of the jointed materials. All the examples
have a constant shear resistance, hks but different val-
ues of h and ks . The shear modulus of the joints or hks is
taken to be approximately 20 times smaller than that of
the intact rock. Since the effect of bending is the focus
of this work, in all of the models, a very large value is
chosen for hkn . Table 1 shows the joint parameters. In
the explicit joint model a joint open end condition was
specified. The intact rock is assumed to be isotropic
with a Young’s modulus of 10.e4 MPa and a Poisson’s
ratio of 0.25. A constant uniform load of 50 MPa is
applied at the top of the column.
Figure 5a shows the conventional anisotropic
model. This model was solved using both classical for-
mulation, and Cosserat formulation with B1 equal to
zero. Figures 5b, 5c and 5d show the geometry and
loading for models with different values of joint spac-
ing used for the explicit joint analysis. In the equivalent

407
Figure 6. Contour of horizontal displacement obtained
from Cosserat theory (a) Anisotropic model with h = 0, (b)
Cosserat model with h = 0.17677.
Cosserat formulation, joints are not explicitly defined,
but values of h were introduced into the formulation
through coefficient B1 .
Figure 6 illustrates the contours of horizontal dis-
placement obtained from the Cosserat model for dif-
ferent values of h. Figure 7 shows the contours of
horizontal displacement obtained from the classical
anisotropic model and the explicit joint model.
408
Figure 7. Contour of horizontal displacement obtained from
(a) Classical anisotropic model, (b) Explicit joint model with
h = 0.17677.
Comparison of Figures 6a and 7a confirms that
as h→0, the Cosserat model reduces to the conven-
tional anisotropic model. However, as h increases,
the discrepancy between the classical anisotropic
model and Cosserat modelincreases. In fact, for the
classical formulation, which is not sensitive to h,
models with the same values of hks yield the same
results.
Figure 8. Horizontal Displacement at the upper tip of the
column.
ux = 0
uy = 0
duy/dx = 0
2m
Figure 9. Geometry and boundary condition for the can-
tilever beam.
Comparison of the plots also demonstrates that joint
spacing influences both the pattern and magnitude of
deformation. The explicit joint and Cosserat models
show a great deal of consistency in both the pattern
and shape. The differences in the contours are due
to different contouring techniques used by the two
different programs, and the existence of a geometric
discontinuity in explicit joint models.
Figure 8 shows the horizontal displacement of upper
tip of the column vs. joint spacing for different models.
It is interesting to note that maximum values of both the
Cosserat model and the explicit joint model are very
consistent. However, because of the smeared approach
used in the Cosserat model, the maximum value is
always obtained at the tip, while in the explicit model
it is obtained at the bottom of the uppermost block.
4.2 Cantilever beam under bending
The second example considers a cantilever layered
beam under bending (Fig. 9). A uniform shear load
with a magnitude of 1.0 Mpa is applied at the end of
the beam. The beam has a length of 2 m and a height of
0.5 m, and is divided into 5 layers, each with a thick-
ness of 0.1 m. TheYoung’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio
are 2.e4 MPa and 0.3, respectively. The shear stiffness
of the layers, ks, varies from zero to a very a large value
(10.e4 MPa). For the case of zero shear stiffness the
beam reduces to 5 non interacting beams, while for
very large values of ks the model reduces to a beam
with a depth of 0.5 m. The performance of Cosserat
theory is of particular importance when bending of
the layers plays a significant role in deformation.
409
Figure 10. Vertical displacement of the tip of beam vs. shear
stiffness of joints.
The example was solved using a Cosserat approach
with element dimensions greater than the thickness of
the layers. Thirty nine-node quadrilateral finite ele-
ments were used. The results were compared to the
explicit finite element joint model.
For the two limiting cases, the solution is compared
to the analytical solution for a beam by Timoshenko &
Goodier (1970):
Figure 10 shows the vertical displacement at the
tip of the beam vs. log (ks ). The results show good
agreement for the whole range of ks . Similar to the
example of bending of a deck of cards, the FE method
using classical anisotropic materials is unable to pre-
dict the correct response.As the ratio of ks /kn decreases
the problem becomes unstable due to the fact that the
shear stiffness of the system is very low; and there is
no bending mechanics to sustain the shear load applied
to the system.
5 CONCLUSION
Three methods i.e., explicit joint model, classical
and Cosserat equivalent continuum approaches have
been applied to simulate the behaviour of rocks with
a preferred joint orientation using a finite element
framework. The explicit joint model is based on the
application of discrete finite elements or “joint ele-
ments” to represent the joint behaviour. This approach
can become tedious for the user since each joint must
be explicitly defined in the geometric model. Another
difficulty with the explicit joint model is that the ele-
ment size is always constrained by the joint spacing,
and cannot go beyond that limit. Explicit model-
ing of joints also adds considerable complication to
the mesh generation aspect of the FE simulation.
These complications have made the FE equivalent con-
tinuum approaches very attractive. As demonstrated
above, the deformation properties of layered materials
depend not only on the compliance of the intact matrix
and the joints but also on the joint spacing. Subse-
quently, the equivalent continuum approach, which is
used extensively in FEM, becomes inaccurate where h
is large or the bending stiffness of the layer cannot be
neglected.
In this paper, we showed that discontinuities not
only influence the values obtained for deformation, but
can also affect the pattern of displacement. An inter-
esting characteristic of Cosserat theory is that without
explicitly defining the discontinuities within the input
geometry, the natural behaviour of a layered material
is captured by the model.
Considering the shortcomings of the classical
anisotropic approach, and the difficulties involved in
representing each joint explicitly by a joint element
the Cosserat approach may be the preferred approach
for simulating the response of layered materials. It
is also noteworthy that the capability of the Cosserat
formulation to capture complex modes of behaviour
like buckling failure adds to its advantages over the
alternative methods.
REFERENCES
Adhikary, D.P. & Dyskin, A.V. 1997. A Cosserat contin-
uum for layered materials. Computers and Geomechanics
20(1): 15–45.
Amadei, B. & Savage W.Z. 1993. Effect of joints on rock
mass strength and deformability. In Comprehensive Rock
Mechanics, Pergamon Press, Vol. 1, pp. 331–365.
410
Cosserat, E. & Cosserat, F. 1909. Theorie des corps
deformables. Paris : Hermann.
Cundall, P.A., Marti J., Beresford P., Last N. & Asgian
M. 1978. Computer modeling of jointed rock masses.
Technical report N-78-4, U.S Army Corps of Engineers,
Waterways Experiment Station, Vickburg, MS.
Deborst, R. 1991. Simulation of strain localization: A reap-
praisal of the Cosserat continuum, Engineering Compu-
tations 8: 317–332.
Goodman, R.E., Taylor, R.L. & Brekke, T.L. 1968. A model
for mechanics of jointed rock. Journal of the Soil Mechan-
ics and Foundation Division 94: 637–659.
Muhlhaus, H.-B. 1993. Continuum models for layered and
blocky materials. In Comprehensive Rock Mechanics,
Pergamon Press, Vol. 2, pp. 209–230.
Muhlhaus, H.-B. 1995. A relative gradient method for lami-
nated materials. In Continuum Models for Materials with
Microstructures, John Wiley, pp. 451–483.
Nemat-Nasser, S. & Hori, M. 1999. Micromechanics: Overall
properties of heterogeneous materials. Elsevier.
Rocscience 2005. Phase2 Theory Manual. Rocscience Inc.
Sharma, K.G. & Pande, G.N. 1988. Stability of rock masses
reinforced by passive, fully-grouted rock bolts. Interna-
tional Journal for Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
& Geomechanics Abstracts 25(5): 273–285.
Shi, G. 1988. Discontinuous deformation analysis: A new
numerical model for the statics and dynamics of locked
systems. Ph.D. thesis, University of California.
Timoshenko, S.P. & Goodier, J.N. 1970. Theory of Elasticity.
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Zienkiewicz, O.C. & Pande, G.N. 1977. Time-dependent
multilaminate model of rocks, A numerical study of defor-
mation and failure of rock masses. International Journal
for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics
1(3): 219–247.
Zvolinski, N.V. & Shkhinek, K.N. 1984. Continuum model
for a laminar elastic medium. Solid Mechanics 19(1): 1–9.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

An equivalent continuum approach to coalmine water simulation

D.P. Adhikary & H. Guo

CSIRO Exploration and Mining, Australia

ABSTRACT: This paper briefly describes a three dimensional finite element code called COSFLOW which
incorporates unique features that make it ideal for the simulation of interaction between rock fracture, aquifer
interference, and water flow in coalmine environment. Both the deformation and the hydraulic conductivity of
rock mass are described using an equivalent continuum approach. The rock deformation of bedded coal measures
is described using a Cosserat continuum formulation and the hydraulic conductivity of a fractured porous rock is
described using an equivalent fracture network formulation where fluid flow through single fracture is expressed
using parallel plate analogue. This formulation is amenable to easy evaluation of modifications to the hydraulic
conductivities as a function of stress induced changes in fracture aperture. Finally, an example of COSFLOW
application in water inflow prediction in a mine in Australia is presented.

1 INTRODUCTION rock mass can be idealized as an anisotropic continuum

Rock mass in coalmining environment essentially
occurs in stratified forms. The behavior of such a strat-
ified rock mass can, in principle, be defined based
on discontinuum modeling principles and the problem
can be solved using numerical methods such as finite
element methods or distinct element methods. In this
approach, the intact rock layers are represented by a
continuum material model and the joints are modeled
as discrete entities. Such numerical methods include
joint element models (e.g. Goodman et al. 1968) and
the distinct element model (e.g. Cundall 1987). How-
ever, the process of defining each joint and each rock
layer individually becomes a rather cumbersome and
complex task when the spacing between the joints (i.e.
the rock layer thickness) is substantially small in com-
parison with the length scale of the problem being
considered.
In another approach, if the jointing is reasonably
persistent (i.e. they are spaced regularly and oriented
in the same direction), the jointed rock mass can be
idealized as a special continuum material with a spe-
cial set of material properties. In such cases, the effects
of jointing are incorporated implicitly in the formula-
tion of the constitutive model of the rock mass. Such
an approach becomes more sensible to use in rock
mechanics applications where the detailed informa-
tion pertaining to individual rock layers and individual
joints is hardly available.
Two basic approaches can be used in developing an
equivalent continuum model of a layered rock mass.As
long as the layer bending effects can be neglected, the
(e.g. Salamon 1968, Gerrard 1982). However, when
the layer resistance to bending is substantial, one has to
use models which include bending moments and rota-
tions in their formulation. Cosserat theory (Cosserat &
Cosserat 1909) belongs to the later category.
Applications of Cosserat theory in relation to
layered material has been extensively studied by
many researchers (e.g. Zvolinskii & Shkhinek1984,
Mühlhaus 1993; see the references cited in these
papers). Adhikary & Dyskin (1997) have shown
through numerical experiments that the Cosserat mod-
els can in fact describe the load-deformation behavior
of the layered materials very accurately.
This paper introduces a three-dimensional finite
element code, called COSFLOW, developed to address
mine panel and face stability, mine induced surface
subsidence, mine induced aquifer interference, inflow
of groundwater, and gas emission issues in a coalmine.
Section 2 describes key aspects of COSFLOW,
including the flow model and some details of the
coupling between the mechanical and fluid flow sub-
models. Section 3 presents the results of a simulation
of water inflow into longwall panels at a mine in
Australia.
2 COSFLOW – FORMULATION
Rock strata in a coal mining environment are essen-
tially bedded in nature and this has a large impact on
load-deformation characteristics. Mining may induce
shearing as well as separation along the bedding planes

411

Mining induced strata
fracture/deformation
Change in
permeability and
reservoir pressure
Caved, fractured and deformed zones
Ground Water
Flow Change in reservoir
pressure and relative
permeability
Figure 1. Complex interaction between rock mass deforma-
tion and water/gas flow during longwall mining.
which may result in bending and subsequent fracturing
of the rock layer. This on the other hand may substan-
tially change the in situ fluid flow properties of the
rock mass, such as permeability and porosity. Thus a
proper coupling of mine induced deformation, fluid
flow properties and the process of fluid flow itself is a
must for any reliable prediction of rock mass deforma-
tion, water and gas flow into a coal mine. COSFLOW
incorporates such coupling between fracture estimated
from the mechanical sub-model, and permeability and
porosity changes used in the fluid flow sub-model.
Here we provide a loosely coupled mechanical and
two-phase fluid flow formulation, where the mechan-
ical equations and fluid flow equations are solved
sequentially. Such an approach of solving a cou-
pled mechanical and two-phase fluid flow problem is
widely used in the scientific community (e.g. Rutqvist
et al. 2002). In such an approach mechanical effects are
assumed to occur almost instantaneously when com-
pared to diffusion effects. In COSFLOW, sequential
cycling between fluid flow steps and mechanical steps
is controlled through a limiting parameter that would
switch off the fluid flow steps and start the mechanical
steps once the maximum change in average porepres-
sure within the model exceeds the value set by the
limiting parameter.
This section describes some important aspects of
COSFLOW to simulate rock deformation and water
flow during longwall mining, as illustrated in Figure 1.
2.1 Mechanical (Cosserat) model
Since stratified rock masses exhibit highly anisotropic
strength and deformation characteristics, it is neces-
sary to include effects of stratification into the mathe-
matical formulations describing the load-deformation
behavior of such rock masses.
For the case of rock layers with bending stiffness,
such a model can be formulated successfully on the
basis of Cosserat theory (Adhikay & Dyskin 1997,
Adhikay & Dyskin 1998, Adhikary & Guo 2002).
This provides a large-scale (average) description of
a layered medium. In this model, inter-layer inter-
faces (joints) are considered to be smeared across the
Change in
effective stress
mass, i.e. the effects of joints are incorporated implic-
itly in the choice of stress-strain model formulation.
An important feature of the Cosserat model is that it
incorporates bending rigidity of individual layers in
Gas diffusion
its formulation and this makes it different from other
and flow conventional implicit models. In comparison to the
conventional model which has six independent stresses
in a three dimensional case, the Cosserat model for the
stratified material will have ten independent stresses.
A full elasto-plastic Cosserat formulation is
described in Adhikary & Guo (2002).
2.2 Flow model
In COSFLOW, a porous medium is simulated as a
region having two porosities; one representing a con-
tinuum porous rock (primary porosity) and the other
representing a fracture network (secondary porosity).
Thus, the flow behavior is mainly described by the
interaction of the basic components, namely the porous
matrix and the surrounding fracture system. The frac-
tures provide rapid hydraulic connection but little
fluid mass storage, whereas the porous matrix repre-
sents high storage but low hydraulic connection. This
paper will be limited to a single phase flow through
the fractured system. COSFLOW is very similar to
the conventional flow model; the flow in the fracture
(cleat) system is controlled by the pressure gradient
and is described using Darcy’s law, as follows:
where:
∇· is divergence operator
q is volumetric flux or flow rate
η is porosity
Q is source or sink term
S is fluid saturation
B is formation volume factor
k is the absolute permeability
kr is relative permeability factor
P is fluid pore pressure
γ is fluid unit weight
t is time
µ is viscosity
d is the vertical distance from a given datum
for unsaturated flow (S < 1),
412

where:
Pc is the capillary pressure, which is a function
of saturation.
2.3 Dynamic coupling
The dynamic interaction between mechanical defor-
mation and fluid flow processes can be described
through a set of coupled non-linear partial differential
equations. The presence of a fluid in the mechani-
cal sub-model is considered by utilising the concept
of effective stress such that such a stress field and
the pore-fluid pressure satisfy the following force
equilibrium conditions:
stress field. Kozeny & Ber (1927), Hubbert (1940),
Krumbein & Monk (1943), De Wiest (1969) proposed
a relationship between stress and the permeability
through a definition of hydraulic radius which is
a function of grain diameter, porosity, grain shape
and packing. As rock masses usually contain natural
fractures which predominantly control the fluid move-
ments, there is a distinctive advantage in formulating
a model on the basis of equivalent fracture network.
In that framework fluid flow through a single fracture
can be expressed using flow through parallel plate ana-
logue where a fracture is idealized as a planar opening
with a constant aperture (Bai & Elsworth 1994 and see
references cited in this report).
For a laminar flow within the fracture network,
the permeability of a set of parallel fractures with a
spacing, s, and aperture, a, is given by (e.g. Louis
1969):

Here:
For a fractured rock with fracture spacing Fsi
σ  is effective stress
(i = 1, 2, 3) and fracture apertures Fai (i = 1, 2, 3),
α is Biot coefficient
the relationships between the absolute initial (pre-
P is pore pressure
mining) permeability and the fracture parameters can
F is body force density
be expressed as:
x is spatial coordinate and
i, j (subscripts) indicate the components of the vector
and tensor variables in Cartesian space.
The incremental stress changes are related to
changes in incremental strain and pore pressure either
through linear (elasticity) stiffness terms prior to yield-
ing or through non-linear (plasticity) stiffness terms
after yielding.
Similarly change in pore volume is used to com-
pute the associated changes in fluid pressures and
saturations by solving the following sets of equations: This formulation is amenable to easy evaluation of
modifications to the hydraulic conductivities as a func-
tion of stress induced changes in fracture aperture. In
this study, change in rock mass permeability (i.e. k11 ,
k22 and k33 ) is formulated on the basis of the mine
induced strain (Elsworth 1989, Bai & Elsworth 1994,
where: Liu & Elsworth 1997), as follows:
0 and 1 refers to initial and final conditions
η is porosity
S is fluid saturation
B is formation volume factor
m (subscript) refers to each of the fluid phases.
The flow of either phase of fluid is controlled
by the permeability of the porous medium, which
is either derived by field measurements or through
theoretical/empirical formulations. There are differ-
ent formulae proposed in the literature for estimating where, εii are the normal strain components and βi
the permeability of porous medium depending upon are expressed as:
whether the porous medium is intact or contains a
network of fractures.
A number of researchers in the past have attempted
to establish a relationship between permeability and

413
 Here, Rm is the modulus reduction ratio (ratio of
rock mass to rock matrix modulus), the term Fai /Fsi
may be defined as a function of equivalent fracture
porosity and n is a constant (in Liu & Elsworth 1997,
n is assumed to be equal to 1.0). Both Rm and n are in
g
pp

LW1b
considered to be fitting parameters and hence need to di NE

LW5b

LW9b
m t o
be calibrated properly against well-documented field ea e
l s gre
oa e
data. If Rm equals 1.0 then βi equals 1.0, resulting in C 1d
at
minimal strain induced permeability changes. When
Rm tends to 0.0 (i.e. the case of highly fractured rock), LW10b
βi will attain the maximum value and hence will induce LW11b
large change in permeability. LW12b
LW13b

9320m
LW13
LW12
LW11
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
Pump2
Figure 2 presents the plan view of the 3D finite ele-

LW10
LW9
LW8
ment mesh used in the simulation of water inflow

LW7
LW6
LW4
LW3

LW5
LW2
LW1
LW0
in a mine in Australia. In the figure the location of
Prediction was made for lower
Pump2 used for dewatering from LW0 to LW5 is A series of panel A’
also shown. The numerical model consists of about
500,000 finite elements and simulated a region 7.5 km
long in the East-West direction and 9.3 km long in
the North South direction, thus covering an area of
approximately 71 km2 .
All the rock units were assumed to dip parallel 7510m
to the Mining Seam (i.e. 1◦ North-East). The actual
overburden sequence has been simplified combining Figure 2. A plan view of the numerical grid used in the
lithological layers to represent rock characteristics of simulation.
primary importance to obtain an average response and
a reasonable fit with measurements (see Fig. 3).
Tables 1–3 present the hydraulic and mechanical
Hydrogeological model adopted
properties obtained from direct or indirect field test- in the numerical simulation
ing. In the numerical model 1) initial vertical stress was 0
assumed to be proportional to the overburden weight
and 2) water bearing units (i.e. from Floor upward to -50
Unit5) were prescribed with water heads as shown in Sandstone
Figure 3. The mechanical properties used in the numer-
Height above the mining seam (m)

-100 top
ical simulation reported in this study were calibrated
using the mine subsidence data (Adhikary et al. 2004).
Thus, in the calibration stage in this study, only the ini- -150
224.0
tial permeability values were varied to get a better fit
unit 5
to the mine water flow measurements for 1) pump2 -200 165.0 AQ 3
used for dewatering of mine water up to LW5 and 2) Claystone
150.0 unit 4
upper series of panels LW1b–LW9b.
Sandstone -250
Panels up to LW3 are 255 m wide, panels LW4 to
LW9 are 265 m wide and panels LW10 and onwards are Coal Seam unit3
-300
315 m wide. The water inflow rates into the mine up to AQ2
Sandstone
LW6 averaged around 55 l/s. However the measured Siltstone with Sandstone
40.0
unit 2
water inflow rates after mining LW7 and onwards laminations
Coal Seam
-350 33.0
unit 1
AQ1
increased substantially yielding a rate of about 88 l/s Siltstone-sandstone 0.0
Coal Seam Mining seam
after mining LW7. The noticeable change observed in -400 Floor
Sandstone, siltstone, -20.0
the water inflow rates could be attributed to the change Conglomerate

in the width of the panel as well as to the so-called -450

Sandstone-Siltstone
multi-panel effect. Mining seam

Figure 4 presents the distribution of vertical perme-

ability changes as predicted by the numerical model. Figure 3. Conceptual hydrogeological model adopted in the
In Figure 4 it can be clearly seen that pattern of change study.

414
Table 1. Permeability values used in the simulation.

Horizontal hydraulic Vertical hydraulic

conductivity (m/sec) conductivity (m/sec)
Rock unit ×10−8 ×10−8

Floor 1 0.25
Mining 20 20
Seam
Unit 1 2.5 1
Unit 2 0.05 0.05
Unit 3 1 0.25
Unit 4 0.1 0.1
Unit 5 1 0.25

Table 2. Geomechanical parameters used in the numerical Figure 4. Change in vertical permeability along the vertical
simulation. section A-A’ in Figure 2 (values indicate orders of magnitude
change).
Young’s Friction Tensile
Rock Modulus Cohesion Angle Strength
units (GPa) (MPa) (degrees) (MPa)

Base 18 8 35 3.7
Floor 10 2.5 35 0.96
Mining 3.5 1.3 40 0.5
Seam
Unit 1 10 3 35 1.15
Unit 2 10 3 30 1
Unit 3 10 3 35 1.15
Unit 4 10 3 30 1
Unit 5 10 3 35 1.15
Top 5 2 35 0.77

Table 3. Properties of rock interfacesmeters used in the

numerical simulation.

Rock Figure 5. Porepressure distribution (Pascals) at the mining

units Rock interface seam after mining LW8 (Note the position of a piezometer
indicated as BH #1).
Base No-bedding
Floor No-bedding
Mining No-bedding Figure 5 presents the pore water pressure distri-
Seam bution in the coal seam after mining panel LW8 as
Unit 1 0.5 m bed spacing, joint cohesion = 0.5 MPa, joint obtained from the numerical simulation. The location
friction angle = 25◦ of the piezometer installed in a borehole BH #1 is
Unit 2 0.25 m bed spacing, joint cohesion = 0.3 MPa, joint marked on the plot. The numerically predicted pore
friction angle = 25◦
Unit 3 0.5 m bed spacing, joint cohesion = 0.5 MPa, joint
water pressure at that location is about 400000 Pa (i.e.
friction angle = 35◦ water head of about 41 m); the piezometer installed in
Unit 4 0.25 m bed spacing, joint cohesion = 0.3 MPa, joint the coal seam in BH #1 was reading a value of around
friction angle = 25◦ 43 m after the completion of LW8 extraction.
Unit 5 0.5 m bed spacing, joint cohesion = 0.5 MPa, joint Figure 6 presents the numerical predictions of water
friction angle = 25◦ inflow into the lower series of panels from LW6 to
Top No-bedding LW13. Numerical simulations were carried when LW7
was being mined. After two years, the predicted inflow
rates can be seen to be in good agreement with the
in vertical permeability differs for panels up to LW6 measurements.
and those LW7 onwards indicating a likelihood of Figure 7 presents the predictions of pore water
increased water inflow subject to water availability in pressure distribution at the mining seam after min-
the overlying aquifers. ing panels LW12. In the figure, the effect of mining

415
 350 The unique feature of COSFLOW is the incorpora-
Numerical
tion of Cosserat continuum theory in its formulation.
300 Mine measurement total In the Cosserat model, inter-layer interfaces (joints,
bedding planes) are considered to be smeared across
250 Numerical pump 2 the mass, i.e. the effects of interfaces are incorpo-
Mine measurement rated implicitly in the choice of stress-strain model
Flow rate, l/s

200 pump 2 formulation.

As rock masses usually contain natural fractures
Flow rate trend after LW6
150 which predominantly control the fluid movements a
model based on equivalent fracture network is incor-
100 porated in COSFLOW. In that framework fluid flow
Flowrate trend upto LW6 through a single fracture is expressed using flow
50 through parallel plate analogue where a fracture is ide-
LW6 LW8 LW10 LW12 alized as a planar opening with a constant aperture.
0
10 This approach is found to be amenable to easy evalua-
0 5
Time (years) tion of modifications to the hydraulic conductivities
as a function of stress induced changes in fracture
Figure 6. Comparison of numerical prediction with the aperture.
mine measurements. The example of COSFLOW application in mine
water inflow prediction presented in this paper shows
the remarkable capability of COSFLOW to simulate
the mining induced rock deformation, aquifer inter-
ference, permeability changes and water inflow into a
longwall mine.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to express their sincere grat-

itude to NEDO and JCOAL of Japan for providing a
significant part of the funds during the development
of COSFLOW.

Figure 7. Porepressure distribution in Pascal at the mining
seam after mining LW12.
one series of panels in the vicinity of another series
of already mined out panels can be seen clearly. The
pore water pressure in the coal seam is predicted to
drop substantially in the region between North-South
trending upper series of panels (LW1b to LW9b) and
the East-West trending upper series of panel (LW10b).
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper describes a three dimensional coupled
mechanical two-phase double porosity finite element
code called COSFLOW developed by CSIRO Explo-
ration and Mining to address the coalmine related rock
deformation and water/gas inflow issues.
REFERENCES
Adhikary, D.P., Guo, H., Shen, B. & Knight, A. 2004. Inter-
pretation of Hydrogeological Data at Springvale Colliery.
Exploration and Mining Report P2004/62, 28 pp.
Adhikary, D.P., Guo, H. & Chen, S. 2004. LW410 Subsidence
estimate at Springvale Colleiry. CSIRO Exploration and
Mining Report 1221C, 17 pp.
Adhikary, D.P. & Guo, H. 2002. An orthotropic Cosserat
elasto-plastic model for layered rocks. Rock Mech. Rock
Eng. 35(3): 161–170.
Adhikary, D.P. & Dyskin, A.V. 1998. A continuum model of
layered rock masses with non-associative joint plasticity,
Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 22(1): 245–261.
Adhikary, D.P. & Dyskin, A.V. 1997. A Cosserat continuum
model for layered materials. Computers and Geotechnics
20(1): 15–45.
Bai, M. & Elsworth, D. 1994. Modeling of subsidence and
stress-dependent hydraulic conductivity for intact and
fractured porous media. Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 27(4):
209–234.
Cosserat, E. & Cosserat, F. 1909. Theorie des corps
deformables. Paris: Hermann.
Cundall, P.A. 1987. Distinct element models of rock and soil
structures. Anal. and Comp. Meth. in Engng Rock Mech.:
129–163.

416
De Wiest 1969. Flow through Porous Media. London: Aca-
demic Press, 530pp.
Elsworth, D. 1989. Thermal permeability enhancement of
blocky rocks: one dimensional flows. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 26(3/4): 329–339.
Gerrard, C.M. 1982. Elastic models of rock masses having
one, two and three sets of joints. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 19: 15–23.
Goodman, R.E., Taylor, R.L. & Brekke, T. 1968. A model for
the mechanics of jointed rock. J. Soil Mech. Found. Div.,
ASCE 94: 637–659.
Guo, H., Shen, B., Poulsen, B. & Zhou, B. 2003. Interpretation
of Geological, Hydrogeological and Ground Water Data
at Springvale Colliery. Exploration and Mining Report
1129C, 90 pp.
Guo, H., Adhikary, D.P., Xue, S., Craig, M.S., Poulsen, B.A.,
Chen, S., Wendt, M., Su, S. & Mallett, C. 2003. Pre-
development Studies for Mine Methane Management
and Utilisation. CSIRO Exploration and Mining Report
1079C, 134 pp.
Guo, H., Shen, B. & Poulsen, B. 2002. Review of Exist-
ing Ground Water and Geotechnical Data at Springvale
Colliery. CSIRO Exploration and Mining Report, 20 pp.
Hubbert, M.K. 1940. The theory of ground water motion.
J. Geol. 48: 785–944.
Knight, A. & Miller, B. 2005. Water management in longwall
operations. In Longwall 2005, Hunter Valley, NSW.
417
Kozeny, J. & Ber, S. 1927. Wiener Akad, Abt. 2a, 136, 271.
Krumbein, W.C. & Monk, G.D. 1943. Permeability as a func-
tion of the size parameters of unconsolidated sand. Trans.
Am. Inst. Min. Metall. Petrol. Engng. 151: 153–163.
Liu, J. & Elsworth, D. 1997. Three-dimensional effects of
hydraulic conductivity enhancement and desaturation
around mined panels. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(8):
1139–1152.
Louis, C. 1969. Groundwater flow in rock masses and its
influence on stability. Rock Mech. Res. Report 10, Imperial
College, UK.
Mühlhaus, H.-B. 1993. Continuum models for layered and
blocky rock. In Hudson (ed.), Comprehensive Rock Engi-
neering. Pergamon Press, vol. 2, pp. 209–230.
Rutqvist, J., Wu, Y.-S., Tsang, C.-F. & Bodvarsson, G. 2002.
A modelling approach for analysis of coupled multiphase
fluid flow, heat transfer, and deformation in fractured
porous rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr.
39(1): 429–442.
Salamon, M.D.G. 1968. Elastic moduli of stratified rock
mass. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr.
5: 519–527.
Zvolinskii, N.V. & Shkhinek, K.N. 1984. Continual model of
laminar elastic medium. Mechanics of Solids 19: 1–9.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Long term tunnel stability in soft rock considering the influence of

permeability using a coupled analysis

K. Kishida, T. Sakata & T. Hosoda

Department of Urban Management, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

A. Tomita
Tokyo Electric Power Service Co., Tokyo, Japan

T. Adachi
Geo Research Institute, Osaka, Japan

ABSTRACT: Several researchers have done on soft rock in experiment and numerical modeling. They were
commonly known that the mechanical behavior of soft rocks resented elasto-plastic, dilation, strain hardening-
softening at low confining stress level and time dependency. In soft rock, dilation occurs in the mechanical
process, and it is assumed that permeability does change. Therefore, when the stability of the tunnel and the
cavern in soft rock is discussed, both influences of groundwater and dilation should be considered. In this study,
the authors will discuss the long term tunnel stability considering the permeability and volumetric strain using
the hydro – mechanical coupled analysis. Consequently, it is confirmed that the difference of permeability is
strongly affected to the mechanical behavior in the tunnel excavation.

1 INTRODUCTION an elasto-viscoplastic model with strain-softening/-

In general, the mechanical behavior of soft rock is
elasto-plastic, dilational, strain-hardening/-softening
and time dependent. Moreover, during the shearing
process, the mechanical behavior of soft rock is largely
dependent on the confining stress and the pore water
pressure. When a tunnel and/or underground cavern is
excavated in the soft rock, the remarkable mechanical
behavior of soft rock should be considered.
The pore water pressure depends on the permeabil-
ity of soft rock and the permeability also depends on
the porosity of material. In the shear process, the var-
ious volumetric strain appears and it is thought that
the porosity of soft rock is changed. Therefore, the
change of the permeability affects the response of the
pore water pressure. It is thought that the mechanical
behavior of soft rock is changed. The relation between
the mechanical behavior and the pore water pressure
is interactive and we must consider both factors when
the geotechnical issues on soft rock are discussed.
Many researchers have described the mechanical
behavior of soft rock both in experiment and numer-
ical modeling. Adachi & Oka (1982) and Oka &
Adachi (1985) proposed an elasto-plastic model and/or
hardening for soft rock. Using this constitutive model
in a finite element analysis, Zhang et al. (2003) pointed
out a key problem, namely, a plane-strain condition is
mostly considered in which the intermediate princi-
pal stress plays an important role in the deformation
and strength characteristics of soft rock. Zhang et al.
(2003) introduced the concept of Spatially Mobilized
Plane (Matsuoka & Nakai 1977) and its failure criteria
into the Oka andAdachi’s strain-softening model. Con-
sequently, the modified strain-softening model could
account for the influence of the intermediate principal
stress.
Using the above-mentioned model, in this paper,
the stability of a tunnel in soft rock will be dis-
cussed. In performing the numerical simulation, we
change the parameters which affect the behavior of
the volumetric strain, and which are obtained through
a one-element theoretical analysis. In various vol-
umetric strain parameters, this shows the dilation
behavior in the volumetric strain, the other shows
the compression. Moreover, these parameters change
the permeability in the model in each case they are
applied. Through this parametric study, the effect on
the stability of tunnel will be examined.

419
2 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Case 1 & 2 (Axial Stress)
3- Case 3 & 4 (Axial Stress) 3
2.1 Elasto-viscoplastic model with strain softening Experiment (Axial Stress)

Stress difference σ1 - σ3 [MPa]

In this research work, the elasto-plastic model with 2 -2

Volumetric strain [%]

strain softening which was presented by Oka & Adachi
(1985) is used. The model is applied to the concept of 1 -1
strain as follows;
0 0

-1 1

where dz is an incremental strain measure and deij Case 1 & 2 (Strain-V)

-2 2
is the incremental deviatoric strain tensor. The stress Case 3 & 4 (Strain-V)
history tensor was expressed as Experiment (Strain-V)
-3 3
0 2 4 6 8 10
Deviatoric strain [%]

Figure 1. Stress difference and volumetric strain versus

where τ is a material parameter which expresses the deviatoric strain relations obtained through both experimen-
strain rate effect on stress history and σij is the stress tal and analytical results.
tensor and σij (0) is the value of the stress tensor at
z = 0. The total strain increment tensor consists of
3, a smaller b value than Case 1 is used, and volumet-
the elastic and plastic components. The plastic strain
ric strain shows the compressive behavior (Fig. 1). In
increment is given by a non-associated flow rule.
Cases 2 and 4, a smaller permeability, k, is used than
Zhang et al. (2003) introduced the concept of Spa-
in Cases 1 and 3.
tially Mobilized Plane (Matsuoka & Nakai 1977) and
In order to simulate the triaxial compression tests
its failure criteria into the above mentioned strain-
and the triaxial creep tests under different confin-
softening model. The modified model is developed
ing stress conditions, the model should be selected
to consider the influence of the intermediate principal
using appropriate material parameters for each confin-
stress. Figure 1 shows both the experimental results
ing condition. Ohtsuki et al. (2006) proposed that the
and the two dimensional analytical results. These
strain hardening – softening parameter Mf∗ is depen-
involve triaxial CD tests performed on Neogene-age
Tuffs. Case 1 in Figure 1 is the standard parameter case dent on the confining stress. Moreover, the elastic
which is developed through the concept of the model shear modulus, G, as well as the strain hardening
and the experimental results. From this figure, it is con- parameter, G’, are used to develop a modified formula
firmed that the model can express strain-hardening/- which considers the influence of the confining stress
softening behavior and dilatancy. The model is verified as follows:
by triaxial CD tests on soft rock under a plane-strain
condition.

2.2 Parameter setting

The material parameters used in the parametric stud-
ies for the underground excavation were obtained
through the experimental results. These ground model
parameters are presented in Table 1. In this study, the
influence of volumetric strain and permeability will
be discussed. Therefore, four cases of two parameters
combination are carried out. In the elasto-viscoplastic
constitutive model with strain-hardening/-softening, where p0 is the normalized pressure, G0 and G0 are
the plastic potential parameter, b, controls the volumet- the value of G  and G at normalized confining stress
ric strain behavior. In Case 1, volumetric strain shows p0 , respectively. Mf∗0 is the value of Mf∗ at normalized
the dilation behavior as well as the experimental results confining stress p0 . σ3 is the minimum principal stress
for the studied soft rock. The result of triaxial CD test (confining stress). S, ξ and β are the parameters which
on soft rock under 0.1 MPa confining stress is also express the confining stress dependency. In this study,
shown in Figure 1. Case 1 is the standard case. In Case by introducing the concept of the above-mentioned

420
 Table 1. Material parameters.

Case

Parameter 1 2 3 4

Unit weight of soil [kN/m3 ] 20.0

Unite weight of water 10.0
[kN/m3]
Young’s modulus 1st layer 9.261 × 102
E 2nd layer 1.552 × 103
3rd layer 2.082 × 103
Poisson’s ratio, ν 0.17
Strain hardening- 1st layer 16.70
softening parameter, 2nd layer 7.70
G’ 3rd layer 4.95
Stress history parameter, τ 0.959
Strain rate dependent 0.959
parameter of τ, a
Principal stress ratio 1st layer 4.226
(σ1 /σ3 )f at 2nd layer 3.745
residual state, Rf 3rd layer 3.517
Increment strain ratio −0.85
(dεv /dε1 )f at residual state, Df
Plastic potential parameter, 6.40
σmb [MPa]
Plastic potential parameter, b 0.33 3.30
[MPa]
Transition creep parameter, C 0.04
α is determined by the gradient 1.0
of the relation curve of the
stress ration to the increment
strain ratio
Permeability, k[10−6 cm/sec] 3 0.3 3 0.3

stress dependency into the modified model, which is
considered as the influence of the intermediate stress,
the following equations are defined and the required
material parameters are conveniently estimated.
where E and E0 are the Young’s modulus and the value
of E at normalized confining stress. Rf is the values
of the principal stress ratio (σ1 /σ3 )f at residual stress
state of the triaxial compressive test. Rf has the same
physical meaning as the Mf∗ in the original model.
Actually, the numerical analyses are performed for
the model geometry shown in Figure 2. The mechan-
ical parameters are determined based on the averaged
overburden earth pressure in each formation. The
mechanical parameters are described in Table 1. Here,
Df is defined as the values of the incremental strain
ratio (dεv /dε1 )f at residual state and is dependent on
the initial state of geo-materials.
2.3 Calculation set-up
The finite element mesh and boundary conditions for
the study area are shown in Figure 2. The study area
is 220 m high and 400 m width. The shape of the
excavated tunnel is circlar with a diameter of 20 m.
The calculation and excavation steps are shown in
Table 2. First, the initial stress condition is estimated
and the equivalent external force and initial stress is
applied around the tunnel wall elements. The excava-
tion of the tunnel is simulated through a release ratio
of the equivalent external force. In the excavation pro-
cess, 60% of the equivalent external force is off-loaded
and then the simulation undergoes a creep stage. Three
types of calculation steps are applied. In Types-1 and
-2, 1000 hours are spent following release of 60% of
the external force. Type-1 involves 10 minute time step
intervals (6000 steps) and Type-2 involves 5 minute
time step intervals (12000 steps). In Type-3, 2000
hours are spent during the 60% external force release
process using the same time step interval as in Type-1.

421
 1st layer Head = 220 [m]

110 m
100 m
200 m Drain boundary

220 m
2nd layer Pressure head=0 [m]
20 m

Hydrostatic D = 20 m Hydrostatic
3rd layer
100 m
400 m

Undrain boundary

Figure 2. Finite element mesh, boundary conditions and distribution of three layers.

Table 2. Time step of FEM simulation and excavation t2

process.
D t1
External Time step s1 s2
force release
Action ratio [%] Type-1 Type-2 Type-3 D
D f1
Estimation of D = 20 m
initial stress f2
condition
Start to the 0 Figure 3. The arrangement of monitored elements around
excavation the tunnel.
process
Stress release 1 10 min 5 min 10 min performed. Figure 4 shows both the deviatoric stress
on excavating interval interval interval and volumetric strain histories in element s1.
process of time of time of time
In the initial phase of the excavation process, stress
↓ 2 step step step
↓ 3 (6000 (12000 (12000 histories are different in each case. At 800 hours after
.. .. steps) steps) steps) starting the excavation (i.e. with almost 50% release
. . of the external force), the deviatoric stresses reach the
↓ 40 same value as that for 10 years. At 10 years, both devi-
.. ..
. . atoric stress and volumetric strain are rapidly changed
End of 60 1000 h 1000 h 2000 h in all types. It is confirmed that Types-2 and -3 are
excavation remarkably more changed than Type-1. Moreover, it
process is also confirmed that the transfer speeds are differ-
.. ..
. (Creep process) . ent. For the Type-1 time step, it takes only about 10
End 60 days to move to the next state. For the Type-3, it takes
51 days.
The effective stress path is shown in Figure 5. In the
effective stress path, the same histories are shown for
each type. 10 years after starting the excavation, the
The configuration of the elements around the tunnel stress path rapidly changes in each type. It is believed
is shown in Figure 3. In this paper, the values recorded that creep failures eventually occurs for all three time
at elements s1 and s2 are mainly discussed. step types.

3 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 The influence of time step
Using the basic mechanical material parameter
defined for Case 1, the numerical simulations were
3.2 The influence of volumetric strain and
permeability
Two mechanical parameters, namely, dilation behav-
ior (Case 1) and compressive behavior (Case 2) of
volumetric strain, are used to calculate the tunnel

422
 0.4 -0.064 0.4 -0.08

(2J2)0.5

Volumetric strain
(2J2)0.5 0.2 -0.04
0.2 -0.032

(2J2)0.5 [MPa]
(2J2)0.5 [MPa]

Volumetric strain
Type -1
Type -1
Type -2
Type -2
0 Type -3 0 0 Type -3 0

Volumetric strain [%] Volumetric strain [%]

-0.2 0.032 -0.2 Type -1 0.04

Type -1
Type -2
Type -2
Type -3
Type -3
0.064 -0.4 0.08
-0.4

0 50 100 150 200 400 800 1200 1600 2000

Time [hour] Time [hour]
(a) From excavation start to 20% release of the (b) From 200 hours to 2000 hours. Excavation
external force Using time step Type-1 and Type-2. processes are finished for all time step types.

(2J2)0.5 (2J2)0.5
1 0.05 1 0.05

Type -1 Type -1
Type -2 Type -2
0.8 Type -3
0.06 0.8 Type -3 0.06
Volumetric strain

Volumetric strain
Volumetric strain [%] Volumetric strain [%]
(2J2)0.5 [MPa]

(2J2)0.5 [MPa]

0.6 Type -1 0.07 0.6 Type -1 0.07

Type -2 Type -2
Type -3 Type -3

0.4 0.08 0.4 0.08

0.2 0.09 0.2 0.09

10 years 23 days
51 days
10 days
0 0.1 0 0.1
5x104 1x105 1.5x105 8.7x104 8.75x104 8.8x104 8.85x104 8.9x104
Time [hour] Time [hour]
(c) From 2000 hours to 18 years (d) From 87000 hours to 89000 hours (about 83 days)

Figure 4. Deviatoric stress and volumetric strain histories relative to time steps and excavation step (element s1, Case 1).

excavation response. The Type-3 calculation time step

2.7 as shown in Table 2 was used.
2.6 Type -1 10 years Figures 6 and 7 show the deviatoric stress and the
Type -2 volumetric strain histories at elements s1 and s2. At
2.5 both elements, the influence of the plastic potential
t [MPa]

Type -3
parameter is not confirmed. When compared with Fig-
2.4 ure 1, the stress level in this simulation results is lower.
Start of excavation Based on Figure 1, the process of volumetric strain
2.3 remains in the initial phase and dilation behavior does
not appear for this simulation.
2.2
On the other hand, the influence of permeabil-
2.1 ity is clearly observed in the simulation. During the
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 excavating process especially, the influence is clearly
s' [MPa] observed. In case of higher permeability, both larger
stresses and volumetric strains develop.
Figure 5. The effective stress path of element s1 considering After finishing the excavation process, no differ-
the influence of calculating time steps. Material parameters ence due to the plastic potential parameter and perme-
are used in Case 1. ability is confirmed. It is thought that groundwater

423
 (2J2)0.5 Volumetric strain [%]
0.4 -0.064 Case 1
(2J2)0.5 Case 1
0.4 Case 2 -0.064
Case 2

Volumetric strain [%]

Case 3
Case 3
Case 1 -0.032 Case 4
0.2

Volumetric strain [%]

Case 4
(2J2)0.5 [MPa]

Case 2

(2J2)0.5 [MPa]
0.2 -0.032
Case 3
Case 4 Volumetr ic str ain [% ]
0 0
Case 1 0 0
Case 2
Case 3
-0.2 Case 4 0.032
-0.2 0.032

-0.4 0.064
-0.4 0.064
0 50 100 150 200
0 50 100 150 200
Time [hour] Time [hour]
(a) From excavation start to 20% release of the external force
(a) From excavation start to 20% release of the external force
at element s1.
at element s2.

0.4 -0.08
(2J2)0.5 0.4 -0.064
Volumetric strain [%]

Volumetric strain [%]

0.2 Case 1 -0.04
(2J2)0.5 [MPa]
Case 2 0.2 -0.032
(2J2)0.5 [MPa]

Case 3 Volumetric strain [%]

0.5
Case 4 Volumetric strain [%] (2J2)
0 0 Case 1
0 Case 1 Case 2 0
Case 1 Case 2
Case 2 Case 3
Case 3 Case 4
Case 3 Case 4
-0.2 Case 4 0.04
-0.2 0.032

-0.4 0.08 -0.4 0.064

400 800 1200 1600 2000

400 800 1200 1600 2000
Time [hour] Time [hour]
(b) From 200 hours to 2000 hours at element s1. Excavation (b) From 200 hours to 2000 hours at element s2. Excavation
processes are finished. processes are finished.
1 0.05
(2J2)0.5
0.4 -0.064
0.8 0.06
Volumetric strain [%]

Case 1
Volumetric strain [%]

Case 2
(2J2)0.5 [MPa]

0.2 -0.032
(2J2)0.5 [MPa]

Case 3 Volumetric strain [%] Volumetric strain [%]

0.6 Case 4 0.07 0.5
(2J2)
Case 1
0 Case 1 Case 2 0
Case 1 Case 2
Case 2 Case 3
0.4 Case 3
0.08 Case 3 Case 4
Case 4
Case 4 -0.2 0.032

0.2 0.09
-0.4 0.064

0 0.1
5 104 1 105 1.5 105 5 104 1 105 1.5 105
Time [hour] Time [hour]
(c) From 2000 hours to 18 years at element s1. (c) From 2000 hours to 18 years at element s2.

Figure 6. Deviatoric stress and volumetric strain histories Figure 7. Deviatoric stress and volumetric strain histories
considering the influence of the plastic potential parameter, considering the influence of the plastic potential parameter,
b, and permeability (element s1, Type -3). b, and permeability (element s2, Type -3).

424
 2.7 4 CONCLUSION

2.6 Case 1 For a simple circlar tunnel, the tunnel stability is

Case 2 modelled taking into account the influence of the
2.5 Case 3 plastic potential parameter (volumetric strain) and
t [MPa]

Case 4
2.4 the permeability using a coupled hydro-mechanical
elasto-visco-plastic analysis.
2.3 Consequently, permeability is strongly affected by
induced stress and volumetric strain during the excava-
2.2 tion process. Upon completion of the excavating pro-
cess, no difference is observed between the different
2.1
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 test cases.
s' [MPa]
(a) Element s1
REFERENCES
2.4 Adachi, T. & Oka, F. 1982. Constitutive equations for nor-
Case 1 mally consolidated clay based on elasto-viscoplasticity.
2.35 10 years Soils & Foundations 22(4): 57–70.
Case 2 Ohtsuki, H., Tasaka, Y., Suzuki, Y., Ohmori, T., Kishida, K. &
Adachi, T. 2006. Expansion of a soil-water coupled elasto-
t [MPa]

2.3 Case 3
visco-plastic model and its application to cavern excava-
Case 4
tion in soft rock. In Proc. of the 35th Symposium on Rock
2.25 Mechanics: JSCE, Paper No. 43.
Oka, F. & Adachi, T. 1985. A constitutive equation of geo-
2.2 logical materials with memory. In Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on
Start of excavation Numerical Method in Geomechanics, vol. 1, pp. 293–300.
2.15 Zhang, F., Yashima, A., Ye, G. L., Adachi, T. & Oka, F. 2003.
1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 An elastoplastic strain-hardening and strain-softening
constitutive model for soft rock considering the influ-
(b) Element s2
s' [MPa] ence of intermediate stress. Soils & Foundations 43(5):
107–117.
Figure 8. The effective stress path considering the influence
of the plastic potential parameter and permeability.

moves into a steady condition after the excavating

process and all cases also reach the same state.
The effective stress paths are shown in Figure 8. In
all cases, the effective stress paths are total shown in the
same history. No difference due to the plastic potential
parameter and the permeability is discernable.

425
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Three dimensional modelling of spiling bolts for tunnelling in

a weakness zone

Q.N. Trinh & E. Broch

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

M. Lu
SINTEF Rock and Soil Mechanics, Trondheim, Norway & Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
Trondheim, Norway

ABSTRACT: Spiling bolts are often used as a pre-support measure for tunnelling in an extremely weak rock
mass. However, this application is based mainly on experience without a clear description of how spiling bolts
work. This may be the first time spiling bolts have been modelled using pile elements in FLAC3D. The models
are able to describe a more correct picture of the supporting action of spiling bolts by including the bending
moment for the bolts. The models show a great improvement of the roof stability when the bolt ends are fixed.
Forces and deformations of the bolts are also studied. The models demonstrate the “umbrella” effect of the
spiling bolts. The model shows that some input parameters for the “pile elements” spiling bolt are difficult to
quantify. These parameters are only possible to obtain from in situ tests. References have to be made so that
input parameters, to some extent, can be obtained.

1 BACKGROUND
1.1 Cave-in problem
A serious cave-in problem was encountered in the
headrace tunnel of Buon Kuop hydropower project,
located in the central part of Vietnam. The longitudinal
section is presented in Figure 1.
The headrace tunnel consists of two parallel tun-
nels, each 9 m in diameter, in young sedimentary rocks.
The tunnels are excavated by normal drill and blast
methods. The second tunnel face is about 70 to 100 m
behind the first one. Headrace tunnel length is about
4.8 km, and the excavation was carried out through
three accesses: from the intake, from the downstream
end and from an adit in the middle. The cave-in prob-
lem happened in the first headrace tunnel at chainage
34 + 70, where the excavation was progressing from
downstream and hit a weakness zone of about 15–20 m
width. Because the drilling equipment was not capable
of handling drill rods longer than 6 m, probe drilling
was not included in the tunnelling procedure.
After blasting, the filling material of the weak-
ness zone flowed into the tunnel, accompanied by
water. The movement of the weakness zone material

Figure 1. Water conveyance system of Buon Kuop project PECC2 (2004).

427
Figure 2. Cave-in (left) and sinkhole (right).
Models for bolt in
FLAC3D
Cable element
Strength Strength
independence dependence
Figure 3. Options to model bolts in FLAC3D.
continued all the way 60 m up to the surface and
created a sink hole, as shown in Figure 2.
Special support measures and excavation methods
were applied to get through the weakness zone, includ-
ing spiling bolts, steel ribs, shotcrete and partial face
excavation. More detailed information of the cave-in
problem can be found in Trinh (2006).
1.2 Analyses
The cave-in problem was analysed by a number of
analyses including convergence confinement method
(CC-method) and modelling in 2D and 3D. The CC-
method was used not only to analyse the cave-in, but
also for studying rockmass properties. Results from
the CC-method and 2D models showed that rock-
mass properties obtained by studying in situ rockmass
and using the Hoek-Brown failure criterion give the
most realistic results. However, the Hoek-Brown fail-
ure criterion is not available in FLAC3D-version 2.1.
Therefore, to use the FLAC3D models, a series of more
complicated analyses were carried out to find the most
practical cohesion and friction angle of the rockmass
at the weakness zone. A simple criterion for these back
analyses is that the model should show the instability at
428
Pile element
σ σ
independence dependence
the tunnel face, in the roof and in the sinkhole. Results
from the back analyses using numerical modelling
by FLAC3D showed that the cohesion ranges from
0.05–0.07 MPa, and the friction angle ranges from
21◦ to 29◦ .
Details of all referenced analyses can be found in
Trinh (2006) or Trinh et al. (2006). After the back anal-
yses, a cohesion of 0.05 MPa and a friction angle of 26◦
of the rockmass were selected for the detailed study of
the behaviour of the spiling bolts.
2 SPILING BOLT MODELS
Spiling bolts are often used in tunnelling in extremely
poor rock masses. Spiling bolts provide a safe protec-
tion ahead of the tunnel face. In spite of their effective-
ness and common use, only limited studies about how
spiling bolts work have been published. In this paper,
spiling bolts are studied in detail, using FLAC3D.
2.1 Model selection for spiling bolts
In FLAC3D, there are two main types of elements that
can be used to model a bolt Figure 3. These are cable
elements and pile elements. Radial bolts are often Table 1. Bolt properties using pile element.
modelled by cable elements, but cable elements may
not be suitable for spiling bolts. Properties Unit Value

Young’s modulus of the bolts (steel) E MPa 200.103

2.1.1 Cable element Poisson’s ratio of the bolts (steel) ν 0.25
This element can be imagined as a long steel bar, which Cross sectional area of the bolts s m2 3.10−4
can only carry the axial tensile and axial compressive (φout = 50 mm, φin = 46 mm)
Perimeter of the bolts p (bolt m 0.16
loads (Itasca 2005). The element has no capability to
length = 6 m)
carry bending moment. The bearing capacity of this Ultimate tensile strength t MN 0.136
type of element is achieved by the friction between the Second moment, respect to y-axis of m4 44.10−9
outer skin of the element and the rock mass and the the pile element Iy
strength of the element itself. Second moment, respect to y-axis of m4 44.10−9
This type of element is suitable for modelling sup- the pile element Iz
ports such as anchored cable bolts, radial rock bolts Polar moment of inertia J m4 87.10−9
(end anchored or grouted), and pre-tensioned rock Shear coupling spring cohesion per MN/m 0
bolts. In those bolts, the load bearing is mainly axial. unit length
Shear coupling spring stiffness per MN/m2 10
unit length
2.1.2 Pile element Normal coupling spring cohesion per MN/m 150
The main difference between the cable element and the unit length
Normal coupling spring stiffness per MN/m2 1000
pile element is that the pile element can carry other
unit length
loads besides axial loads. With the pile element, loads Shear coupling spring friction angle φ degree 20
such as normal-to-element-axis or bending moment
can be carried (Itasca 2005). Pile elements can be used
to model bolts that are subjected to complicated load- 2.2 Mechanical properties of spiling bolts
ing conditions such as a loading condition of both shear
and tension. An example would be anchored bolts When using the pile element to model spiling bolts, 13
to prevent the movement of two rock blocks, where input parameters are required to define the mechanical
the bolts have to resist a shearing load and tension. properties of the bolts. In Table 1, the first eight param-
Thus, pile elements can be used to model the spiling eters can be calculated or obtained without too much
bolts because spiling bolts work in complicated load- effort. Details of the calculation for those parameters
ing conditions. Spiling bolts are aligned approximately can be found in Trinh (2006). The remaining parame-
parallel to the tunnel axis. Forces on the spiling bolts ters are not easy to define. It may require in situ tests to
are therefore not only friction along the bolts, but also find the true values. In this research, due to limitations
forces acting normal to the bolt axis. The normal forces of time and finances, in situ tests were not carried out.
result in a bending moment in the bolts. Reference is made to the Itasca examples to obtain the
Load bearing capacity of a pile element is provided values.
by the skin friction between the element and rock mass,
the strength of the element, the stiffness of the element, 3 SIMULATION & BEHAVIOUR OF THE
and the cross section shape of the element (circular, BOLTS
rectangular, ring).
For both of the elements (cable and pile), there are At the Buon Kuop tunnel, spiling bolts are installed
two types of bolt friction strengths available which along the roof of the tunnel with a bolt spacing of
are friction strength independent of confinement and 30 cm. Bolts are installed after every second one-
friction strength dependent on confinement. The inde- metre-long excavation round, so the bolt row spacing
pendent strength type can be used for such bolts as is 2 m.
grouted rock bolts in a fractured rock mass, or resin The results of bolt deformation and the axial force
rock bolts. In this situation, the skin friction is decided and bending moment in the bolts are presented in
by how the bolts interact with the rock mass (resin, Figure 4. The results show that large deformations
grouting cement). The second type, strength depen- and forces are located at the bolt ends near the tun-
dent, is suitable for bolts that require the confinement nel periphery. This suggests that the bolt ends should
to develop the friction such as normal grouted rock be properly supported to improve the effectiveness of
bolts or Swellex bolts. spiling bolts.
In this paper, the pile element with friction strength With fixed bolt ends, the model showed a great
dependent on confinement was selected to model the reduction of the deformation ahead of the tunnel, as
spiling bolts for tunnelling support at the Buon Kuop shown in Figure 5. As can be seen from the picture,
weakness zone. by providing the “bolt ends fixed”, the deformation

429
Figure 4. Deformation and forces acting on spiling bolts.
Figure 5. Reduction of the deformation when fixing bolt ends.
ahead of the tunnel is reduced from an unacceptable
level (20–30 cm) to a level that ensures the stability for
the excavation in the weakness zone (4–6 cm). In real-
ity, the spiling bolt ends are often supported by radial
bolts, steel ribs or concrete. More information can be
found in Hoek (2000).
The effect of properly supporting the bolt ends
to improve the tunnel stability can be observed in a
number of cases in practice.
430
In Figure 6, the spiling bolts were installed in a
very poor clay-rich fault zone. The performance of
the bolts would have been significantly reduced if the
bolts had not kept in between the steel ribs. This can
be explained by the deformation of the spiling bolts in
the above simulations with bolt ends fixed.
As can be seen from the picture, by providing the
steel ribs to firmly confine the bolts, the spiling bolt
system becomes stiffer to some extent beyond the

Figure 6. Spiling bolts in very poor clay-rich fault zone,
Hoek (2000).
Figure 7. Spiling bolts are not stiff enough leading to a
severe instability.
tunnel face, which creates an “umbrella” to protect the
roof for the next excavation. This effect and the interac-
tion between bolts and rockmass are the fundamental
bases for using spiling bolts as a pre-support mea-
sure. Results of models with and without the spiling
bolts show that without the bolts, the deformation is
very large in the roof. With the “umbrella”, the large
deformation in the roof is prevented. The tunnel floor
becomes a releasing face for the deformation, thus
large deformations now appear at the floor. However,
large deformations in the floor are easier to handle than
in the roof by installing an invert concrete arch.
Another issue for spiling bolts is the stiffness of the
bolts. In Figure 4, it can be seen that there is a sig-
nificant amount of bending moment along the bolts,
thus the stiffness of the bolts is important. Improper
selection of the bolt type may lead to a severe problem.
Figure 7 describes an instability situation in a headrace
tunnel in Vietnam. As can be seen in this figure, even
though the spiling bolts were well attached to the steel
ribs and shotcrete, the whole system did not prevent the
431
cave-in. The reasons for this instability were insuffi-
cient stiffness of the spiling bolts and poor integration
between the bolts and rockmass.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The “pile element” in FLAC3D provides a proper
model for spiling bolts. With the pile element in
FLAC3D, one can have a full picture of how spiling
bolts work, such as the friction between the bolts
and rock mass, the contribution of the stiffness of
the bolts to control deformation and the “umbrella”
effect of the bolts. By including perpendicular load
and bending moment, the pile elements are better than
cable elements in describing the working condition of
spiling bolts. This useful information is provided in
detail from the 3D simulations. However, in situ tests
and numerical models should be made to obtain more
accurate values of the above-mentioned spiling bolt
properties.
The four input parameters for the spiling bolts are
obtained by making reference to the Itasca exam-
ples. As already discussed, the rock masses in these
examples may be different from the rock mass in the
Buon Kuop weakness zone. Therefore, the quality of
the analyses may be reduced to some extent. Possible
solutions for this problem would be to carry out in
situ tests or parameter studies for the spiling bolts. In
this paper, parameter studies for the spiling bolts are
not carried out because it requires deformation mea-
surements of the bolts, which were not available, for
comparisons.
REFERENCES
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion – 2002 edition. In 5th North
American Rock Mechanics Symposium and 17th Tun-
neling Association of Canada Conference: NARMS-TAC,
Toronto, pp. 267–271.
Hoek, E. 2000. Chapter 12: Tunnels in weak rock. In Practical
Rock Engineering, http://www.rocscience.com/hoek/pdf/
Chapter_12_of_Rock_Engineering.pdf
Itasca 2005. FLAC3D User’s Manual. Minneapolis: Itasca
Consulting Group.
PECC2 2004. Project report – main volume. Electricity of
Vietnam (EVN).
Trinh, Q.N. 2006. Analyses of a cave-in problem in a
hydropower tunnel in Vietnam. PhD thesis, Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trond-
heim, Norway.
Trinh, Q.N., Broch, E. & Lu, M. 2006. Three-dimensional
modelling of a tunnel cave-in and spiling bolt support. In
ISRM International Symposium, Singapore.
Trinh, Q.N. & Broch, E. 2006. Analysing a cave-in failure in
a tunnel by the convergence-confinement method. Rock
Mechanics and Rock Engineering: Submitted.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A finite element model for the stability analysis and optimum

design of pressure tunnels

H. Ahmadi & A. Soltani

CULHAM Co., Department of Civil Engineering, AmirKabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

A. Fahimifar
Rock Mechanic Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, AmirKabir University of Technology,
Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: In this research the stability of the diversion tunnel for the Namroud dam, Tehran, Iran, is investi-
gated. Using finite element method (FEM) and the Schleiss technique, a detailed study on the design of a pressure
tunnel lining in a real construction situation with different conditions is performed. From the FEM model, in
addition to determining the general condition of the lining, the rock mass conditions around the tunnel, including
tension and plastic zones, are determined. Using a numerical model including the Schleiss method, it seems that
an efficient solution for the optimum and economical design of lining for water and pressure tunnels is achieved.

1 INTRODUCTION basis of the method outlined by Schleiss (1988, 1997a,

Pressure tunnels are among the most complicated of
tunnels, both in design and construction. Therefore,
any shortcoming in the design and construction of
these tunnels may result in great damage.
The Namroud dam is a clay-core embankment dam,
which is currently under construction, located about
100 km east of Tehran. It will be used for controlling
water, 130 million m3 , for several purposes. The height
from foundation level is 83.5 m with 680 m length of
crown. The diversion tunnel is located in the left side of
the dam. The level of the tunnel floor at inlet is 1,946 m
above sea level, 1,941 m at the outlet. The length of
tunnel is 754 m with a 4.5 m excavation diameter and
3.5 m effective diameter.
Classification of the rock mass was carried out
according to RMR and Q, showing a weak rock
mass. Considering this fact and the variability of the
ground water table, the tunnel was studied, both for
dry and saturated (for maximum ground water table)
conditions.
Both analytical and numerical methods were used
for the tunnel stability analysis. The analytical method
was based on Ladanyi’s (1974) assumptions for rock-
support interaction analysis and the Hoek-Brown
failure criterion (Hoek et al. 2002). For numerical anal-
ysis, the PLAXIS program was used for tunnel stability
for conditions both during and after construction, i.e.
in operating conditions.
Based on economic considerations and a appropri-
ate safety factor, the final lining was designed on the
b). The numerical model for the condition of maximum
interior pressure was applied for the selected lining.
2 GEOLOGICAL STUDIES
2.1 Classification of rock mass with RMR and Q
The rock mass along the tunnel is dominantly Marly
Tuff, Shale, Calcareous Marl and tectonized & frag-
mented lime. Marly Tuff is the weakest rock and most
of the tunnel is located in this rock type. RMR and Q
values for Marly Tuff were obtained at 25 and 0.027
respectively.
2.2 Calculation of geomechanical parameters of
the rock mass
The rock mass deformation modulus was calculated,
using the Hoek-Brown failure criterion (Hoek et al.
2002):
where Em = rock mass deformation modulus; D = a
factor which depends upon the degree of disturbance;
σci = unconfined compressive strength of intact rock
and GSI = geological strength index.
Geomechanical parameters corresponding to the
Hoek-Brown criteria (Hoek et al. 2002) and the Mohr–
Coulomb failure criteria were obtained using the

433
Table 1. Geomechanical parameters for Marly Tuff. Table 2. Safety factors for different thickness of linings.

Em φ c Thickness of lining (m) Safety Factor

◦
GPa MPa a S mb
Saturated 0.1 1.2
1.3 39 0.22 0.531 0.0002 0.687 0.2 1.9
0.25 2.1
Dry 0.1 1.45
2.5
0.2 1.9
S.R.C (0.1m shot) 0.25 2.1
2 G.R.C crown (hw=0)
SRC (0.2m shot)
Pi (Mpa)

S.R.C (0.25m shot)

1.5 G.R.C crown (hw=55m)
G.R.C S.wall (hw=0)
1 G.R.C S.wall (hw=55m)

0.5

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015

Ui (m)

Figure 1. The ground reaction curves (GRC) & support

reaction curve (SRC).

Rocklab program. Table 1 shows the geomechanical

parameters for Marly Tuff with 80 m of overburden,
mi = 10, σci = 30 MPa, D = 0 or undisturbed. (σci :
Unconfined Compressive Strength of intact rock).
These parameters were used in the design and analysis.

3 STABILITY ANALYSIS OF TUNNEL

3.1 Analytical method

The analytical method used in this study was based on
the Ladanyi analytical method and the Hoek-Brown
failure criterion. Figure 1 shows the ground reaction
curve (GRC) & the support reaction curve (SRC).
In saturated conditions, the change of behavior from
elastic to plastic occurred quickly in comparison to the
dry condition. This change occurs at higher pressure
and lower displacement.
In the dry condition, displacement of the side-
wall and floor is 17.5 mm and 13.5 mm respectively.
The pressure in the roof reduces to 0.058 MPa when
the displacement is 25 mm. In the saturated condi-
tion, because of the ground water table and confining
pressure around the tunnel, for 25 mm displacement
the pressure at roof and side walls is 0.59 MPa and
0.56 MPa; this would result in tunnel instability.
The safety factors for different thickness of linings
were obtained according to the ground reaction curve
(GRC) and the support reaction curve (SRC). Table 2
shows these values.
3.2 Numerical analysis using PLAXIS
3.2.1 Model description
In this modeling work, using the Finite Element soft-
ware PLAXIS, the tunnel and the surrounding rock
Figure 2. Meshing of FEM model and boundary condition.
mass were analyzed. In this analysis, triangular ele-
ments with 15 nodes are employed for the modeling.
The model is the 2D PLAXIS model in the condition of
plane strain. The length of the model along the X axis
was taken as 50 m, five times the tunnel diameter in
each side. This means that the stress condition in the
model boundary is the same as before excavation. The
height of the model along the Y axis was taken as 80
m, equal to the overburden. A critical section in the
stability analysis, located in Marly Tuff, was selected
for modeling.
The meshing of the model and boundary conditions
is shown in Figure 2.
3.2.2 Stability analysis without lining and for dry
and saturated conditions
In the dry condition, maximum displacement was
obtained in the roof with a value of 6.58 mm. Figure 3

434
 4000

3500

3000

2500

P (KN)
2000

1500
Lining (100*30)
1000
Model
500 Lining (100*10)
Model
0
0 5 10 15 20
-500
M (KN.m)

Figure 5. The plot of P (axial force) vs M (moment) for

Figure 3. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points shotcrete with 10 cm and 30 cm thickness.
in the dry condition without lining.

envelope. The shear and loading capacity are con-

trolled by ACI (American Concrete Institute) codes
(ACI 318, chapter 22).

Then

Figure 4. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points

in saturated condition without lining.

shows tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb
points. This figure shows the development of ten-
sion zones in the floor and at the roof of the tunnel.
To prevent failure, the construction of a lining is
necessary.
In the saturated condition, maximum displacement
was obtained at 24.86 mm in the roof. Figure 4 shows
that the tension zone is equal to the radius of the tunnel.
The effect of ground water may be shown by com-
paring this to the dry condition. In the dry condition,
tension occurred only in the roof and floor and the
plastic point appeared in the sidewalls. In the saturated
condition, tension is developed from the sidewalls to
the roof and floor. The parameter K (the ratio of hor-
izontal stress to vertical stress) and the groundwater
table play the main role in this condition.
3.2.3 Applying lining for dry and saturated
conditions
In the dry condition, the tunnel stabilized with 10 cm
of shotcrete. Figure 5 shows the loading capacity
where Va = allowable shear force; Vu = ultimate shear
force; Vn = nominal shear force; b = width of sec-
tion; h = thickness of shotcrete; fc = specified con-
crete compressive strength; Vmax = maximum shear
force.
In the saturated condition, the shear and loading
capacity are controlled for 30 cm shotcrete, the same
as the dry condition.
According to ACI codes, the shear stress is less than
the allowable value. The maximum displacements at
the roof and sidewalls were obtained at 7.65 mm and
1.93 mm respectively. Figures 6 and 7 show the effect
of lining on the reduction of plastic and tension zones.

435
 Figure 8. Zones considered in the Schleiss method.
Figure 6. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points
in dry condition with lining.
Table 3. The safety factor for the stress in steel bars (SF1)
and crack width (SF2) for lining with different reinforcement
arrangements.

Thickness of Lining µ
m % SF1 SF2

0.25 0.5 1.13 1.45

0.72 1.42 1.59
0.84 2.84 1.92
0.3 0.47 1.07 1.48
0.6 1.67 1.71
0.7 2.55 1.91
0.84 2.86 1.99
0.35 0.4 0.95 1.44
0.51 2.08 1.81
Figure 7. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points 0.72 2.54 1.95
in saturated condition with lining. 0.8 2.72 2.01

4 DESIGN OF FINAL LINING

Table 4. Safety factors for the stress in the steel bars (SF1)
and the crack width (SF2) for the selected lining with the
In the case of a solid, dense, intact rock mass different arrangements of reinforcement.
(RMR>70) with no effect of water, ground water pres-
sure equal to the tunnel internal water pressure and Diameter of bars Spacing
satisfaction of the confinement criterion, there is no mm cm SF1 SF2
need for a final lining. In the present study this is
not the case (RMR>70) and therefore a final lining 20 15 1.64 1.77
is necessary. 18 12 2.55 1.91
16 9.5 2.85 1.91
4.1 Schleiss computation method
In this method three zones have to be considered
separately: a cracked concrete lining, the rock mass and reinforcement percentages (µ) varying from 0.4%
affected by seepage flow, and the rock mass not to 0.85%. Considering an economic maximum safety
affected by seepage flow, as shown in Figure 8 factor, the final lining is selected from Table 3. Steel
(Schleiss 1997). bars 18 mm in diameter and different spacings are used
This method is based on the hydromechanical inter- in the analysis.
action between the lining and the rock mass. The According to Table 3, a concrete lining 30 cm thick
unknown water pressures are determined from the with 0.7% reinforcement is appropriate for the diver-
continuity conditions. The boundary stress can be sion tunnel of the Namroud dam. Table 4 shows the
determined by applying compatibility conditions. safety factors related to the diameter of steel bars
In this part of the analysis, reinforced linings are and the spacing between the steel bars in the concrete
considered with thicknesses of 0.25, 0.3 and 0.35 m lining.

436
 250 where Fs = stress in steel bars; S = bars spacing; and
dc = cover thickness on steel bars.
200 The stress in the steel bars (Fs) and the internal
pressure of the rock mass (Pc ) is obtained from ASCE
Ss2 (MPa)

150 guidelines (Brekke & Ripley 1987).

In the following analysis, the crack width in the
100 selected lining is controlled.
s=20 mm , ds=15 cm , µ=0.69%
50 s=18 mm , ds=12 cm , µ=0.7%
s=16 mm , ds=9.5 cm , µ=0.7%
0
0 5 Pi (bar) 10 15

Figure 9. Stress in steel bar (Ss2 ) vs. internal water pressure

(Pi ) for different arrangements of reinforcement.
From the above equations, the crack width is 0.0059
0.3
inches, that is, less than the allowable value of 0.008.
0.25
4.3 PLAXIS numerical method
0.2
2a (mm)

The model in the dry and saturated conditions, without

0.15 final lining, was analyzed under the maximum internal
pressure of 6.5 bars. In both conditions a shear fracture
0.1
s=20 mm , ds=15 cm , µ=0.69%
occurred at the initial lining, then, without control-
0.05 s=18 mm , ds=12 cm , µ=0.7%
ling the loading capacity envelope, the final lining was
s=16 mm , ds=9.5 cm , µ=0.7% applied.
0
0 5 10 15 4.3.1 Dry condition with final lining
Pi (bar) The model with a lining calculated from the Schleiss
method was analyzed under the maximum internal
Figure 10. Average crack width (2a) vs. internal water pressure of 6.5 bars. The shear and loading capacity
pressure (Pi ) for different arrangements of reinforcement.
was controlled using ACI codes. Figure 11 shows the
The stresses in the steel bars (Ss2 ) as a function of the loading capacity envelopes. The shear is controlled as
internal pressure (Pi ) for the different reinforcement follows:
arrangements are shown in Figure 9. The average crack
width (2a) as a function of the internal pressure (Pi ) for
the different reinforcement arrangements is shown in
Figure 10. According to Table 4 and Figures 9 and 10,
steel bars 16 mm in diameter, spaced 10 cm apart, are
selected. In other words, steel bars 16 mm in diameter
in two rows with a 20 cm spacing are used as permanent
lining.
According to Figures 9 and 10, the decrease in the
diameter of the steel bars and in their average spacing
resulted in an increase in crack numbers, a decrease in
crack widths and a decrease of the stress in the steel
bars, and therefore an increase in the safety factor.

4.2 Controlling the Schleiss method with
ACI codes
According to the ACI codes for seepage control,
the crack width should not go above 0.008 inches
(0.2 mm). The crack width (w) is calculated from
equation (Hoek et al. 2002):
where Vc = allowable shear force in concrete and
Vs = ultimate shear force in steel bar.
Figure 12 shows the tension zones around the tunnel
in the dry condition without a final lining. Figure 13
shows the tension and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points
in the saturated condition without a final lining. Com-
paring Figures 12 and 15, it can be said that the tension
points were not developed. There are only a few, and
limited, plastic points.

437
 4500 7500

Loading Capacity 6500

3500 Loading Capacity
Model 5500
Model
2500 4500

P (KN)
P (KN)

3500
1500
2500
500 1500
500
-500 0 20 40 60 80
-500
0 20 40 60
-1500 -1500
M (KN.m) M (KN.m)

Figure 11. Loading capacity for 30 cm concrete with 0.7% Figure 14. Loading capacity for 20 cm concrete with 0.5%
reinforcement. reinforcement.

Figure 12. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points

Figure 15. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points
in dry condition without final lining.
in dry condition with final lining.

capacity envelopes. For the saturated condition, the

shear force is controlled as follows:

Figure 15 shows the tension zones around the tun-

nel in the dry condition with a final lining. Figure 16
shows the tension and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points in
the saturated condition with a final lining. Comparing
Figures 13 and 16, it can be said that the tension points
Figure 13. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points
in saturated condition without final lining.
were not developed. There are only a few, and limited,
plastic points.

4.3.2 Saturated condition with final lining 5 CONCLUSIONS

The shear and loading capacity were controlled for
20 cm concrete with a reinforcement of 5%, the same The presence of water is the main reason for the
as the dry condition. Figure 14 shows the loading difference between the two methods. It causes the

438

Figure 16. Tension points and plastic Mohr-Coulomb points
in saturated condition with final lining.
rock mass behavior to change quickly from elastic
to elasto-plastic. Furthermore, with the weak strength
parameters of the Marly Tuff, a stable condition is more
difficult to obtain.
Increase in the thickness of a concrete lining
resulted in an increase of stress in the boundary of
the rock mass and the concrete lining.
For a pressure lining, the use of thin steel bars with
smaller spacing is better than the use of thick steel
bars with a large spacing. It causes an increase in the
number of cracks, but a decrease in their width.
To increase the safety factor, an increase in µ (rein-
forcing percentage) is more effective than an increase
in lining thickness. The increase in µ (reinforcing per-
centage) that exceeds safety factors determined to be
sufficient and appropriate results in an uneconomical
design.
PLAXIS is capable of assisting the evaluation of
the rock mass behavior around the tunnel, in addition
to assessing the lining performance.
439
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge Eng. H. Ahmadi,
managing director of CULHAM Co., and project man-
ager of the Namroud dam, Eng. I. Omrani, chairman
of the board of CULHAM Co. and D. Ahmadi, man-
ager of machinery and equipment, CULHAM Co., for
their useful guidance.
REFERENCES
Brekke, T.L. & Ripley, B.D. 1987. Design guidelines for
pressure tunnels and shafts. University Of California
At Berkeley, Department of Civil Engineering Berkeley,
California, 4707.
Goel, R.K., Jethwa, J.L. & Paithankar, A.G. 1996. Correla-
tion between Barton’s Q and Bieniawski’s RMR a new
approach. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr.
33(2): 179–181.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure Criterion – 2002 edition. In Proc. NARMS-
TAC Conference, Toronto, vol. 1, pp. 267–273.
Ladanyi, B. 1974. Use of the long term strength concept in
the determination of ground pressure on tunnel linings. In
Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Rock
Mechanics, Denver, vol. IIB, pp. 1150–56.
Schleiss, A.J. 1988. Design of reinforced concrete – lined
pressure tunnels. In International Congress on Tunnels
and Water, Madrid, Spain.
Schleiss, A.J. 1997a. Design of reinforced concrete lining of
pressure tunnels and shafts. Hydro Power & Dams 3.
Schleiss, A.J. 1997b. Design of concrete linings of pressure
tunnels and shafts for external water pressure. InTunneling
Asia, New Delhi, India.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Hydromechanical analysis of the effect of fracture properties on

tunnel inflow

M. Sharifzadeh & S. Karegar

Department of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology
(Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: Prediction of fluid flow through rock masses is important in mining and civil projects, oil and
underground water extractions and geothermal and environmental issues. It is well known that the fractures in
rock masses produce main paths of fluid flow, thus, the fracture properties such as normal stiffness, shear stiffness,
aperture etc, govern flow through fractures in hydraulic (H) and hydro-mechanical (HM) analysis. In this study H
and HM analysis of fractured rock masses were performed and water inflow into underground excavations were
determined. Also, the effects of fracture properties such as normal stiffness, shear stiffness and aperture on inflow
were studied. Results show that inflow increases with increasing normal stiffness, shear stiffness and aperture
size. Furthermore, flow rate resulting from H analysis is greater than that from HM analysis. Finally, the inflow
through fractures around the tunnel shows different distribution pattern in H and HM analysis. It is concluded
that hydromechanical coupled analysis results are more realistic compared to uncoupled hydraulic analysis.

1 INTRODUCTION HM coupling behavior of rock fractures is strongly

Prediction of fluid flow through rock masses is sig-
nificant in mining and civil projects, oil and under-
ground water extraction, and when considering certain
geothermal and environmental issues. The inflow into
an excavation could affect the stability of the exca-
vation and from an environmental point view, it can
transport contaminants; minimum water inflow is
therefore typically required. However in oil and under-
ground water extraction, maximum flow is desirable.
Therefore the prediction of inflow into an excavation
and fluid flow main paths are important factors in
underground construction, such as tunnels.
It is well known that fractures are main paths for
fluid flow in rock masses, thus fracture properties such
as normal stiffness, shear stiffness, aperture, friction
angle, dilation angle etc, could affect the inflow and
hydraulic conductivity. Variation in hydraulic prop-
erties simultaneously with mechanical properties is
called HM coupling analysis.
In the early 1960s, the coupling between hydraulic
and mechanical processes in fractured rock started to
receive wide attention. During the last 20 years, most
of the research and development on HM coupling in
fractured rocks and most applications of HM cou-
pled analysis have been conducted as part of oil and
gas exploration, hot-dry rock geothermal energy and
fluid flow investigations, and studies for nuclear waste
disposal (Rutqvist & Stephansson 2003).
affected by fracture geometry and flow conditions
(Sharifzadeh et al. 2005). On the other hand, coupled
HM processes in fractures are key factors in the hydrol-
ogy of discontinuous rock masses (Qutters 1998). In
hydraulic analysis the effects of stress changes on rock
mass deformation and fluid flow were ignored and
fracture properties assumed constant during fluid flow.
However, in reality fluid mostly flows through frac-
tures in rock masses in which flow quantity and void
geometry affect each other. In other words, fracture
geometry such as aperture and change due to stress dis-
turbance, cause the flow to change. Thus HM coupling
analysis gives more realistic results than H analysis.
One of the methods for fluid flow analysis through
rock masses is the numerical method. Numerical
modeling of fluid flow, contaminant transport and geo-
chemical reactions in fractured rock has attracted the
attention of many scientists for more than forty years.
The first numerical models of such processes were
created in the late 1960s. More than thirty software
packages are claimed to solve problems of the fluid
flow in fractured rock (Maryška et al. 2005).
Among the numerical methods for fluid flow anal-
ysis, are boundary element method, finite element
method, finite difference method and distinct element
method. Many finite element, boundary element and
Lagrangian finite difference programs have interface
elements or “slide lines” that enable them to model a
discontinuous material to some extent. However, their

441
formulation is usually restricted in one or more of the
following ways. First, the logic may break down when
many intersecting interfaces are used. Second, there
may not be an automatic scheme for recognizing new
contacts; and finally, the formulation may be limited to
small displacements and/or rotations. Such programs
are usually adapted from existing continuum programs
(Itasca 2000).
Several efforts have been made for the prediction of
fluid flow through rock masses performed in continu-
ous or equivalent continuous media such as Goodman Figure 1. Schematic view of flow in joints modeled as flow
(1965) and Meiri (1985). In this study fluid flow in between domains.
discontinuous media with two joint sets was predicted
using H and HM analysis integrated in a distinct ele-
ment code. Effects of fracture normal stiffness, shear
stiffness, and aperture on fluid flow were studied. Fur-
thermore, H and HM analyses were compared. The
numerical modeling procedure is explained and the
results are presented and discussed in the following
sections.

2 NUMERICAL MODELING

In this study the universal distinct element code

(UDEC ver. 3.1, Itasca 2000), was used for the model-
ing. The formulation and development of the distinct
element method embedded in UDEC has progressed
for a period of over 30 years.
In this program the discontinuous medium is repre-
sented as an assemblage of discrete blocks and discon-
tinuities are treated as boundary conditions between
blocks. Individual blocks behave as either rigid or
deformable materials. Deformable blocks are subdi-
vided into a mesh of finite difference elements, and
each element responds according to a prescribed linear
or nonlinear stress-strain constitutive law.
2.1 Fluid flow modeling in distinct element
method
The distinct element code has the capability to perform
the analysis of fluid flow through the fractures of a sys-
tem of impermeable blocks. A fully coupled hydraulic
mechanical analysis could be performed in which frac-
ture conductivity is dependent on mechanical defor-
mation and, conversely, fracture water pressures affect
mechanical behavior.
To calculate water flow using the distinct element
method, the fracture is modeled as a parallel plate with-
out considering surface roughness. Flow is governed
by the pressure differential between adjacent domains
such as domains 1, 2, 3 and 4 as illustrated in Figure 1.
The flow rate from one domain with defined pressure
P1 to another domain with pressure P2 is given by:
Figure 2. Model geometry.
where kj = joint permeability factor (theoretical
value is 1/12 µ); µ = dynamic viscosity of the
fluid; eh = contact hydraulic aperture; and L = length
assigned to the contact between the domains that is
defined as half of the distance to the nearest contact to
the left plus half the distance to the nearest contact to
the right, similar to lD and lE in Figure 1.
2.2 Model properties
Simulation of inflow into a tunnel through discontin-
uous rock masses requires defining geometry, and the
mechanical and hydraulic properties of the model. To
do this, a two-dimensional geometry model was con-
sidered. The model geometry consists of a rock mass
block 70 m long and 70 m high, with two joint sets, at
1000 m depth. The rock mass contains two orthogonal
joint sets with a spacing of 10 m and dip angles of −70
and 40 degrees. A circular tunnel with 10 m diameter
was embedded in the center of the model, as illustrated
in Figure 2. The groundwater level was assumed to be
200 m above the tunnel crown. The model has roller
boundaries in three directions; boundary stress accord-
ing to overburden height and rock density was applied

442
Table 1. Rock mass properties (Ivars 2006).

Property Unit Value

Density (Kg/m3) 2700

Young module (GPa) 40
Poisson ratio – 0.22

Table 2. Fracture properties.

Property Unit Value

Normal stiffness (GPa/m) 20 61.5 360

Shear stiffness (GPa/m) 12 35.5 210
Friction angle (degree) 25 30 35 40
Dilation angle (degree) 0
Cohesion (MPa) 0
Initial aperture (mm) 1
Residual aperture (mm) 0.1
Dip angle (degree) 45, −70
Permeability (MPa−1 S−1 ) 300 Figure 3. Flow histories points in model.

step of the calculations Figure 3. After equilibrium was

on the upper surface of the model (Table 1). Due to
the large depth of the tunnel, the horizontal stress is
assumed equal to the vertical stress, i.e. the K ratio
is assumed to be unity (K = 1). The water pore pres-
sures were set in all boundaries and throughout the
model according to the underground water level. The
initial stress field was set according to the model depth.
To facilitate the analysis and comparison with other
research results, the intact rock was modeled as an
isotropic, homogeneous and linearly elastic material.
The Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion was used as the
fracture failure criterion. The intact rock and fracture
properties are presented in Tables 1 and 2.
2.3 Calculation procedure
To simulate the natural condition in computer code,
first, the mechanical conditions, including in situ stress
and pore pressure, were applied to the model and run
to obtain equilibrium. In other words, mechanical cal-
culation was performed to obtain equilibrium in the
model which simulates ground conditions before exca-
vation. Second, the tunnel was excavated (removed
in the model) and mechanical calculation was contin-
ued to reach equilibrium again. Stress redistributions
were obtained at this stage. Finally, coupled HM cal-
culation was performed to obtain tunnel inflow. To do
this, atmospheric pore pressures at the boundary of the
excavation were applied until steady-state inflow was
achieved. This step of the calculation was repeated in
hydraulic mode for the H analysis.
To calculate total inflow into the tunnel, sub-
programs, so-called “FISH function programming,”
embedded in UDEC, were written and used. These
functions find contacts that intersect the tunnel and
these points were used for flow rate history in the last
achieved in the last step, histories of flow rate were
added to determine the total inflow.
2.4 Numerical analysis of parameters affecting
inflow
One of the important factors in HM analysis is the frac-
ture geometry, which is influenced by different factors
such as normal stiffness, shear stiffness, aperture, rock
material, loading conditions etc. The effect of normal
stiffness, shear stiffness and aperture of fractures on
inflow into the excavation using H and HM analysis
was studied and compared.
2.4.1 Normal stiffness and shear stiffness
The force per unit length change is called stiffness.
Fracture stiffness represents fracture strength against
normal and shear loading. Each fracture has two
stiffnesses: Normal stiffness and Shear stiffness.
Normal and shear stiffnesses are important proper-
ties of fractures that govern fracture geometry under
normal and shear loading. Fractures with high normal
stiffness will not close easily under normal loading,
which means that apertures and flow paths will remain
open even under high normal loading. At unmatched
fractures, closing the joint is more difficult. Therefore,
it could be concluded that less stiff fractures close
more easily than stiffer ones. In fracture with high
shear stiffness, asperities will not break easily with
shearing, and large dilation is expected; thus, aper-
ture and hydraulic conductivity increase. On the other
hand, in fractures with low stiffness, asperities shear
easily with low dilation, consequently, aperture size
and hydraulic conductivity decrease compared to stiff
fractures (Zhang & Sanderson 2002).

443

Figure 4. Calculated inflow vs. friction angle in H and HM
analysis.
The effect of stiffness on inflow was studied with
three pairs of normal and shear stiffnesses as (20, 12),
(61.5, 35.5), and (360, 210) respectively, with four fric-
tion angles 25, 30, 35 and 40 degrees, in H and HM
modes. Other parameters were according to Table 2.
After equilibrium, the inflow is calculated in each
mode. The results are presented in Figure 4. According
to Figure 4 the increase of fracture stiffness increases
with inflow increases. Also, flow rate in H analysis is
higher than in HM analysis as a result of assuming a
constant aperture size in H analysis.
Figure 4 shows that with increase of friction angles
from 25 to 40 degrees, the inflow decreases, both in
H and HM analysis. As illustrated in Figures 4b and
c, the increase in friction shows less change in inflow
in H analysis; however, in HM analysis inflow shows
a gradual decrease with increasing friction angle. The
difference between H and HM results is greater for
high stiffness than for low-stiffness cases.
In Figure 5, flow distribution patterns through rock
masses around the tunnel are presented and compared
444
Figure 5. Flow distribution pattern in H and HM analysis.
in H and HM modes. Figure 5 shows that, despite sev-
eral fractures existing in the surrounding rock mass,
fluid flow only occurs through special flow paths. On
the other hand, the fractures with considerable aper-
ture size and connection to each other play a major
role in hydraulic conductivity and form the main flow
paths in rock masses (Sharifzadeh & Karegar 2006).
Also the flow distribution pattern in H analysis is wider
than in HM analysis. This is because in HM analysis
the fracture aperture closes more than in H analysis.
2.4.2 Fracture aperture
Fracture aperture changes with applied stress level and
aperture changes could affect the hydraulic conductiv-
ity in HM analysis.
In nearly all applications, fluid flow through a
fracture is assumed to be analogous to laminar flow
between two perfectly smooth parallel plates. This
leads to the so-called cube law where the volume flow
rate varies as the cube of separation between the plates
or aperture size. The parallel plate model could be con-
sidered only a qualitative description of flow through
ideal fractures. Real fracture surfaces are not smooth,
parallel plates; they are rough and contact each other
at discrete points. Fluid is expected to take a tortuous
path when moving through a real fracture. Thus, devi-
ations from the cube law are expected (Brown 1987)
and therefore it should be used carefully. The distinct
element method uses the cube law for flow calculation

Figure 6. Calculated inflow vs. initial hydraulic aperture.
through fractures. To study the effect of aperture on
inflow, simulations were made with an initial hydraulic
aperture of 1 mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm respectively.
These simulations were run with a normal stiff-
ness of 61.5 GPa/m, shear stiffness of 35.5 GPa/m and
friction angle of 30 degrees. The model geometry,
boundary and in situ conditions were the same as pre-
sented in Section 2.2. The results are presented in
Figure 6, where the inflow shows high sensitivity to
aperture and increases with increase of aperture.
3 DISCUSSION
In this study, a numerical study is presented to show the
relative importance of fracture properties influencing
the inflow of water into underground excavations. The
effect of normal stiffness, shear stiffness and aperture
size were studied in H and HM modes. When an under-
ground excavation is made, the stress field around the
tunnel redistributes to cause changes in the fracture
aperture, pore pressure and permeability. Conversely,
pore pressure changes can affect the effective stress
distribution on fractures. In H analysis, the mechan-
ical stress calculation and fracture aperture change
are neglected and thus the total inflow in H analy-
sis is greater than in HM analysis and this difference
is more in high-stiffness cases. Furthermore, the fluid
flow area through fractures in H analysis is wider than
in HM analysis. This is due to the existence of more
closed fractures in the HM mode. With an increase of
normal and shear stiffnesses, deformation rate versus
stress and aperture reduction is reduced, and inflow
increases. Similar results have been reported (Lee &
Moon 2004, Ivars 2006) using a discrete-fracture net-
work (DFN) model and distinct-element method in 3D
models that confirm the presented results. The influ-
ence of the initial hydraulic aperture is evident from
the fact that the flow is assumed to follow the cube
law and inflow increases rapidly with an increase in
fracture aperture.
4 CONCLUSION
Fracture conductivity shows significant changes when
H and HM analysis are performed using different frac-
445
ture properties. Fracture properties such as normal
stiffness, shear stiffness and aperture have consider-
able effects on inflow in HM analysis. The results
show the importance of the HM process and the effect
of stiffness and aperture on inflow into underground
excavations. Different flow rates and flow distribution
patterns were obtained in H and HM analysis. On the
other hand, the flow rate from H analysis is higher
than from HM analysis and the flow distribution pat-
tern in H analysis is wider than in HM analysis. This
is due to the fact that fracture apertures close more in
HM analysis than in H analysis. Also, inflow increases
with increasing normal stiffness, shear stiffness and
hydraulic aperture. It can be concluded that fracture
properties and HM processes in rock masses have
significant effects in predicting water inflow into exca-
vations; fracture properties must therefore be carefully
determined.
REFERENCES
Brown, S.R. 1987. Fluid flow through rock joints: the effect
of surface roughness. J. Geophys. Res 87(92): 1337–1347.
Goodman, R.E., Moye, A., Schalwyk, V. & Javendel, I. 1965.
Groundwater inflow during tunnel driving. Engineering
Geology 2(2): 39–56.
Itasca 2000. UDEC manuals. Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting
group Inc.
Ivars, D. 2006. Water inflow into excavations in fractured
rock-a three dimensional hydro-mechanical numerical
study. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 43(5): 705–725.
Lee, S.D. & Moon, H.K. 2004. Hydromechanical modeling
of tunnel excavation in fractured rock masses by a 3-D dis-
crete fracture network approach. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 41: 482–488.
Maryška, J., Severýn, O., Tauchman, M. & Tondr, D. 2005.
Modeling of the ground water in fractured rock – A new
approach. In Proceeding of Algoritmy, pp. 113–122.
Meiri, D. 1985. Unconfined groundwater flow calculation
into a tunnel. Journal of Hydrology 82(1–2): 69–75.
Outters, N. 1998. Computer modeling of coupled hydrome-
chanical processes in fractured rock. Licentiate thesis,
Stockholm.
Rutqvist, J. & Stephansson, O. 2003. The role of hydrome-
chanical coupling in fractured rock engineering. Hydro-
geology Journal 11: 7–40.
Sharifzadeh, M., Mitani,Y., Esaki,T., Ikemi, H. & Urakawa, F.
2005. Hydromechanical cpoupling properties of rock
joints under normal and shear modes considering differ-
ent flow boundary conditions. In 40th U.S. Symposium on
Rock Mechanics, Anchorage.
Sharifzadeh, M. & Karegar, S. 2006. Hydraulic-
hydromechanical analysis of rock masses around tunnel
using distinct element method. In Sadagiani (ed.), 7th
Iranian Tunnel Conference, Tehran, pp. 540–547.
Zhang, X. & Sanderson, D.J. 2002. Numerical modeling and
analysis of fluid flow and deformation of fractured rock
masses. Axford: Elsevier.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A model for coupled micro and macro-scale swelling processes in clay shales

M. Deriszadeh & R.C.K. Wong

Civil Engineering Department, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: The motion of single species of ions and water through clay shale is a coupled mass transfer
phenomenon. In addition, the existence of charged particles and the effect of the double layer in clay shale lead
to processes which occur at both micro and macro scales. The processes at both of these scales influence each
other. The flows of water and ions in macro pores are usually due to the hydraulic gradient and/or concentration
gradients, whereas flows of the fluid and ionic species in micro pores are dominated by electrical and osmotic
effects. The purpose of this study is to propose a mathematical coupled macro-micro model, considering all the
aforementioned effects in clay shales to explain the behavior of these rocks, subjected to different environmental
changes and physical loads. Sources of each flow and the effect of simultaneous flows at the macro and micro
scales have been investigated and considered in the model.

1 INTRODUCTION of the whole sample. The mathematical model should

The ability of compacted clays to swell due to the
adsorption of water is well known in geotechnical engi-
neering. Clay shales, particularly those predominantly
composed of smectite have high swelling potential.
The source of this phenomenon is the existence of the
electrical double layer (E.D.L.) around the platelets
which form clay particles. Often the swelling of clay
shale is not desirable and it causes problems. For exam-
ple, in the petroleum industry the swelling of clay
shale produces problems during the drilling process.
One way to avoid this problem is to use oil-based
mud or add salt to the drilling fluid thereby reducing
the chemical potential of water within the well-bore
(Sherwood 1994).
Generally, in geotechnical engineering literature
there are some methods to control the undesired
swelling of clay shale (Sherwood 1994, Cooper &
Roy 1994). Thus, a mathematical model capable of
predicting the amount of swelling/consolidation of
a sample of clay shale under particular chemical,
hydraulic and mechanical conditions will be useful to
enable us to control the swelling/consolidation of clay
shale.
Since clay particles are electrically charged, water
and ionic species may be adsorbed onto the surfaces
of interlayer space within the particles. We consider
these flows as micro scale flows. The flows of water
and ionic species in large voids of the sample are con-
sidered as macro scale flows. The flows at the micro
and macro scales influence each other and the behavior
link mass transfer equations at the macro and micro
scales. Constitutive equations at the micro and macro
scales are written on the basis of material properties
at both scales. The volume change of the sample is the
summation of volume change at the micro and macro
scales. Load transfer mechanisms are considered in
two different kinds of horizontal sections within the
clay shale medium.
2 MATHEMATICAL MODEL
The mathematical model is a coupled model that links
micro and macro scale processes together. The mathe-
matical framework will be written in two parts; the
constitutive equations and the governing equations.
Both parts include micro and macro scale equa-
tions. Before presenting the equation derivations, the
assumptions associated with the model are listed as
follows; (1) Ideal solution conditions are considered
for all solutions in the specimen. (2) Flow rates of
the fluid and ionic species are linearly related to the
various relevant potential gradients and they are all
one dimensional. (3) Isothermal conditions exist.(4)
The sample is isotropic and homogeneous. (5) All
coefficients of conductivity with respect to different
gradients are constant with time and position. (6) The
sample is fully saturated. (7) No ion exchange happens
during diffusion. (8) The platelets of clay particles are
square in shape. (9) It assumed that NI ion species are
dissolved in water through the sample.

447
2.1 Constitutive equations
The constitutive equations may be written at the macro
and micro scales. The volume change at the macro
scale is related to the compressibility of the porous
medium, mv , according to the following well known
equation:
where V is the volume; and σ  is the effective stress.
This equation relates the volume change of the sample
at the macro scale to the effective stress change. Since
the fluid and grains are assumed to be incompress-
ible, the volume change at the macro scale is equal
to the change of the amount of fluid in macro pores.
This principle will be applied to link the flow equa-
tions to the constitutive equations, which results in the
continuity equation.
The constitutive equation at the micro scale is also
considered in the model. The corresponding relation-
ship may be written using the material property factor
at the micro scale, denoted by mc , as follows:
where h and ho are the current and initial heights of
the micro channels; bs is the length of micro chan-
nels; po (x) is the fluid mechanical pressure change
in the micro channels at a certain depth; and x is the
longitudinal direction at the micro scale (see Fig. 1).
It should be mentioned that he axes, presented by
small letters (i.e. x and y) are the local axes to show
the system of coordinates in the micro channels. The
global axes have been shown by capital letters. For
example, Z is the depth through the whole sample.
In other words, each micro channel has its own local
axes and all micro channels have the same global axes.
Since the problem is 1-D in macro scale, the only
global axis in this model is Z.
An important point regarding the constitutive equa-
tions is that the total volume change of the sample is
the summation of the volume change at both scales.
Indeed, the volume change at the macro scale is the
result of change in the volume of macro pores due
to the gradient of the flow rate of water through the
sample; and the volume change at the micro scale
is resulted from the height change of micro channels
inside each particle, which is a function of pressure,
concentration and the electrical potential in micro
channels. Thus, the total volumetric strain of the
sample would be:
448
Figure 1. The flow directions and boundary conditions for
ion and fluid motion.
where εM and εµ are the macro (i.e. skeleton), and
micro volumetric strains, respectively.
2.2 Governing equations
The governing equations include continuity equations
for water and ionic species at the micro and macro
scales and load transfer equations. Therefore, the flow
equations are required for each component in both
scales to write the continuity equations. The flow equa-
tions of the fluid (i.e. water with dissolved ions) and
the ionic species at the macro scale are governed on
the basis of irreversible thermodynamics (Mitchell
1973).As mentioned, all flows are considered to be one
dimensional. The flow equation of the fluid in macro
pores is:
where qM is the flow rate of the fluid in macro pores;
u is the bulk pressure, a function of depth, Z and time,
t; C is the concentration of ith ion species, a func-
tion of depth, Z and time, t. k is the coefficient of
permeability; γw is the unit weight of the fluid which
is approximately taken to be equal to the unit weight
of water; and khc is a constant, referred as a coupling
coefficient (Mitchell 1973). The flow equation of each
ionic species at the macro scale is:
where JMi is the flow rate of the ith ionic species; and
Coi is the initial concentration in the macro pores for
the ith ionic species. kch is the coupling coefficient; and
Di is the diffusivity of the ith ionic species through the
fluid.
The coupling coefficients khc and kch which have
approximately been considered the same for all ionic
species show the influence of the concentration gradi-
ent on the bulk pressure gradient and vice versa. It can
be shown that the following relationships may be writ-
ten to define the coupling coefficients mathematically
(Mitchell 1993):

where cv is the coefficient of consolidation;av is the
coefficient of compressibility; and CB is the value of
macro concentration on the boundaries of the sample;
and e is the void ratio of macro pores (e=Vmacro /Vsolid) .
As stated previously, mv and av are the compressibil-
ity and the coefficient of compressibility, respectively.
Indeed, mv represents the volume changes of the unit
volume of the porous medium per unit change in the
effective stress, and av is by definition, the volume
change of the porous medium per unit change in the
effective stress. Both of these parameters and also the
coefficient of consolidation, cv , may approximately be
applied for both swelling and consolidation processes
for compacted clay shales (Mitchell 1973).
Flow equations at the micro scale are one dimen-
sional and the direction of flows is parallel to platelets
(see Fig. 1).
It is assumed that there is a local thermodynamic
equilibrium of the ionic concentration across the width
(−h<y<h) of the channel (Sherwood 1991, 1994),
and the flow of the fluid and ions in the vertical (i.e.
y) direction is negligible. Using Stokes equation and
Fick’s law the equations for micro flow of the fluid and
ionic species are as follows:
where ψ corresponds the vertical variation of the elec-
trical potential. In order to determine o we need
to use the principle of electro neutrality. Due to the
existence of a streaming potential, the streaming cur-
rent must be zero (Sherwood 1991, 1994) and this
prevents charge accumulation. In order to ensure no
charge accumulation we need to satisfy the following
equation:
Equation 11 can be used to eliminate (do /dx) in
Equations 8 and 9.
The concentration profile in the vertical direction,
y, is not constant due to the existence of the vertical
profile of the electrical field. Therefore, the concen-
tration profile in the y direction is a function of ψ and
it is expressed as:
where F is the Faraday constant; R is the universal gas
constant; T is the absolute temperature; and z is the
valence of the ion. In order to find the variation of c
as a function of co for each ionic species, we need to
solve the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, i.e.:

where Jµ and qµ are flow rates of the fluid and ionic

species in micro channels, respectively; po is the fluid
mechanical pressure in micro channels; co is the longi-
Boundary conditions for this equation are ρ/ε and
tudinal profile of ion concentration in micro channels
zero electrical potential gradients in the vicinity of the
along their mid-plane; and o is the longitudinal pro-
platelets and at the micro channel mid-planes, respec-
file of electrical potential in micro channels along their
tively. Where ε is the permittivity of the suspending
mid-plane. po , co and o are functions of x and t and
fluid; and ρ is the charge density on the platelets. The
also Z.As seen, micro scale functions depend on macro
Poisson-Boltzmann equation may be solved regardless
scale position as well, because some of the imposed
of other equations involved with the model. Since the
boundary conditions for micro equations are macro
flow equations in both scales are now established, the
scale parameters.
continuity equations can be written as a part of the
The coefficients in Equations 8 and 9 are presented
governing equations of the mathematical model.
in the appendix. The concentration and electrical
Considering the fluid flow laws given in Equations 4
potential profiles inside the micro channels (i.e. in
and 8, the fluid continuity equation at the macro scale
the space between the platelets) vary not only along
is:
x, but also along y as a result of the electrical charge
on platelets. Thus, the total electrical potential is the
summation of its longitudinal value on the mid-plane
between the platelets and its vertical value (Sherwood
1994) as follows:

449
The ion continuity equation at the macro scale can also
be derived using Equations 5 and 9 as:
where n is the porosity of the sample at the macro scale
(n = Vmacro /Vtotal ); and bs and N are the dimension of
platelets and the number of micro channels per unit
volume of the sample, respectively. The procedure of
calculating N and bs will be explained in section 3.
According to Equations 1 and 2 we may rewrite
Equations 14 and 15 as:
Two more continuity equations result from the
micro flow equations for fluid and ionic species. The
continuity equation of ionic species at the micro scale
assuming small height changes for micro channels .is:
where cT is the total concentration at each vertical
section in micro channels, which is calculated as:
450
where h is the height of micro channels. Since h has
been considered to be constant with x, it is not a func-
tion of x. This assumption is valid for rigid platelets
where the pressure inside the micro channels is not
effectively strong and does not have a special pro-
file to cause any bending on platelets. The continuity
equation for the fluid at the micro scale is:
Similar to the macro equations, we may use Equation 2
to link micro continuity equations to the constitutive
equation. Thus, combining Equations 2 and 20 gives:
An important point regarding Equation 21 is that
we considered h as a function of x and this assumption
results in a non-zero derivative of h with respect to x.
However, due to the very small changes of h with x and
since we will then calculate the average of different h’s
through the channel as the height of the rigid platelet
(Equation 2), we can consider that dh/dx ≈ 0.
This study uses the series model proposed by
Hueckel (1992) to explain the load transfer mechanism
in a compacted clay shale sample. This model satisfies
the force equilibrium at different sections through the
sample, shown in Figure 2. Indeed, the section may
pass either the macro void space and the contact areas
between particles (Fig. 2a) or the macro void space and
the micro structure without passing the contact areas
between particles (Fig. 2b).
According to Figures 2a and b the fabric of a com-
pacted clay shale sample is such that the particles
are deposited horizontally and this condition allows
us to use two force equilibrium equations as written
below, based on the mechanism of load transfer pro-
posed by Huckel (1992). Indeed, these equations have
been written considering that the dashed lines in Fig-
ure 2a and 2b are almost horizontal. Thus, the two force
equilibrium equations are:
where (R−A) is the net pressure acting on the platelets
inside the particles. In fact, (R−A) is the pressure of the

Figure 2. (a) Cross section for force equilibrium equation
when the load is distributed between contact areas of particles
and bulk water. (b) Cross section for force equilibrium equa-
tion when the load is distributed between the inter-particle
forces and bulk water.
interlamellar fluid. σ  and σ are the effective and the
total stresses, respectively; A is the total cross section
area of the sample; Ac is the contact area between par-
ticles; and Aµ is the area that covers the micro channels
in the force equilibrium equation at the macro scale.
In Equation 23 the term poave is indeed the average
pressure inside the micro channels. Due to the fact
that the pressure inside each micro channel varies with
the length of the channel, we need to take the average
pressure to have a good estimation of repulsive forces.
In addition, the contact stress σc can be expressed in
terms of the effective stress as:
Equations 22 and 23 guarantee that the force
equilibrium considering the mentioned load transfer
mechanism in Figure 2 is satisfied. Moreover, the
force equilibrium condition must be satisfied for any
platelets within each particle. According to Figure 3
there are three types of forces acting on the platelets in
the vicinity of each particle, and the force equilibrium
for this kind of platelets must be satisfied. Since the
sample has been considered to be homogeneous, we
may write the local load transfer equation, based on
Figure 3 as:
In Equation 25 we have considered the areas on
the basis of homogeneity of the sample and applied
the global areas, used for global load transfer mecha-
nism to the local load transfer equation. It should be
451
Figure 3. Local force equilibrium on the platelets in the
vicinity of each particle.
mentioned that Equation 25 may be obtained from the
combination of Equations 22 and 23 and it was writ-
ten to show that the equilibrium condition at the local
scale on the platelets is satisfied as well. In addition,
the equilibrium is also satisfied on the interior platelets
inside the particles, because in that case, forces acting
on both sides of the platelet are the same and they are
the inter-particle pressure acting on equal areas.
3 DISCUSSION
For further explanation on the model, the number
of equations and variables will be explained in this
section.
The number of variables at the macro scale is 3 (i.e.,
the bulk pressure u,the effective stress σ  , and the ion
concentration in the macro pores C). The number of
micro variables is 3 (i.e., the fluid pressure in micro
channels,po , the longitudinal profile of ion concentra-
tion within the micro channels, co , and the longitudinal
profile of the electrical potential within the micro
channels, o ). Macro variables are functions of Z and t
only, but the micro variables are functions of Z, t and x.
Thus, we need 6 equations to be solved simultaneously
to find the behavior of the sample for any particular
condition. Equations 11, 16, 17, 18, 21, 25 are the 6
main equations of the model which are a combination
of governing and constitutive equations, as explained
in section 2. The term σc in Equation 25 is replaced
by σ  using Equation 24. It should be noted that the
number of variables and equations increases with the
number of ionic species in the fluid and this does not
affect the system of equations in terms of the number
of variables and needed equations. In other words, the
system would be known with a unique answer. In order
to solve the main system, it is suggested to start with
solving Equations 11, 18 and 21 considering constant
boundary conditions. Then, the other three equations
(i.e. Equations 16, 17 and 25) will be considered beside
them and influence the boundary conditions.
The height of micro channels, h, is not treated as one
of the variables in the system of equations, because the
change in h can be calculated from the solution of the
system of 6 equations (see Equation 2).
It should be mentioned that the concentration of
ions and the electrical potential in micro channels are
functions of y as well (see Fig. 1), and we can obtain
them in terms of 6 main variables by solving Equations
12 and 13 independently. Thus, we do not consider
Equations 12 and 13 that are involved with the main
body of the mathematical framework, in order to avoid
any complication. Consequently, the total concentra-
tion and the total electrical potential in micro channels
are functions of x, y, Z and t. In addition, solving Equa-
tions 12 and 13 is helpful to calculate the coefficients
of micro scale equations which are presented in the
appendix (Sherwood 1991).
As seen, there are a number of constants and param-
eters in the system of equations that are required to be
measured or determined. One of the parameters which
should be measured and even monitored is the height
of micro channels. This is necessary as the initial con-
dition of h. Also, if we can measure the value of h or
volume change as a function of time, we will be able
to determine the coefficient mc and alsomv .
The number of micro channels per unit volume of
the sample, N , is required in Equations 16 and 17. We
propose to measure the specific surface area, SSA of
the sample to estimate N . The specific surface area
of a porous medium is the summation of the areas
of the faces of all particles per unit dry mass of the
porous medium. There are quite a few methods appli-
cable for measuring the specific surface area (Mulla
& Low 1985, Santamarina et al. 2002). In addition, for
most common clay minerals the normal range of the
specific surface area is available in the geotechnical
literature. If the SSA and the specific gravity, Gs of the
sample are known we could calculate the value of N
and alsobs . For a particular clay mineral the thickness
of solid sheets, hs , is known. For instance, the value
of hs is 0.96 nm for montmorillonite and 0.72 nm for
kaolinite. Thus, we can use the surface area of the sam-
ple to determine the value of N and also the percent of
micro channels and macro pores indirectly.
The ranges of the coefficients kch and khc are known
(Mitchell 1973) and it is suspected that they have rela-
tively minor influence on the results over these ranges
(Acar & Alshawabkeh 1996). Thus, it seems that there
is no need for a precise measurement of these two
parameters. The diffusivity of dissolved ions in water
which is considered constant with concentration may
be measured using a simple test, based on Fick’s law.
It should be mentioned that the diffusivity is assumed
to be constant and its change with concentration is
negligible.
452
This model is more sensitive to hydraulic coeffi-
cients, hence the measurement of these coefficients is
more critical. Unfortunately, these coefficients are not
constants, as their values depend on several parame-
ters (Kown et al. 2004). Indeed, hydraulic coefficients
are influenced by fluid flows. According to the pro-
posed processes and mathematical relationships, any
change in concentration, loading, charge of particles
and pressure of added water will change the fluid
flows which subsequently affects the values of these
parameters. Thus, defining an absolute value for these
parameters for a clay shale sample is difficult and we
have to define them for a particular range of the men-
tioned factors (e.g. concentration of the fluid in the
sample, loading, charge of particles and pressure and
concentration of added water).
4 APPLICATIONS
The proposed model is applicable to the drilling pro-
cess in the petroleum industry. During drilling in clay
shale formations using water-based mud, hole instabil-
ity often results from physico-chemical interactions
between the drilling fluid and swelling clay shale
exposed on walls of the hole (Onaisi et al. 1993).
In such problems, first of all, there is an induced
change in total stresses in the near-well area, which
in turn induces a change in the bulk pore pressure.
These changes will influence the inter-particle pres-
sure as well (see Equation 23). Hole instability is
sometimes prevented using shale stabilizing mud. For
example, one of the more commonly used stabilizing
muds contains potassium chloride. However, due to
environmental constraints, special water-based mud,
containing soluble salts for maintaining hole stability
have been applied as swelling inhibitors (Onaisi et al.
1993). Regardless of the type of chemicals used in the
mud, we may apply this change in the proposed model
by changing the concentration on the boundaries. The
pressure of the mud can also be considered as a change
in water pressure on the boundaries. All the mentioned
changes which occur during drilling, such as changes
in the total stress, bulk pore pressure and concentration
may be considered in the proposed model to explain
what happens during drilling. Thus, we may be able to
predict the effectiveness of any facilitating change in
the drilling process.
It must be mentioned that the proposed model is
a 1-D model and we need to extend it to 2-D to
appropriately model processes around a drill hole. For
well-bore analysis, cylindrical coordinates are usu-
ally used. The idea to extend the model to 2-D is to
rewrite the macro equations in both directions. The
micro equations are always 1-D due to the special
structure of compacted clay shale and we would leave
these equations in their current form, and consider
two components for forces, resulting from micro scale
analysis in two directions to link them to macro force
equilibrium equations and volume change equations.
In addition, the constitutive equations at the macro
scale will have to be modified to account for the
anisotropy resulting from the structure of compacted
clay shales. Thus, we would have a particular modulus
of elasticity and a Poisson’s ratio in each direction for
constitutive equations at the macro scale. For further
information, some more backgrounds and alternative
approaches on this subject may be found in previous
works (Heidug & Wong 1996, Tan et al. 1998).
Additionally, when we impose and consider an
external electrical potential gradient to the sample
at the macro scale, we may apply the model to pre-
dict the process of decontaminating soils from metals
using electro kinetics principles (Acar & Alshawabkeh
1996). In the drilling process in petroleum industry, we
may apply the model for the condition of charged bits
that speed up the drilling rate of penetration. It should
be mentioned that when we apply the electrical poten-
tial at the macro scale, this variable will appear as a
new variable in the system of equations. The additional
equation that would be required to account for this is
the electro neutrality equation at the macro scale.
5 SUMMARY
A mathematical coupled approach, based on the simul-
taneous combination of micro and macro scale equa-
tions explaining micro and macro mass transfer pro-
cesses as well as constitutive laws is developed and
proposed to explain the one dimensional swelling pro-
cess in clay shale under different chemical, hydraulic
and mechanical conditions. This model considers any
change in chemical, hydraulic and mechanical condi-
tions and shows that any of these changes can affect
the amount of deformation of clay shale. Thus, none
of them may be ignored when we need to know the
amount of deformation (i.e. swelling or consolidation)
of clay shale.
It was shown that the proposed model has
some applications in geotechnical, environmental and
petroleum engineering.
REFERENCES
Alshawabkeh, A.N. & Acar, Y.B. 1996. Electro kinetic reme-
diation I: Pilot-scale tests with lead-spiked kaolinite.
ASCE, J. Geotechnical Eng. 122(3): 173–185.
Alshawabkeh, A.N. & Acar, Y.B. 1996. Electro kinetic reme-
diation II Theoretical Model. ASCE, J. Geotechnical Eng.
122(3): 186–196.
Cooper, G.A. & Roy, S. 1994. Prevention of bit balling
by electro-osmosis. SPE Paper 27882, Presented at the
Western Regional meeting, Long Beach, CA.
453
Heidug, W.K. & Wong, S.W. 1996. Hydration swelling of
water-absorbing rocks: A constitutive model. Int. Journal
for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics
20: 403–430.
Hueckl,T. 1992. On effective stress concepts and deformation
in clays subjected to environmental loads. Can. Geotech.
J. 29: 1120–1125.
Kown, O., Kronenberg, A.K., Gangi, A.F., Johnson, B. &
Herbert, B.E. 2004. Permeability of illite-bearing shale:
1. Anisotropy and effects of clay content and loading.
J. Geophysical Research 109: B10205, doi:10.1029/2004
JB003052.
Kown, O., Herbert, B.E. & Kronenberg, A.K. 2004. Per-
meability of illite-bearing shale: 2. Influence of fluid
chemistry and flow functionally connected pores. J.
Geophysical Research 109: B10206, doi:10.1029/2004
JB003055.
Lopez-Munguira, A. & Nieto, F. 2000. Transmission elec-
tron microscopy study of very low-grade metamorphic
rocks in Cambrian sandstones and shales, Ossa-morena
zone, southwest Spain. Clays and Clay Minerals 48(2):
213–223.
Mitchell, J.K. 1993. Fundamentals of Soil Behavior. New
York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Mitchell, J.K. & Greenberg, J.A. 1973. Chemico-
osmotic effects in fine-rained soils. ASCE Journal of
the Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division 99(SM4):
307–322.
Mulla, D.J. Low, P.F. & Roth, C.B. 1985. Measurement of
the specific surface area of clays by internal reflectance
spectroscopy. Clays and Clay Minerals 33(5): 391–396.
Onaisi, A., Audibert, A. Bieber, M.T., Bailey, L., Denis, J.
& Hammond, P.S. 1993. X-ray tomography visualization
and mechanical modelling of swelling shale around the
well-bore. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
9: 313–329.
Pivonka, P. & Smith, D. 2005. Investigation of nanoscale
electro-hydrodynamic transport phenomena in charged
porous materials. Int. J. for Numer. Meth. in Engng 63:
1975–1990.
Santamarina, J.C., Klein, K.A., Wang, Y.H. & Prencke, E.
2002. Specific surface; determination and relevance. Can.
Geotech. J. 39: 233–241.
Sherwood, J.D. 1994. A model for the flow of water and ions
into swelling shale. Langmuir 10: 2480–2486.
Sherwood, J.D. 1991. Ionic motion in a compacting filter-
cake. Proceeding of the Mathematical and Physical
Sciences 437: 607–627.
Tan, C.P., Rahman, S.S., Richards, B.G. & Mody, F.K. 1998.
Integrated approach to drilling fluid optimisation for effi-
cient shale instability management. SPE Paper 48875,
SPE International Oil and Gas Conference, Beijing,
China.
APPENDIX
The coefficients of micro scale flow equations (Equa-
tions 8 and 9) may be derived by taking the integration
over the Stokes equation and using the appropriate
boundary conditions in micro scale. These coefficients
have been derived by authors and they confirm the
coefficients presented by Sherwood (1994) for micro
flow equations. These coefficients for single ion
species are as follows:

454
Numerical Modelling – Brittle
Fracture & Damage
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
Simulation of multi-fracturing rock media including fluid/structure coupling

D.R.J. Owen, Y.T. Feng, M. Labao & C.R. Leonardi

Civil and Computational Engineering Centre, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea, UK

S.Y. Zhao & J. Yu

Rockfield Software Ltd., Technium, Swansea, UK

ABSTRACT: The objective of the paper is to present the essential issues related to an effective computational
implementation of a continuum/discontinuum formulation of rock masses under various loading conditions,
including fluid interaction for two classes of problems; fluid flow through fracturing rock masses and rock
blasting. The applicability of the methodology developed is illustrated through practical examples related to
borehole breakout phenomena, hydraulic fracturing and the simulation of rock blasting operations

1 INTRODUCTION
Significant progress has been made recently (see e.g.
Owen et al. 2004) in the effective modeling of the
failure and transition from continuum to discontin-
uum of rock masses in many rock engineering, mining
and geo-mechanical applications. However, in several
problems of industrial relevance, the presence of an
additional phase, either gaseous, liquid or both, often
controls the behaviour of multi-fracturing rock sys-
tems. Examples of such interaction include (i) Fracture
induced in rock masses by the presence of fluid flow
and (ii) Generation of gas pressure fields due to explo-
sive detonation which drives the fracturing process in
rock blasting. Although a generic modelling strategy
can be developed for a broad range of such problems,
nevertheless, some applications require an individual
approach to solution. The main objective of the paper
is to consider the essential issues related to an effec-
tive computational implementation of a continuum-
discontinuum formulation of rock masses under var-
ious loading conditions, particularly involving fluid
interaction for the above two classes of problems.
Fluid flow through fracturing rock masses:
Throughout the geomechanics community there is
considerable interest in modelling groundwater flow
through fracturing rock masses. Application areas
include slope stability problems, the stability of under-
ground workings/structures and hydraulic fracturing
in the oil recovery industry. The essential features of
such problems are the flow of water both through
individual rock blocks and along joint systems. Con-
sequently, there is a need to model Darcy type seepage
within the continuous rock and pipe (sheet in 3D) net-
work flow along the joint planes. This fluid response
is strongly coupled to the deformation of the rock aris-
ing from loading and progressive fracturing, which in
turn is driven by the fluid pressure imposed on the
rock. Computationally, these problems can be treated
by employing the same mesh that is used to model
fracture within individual blocks to represent seepage
flow and using compatible joint elements to simulate
inter-block fluid flow.
Rock blasting: In this application coupling takes
place through interaction between the gas pressure due
to explosive detonation and the progressively fractur-
ing rock. The most appropriate route to solution is
provided by superposing a background Eulerian grid
over the Lagrangian mesh used for fracture modelling.
Within this regular Eulerian grid the gas pressure mod-
eling is based on the mass conservation and momen-
tum equations for gas flow employing directional
porosities derived from the rock fracture modeling.
The coupling takes place through an interdependence
between the evolving gas pressure distribution driv-
ing the fracturing process which, in turn, provides the
porosity distribution which controls the gas pressure.
Computationally, solution can be effectively provided
through use of a staggered solution scheme based upon
time integration of the two fields with partitioned time
stepping.
The paper firstly presents the computational mod-
eling of multi-fracturing rock materials, followed by
the brief description of the numerical procedures
necessary for the simulation of fluid/structures inter-
action for the two types of problems described above.

457
The applicability of the methodology developed is
illustrated through several practical examples related
to borehole breakout, hydraulic fracturing and the
simulation of rock blasting operations.
2 FAILURE AND MULTIFRACTURING OF
ROCK MASSES
2.1 General issues
Key issues that need to be addressed for the successful
modeling of continuous/discontinuous transformation
of rock masses include (i) the development of consti-
tutive models which govern the rock material failure;
(ii) the ability of numerical approaches to introduce
discontinuities such as shear bands and cracks gener-
ated during the material failure and fracture process
and (iii) the effective simulation of contact between
the region boundaries and crack surfaces both during
and after the failure process.
The numerical treatment of multi-fracturing solids
necessitates a blend of continuous and discrete compu-
tational processes to provide adequate solution. Mod-
eling aspects related to continuum mechanics include
the development of constitutive models for a range
of materials under a variety of loading conditions,
element technology for near-isochoric deformation
conditions, adaptive mesh refinement and damage
modelling for prediction of the onset of fracture (Yu
1999). With the development of fractures, the domain
becomes discontinuous in nature and computational
issues include strategies for discrete crack insertion
that preserve the system energy, adaptive remeshing to
accommodate the fracture distribution, global search
algorithms to monitor contact between the resulting
particle system, development of appropriate contact
interaction models and time integration of the sys-
tem equations. Implementation of the entire solution
strategy within a parallel processing environment is a
further issue.
2.2 Failure strategies
A number of standard fracture criteria have been pre-
viously employed to predict material failure that may
result from the gradual internal deterioration associ-
ated with high strains. These predictions remain, to
a great extent, relegated to post-simulation analyses.
The adoption of a methodology, whereby the cou-
pling between material behaviour and deterioration is
considered at the constitutive level during the simu-
lation offers a more scientifically based alternative to
empirical methods with a potential improvement in
predictive capability (de Souza et al. 1998).
Fracture in quasi-brittle materials is generally an
anisotropic phenomenon, with the coalescence and
growth of micro-cracks occurring in the directions that
458
attempt to maximise the subsequent energy release rate
and minimise the strain energy density. The optimum
propagation paths maintain an orientation normal to
the maximum extension strains. The localisation of
micro-cracking into effective crack bands results in
softening normal to the crack direction. On a con-
tinuum basis, fracture is considered in the form of a
rate dependent rotating smeared-crack model utilising
tensile strain-softening to represent material degrad-
ation. The smeared crack model provides a mechanism
for directional softening within a continuum frame-
work by envisaging a cracked solid as an equivalent
anisotropic continuum with degraded properties in
directions normal to crack band orientation. After ini-
tial yield the rotating crack formulation introduces
anisotropic damage by degrading the elastic modulus
in the direction of the current principal stress invariant.
The model enforces coincident rotation of the princi-
pal axes of orthotropy and the principal strain axes. It
provides an effective mechanism for eliminating stress
locking and excess shear stress and has been shown to
yield a more reliable lower bound response compared
to fixed crack models (Klerck et al. 1999, Owen et al.
2004).
For the description of material degradation and sub-
sequent discrete fracturing of quasi-brittle materials
under multi-axial stress states the Mohr-Coulomb fail-
ure criterion is adapted and coupled with the fully
anisotropic tensile smeared crack model (Owen et al.
2004).
The Mohr-Coulomb criterion is able to recover the
salient features of the quasi-brittle response within
engineering accuracy, including dilation, and has the
advantage of being based on parameters that are eas-
ily determined experimentally. This is particularly
important for rock systems. Fracturing due to dilation
is accommodated by introducing an explicit coupling
between the inelastic strain accrued by the Mohr-
Coulomb yield surface and the anisotropic degradation
of the mutually orthogonal tensile yield surfaces. The
model represents a phenomenological approach in
which micromechanical processes are only consid-
ered in terms of the average global response. Isotropy
of strength in compression is justified by assum-
ing uniform material heterogeneity, while accrual of
inelastic strain and associated degradation of the ten-
sile strength is necessarily anisotropic and dependent
on the loading direction.
Although energy dissipation in the crack band
model is rendered objective by normalising the soft-
ening curve with respect to the specific fracture
energy, the spatial localisation is necessarily arbitrary.
Localisation occurs in individual elements, result-
ing in the width of localisation and the crack band
spacing depending on the mesh discretisation. Further-
more, the mesh orientation gives rise to a directional
bias of propagating crack bands due to the fact that
strain discontinuities exist at the element boundaries.
Consequently, a non-local averaging of the damage
measure is adopted in each orthotropic direction to
ensure discretisation objectivity by introducing a
length scale to govern the width of the localisation
zone. More detailed description of various fracture
models can be found in Yu (1999) and Klerck et al.
(2003). When the unloading process within a localisa-
tion zone is complete, a discrete (and physical) crack
is inserted as described below.
2.3 Discrete crack insertion
The transition of a body from a continuum to discrete
description is developed from dispersed micro cracks
coalescing into macroscopic fractures. The appearance
of a discrete fracture within the material results in the
global realisation of inelastic strains and the associated
unloading of the surrounding material. The process of
inserting a discrete fracture into a continuum based
finite element mesh follows three key steps: (i) the
creation of a non local failure map that is based upon
the weighted nodal averages of the damage within the
finite element system is required; (ii) the failure map
is used to determine the onset of fracture within the
domain; and (iii) a numerical scheme is employed to
perform the topological update whereby a fracture is
inserted into the domain, and any additional nodes
are inserted and necessary elemental connectivities are
updated.
The so-called failure factor is typically defined as
the ratio of the inelastic fracturing strain and the crit-
ical fracturing strain or the ratio of damage and the
critical damage. Discrete fracture is realized through
the failure factor reaching unity. In addition, the nodal
basis of a finite element system leads to a simpler and
more efficient approach for the insertion and creation
of discrete fractures. When the associated failure fac-
tor and the direction of failure for the considered node
have been determined, a discrete fracture of the given
orientation is inserted into the finite element mesh,
passing through the associated nodal point. Having
identified that a nodal point is to undergo the frac-
ture insertion process, it is necessary to identify the
actual discrete crack orientation within the finite elem-
ent mesh. Generally, there are one of two choices to
be made at this stage. Firstly, the fracture plane can
be aligned in the exact orientation of the weighted
average nodal failure direction, thereby following a
process known as intra-element fracturing where a
series of new nodal points and elements are systemati-
cally created. In the second approach, which is usually
preferred from the computational standpoint particu-
larly in 3D problems, the discrete fracture orientation
is aligned with the best orientated element boundary
attached to the node considered, thereby following
a process known as inter-element fracturing where
459
a series of new nodal points are systematically cre-
ated but no new elements are generated. The process
of inter-element fracturing, provided a fine mesh is
utilised, will usually yield satisfactory results for most
numerical simulations. The reasoning behind the pref-
erence lies in the ability to effectively maintain control
over the critical time step used in the explicit time inte-
gration algorithm. Also, in the case of intra-element
fracture, local mesh refinement is necessary in the
vicinity of the newly introduced crack in order to
provide an adequate element topology.
2.4 Contact and post-failure modelling
The particles generated under multi-fracturing con-
ditions are highly angular and are represented by
multi-faceted solid entities. It is well accepted that
such particle angularity is a crucial factor in govern-
ing flow characteristics Due to the large diversity of
entity shapes, a two-stage strategy is employed for con-
tact detection (Owen et al. 2004). In the first stage,
all objects are approximated by simple rectangular
bounding boxes and a list of potential candidates for
contact is identified. In the second stage, each poten-
tially contacting pair is locally resolved on the basis
of their kinematic relationship, employing the actual
geometric shapes involved.
The global contact search can be conducted using
either tree-based detection schemes, such as the Aug-
mented Spatial Digital Tree (ASDT), which generally
have complexity O (N Log N). Their performance can
be improved by incorporating the spatial coherence
of objects within successive time instants in the algo-
rithmic framework. More recent developments in this
research have focused on cell-based approaches that
display O (N) complexity.
Contact interaction laws have been implemented
within the framework of penalty methods for all con-
tact pairs. The penalty method only approximately
satisfies the contact displacement constraints and the
maximum overlap depends on the penalty coefficients
selected and the velocities of the particles prior to
impact. The most challenging aspects of the contact
treatment include modeling of sharp corner-to-corner
contacts and maintaining total energy conservation.
2.5 Example: Borehole breakout
As a test of the model’s ability to capture the contrast-
ing failure mechanisms exhibited by strong and weak
rocks under different confining pressures, Figure 1
illustrates the problem of borehole breakout mod-
eled as a 2D problem. The initial continuum mesh is
shown and the horizontal confining pressure is main-
tained at a constant value whilst the vertical pressure
is incrementally increased at the rate indicated. The
properties that describe the behaviour of the mater-
ial are provided, where it is seen that the parameters

Figure 1. Borehole breakout example: Geometry, mesh and
material properties.
required are readily identified from standard triaxial
and tension tests. In addition to the usual elastic prop-
erties, the essential parameters are the tensile strength,
compressive strength, fracture energy release rate and
Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters. An additional
parameter is the frictional sliding coefficient on newly
created discrete cracks. The material parameters pre-
sented correspond to Lac du Bonnet granite (Lee et al.
1993) and the weak sedimentary rock Cardova cream
limestone (Haimson et al. 1993).
Figure 2 illustrates the fracture patterns developed
for the two materials where it is seen that funda-
mentally different mechanisms are involved. For the
460
Figure 2. Comparison of experimental and numerically
predicted failure patterns for two different materials.
granite specimen, Figure 2(a), failure takes place by
the development of sub-vertical fractures at the regions
indicated and very good agreement is evident between
the experimental observations (Lee et al. 1993) and
the numerical predictions. In Figure 2(b) similar com-
parison is made for the Cardova cream limestone, for
which failure takes place by the development of frac-
ture shear bands. In the computational model these
manifest themselves as distinct crack bands formed by
en-echelon systems of tensile fractures. Again, there
is excellent correspondence between the experimental
failure mode (Haimson et al. 1993) and the numerical
simulation. It is important to note that the computa-
tional model has been able to reproduce these two
fundamentally different failure mechanisms by only
changing the relevant material parameters.
3 FLUID FLOW WITHIN FRACTURING
ROCK MASSES
In order to understand the complex interplay between
fluid and fractured rock, several approaches and theor-
ies have been proposed. One strategy aims to model
the flow through cracks without taking into account
the flow within the material itself. This simplification
is reasonable for soils or rock-like materials with low
permeabilities, since the flow along the fractures is
dominant. However, an accurate analysis of the in situ
stress field can only be obtained if the rock material
itself is treated as a porous medium. This is particularly
important for rock masses that contain a high degree of
small scale fractures resulting in high permeabilities
so that the seepage behaviour becomes prominent. The
main modelling issues are briefly discussed below.
3.1 Constitutive & governing equations for
porous materials
The widely used “effective stress” in porous media is
given by Lewis & Schrefler (1998):
in which α is the Biot number which is introduced
to take into account the volumetric deformability of
the particles. It is related to the bulk modulus of the
skeleton KT and the bulk modulus of the grains Ks .
The effective stress in this work is related to the incre-
mental strain dεij and rotation dkj by means of an
incremental constitutive relationship:
in which the last two terms account for the rotational
stress in the Green-Naghdi rate and Dijkl is a fourth
order tensor defined by state variables and the direction
of the increment. Finally, dε0kl represents the incre-
mental initial strain tensor due to thermal or autoge-
neous strain of the grain compression. The governing
equations can be written in a u−p formulation as:
Eq.(3) is the total momentum equilibrium equation for
the partially saturated solid-fluid mixture where the
acceleration of the fluid relatively to the solid and the
convective terms have been neglected. This assump-
tion is valid for medium speed and dynamics of lower
frequency phenomena. Eq.(4) is derived by ensuring
mass conservation of the fluid flow in the seepage. In
this work, an individual fracture is treated as a single
confined aquifer where the mass conservation is based
on a cubic law for the flow within the fracture:
in which e is the aperture of the fracture (with unit of
[m]) and µ is the viscosity (with unit of [Pa.s]). The Qn
term represents the storativity of a single fracture, and
as for a porous medium, reflects the compressibility
of the fluid and the rock. However, the rock compress-
ibility term does not reflect the intergranular skeleton
response, but rather the pressure dependence of the
461
fracture volume, which is simply the normal stiffness
of the fracture kf (with unit of [m/Pa]).
The system defined by the above three govern-
ing equations and appropriate boundary conditions
describes a well-defined problem which can then be
discretized by standard finite elements in space and by
a central difference approximation in time, leading to
the following coupled algebraic system of equations:
3.2 Coupling procedures
From the analysis of the previous system, it is not easy
to recognize that the mass conservation of the fluid net-
work, Eq.(6) is coupled with the other two equations.
However, it can be observed that: (a) The displace-
ments computed by Eq.(6) are affected by an external
force caused by the pressure of the fluid network.
This load is applied as a traction boundary condi-
tion at the solid/fracture interface. On the other hand,
the displacements define the coordinates of the fluid
network and, therefore, control the apertures in the
fluid network and trigger new ones. (b) The coupling
between the fluid flow in the seepage/fracture inter-
face is enforced using a master/slave procedure. In
this approach the nodes in the network field are con-
sidered as master and the nodes in the seepage field,
which are in the seepage/fracture interface are slaves.
As a consequence, the mass matrices and the internal
and external force vectors of the slaves are added into
the master. Also, the equations of the slave nodes are
modified by the terms related to the specific master
nodes. Finally, the equations are then solved and the
balance flow at the interface is guaranteed.
3.3 Numerical example
The numerical model presented here is validated
against the experimental results published by van Dam
et al. (2000). The experiment consists of cubic blocks
0.30 m in size that are loaded in a true triaxial machine
to simulate in-situ stress states. After reaching the
desired stress state, a high-pressure pump injects
fluid to propagate the crack. Artificial rock samples
made of cement, plaster and diatomite have been
used. The fracturing fluid employed was silicon oil,
which approximately behaves as a Newtonian fluid.An
axisymmetric model was employed and the boundary
conditions adopted are shown in Figure 3.
Three different cases have been considered: elastic,
elastoplastic and poroelastic analyses. In the elastic
and elastoplastic cases the vertical stress (σyy ) profile
 Figure 4. The vertical stress profile in the plane of the
fracture for elastic and elasto-plastic simulations.
Figure 3. Numerical model: Geometry and loading.

has been compared with the ones provided in van Dam

et al. (2000). In the poroelatic case, different permea-
bilities for the rock were evaluated in order to verify
the influence of the leak-off upon parameters such as
length and aperture of the fracture. The permeability
varies from 0 to 50000 miliDarcy (mD).
The mechanical behavior of the rock is described
through a Mohr-Coulomb model which employs the
well known Newton-Raphson method in the return
mapping scheme. The cohesion and friction angles are
assumed to be given functions of the effective plastic
strain (εps ).
An interface law based on a cohesive-zone model
has been used to describe the rupture process at the
fracture tip. In this model, the softening curve is
obtained through the fracture energy release rate (Gf ).
Within this framework, the fracture is opened when
the tensile strength (σf ) and fracture width (e) reach a Figure 5. Influence of the leak-off on the vertical stress.
critical value.
Figure 4 shows that the vertical stress of the current
model (σyy ) agrees well with the results of van Dam
et al. (2000). The aperture in the elastoplastic case is
larger than the elastic case due to the inelastic deforma-
tions. Also, the net pressure necessary to propagate the
fracture in the elastoplastic case must be higher than in
the elastic case. This can be seen in the vertical stress
profile, where an increase in (σyy ) is experienced near
the fracture tip, which is at the same position in both
analyses
Figures 5 and 6 show respectively the vertical stress
and aperture profiles in the poroelastic analyses for
rocks with different permeabilities. It can be seen that
in rocks with higher permeability, the length and width
of the fracture reduces due to an increase in the leak-off
from the fracture to the porous rock. Also, net pres-
sures must be higher to propagate fracture in rocks
with higher permeability. Figure 6. Influence of the leak-off on the size of the fracture.

462
4 ROCK BLASTING
In this application coupling takes place through inter-
action between the gas pressure due to explosive deton-
ation and the progressively fracturing rock. The most
appropriate route to solution is provided by superpos-
ing a background Eulerian grid over the Lagrangian
mesh used for fracture modelling. Within this regu-
lar Eulerian grid the gas pressure modelling is based
on the mass conservation and momentum equations
for gas flow employing directional porosities derived
from the rock fracture simulation. The coupling takes
place through an interdependence between the evolv-
ing gas pressure distribution driving the fracturing
process which, in turn, provides the porosity distribu-
tion which controls the gas pressure. Computationally,
solution can be effectively provided through use of a
staggered solution scheme based upon time integration
of the two fields with partitioned time stepping.
4.1 Theory of gas flow through rock cracks
The 2D mass conservation equation for gas flow
through rock cracks can be expressed as:
where vx and vy are the component velocities for the
gas, ρ is the gas density, and α is the porosity of the rock
mass and αx , αy are the directional porosities in the X
and Y directions, respectively. The directional poros-
ities may be evaluated in terms of the average crack
heights per unit distance in the X and Y directions,
denoted h̄x and h̄y , as:
The gas velocities are obtained through the momentum
equation:
in which µ is the gas viscosity for flow through the rock
cracks and p is the gas pressure. Since the gas arises
from the detonation process, the pressure is obtained
using the equation of state for the explosive, which
may be defined generally as:
For axisymmetric analysis the mass conservation
Eq.(9) can be re-written as:
463
where r is the radius corresponding to the material
point being considered and subscript r refers to radial
components. The additional term in Eq. (13) arises
directly from the conversion of Eq. (9) from a plane
to a 3-D axisymmetric representation. Eq. (9) may be
solved by adopting a finite difference representation.
By dividing the whole domain into a structured grid
in the x and y directions Eq. (9) can be discretised as:
where mi,j is the gas mass, x and y are respectively
the grid spacings in the X and Y directions and Fx and
Fy are the flux in the x and y directions; i.e.
and subscripts i and j refer to the grid point number
in the X and Y directions respectively. Evaluation of
the component flux defined by Eq. (15) necessitates
evaluation of the velocities, porosities and gas dens-
ities at the grid lines. The porosities are evaluated from
the topology of the mechanical field. The velocities are
defined as:
For stability consideration gas densities at the grid
lines are evaluated using the “upstream” values rather
than a local average, i.e.
The time integration of Eq. (14) is carried out by the
forward Euler method.
4.2 Gas pressure calculations
4.2.1 Detonation pressure
If a borehole is fired but the detonation process has
not finished, the borehole pressure is calculated as:
where n is the pulse index, tr is the rise time, b = n/tr,
a = pvn/ss1 (here ss1 = tr n e−btr ), a1 = (pvn − p0 )/
ss1, etc.

Figure 7. Rock blasting: a) finite element, and b) gas
meshes.
4.2.2 Pressure subsequent to completion of the
detonation process
The pressure subsequent to detonation is defined as:
where:
and c, go , g1 , g2 , are material parameters. The defin-
ition of p0 in Eq. (19) is a function of gas density and
is not related to time.
464
Figure 8. Rock blasting: fracture patterns for two different
boundaries.
4.3 Numerical example- HPE test
This is a plan view (plane strain) test case where a
borehole of 165 mm diameter is located in the centre
of a 3 m× 3 m square rock mass.The finite element and
gas meshes used are shown in Figure 7 and the fracture
patterns for two different boundaries, reflecting and
non-reflecting, are depicted in Figure 8.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The paper highlights the numerical issues related to
the modelling of multi-fracturing rocks under gen-
eral mechanical loadings and particularly describes
the numerical frameworks necessary to account for
the interaction between (fractured) rock masses and
fluid/gas phases. It is emphasised that different mod-
elling strategies may need to be applied in order to
effectively deal with specific coupling phenomena.
Examples have been presented to demonstrate the
applicability of the proposed methodology.
REFERENCES
de Souza Neto, E.A., Peric, D. & Owen, D.R.J. 1998. Con-
tinuum modelling and numerical simulation of material
damage at finite strains. Arch. Comput. Meth. Engng. 5:
311–384.
Haimson, B. & Song, I. 1993. Laboratory study of borehole
breakouts in cordova cream: a case of shear failure mech-
anism. Int. J. Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 30(7):
1047–1056.
Klerck, P., Owen, D.R.J., Yu, J. & Crook, A.J.L. 1999.
A methodology for discretisation objective, discrete,
dynamic fracture. In Pijaudier-Cabot (ed.), Mechanics of
Quasi-Brittle Materials & Structures. Hermes Science
Publications, pp. 367–390.
Klerck, P., Sellers, E.J. & Owen, D.R.J. 2003. Discrete frac-
ture in quasi-brittle materials under compressive and
465
tensile stress states. Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng. 193:
3035–3056.
Lee, M. & Haimson, B. 1993. Laboratory study of borehole
breakouts in Lac du Bonnet granite: a case of extensile
failure mechanism. Int. J. Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech.
Abstr. 30(7): 1039–1045.
Lewis, R.W. & Schrefler, B.A. 1998. The Finite Element
Method in the Static and Dynamic Deformation and Con-
solidation of Porous Media. Chichester: John Wiley &
Sons.
Owen, D.R.J., Feng, Y.T., De Souza Neto, E.A., Wang, F.,
Cottrell, M.G., Pires, F.A. & Yu, J. 2004. The modelling
of multi-fracturing solids and particulate media. Int. J.
Numer. Meth Engng. 60(1): 317–340.
van Dam, D.B., Papanastasiou, P. & Pater, C. J. 2000. Impact
of rock plasticity on hydraulic fracture propagation and
closure. Paper SPE 78812, 2000 SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, Dallas.
Yu, J. 1999. A Contact Interaction Framework for Numeric-
al Simulation of Multi-Body problems and Aspects of
Damage and Fracture for Brittle Materials. Ph.D. Thesis,
University of Wales Swansea.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Combined finite-discrete element modelling of surface subsidence

associated with block caving mining

A. Vyazmensky, D. Elmo & D. Stead

Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

J.R. Rance
Rockfield Technology Ltd., Swansea, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT: The ability to predict surface subsidence associated with block caving mining is important for
both environmental impact and operational hazard assessments. Use of numerical modelling provides an oppor-
tunity to enhance understanding of the surface subsidence phenomenon and develop improved methodologies for
subsidence prediction. Previous numerical studies were primarily focused on site specific predictive modelling.
A conceptual modelling study employing combined continuum-discrete element method is planned to investigate
mechanisms governing subsidence development. As a necessary prerequisite for such a study the analysis of
potential modelling approaches is conducted. In a framework of combined continuum-discrete element method
there are three approaches to rock mass representation: equivalent continuum, discrete network and mixed. Ini-
tial modelling illustrated that reasonable simulation of surface subsidence development can be achieved using
equivalent continuum and mixed approaches.

1 INTRODUCTION

Block caving mining is characterized by caving and

extraction of a massive volume of ore which trans-
lates into a formation of major surface depression
or subsidence zone directly above and in the vicin-
ity of the mining operations (see Fig. 1). The block
caving induced subsidence may endanger mine infra-
structure and is a major concern for operational safety.
Moreover, changes to surface landforms brought about
by block caving subsidence may have certain envir-
onmental impacts. Therefore the ability to predict
surface subsidence associated with block caving min-
ing is critical for both mining operational hazard and Figure 1. Conceptual representation and characterization
environmental impact assessments. terminology of surface subsidence associate with block
caving mining (after van As 2003).
Owing to problems of scale and lack of access a
fundamental understanding of the complex rock mass
response in block caving settings remains limited. being carried out at the Simon Fraser University in col-
Block caving geomechanics is still largely an empir- laboration with the University of British Columbia. A
ically based discipline. Use of numerical modelling state-of-the-art combined continuum-discrete element
provides an opportunity to investigate the factors code ELFEN (Rockfield 2006) is employed as the prin-
governing caving mechanisms and develop improved cipal modelling tool. This paper reviews the existing
methodologies for the prediction of associated surface methods of subsidence prediction, provides the ratio-
subsidence. nal basis for the methodology of subsidence analysis
A comprehensive numerical modelling study adopted in the current research and oulines three
focused on block caving related surface subsidence is different modelling approaches.

467

Figure 2. Progressive hanging wall failure sequence with
increasing depth of mining (Hoek, 1974): (a) mining from
outcrop; (b) failure of overhanging wedge; (c) formation of
steep face; (d) development of tension crack and failure sur-
face; (e) development of second tension crack and failure
surface.
2 TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES OF BLOCK
CAVING SUBSIDENCE ANALYSIS
2.1 Empirical
The most commonly used empirical method for esti-
mating subsidence parameters in cave mining is
Laubscher’s method (Laubscher 2000). Laubscher
proposed a design chart that relates the predicted cave
angle to the MRMR (Mining Rock Mass Rating),
density of the caved rock, height of the caved rock
and mine geometry (minimum and maximum span of
a footprint). Here it should be noted that it is quite
difficult to determine the density of the caved rock
which is an important parameter in the analysis. More-
over, Laubscher’s chart does not take into account the
effect of geological structures which may influence
the dip of the cave angle. Therefore the estimates of
the angle of break should be adjusted for local geo-
logical conditions which require sound engineering
judgment and experience in similar geotechnical set-
tings. Although Laubscher’s design chart is a useful
tool for preliminary estimates of the angle of break, it
is too general to rely solely upon in design.
2.2 Analytical
The limit equilibrium technique is the most commonly
used analytical method for subsidence assessment in
caving settings. The initial limit equilibrium model for
the analysis of surface cracking associated with the
progressive sub-level caving of an inclined orebody
was developed by Hoek (1974) for the analysis of sub-
sidence at Grängesberg mine in Sweden. He proposed
a conceptual mechanism of hanging wall failure during
progressing downhole mining as illustrated in Figure 2.
It was assumed that at each stage of vertical retreat
a tension crack and a failure surface form in the hang-
ing wall rock mass at a critical location determined
by the strength of the rock mass and the imposed
stresses (Fig. 2d, e). A limit equilibrium solution was
468
developed to determine the stability of the block of
rock isolated by the new tension crack and the fail-
ure surface formed at each stage of mining. Using
Hoek’s analysis it is possible to predict the angle of
inclination of the new failure surface, the new tension
crack depth and the angle of break as the depth of
mining increases. The analysis assumes a flat ground
surface and full drainage throughout the caving mass.
Hoek’s method is applicable to progressive hanging
wall failure only, and requires input of initial subsi-
dence conditions. Brown & Ferguson (1979), Kvapil
et al. (1989), Karzulovic (1990), Herdocia (1991),
Lupo (1996), Flores & Karzulovic (2004) have modi-
fied Hoek’s method to incorporate various additional
parameters and mining geometries.
Heslop & Laubscher (1981) indicated that a gov-
erning factor in hanging wall failure is rock structure.
Presence of faults may provide preferential shear fail-
ure planes. Persistent discontinuities having similar
dip to the orebody may create a tendency for toppling
failure. Woodruff (1966) postulated that the tension
cracks surrounding a caved or subsidence area do not
necessarily represent planes of movement extending
from ground surface to undercut level. Therefore the
mechanism of failure behind Hoek’s (1974) limit equi-
librium approach may not be applicable in all cases.
Overall, the limit equilibrium approach is restric-
tive – it is based on Hoek’s (1974) assumption of failure
mechanism and is able to provide estimates for the
angle of break only.
2.3 Numerical
Numerical techniques being inherently more flexible
and sophisticated provide an opportunity to improve
understanding of subsidence phenomena and increase
accuracy in subsidence predictions.
Numerical analysis strategies typically employed in
the analysis of block caving subsidence include:
• large strain continuum approaches (LSC)
• discontinuum approaches (D)
Table 1 summarizes published accounts of numer-
ical analysis of surface subsidence. Overall, with the
exception of Flores & Karzulovic (2004) study, all
reviewed accounts have generaly focused on back
analysis or predictive modelling of particular mine
sites. The modelling study by Flores & Karzulovic
(2004) is arguably the first attempt after Laub-
scher (2000) to provide general guidance for subsi-
dence analysis. These authors conducted conceptual
FLAC/FLAC3D modelling of the surface subsidence
associated with block caving, for the case with an exist-
ing open pit, varying rock mass strength, open pit depth
and undercut level depth. Based on their modelling
results complemented by limit equilibrium analysis
a series of design charts were developed correlating
angle of break and zone of influence of caving with
Table 1. Numerical studies of surface subsidence. brittle fracturing to some degree, none however offer a
true representation of the actual brittle fracturing phe-
Author Approach Type of analysis nomena which involves fracture growth, propagation
and material fragmentation – in other words transform-
Singh et al. LSC Site specific: Rajpura
(1993) (FLAC) Dariba and Kiruna mines ation from a continuum to a discontinuum state and
Karzulovic et al. LSC Site specific: subsequent interaction of discrete systems.
(1999) (FLAC) El Teniente mine In the current study the authors adopt a frac-
Flores & LSC Conceptual ture mechanics based state-of-the-art numerical code
Karzulovic (FLAC/ ELFEN (Rockfield Technology Ltd., UK) that
(2004) FLAC3D) incorporates a combined continuum-discrete element
Li & Brummer, D Site specific: approach with an assumed fracture criterion. ELFEN
(2005) (3DEC) Palabora mine allows the simulation of fracture process initiation,
Gilbride et al. D Site specific:
fracture growth and extension in both intact and
(2005) (PFC3D) Questa mine
pre-fractured rock material and is able to simulate
rock fragmentation and fragment interaction. Using
ELFEN the caving process can be simulated as a brittle
fracture driven continuum-discontinuum transition.
undercut level depth and crater depth for rock with
various rock mass geotechnical quality. The validity 3.2 Hybrid finite/discrete element code ELFEN
of these charts is yet to be confirmed by mining expe-
rience. It should be noted that the study by Flores & 3.2.1 Constitutive models for rock
Karzulovic (2004) was not focused on providing clues The simulation of fracturing, damage and associ-
to the essence of rock mass response in block cav- ated softening in ELFEN is achieved by employing
ing setting and subsidence development. Therefore, a fracture energy approach controlled by a desig-
in light of increasing use of the block caving mining nated constitutive fracture criterion. There are two
method and the importance of increasing knowledge of constitutive fracture models implemented in the code:
potential surface subsidence there is a genuine need for
• Rankine rotating crack model;
a comprehensive numerical study on the general prin-
• Mohr-Coulomb model with a Rankine cut-off.
ciples of surface subsidence development associated
with block caving mining. The Rankine rotating crack model is used to simu-
late crack formation under tensile conditions. In this
3 A NEW APPROACH TO SUBSIDENCE approach, cracks are initiated in three directions nor-
ANALYSIS mal to the principal strains and are presumed to rotate
to maintain this orthogonality condition upon further
3.1 Importance of consideration of brittle failure loading. Cracks are initiated when a limiting tensile
stress is reached, after which the material follows
Block caving subsidence is the product of a complex a softening/damaging response. The softening slope
rock mass response to caving. This response com- is related to the fracture energy release rate, Gf .For
prises global failure of the rock mass in both tension combined tension/compression regimes, the Rankine
and compression, along existing discontinuities and model is complemented by a constitutive description
through intact rock bridges. It appears that the ability based on a Mohr-Coulomb type material model with
of numerical modeling to capture the essence of rock a limiting compressive cap. The compressive post-
mass response during caving is the key to successful failure behavior is coupled to the tensile softening
analysis of subsequent surface subsidence. response and a feature of the model is the ability of the
Most natural rocks subjected to engineering analy- material to independently soften in the three principal
sis are quasi-brittle; failure in such rocks is a result of stress directions. This constitutive algorithm is cap-
brittle fracture initiation and propagation. The brittle able of predicting fracture for arbitrary tensile/tensile
fracture is the process by which sudden loss of strength or tensile/compressive stress states (May et al. 2005).
occurs across a plane following little or no permanent Detailed descriptions of these constitutive models can
deformations. be found in Klerck (2000) and Owen et al. (2004).
In continuum based numerical approaches the effect In a block caving setting both compressive and ten-
of brittle fracturing is typically incorporated into con- sile stress fields are anticipated, hence for the current
stitutive models, such as Hoek-Brown’s failure crite- study a Mohr-Coulomb model with a Rankine cut-off
rion (2002), or, by the assumption of predefined ubiq- is employed.
uitous planes of weakness. In discontinuum particle
based approaches the effect of brittle fracturing is sim- 3.2.2 Continuum to discontinuum transformation
ulated by breaking the contacts of bonded discrete One of the important issues of fracture modeling is
elements. Both approaches provide approximations of how to transform the continuous finite element mesh

469

Figure 3. (a) weighted average nodal failure direction; (b)
intra-element fracture; (c) inter-element fracture (after Klerk
2000).
to one with discontinuous fractures and to deal with
the subsequent interactions between the fracture sur-
faces. The fracture algorithm employed in ELFEN
inserts physical fractures into a finite element mesh
such that the initial continuum is gradually degraded
into discrete blocks.
A discrete fracture is introduced when the tensile
strength in a principal stress direction reaches zero and
is oriented orthogonal to this direction. The fracture is
inserted along failure plane (Fig. 3a). The failure plane
is defined in terms of a weighted average of the maxi-
mum failure strain directions of all elements connected
to the node. A fracture can be inserted either exactly
through the failure plane – resulting in formation of
new elements (Fig. 3b) or along the boundaries of the
existing elements (Fig. 3c).
Fracture development and potential material
degradation into discrete particles requires special
treatment of mechanical forces on the contact inter-
faces. In ELFEN contact interaction laws are adopted
in terms of a penalty method. Surface penetration that
violates the impenetrability constraint invokes normal
penalty (contact) forces that prompt surface separa-
tion. Similarly, tangential penalty forces are invoked
by the relative tangential displacement between con-
tacting surface entities. These tangential penalty forces
are set to zero in the case of a frictionless contact or
appropriately relaxed in the case of a slipping contact
(Klerk 2000). Elmo (2006) reviewed the correlation
between joint stiffness parameters and penalty coeffi-
cients in ELFEN. He showed that the normal stiffness
kn for a modelled joint surface could effectively be
considered equivalent, in magnitude, to the selected
normal penalty coefficient Pn .
Strength parameters on the fractures interfaces are
defined in ELFEN in terms of cohesion (cf ) and
friction angle (φf ) based on a linear Mohr-Coulomb
criterion.
3.2.3 ELFEN applications in rock engineering
Developed in the early 1990s ELFEN was ini-
tially applied to impact analysis on brittle materials
including ceramics. However, in the recent years
it has found wider use in rock engineering mod-
eling. Research by Klerck (2000), Coggan et al.
(2003), Cai & Kaiser (2004), Stead et al. (2004),
470
Eberhardt et al. (2004), Elmo et al. (2005), Stead
& Coggan (2006) and Elmo (2006) demonstrated
the capabilities of the code for the analysis of vari-
ous rock mechanics problems involving brittle fail-
ure, including analysis of Brazilian, UCS and shear
laboratory tests, analysis of slope failures and under-
ground pillars stability. Initial applications of the code
for the analysis of block caving by Esci & Dutko
(2003) and Pine et al. (2006) showed encouraging
results.
4 APPLICATION OF A COMBINED
FINITE/DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD
TO SUBSIDENCE ANALYSIS
4.1 Modelling approaches
The main objective of the current study is to improve
our general understanding of the mechanisms control-
ling subsidence development.
Due to the complexity of model setup and the
significant computational time required to run mine
scale subsidence problems a conceptual 2D analysis
is adopted. A series of numerical experiments is being
conducted to establish a link between rock mass prop-
erties, in-situ stress ratio, jointing, major geological
structures, surface topography, mining sequence, and
the resultant subsidence.
One important factor that must be considered dur-
ing the modeling is adequate representation of the rock
mass. In the context of finite/discrete element method
three possible approaches to the representation of the
rock mass include:
• Equivalent Continuum
• Discrete network
• Mixed discrete/equivalent continuum approach
In the equivalent continuum approach the jointed
intact rock mass system is represented as a continuum
with reduced intact rock properties to account for pres-
ence of discontinuities. The rock mass properties can
be deduced from one of the rock mass classification
systems such as RMR or GSI. It should be noted that
discontinuities add kinematic controls to the failure
mechanism and may provide preferred orientation to
the failure.
In this sense the discrete network approach, where
the rock mass is represented as an assembly of dis-
continuities and intact rock regions, is closer to real-
ity. The intact rock properties can be established
based on scaled laboratory tests and the pattern of
discontinuities can be determined from field map-
ping/borehole logging data or stochastic modeling.
Fracture representation must be adequate for the prob-
lem studied. Clearly it is not feasible to consider every
single flaw fracture within the rock mass, however the
 Table 2. Input parameters for ELFEN modelling.

Int. Equivalent
Parameter Unit rock continuum

Rock mass
Young’s modulus, E GPa 60 18
Figure 4. ELFEN model geometry and boundary Poisson’s ratio, ν 0.25 0.25
conditions. −3
Density, ρ kgm 3100 3100
Tensile strength, σt MPa 10 0.33
Fracture energy, Gf Jm−2 63 63
resolution of fractures should be sufficient to capture Internal cohesion, ci MPa 15 0.3
salient features of the simulated behavior. Internal friction, φi degrees 60 35
In some circumstances, such as the simulation of Dilation, ψ degrees 9 9
large scale problems, to achieve reasonable computa- Preinserted or newly generated fractures
tional efficiency, discontinuities must be placed fairly Fracture cohesion, cf MPa 0
sparsely. In this context representation of the rock Fracture friction, φf degrees 35
between fractures as an intact material may produce Normal penalty, Pn GPa/m 1
an overly stiff response. A mixed approach, where the Tangential penalty, Pt GPa/m 0.1
rock mass is represented as an assembly of sparsely In-situ stress ratio, K 1
spaced discontinuities and regions with reduced intact
properties, is a necessary compromise between the
first two approaches allowing consideration of the
effect of discontinuities and computational efficiency.
In this approach the appropriate combination of frac-
ture network/reduced intact rock properties should be
chosen so that the salient features of the simulated
response are captured.
This paper presents examples of conceptual
ELFEN models simulating surface subsidence devel-
opment due to block caving mining using equivalent
continuum, discrete network and mixed approaches.
The applicability of these approaches to subsidence
analysis is discussed.

4.2 Surface subsidence modelling using an

equivalent continuum approach
4.2.1 Model setup
A 800 m × 204 m model sub-divided into non-
fracturing and fracturing regions was used, Figure 4.
The fracturing region covers the principal area where
fractures may potentially develop and has a higher
mesh resolution. The non-fracturing region has a lower
mesh resolution and is required to extend the model
boundaries to minimize potential boundary effects on
simulation results.
Block caving mining is simulated by undercutting
and full extraction of a block of ore 100 m × 100 m
located within the fracturing region. The undercut
(100 m × 4 m) is developed in five stages – 20 m at
each stage. A uniform draw of ore is assumed. The ore
extraction is simulated by looped deletion of the dis-
crete elements within the full length of the undercut
level.
The rock mass in the model is represented as
an equivalent continuum with the properties corres-
ponding to RMR 60. The preliminary model input
parameters are given in Table 2.
Figure 5. Simulation of cave development during undercut-
ting using an equivalent continuum approach.
4.2.2 Modelling results
Figure 5 shows cave development during undercut-
ting. The rock mass begins to cave when the undercut
reaches 40 m (hydraulic radius of 20 m). However,
continuous caving is achieved only when the under-
cut exceeds 80 m (40 m hydraulic radius). Assuming
that MRMR≈0.9RMR (Flores & Karzulovic 2002) the
simulated phases of cave initiation shown in Figure 5
can be plotted on Laubscher’s caveability chart – see
Figure 6. Close agreement is observed with empirical
observations.
At the end of the undercutting the cave back extends
as far as 60 m above the undercut level causing

471
 100
stable zone transition
90
zone

caving
80 zone
Equivalent continuum
approach
70
Modified Rock Mass Rating (MRMR)

Figure 8. ELFEN model coupled with DFN model.

60

50 the surface at about 17% extraction of the ore block

volume, as shown in Figure 7a. Continuing extraction
40 of the ore resulted in formation of the subsidence crater
Mixed approach as shown in Figure 7b. Deepening of the crater leads to
30 gradual collapse of the crater’s walls through toppling
Stable and rotational failures. The final surface profile at full
20 Transitional ore extraction is shown in Figure 7c.
Caving Flores & Karzulovic (2002) summarized the
10
geotechnical data from 18 block and panel caving
0
operations around the world. They reported that in the
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 studied mines for RMR<70 the angle of break is typ-
Hydraulic Radius, m ically more than 45◦ and for RMR>70 more than 60◦ .
The minimum angle of break inferred from the model
Figure 6. ELFEN modeling results plotted on Laubscher’s shown in Figure 7c is 56◦ , which appears to be reason-
caveability chart. able for a rock mass with RMR 60.The minimum angle
of fracture initiation for the same model is 50◦ and the
maximum extent of the zone of influence (with the
assumption of critical settlement threshold of 5 mm)
is 110 m.
Overall, initial results of modelling of block cav-
ing mining using an equivalent continuum approach
appear to be reasonable. The model was able to capture
the salient features of the caving process and surface
subsidence development.

4.3 Surface subsidence modelling using discrete

network and mixed approaches
4.3.1 Model setup
The model setup is similar to that shown in Figure 4,
with the exception that a predefined fracture pattern is
inserted (Fig. 8).
Generally, to achieve progressive caving, two
orthogonal vertical to steeply joint sets and a third
sub-horizontal set are required. 2-D caving analysis
assumes that one of the subvertical sets is strictly
vertical and is parallel to the plane of the cross section..
Figure 7. Simulation of subsidence development during ore
The fracture network can be developed using
extraction using an equivalent continuum approach: a- cave the proprietary code FRACMAN (Golder 2006) and
breaks through the surface at 17% ore extraction; b – 50% exported into ELFEN. A sample synthetic 2-D FRAC-
ore extraction; c – contours of vertical displacements (m) at MAN generated discrete fracture network, DFN,
100% ore extraction. model integrated into ELFEN model is shown in
Figure 8. The DFN model was generated assuming a
70◦ steeply dipping joint set and a sub-horizontal joint
formation of a stepped depression at the surface, with set with a dip of 10◦ .
the maximum surface settlement of 0.7 m above the The intact rock properties for the discrete network
center of the undercut. approach are shown in Table 2. The reduced rock mass
Figure 7 shows the development of surface subsi- properties for the mixed approach were assumed the
dence during ore extraction. The cave back reached same as for the equivalent continuum approach.

472
Figure 9. Simulation of caving using discrete network
approach, end of undercutting.
Figure 10. Simulation of cave development during under-
cutting using a mixed discrete/equivalent continuum
approach.
4.3.2 Modelling results
Figure 9 illustrates the discrete network approach of
modelling of block caving. It can be seen that the
undercutting results in a formation of massive blocks
which tend to slide into the undercut along steeply dip-
ping joints. Evidently, the rock mass is too strong to
develop continuous caving.
Additional modelling trials carried out using this
approach have indicated that in order to achieve con-
tinuous caving for the simulations with intact rock
properties a blocky fracture pattern should be assumed
and the spacing of discontinuities should not exceed
0.5 m. However, such a geometrical domain requires
fine mesh discretization resulting in extensive com-
putational times, making this approach not currently
feasible to consider for routine block caving analysis.
Results of application of the mixed approach to
the block caving subsidence analysis are shown in
Figures 10 and 11. It appears that the release surfaces
formed by discontinuities facilitated cave develop-
ment and “softened” systems response. As shown in
Figure 10, in contrast with equivalent continuum mod-
elling (Fig. 5) the caving is initiated at the very first
stage of undercutting, 20 m. Continuous caving was
reached at an undercut of 40 m. By the end of undercut-
ting the cave breaks through the surface. Interestingly,
473
Figure 11. Simulation of subsidence development using a
mixed discrete/equivalent continuum approach. Contours of
vertical displacements (m) at 100% ore extraction.
fracturing development is somewhat assymetrical due
to the steeply dipping joint set. Comparison of cav-
ing simulation observations for equivalent continuum
and mixed approaches, plotted on Laubscher’s chart
(Fig. 6), shows that mixed approach model is more sus-
ceptible to caving and deviates from the trend observed
in caving practice.
Discontinuities also played an important role in sub-
sidence development. If in the equivalent continuum
approach tensile cracks must be formed for toppling to
occur, in the mixed approach the kinematic conditions
for toppling were already in place, so that subsidence
developed preferentially in a direction of the hang-
ing wall. The following subsidence parameters can be
inferred from Figure 11: the angle of break at the end
of ore extraction is 49◦ , the minimum angle of fracture
initiation is 38◦ and the maximum extent of the zone
of influence (with the assumption of critical settlement
threshold of 5 mm) is 150 m.
Overall, the mixed approach highlighted the effect
of discontinuities on the subsidence development. It
appears that the assumed combination of fracture pat-
tern and reduced intact rock properties leads to an
overly soft system response and as a result subsidence
parameters were overestimated. Clearly the equiva-
lent continuum properties for the regions in between
fractures assumed in the mixed approach must be
higher than for the equivalent continuum modelling
approach.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The conducted ELFEN modelling trials indicated a
general applicability of the equivalent continuum and
mixed approaches. The discrete network approach is
generally the most realistic for block caving subsid-
ence analysis, however currently it requires exces-
sively long computation times.
The modelling based on equivalent continuum
approach demonstrated results which corresponded
reasonably well with the typical trends observed at
actual block caving mines. It should be noted that
the equivalent continuum properties derived using
RMR were quite low. It is suggested that subsidence
predictions using this approach could be improved
by utilizing a constitutive model that allows direc-
tional strength weakening, so that effect of presence of
discontinuities can be simulated to some degree. How-
ever, true kinematic controls of discontinuities cannot
be captured without including pre-inserted fractures in
the models.
The mixed approach allows simulation of the kin-
ematics involved in block caving. The conducted
modelling using this approach showed some interest-
ing results. However application of the mixed approach
is somewhat complicated by a need to assume scale
dependant rock mass properties and requires further
research. The assumptions of representative fracture
pattern and the material properties will govern mod-
elling results. Fracture networks should be either
assumed or generated using stochastic modelling. The
material properties should be linked with the fracture
network. A calibration of the rock mass properties is
required to ensure that simulated caving behaviour
corresponds to the trends observed in-situ. The GSI
system provides some guidance on establishing mater-
ial properties based on rock structure and joint sur-
face conditions. However, it demands uniform blocky
fracture pattern. Research is underway to develop a
correlation between rock mass properties and specific
fracture patterns.
Overall, the initial combined finite/discrete mod-
elling of block caving induced surface subsidence
shows encouraging results. It is anticipated that the
detailed conceptual modelling study of the factors con-
trolling subsidence development, carried out as part of
the current research, will enhance our understanding
of the rock mass behaviour in block caving and will
lead to development of improved methodologies for
subsidence prediction.
REFERENCES
Brown, E.T. & Fergusson G.A. 1979. Prediction of progres-
sive hanging-wall caving, Gath’s mine, Rhodesia. Trans.
Instn Min. Metall. 88: A92–105.
Cai, M. & Kaiser, P.K. 2004. Numerical simulation of the
Brazilian test and the tensile strength of anisotropic rocks
and rocks with pre-existing cracks. In Proc. SINOROCK.
Coggan, J.S., Pine, R.J., Stead, D. & Rance, J. 2003. Numer-
ical modelling of brittle rock failure using a combined
finite-discrete element approach: Implications for rock
engineering design. In Proc. ISRM 2003 Series S33, pp.
211–218.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D. & Coggan, J.S. 2004. Numerical
analysis of initiation and progressive failure in natural rock
slopes – the 1991 Randa rockslide. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 41: 69–87.
Elmo, D., Pine, R.J. & Coggan, J.S. 2005. Characterisation of
rock mass strength using a combination of discontinuity
mapping and fracture mechanics modelling. In Proc. 40th
U.S. Rock Mech. Symp., Anchorage, USRMS 05–733.
474
Elmo, D. 2006. Evaluation of a hybrid FEM/DEM approach
for determination of rock mass strength using a combin-
ation of discontinuity mapping and fracture mechanics
modelling, with particular emphasis on modelling of
jointed pillars. PhD Thesis, Camborne School of Mines,
University of Exeter, UK.
Esci, L. & Dutko, M. 2003. Large scale fracturing and
rock flow using Discrete Element Method, 2D application
for block caving. In Numerical Methods in Continuum
Mechanics, Žilina, Slovak Republic.
Flores, G & Karzulovic, A. 2002. Geotechnical guidelines
for a transition from open pit to underground mining.
Benchmark report. Project ICS-II, Task 4.
Flores, G. & Karzulovic, A. 2004. Geotechnical guidelines
for a transition from open pit to underground mining.
Geotechnical guidelines. Project ICS-II, Task 4.
Gilbride, L.J., Free, K.S. & Kehrman, R. 2005. Model-
ing block cave subsidence at the Molycorp, Inc., Questa
Mine. In Proc. 40th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanic,
Anchorage.
Golder Associates 2006. www.fracman.golder.com.
Herdocia, A. 1991. Hanging wall stability of sublevel cav-
ing mines in Sweden. PhD thesis, Luleå University of
Technology, Luleå, Sweden.
Heslop, T.G. & Laubscher, D.H. 1981. Draw control in caving
operations on South African Chrysotile asbestos mines.
In Design and Operation of Caving and Sublevel Stoping
Mines. New York: AIME.
Hoek, E. 1974 Progressive caving induced by mining an
inclined orebody. IMM Section A: A133–A139.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002.The Hoek-
Brown failure criterion – 2002 edition. In Proc. 5th North
American Rock Mech. Symp., Toronto, pp. 267–271.
Karzulovic, A. 1990. Evaluation of angle of break to define
the subsidence crater of Rio Blanco Mine’s Panel III.
Technical Report, Andina Division, CODELCO-Chile.
Karzulovic, A., Cavieres, P. & Pardo, C. 1999. Caving subsi-
dence at El Teniente Mine (in Spanish). In Proceedings of
SIMIN 99, Santiago.
Klerck, P.A. 2000. The finite element modelling of discrete
fracture in quasi-brittle materials. Ph.D. thesis, University
of Wales, Swansea.
Kvapil, R., Ceccarelli, B. & Lonergan, J. 1989. Quantita-
tive Analysis of Subsidence at El Teniente Mine. Technical
Report, El Teniente Division, CODELCO-Chile.
Laubscher, D.H. 2000. Block caving manual. Prepared for
International Caving Study. Brisbane: JKMRC and Itasca
Consulting Group, Inc.
Li, H. & Brummer, R. 2005. Analysis of pit wall failure mech-
anism and assessment of long-term stability of pit walls
Palabora mine. Itasca Consulting Canada Ltd. Technical
report.
Lupo, J.F. 1996. Evaluation of deformations resulting from
mass mining of an inclined orebody. PhD thesis, Colorado
School of Mines, Golden, Colorado.
May, I.M., Chen, Y., Owen, D.R.J., Feng, Y.T. & Bere, A.T.
2005. Experimental testing and finite element simula-
tion of the behaviour of reinforced concrete beams under
impact loading. In Proc., COMPLAS VIII, Barcelona.
Owen, D.R.J., Feng,Y.T., de Souza Neto, E.A., Cottrell, M.G.,
Wang, F., Andrade Pires, F.M. & Yu, J. 2004. The mod-
elling of multi-fracturing solids and particulate media. Int.
J. Num. Meth. Eng. 60(1): 317–339.
Pine, R.J., Coggan, J.S., Flynn, Z.N. & Elmo, D. 2006. The
development of a new numerical modelling approach for
naturally fractured rock masses. Rock Mech. Rock Engng.
39(5): 395–419.
Rockfield. 2006. Rockfield Software Ltd. Swansea. UK.
Singh, U.K., Stephansson O.J. & Herdocia, A. 1993. Simula-
tion of progressive failure in hangingwall and foot wall for
mining with sub level caving. Trans. Instn. Min. Metall.
102: A188–A194.
Stead, D., Coggan, J.S. & Eberhardt, E. 2004. Realistic simu-
lation of rock slope failure mechanisms: the need to
475
incorporate principles of fracture mechanics. In: Proc.,
SINOROCK.
Stead, D. & Coggan, J.C. 2006. Numerical modelling of rock
slopes using a total slope failure approach. In: Landslide
from Massive Rock Slope Failure. pp. 131–142.
Van, As, A. 2003. Subsidence Definitions for Block Caving
Mines. Technical report.
Woodruff, S. 1966. Methods of Working Coal and Metal
Mines, Vol. 3. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Computational modeling of multiple fragmentation in rock masses with

application to block caving

J.M. Rance
Rockfield Technology Ltd., Technium, Swansea, UK

A. van As
Rio Tinto, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

D.R.J. Owen & Y.T. Feng

Civil and Computational Engineering Centre, University of Wales Swansea, Swansea, UK

R.J. Pine
Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK

ABSTRACT: The fragmentation behaviour of a rock mass subjected to block caving is affected by the strength
of the intact rock, the orientation, continuity, spacing and strength of the discontinuities and the in-situ stress.
Combined finite element/discrete element models are suitable for simulating such rock engineering problems that
are predominantly characterised by a transformation from a continuous to a discontinuous state. A computational
strategy based on the methodology has been incorporated within the Elfen code and its application is illustrated
by the simulation of typical block caving operations that involve several distinct fracture and flow phenomena.

1 INTRODUCTION rock masses has been summarised by Owen et al.

Block caving is becoming an increasingly important
mining method for rock masses that were previously
considered to be too strong, located at greater than
usual depth or as an extension of open pit mining. The
behaviour of the rock mass is affected by the strength of
the intact rock, the orientation, continuity, spacing and
strength of the discontinuities and the in-situ stress.
Combined finite element/discrete element models
are suitable for simulating rock engineering problems,
such as block caving, that are characterised by a trans-
formation from a continuous to a discontinuous state.
The problems are initially represented by a relatively
small number of discrete regions within the rock mass
to be caved. During the operational phase the material
is progressively damaged and the subsequent frag-
mentation may result in possibly three to four orders
of magnitude more discrete particles by the end of
the simulation. Earlier work on discrete element tech-
niques was based on the assumption that each element
was rigid, but later extension to include local deforma-
tion has permitted a more rigorous treatment of both
the contact conditions and fracture requirements.
The computational procedure employed in the
finite/discrete element analysis of multi-fracturing
(2004, 2007) and the main issues which require consid-
eration, for both dynamic and quasi-static behaviour,
are: (i) Appropriate element modeling of the con-
tinuum and discrete regions with a view to incor-
porating the deformation mechanisms necessary to
model stress, strain and frictional contact conditions,
(ii) The inclusion of non-linear constitutive behaviour
in both the finite and discrete elements, (iii) Algo-
rithms for treatment of the progressive fracturing
of elements, (iv) Detection procedures for monitor-
ing contact between individual discrete elements and
also the continuum regions and (v) Representation of
frictional/adhesive contact conditions for contacting
elements.
A computational strategy based on the above
methodology has been incorporated within the Elfen
code and its application is illustrated by the simula-
tion of typical block caving operations that involve
several distinct fracture/breakage/flow phenomena.
Firstly, multi-fracturing of the initially jointed rock
mass in the region around the cave takes place due
to the stress changes imposed by the extraction of
material. Secondary breakage may then occur due to
impact where newly formed blocks are released onto
the muckpile beneath. Finally, further comminution

477
takes place during the progress of the material through
the draw column to the extraction point.
The examples presented in the paper illustrate the
potential of the computational approach and con-
centrate on simulating the fundamental mechanisms
that contribute to fragmentation and consequent mate-
rial bulking, which is a major interactive factor in
controlling stress changes and displacements.
2 BACKGROUND
The design of block caving is currently dependent
mostly on empirical methods with limited consider-
ation of the true rock mass failure behaviour (e.g.
Laubscher 1994). A soundly-based numerical mod-
elling approach, ultimately in 3D, with calibration
against in-situ observations, would increase confi-
dence in the design capability for rock mass conditions
(strength, in-situ stress, degree of fracturing) currently
at the limit of present experience. Considering the
scale of proposed investments in block caving this
is a critical area for improvement. Repeated use of
such a model would allow evaluation of optimum
mining geometry (including consideration of surface
subsidence) and determination of economic feasibility.
During the caving process the rock mass fractures
and swells, filling the caved zone and supporting the
cave back and sidewalls. The rate of propagation of
the cave back upwards is controlled by the extraction
rate of the caved material and the discrete fracture
patterns of the fractured rock masses. The swell of
caved material and its interaction with the surrounding
bedrock is dependent upon many factors including the
geology and properties of the rock mass and caved
material, caving geometry, process conditions, caved
particle sizes and particle flow including secondary
fracturing. A series of numerical simulations are
described in this paper which sequentially replicate the
fundamental mechanisms controlling swell behaviour,
each phase relating to a different stage in the devel-
opment of the fragmentation and bulking. The sim-
ulations are aimed at: (i) determination of in-situ
fragmentation, (ii) understanding and quantifying the
mechanisms of primary fragmentation, (iii) investiga-
tion of the influence of the expansion void on fragmen-
tation and swell, and (iv) evaluation of the secondary
fragmentation and swell within the draw column. Each
stage is considered independently, although the data
and information obtained from one stage in the path is
fed into the subsequent stage.
Primary fragmentation is considered to occur when
the rock mass commences fracturing due to the influ-
ence of the change in stress state, resulting from caving
operations to the point of liberation of blocks from the
cave back. Within this section of the simulation study
the main focus is the development of the fragment
478
shape, size and distribution, without concern for swell
since the fragments are confined and swell is limited.
Also of interest within this stage is the prediction of
mechanisms by which blocks are formed and liberated
from the cave back. There are considered to be two
main factors; gravity and the stresses induced in the
boundaries of the undercut. If the induced compres-
sive tangential stresses are low, or tend to be tensile,
blocks of rock may be free to fall under gravity or slide
on inclined discontinuities; although, it is also possi-
ble for self-supporting arches to develop under these
conditions. Alternatively, if the tangential stresses are
high compared to the compressive and shear strengths
of the rock mass and the discontinuities, failure may
occur through brittle fracture of the intact rock and slip
along the discontinuities, especially those that are flat
dipping.
Liberation of blocks from the cave back may arise
with the falling of blocks across an air gap and impact-
ing on the top of the draw column possibly resulting
in further fracture. In some cases there may be little
or no gap and the liberation of blocks from the cave
back to join the draw column may be an ill-defined
transition zone.
3 PRIMARY FRAGMENTATION
A controlled draw model was employed which,
although taking into account the far field rock mass
response, focused on predicting the development of the
discontinuous zone during the early cave draw process.
The model simulated a uniform draw across the width
of a cave, predicting the changes in stress state, defor-
mation and any resulting fragmentation. To analyse the
evolution of the primary fragmentation an idealised
controlled draw of a cave was simulated. Initially the
rock was assigned in-situ conditions and as the draw
commenced the development of the fracture zone was
analysed. As the draw proceeded the fracture zone was
permitted to propagate upwards and sideways from the
cave back. In the zone above the cave back the rock
mass experienced the evolution of the stress from an
in-situ case through to a caved induced stress state.
The controlled draw model included the primary frac-
ture zone and surrounding rock mass to a practical
extent. A detailed response of the fragmentation and
joint behaviour was only necessary within the pri-
mary zone, with a smeared macro response employed
for the surrounding area. The primary fracture zone
was modelled utilising discrete element technology
to capture the discontinuous fragmentation process,
whilst standard finite element continuum mechanics
was employed to provide the macro response of the
surrounding rock mass.
Several analyses were carried out to investigate
the sensitivity of: (i) cave span to examine the
change in stress regimes due to different arching
conditions, with implications for fracture generation
and block liberation, (ii) confinement pressures to
determine influence on the generation of fractures
and effect on block liberation mechanisms and (iii)
rock mass strength to evaluate the effect on fracture
generation.
The controlled draw model area was 2 km wide
and 1 km deep, with a caved region located at 800 m
beneath the surface. The width of the caved region
was varied between case studies and defined as either
80 m or 140 m wide. The sides of the caved zone were
supported by forces equal to the geostatic loads. A
rigid surface representing the top of the draw col-
umn was positioned beneath and in contact with the
cave back, initially providing full support to the cave
zone above. Immediately above the cave back a jointed
region of 200 m by 200 m was specified, with a sim-
plified joint pattern based on measurements from Rio
Tinto’s Palabora rock mass. In the cross section there
are one sub-horizontal and one sub-vertical joint sets,
which have mean joint spacings, persistencies and
bridges of 3 and 2 m, 30 and 60 m, and 15 and 30 m
respectively, based on observations taken predomi-
nantly from the Palabora open pit. The development
of suitable jointing models is discussed further in
section 7. Between the jointed region and the model
boundaries a homogeneous elastic material was used.
The vertical boundaries were fixed in the horizontal
direction and the lower boundary fixed in the verti-
cal direction. A run was made to initialise the field
stresses as a gravity model, consistent with horizontal
to vertical stress ratios as indicated below.
Two sets of material data were used based on typical
intact rock and rock mass properties from Rio Tinto
block cave mines, namely Palabora (South Africa) and
Northparkes, Lift 2 caves (Australia). The strength and
stiffness of the Northparkes host rock (Biotite Quartz
Monzonite) are lower than for the Palabora rock (Car-
bonatite) with typical UCS values of around 75 and
120 MPa respectively. Typical material properties used
in the models are shown in Table 1.
Geostatic stress conditions were varied within the
ranges indicated by in-situ measurement with a hori-
zontal to vertical stress ratio (k) of 1.0, 1.5 or 1.8. The
draw column surface was moved vertically downwards
by 2 m to mimic uniform extraction. At selected draw
positions displacements and stress distributions were
tracked. Figure 1 illustrates, for the 200 m by 200 m
jointed region of the model above the cave back, the
primary fragmentation development for the Palabora
rock properties for 80 m and 140 m spans and k ratio of
1.0 and 1.5. Note that in the first three cases the frac-
ture stress state for a 2 m draw is shown, whereas for
the last case of a wide (140 m) span and low confining
pressure (k = 1.0) more extensive fracturing occurred
and results are shown for a 1.2 m draw.
479
Table 1. Material data from Palabora and Northparkes,
Lift 2.
Property Palabora Northparkes
Young’s modulus 60 GPa 40 GPa
Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.25
Density 3100 kg/m3 2700 kg/m3
Cohesion 8–15 MPa 2 MPa
Tensile Strength 1–10 MPa 1 MPa
Friction angle 55 Degrees 50 Degrees
Dilation angle 9 Degrees 9 Degrees
Gf 70–150 J/m2 70 J/m2
Figure 2 shows a similar simulation for the North-
parkes rock properties, for 80 m and 140 m spans and
the higher stress ratio of 1.8. For the case of the 80 m
span only a small degree of fragmentation takes place,
with all fracturing being completed after a draw of
0.62 m, while more extensive fragmentation occurs for
the 140 m span.
In all the cases studied with the Palabora rock and
in-situ stress data the primary blocks were generated
through mainly extensional fracturing, linking initial
joints together. At the edges of the primary fractured
zones a band of non-extensional fracturing occurred
through shear and bending regimes. As a consequence
the shape and size of the blocks in the core of the
primary zone is dictated by the joint frequency and ori-
entation, whereas at the edges the fractured rock is less
regular and varies in size, from in-situ joint spacing
down. In the model used, only Mode I fracturing was
incorporated, but material failure in shear is permitted
through the development of multiple en-echelon frac-
tures, which were either existing joints close to a crit-
ical orientation or new fractures through intact rock.
A different primary fracturing process is observed
for cases utilising the Northparkes rock material and
in-situ stress conditions. In these cases extensional
fracturing did not occur. Fracturing arising from shear
and bending can be observed which leads to angular
blocks of varying sizes being generated.
In the cases considered, initiation of the primary
fragmentation zone starts from the haunches of the
cave.
The simulations have highlighted continuous/
discontinuous caving phenomena. The factors affect-
ing continuous caving are strongly related to the k ratio
and the width and stiffness of the bridging structure. In
cases where high k ratios apply discontinuous caving
is more likely to occur. When the bridging structures
are less stiff (such as occur with large width to layer
thickness ratios) the caving process tends to be more
continuous. Within the lower primary fracturing zone,
just above the cave back, the stress levels in the dis-
continuous rock mass (not shown) reduce to very low
levels. The reduction of the stress in the horizontal

Figure 1. Development of primary fracture during draw
process – Palabora intact rock data.
480
Figure 2. Development of primary fracture during draw
process – Northparkes intact rock data.
direction extends beyond the abutments. In the region
above the abutments, whilst the horizontal stresses are
low the vertical stress can be relatively high which can
lead to stress fracturing.
4 FRAGMENTATION ADJACENT TO THE
EXPANSION VOID
In the previous cases a uniform draw regime across the
whole of the cave was considered. In most cases the
primary fractured blocks moved down relative to the
top of the draw column without showing signs of
significant bulking. One case highlighted the poten-
tial for arching and the development of a significant
expansion void developing.
 The idealised case of a uniform draw does not pro-
mote bulking apart from at the sides of the cave where
shear zones cause relative movement of the primary
blocks. In practice the draw is not uniform and the pur-
pose of the following example was to examine how the
local differential movements within the draw column
influence the transition of the primary blocks from the
cave back to the draw column.
Figure 3 illustrates the situation where after initial
primary fragmentation the further localised draw of a
central section takes place. In particular, from a cave
span of 140 m, the further draw of a central section of
40 m is simulated.
In the case based on Palabora rock and stress con-
ditions the local draw results in a small amount of the
cave back in this vicinity moving with the draw col-
umn, and above the local draw a bridge forms. No
significant primary fracture takes place and compres-
sive bridging stresses (not shown) build up around the
local draw area. In the case of the Northparkes rock and
stress conditions simulation of the local draw results
in bridging. No additional primary fracturing occurs
and only local changes are observed in the stress field.
In a situation with rock structure typical of Palab-
ora and where joint sets are oriented near vertical and
horizontal, the potential for arching over small spans
is significant, even when the rock mass has been frac-
tured. The nature of the primary block shapes, tend-
ing towards cuboids, appears to increase the arching
potential.
These simulations indicate that even for low con-
fining pressures arching can occur. This will lead to
the generation of expansion voids until the arch span
widens through a wider draw control, with subsequent Figure 3. Local draw of 40 m central section from a 140 m
sudden collapse, and primary blocks are liberated from cave span.
the cave back. The liberated primary blocks will fall
across the expansion gap onto the top of the draw
Although fracturing occurs in all cases, only at the high
column potentially leading to further fracture and,
levels are fragments produced and not all fractures
through unconfined relative movement, bulking of the
result in fragments.
rock mass.
The nature of the rigid surface onto which the
blocks are dropped has a significant influence on
the amount of fracturing. In practice the impact of
5 FRACTURE OF LIBERATED PRIMARY primary blocks on to the draw column will be soft-
BLOCKS ened through local crushing and the lower stiffness
response of the column. The effect of blocks impact-
In cases where expansion voids develop, the liberated ing against sharp protrusions from three different fall
primary blocks may fall over a relatively large distance heights (0.2 m, 1.25 m and 5.0 m) was considered, as
generating sufficient energy to lead to further fracture shown in Figure 5.
upon impact. Some studies were carried out to first The effect of impacting against the angular protru-
assess the likely fracture process of individual blocks sions causes significant local damage as the impact
due to impacts for different fall heights and then to energy is absorbed in these areas. In general, away
examine the fracturing of falling assemblies of blocks. from these areas the fracturing and generation of
Figure 4 illustrates the fracture patterns developed fragments is less, apart from the lower impact
in three separated blocks falling onto a rigid surface velocity case.
from three different heights (0.2, 1.25 and 5.0 m) using The previous cases have considered idealised sit-
the Palabora rock properties. Different levels of dam- uations where blocks fall onto a rigid surface. To
age can be seen from the different impact energies. provide a more realistic scenario of the liberation of a

481
Figure 4. Fracture patterns resulting from fall heights of
0.2, 1.25 and 5.0 m onto a rigid plane.
Figure 5. Fracture patterns resulting from a fall height of
0.2, 1.25 and 5 m onto a plane with protrusions.
considerable size of rock mass from the cave back,
an assembly of primary blocks were dropped from
a height of 5 m onto a bulked pile of fragments. A
rectangular domain of primary blocks, similar in size
and shape to that observed from the controlled draw
modelling, was generated and positioned 5 m above a
bulked pile of fragments (see Fig. 6).
The primary blocks are of a blocky profile with side
lengths ranging from 0.3 m up to 3 m. The assembly
of blocks was allowed to fall under gravitational force
and will have achieved an impact velocity of 10 m/s at
the centre and up to 13 m/s at the edges where the fall
distance was greater (approximately 8 m). The assem-
bly flows outwards over the top of the draw column
leading to spread of particles away from the impact
482
Figure 6. Fracture pattern resulting from a 5 m fall of a block
assembly.
area. As the particles flow, further fracture occurs due
to impacts between the primary blocks. The resulting
distribution of particles has a range of sizes with larger
size particles at the centre of the impact area, where
the impact velocities are lowest, and finer particles
at the edges where impact velocities are highest and
fragments have flowed furthest. The flow process of
fragments has more contact interactions and generates
further fragmentation and bulking, corresponding to a
significant density reduction.
6 BULKING IN THE DRAW COLUMN
To represent the evolution of the flow and bulking, a
controlled draw from several draw bells was simulated.
From the selected drawbells the block distributions
were based on data provided for Palabora. The initial
distribution of fragments was generated by software
that permits the inclusion of particles described as
polygonal entities with a random number of sides and
allows a distribution of particle sizes. Figure 7 shows
simultaneous draw from a 6-draw bell configuration
and comparisons have been made of different draw-
point extraction sequences. Post-processing examina-
tion of the flow patterns have enabled quantification
of the extent of material bulking in various cases.
7 IN SITU FRACTURE CHARACTERISATION
An important generic aspect of the modelling strat-
egy which is not emphasised in the paper, due to the
Figure 7. Vertical displacements.
simplified 2D jointing pattern used, is the procedure
by which the initial fracture geometry is determined
from comprehensive mapping and characterisation at
specific sites (Pine et al. 2006, Elmo et al. 2005)
and integrated into a discrete fracture model – in this
case FracMan (Dershowitz et al. 1998). A fundamen-
tal requirement for the geomechanical simulation of
initially jointed rock masses is the ability of the code
to accept appropriate data describing the geometrical
distribution of pre-existing fractures.
Figure 8 illustrates an example of the procedure by
which the initial FracMan data is first modified by
the removal of superfluous detail (e.g. very close sub-
parallel jointing or very short isolated joints) and then
represented within the Elfen pre-processing system in
a CAD type format prior to automatic mesh generation
for numerical simulation.
The methodology for transfer of this data to the
finite/discrete element model is not trivial and includes
the following essential steps:
(i) The fracture geometry data are exported from the
FracMan system in files defining fracture planes
within a rock mass on a full three dimensional
basis. These planes may intersect at arbitrary
angles and do not normally traverse the entire
region. This information is imported to a spe-
cific solid modelling interface module in Elfen
in which the joints are represented as lines for 2D
and planar surfaces for 3D situations.
(ii) Each fracture surface is then assigned interface
properties such as friction coefficient, cohesion,
shear and normal stiffness. Normally this would
be on the basis of the geologically defined sets
identified in FracMan.
(iii) Fracture entities are first constructed indepen-
dently as a network, accounting for intersections
483
Figure 8. FracMan to Elfen interface example: (a) FracMan
data; (b) Simplified FracMan data; (c) Computational repre-
sentation of the upper right hand quadrant of (b).
of lines or surfaces, including the partial intersec-
tion of surfaces in 3D and the intersection with
material region boundaries.
(iv) Once the network has been constructed these are
embedded within the computational solid model
of the rock mass by inserting fractures with both
sides of the fracture represented as free surfaces.
The crack aperture is normally assumed closed,
but may be set to a prescribed value. Special cases
need to be considered when fractures/faults run
along material interfaces or through rock strata
with discontinuous properties, etc., to ensure cor-
rect insertion of properties and assignment of
operations.
(v) This solid model is then discretised to provide a
finite element mesh using automatic mesh gener-
ation techniques employing triangular elements in
2D and tetrahedra for 3D problems. During this
meshing procedure, algorithms are employed to
ensure that neither excessively small nor “sliver”
elements are formed, due to either (a) very closely
spaced joints – in which case the two joints are
merged or (b) termination of a joint in close prox-
imity to another joint – in which case the nodes
defining this near interception are “snapped”
together. These adjustments are considered to
have negligible impact on the overall geomechan-
ical behaviour of a system of multiple fractures.
8 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The paper has illustrated how combined finite/discrete
element methodology that is capable of modeling
the continuous to discrete transformation of multi-
fracturing solids can be employed to improve under-
standing of the primary mechanisms involved in block
caving operations. The modeling procedure can pro-
vide a realistic representation of cave back develop-
ment including the potential for expansion void devel-
opment, identify seismic regions, footprint influence,
arching behaviour, etc. The introduction of explicit
joint systems leads to a better representation of stress
distribution compared to continuum models and pro-
vides a more accurate prediction of stress, fracturing
and the evolution of fragmentation.
The methodology can also contribute to the knowl-
edge of different observed liberation mechanisms and
the breakage and swell of blocks. Finally, by mod-
elling bulking mechanisms in the draw column a
better understanding of flow characteristics, the influ-
ence of sidewalls and interaction behaviour between
individual draw bells can be established.
Although the examples presented here have been
two dimensional in nature, the methodology exists for
modelling fully three dimensional situations. How-
ever, solution times for large scale 3D problems
are prohibitive on single processor machines and, in
this context, parallel processing computing strategies
employing PC “commodity clusters” is an attractive
and developing proposition.
484
REFERENCES
Dershowitz, W., Lee, G., Geier, J. & LaPointe, P.R. 1998.
FracMan: Interactive Discrete Feature Data Analysis,
Geometric Modelling and Exploration Simulation. User
Documentation. Seattle: Golder Associates Inc.
Elmo, D, Coggan, J.S. & Pine, R.J. 2005. Characterisation
of rock mass strength using a combination of discontinu-
ity mapping and fracture mechanics modelling. In Alaska
Rocks 2005. ARMA/USRMS, Paper 05-733, 13 p.
Laubscher, D.H. 1994. Cave mining state of the art. Journal
of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
94: 279–293.
Owen, D.R.J., Feng, Y.T., de Souza Neto, E.A., Wang, F.,
Cottrell, M.G., Pires, F.A. & Yu, J. 2004. The modelling
of multi-fracturing solids and particulate media. Int. J.
Num. Meth. Engng, 60(1): 317–340.
Owen, D.R.J., Feng,Y.T., Lobao, M., Leonardi, C.R., Zhao,Y.
& Yu, J. 2007. Simulation of multi-fracturing rock media
including fluid/structure coupling. In Eberhardt et al.
(eds)., Proceedings, 1st Canada-US Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Vancouver, This Volume.
Pine, R.J., Coggan, J.S., Flynn, Z., Ford, N. & Gwynn, X.P.
2006. A hybrid approach to modelling blocky rock masses
using a discrete fracture network and finite / discrete ele-
ment combination. In Golden Rocks, US Rock Mechanics
Symposium. ARMA/USRMS, Paper 06-1126, 9 p.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Methodology for estimation of excavation damaged zone around

tunnels in hard rock

S.W. Shin & C.D. Martin

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

E.S. Park
Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, Korea

R. Christiansson
Swedish Nuclear Fuel & Waste Management Company (SKB), Stockholm, Sweden

ABSTRACT: A noncircular tunnel was excavated in massive granite. The tunnel geometry and orientation
relative to the stress field had been selected to minimize the potential for the development of an excavation-
induced damage zone. The extent and characteristics of this excavation damage zone was measured using velocity
profiling and permeability measurements in radial boreholes. The results showed the distribution of damage was
contained in a zone less than 1 m thick adjacent to the excavation boundary and that the damage was not uniformly
distributed around the excavation. A damage model was formulated in a discrete element code and calibrated
to laboratory properties. The model was then used to analyze the noncircular tunnel. The development of the
damage zone in the numerical model was found to be in good agreement with the field measurements.

1 INTRODUCTION Kemeny & Cook developed a methodology for relat-

It is well known that the creation of an underground
excavation disturbs the stress field. When the stress
magnitudes on the boundary of the excavation exceed
the rock mass strength yielding occurs and an exca-
vation damage zone (EDZ) can be readily observed
(Martin et al. 1997). However, in many situations
the stress magnitudes may not exceed the rock mass
strength and in such cases it is not obvious if an EDZ
has formed or not. Tsang et al. (2005) noted that an
EDZ will form around all underground openings and
that in crystalline rock the dominant processes are
micro and macro fracturing. These processes can lead
to significant increases in flow and transport proper-
ties. Hence, quantifying the extent and characteristics
of the EDZ is important for the nuclear waste industry
which relies on the sealing of underground openings
to minimize the risk for radionuclide transport.
It is well known that the presence of cracks affects
the strength and mechanical properties of a rock. Budi-
ansky & O’Connell (1976) evaluated the effective
properties for a solid containing a random distri-
bution of cracks using the Self Consistent Method
(SCM). Brunner (1976) and Zimmerman (1985) mod-
ified SCM to include effects of crack interaction
in calculating the effective rock properties. In 1986
ing effective Young’s modulus and crack density for
a randomly cracked solid. Hence, an estimate of the
change in rock stiffness can be estimated if the crack
distribution can be quantified.
At AECL’s Underground Research Laboratory
(URL) the Tunnel Sealing Experiment (TSX) was
conducted between 1995 and 2000 (Martino & Chan-
dler 2004). The TSX consists of a 30-m-long tunnel
with an elliptical cross-section and 1.25 width-to-
height of ratio. This tunnel profile combined with
orienting the tunnel parallel to the maximum hori-
zontal stress to minimize the compressive stress on
the tunnel boundary was used to limit the develop-
ment of EDZ. Once the excavation was completed
and an extensive characterization program using seis-
mic velocity profiling and permeability measurements
was carried out to quantify the extent of the EDZ
(Martino & Chandler 2004). The results from this EDZ
characterization are used in this paper to evaluate a
modeling for estimating the extent of the EDZ. The
methodology used a damage model formulated in the
Universal Distinct Element Code and calibrated to lab-
oratory properties. This model was then used to predict
the extent of crack initiation and growth around the
TSX tunnel and the results compared to the measured
damage.

485

Figure 1. Location of EDZ measurements in the TSX
tunnel.
2 EDZ AROUND THE TSX TUNNEL
The TSX chamber was excavated in 1995 to develop
sealing techniques and provided an opportunity to
apply several techniques to estimate the EDZ sur-
rounding the tunnel (Martino & Chandler 2004).
The techniques used to determine the depth of EDZ
involved seismic profiling in radial boreholes using a
Micro Velocity Prove (MVP, see Maxwell et al 1998),
seismic tomography and hydraulic transmissivity mea-
surements (SEPPI), source locations of Micro Seismic
(MS) and Acoustic Emission (AE) event associated
with rock cracking, and visual observations of core
and borehole walls (borehole camera) (Martino &
Chandler 2004). The TSX was excavated on the 420 m
level of AECL’s URL where the in-situ stress magni-
tudes and orientations are well known (Marin & Read
1996).
The TSX consists of a 30-m-long tunnel with two
keyed bulkheads separated by a 12-m-long sand filled
center chamber Figure 1. The representative test cham-
ber is an elliptical shape tunnel with dimension of
3.5 m height and 4.4 m width. Two arrays of boreholes
were drilled from the tunnel, one array of eight NQ-
diameter (57 mm) boreholes was located at 8 m from
the start of the tunnel (8 m array) and second array of
eight NQ-diameter boreholes was located at 32 m from
the start of tunnel (32 m array).
A summary of the EDZ characterization measure-
ments around the two borehole arrays are shown in
Figure 2. Using the measured results from each charac-
terization method, Martino & Chandler (2004) defined
two zones of EDZ around the TSX: (1) an inner dam-
age zone and (2) an outer damage zone. From Figure 2,
the measured extent of the outer EDZ varied from
0.4 m to 1 m depending on the location around the tun-
nel and the measurement method. An inner damaged
zone also exists around both arrays and it extends out
to maximum of 0.3 m in the region of the maximum
486
compressive stress but in most locations the inner
damage did not exist.
3 UDEC DAMAGE MODEL
3.1 Model calibration
In general, intact rock behaves like a cemented gran-
ular material of complex-shaped grains in which both
the grains and cement are deformable and may break
(Potyondy & Cundall 2004). A Voronoi tessellation
scheme in UDEC was used to create randomly-sized
polygonal blocks to model this rock behavior.
The deformability and strength parameters of the
assemblage of polygonal blocks were calibrated to the
intact rock properties determined from standard uni-
axial compressive strength (UCS) test carried out at
the Canada Center for Mineral and Energy Technology
(CANMET 1992) and the results are given in Table 1.
The numerical analysis of UCS test was performed by
using 60 mm wide and 120 mm high sample, which
are same dimension as the laboratory test samples.
The average length of the side polygonal block was
4 mm which is close to the average grain size of Lac
du Bonnet granite.
The polygonal block stiffness (Kn ) for the unit
length was calculated using the approach given by
Cundall (1976) as:
where, K = bulk modulus, G = shear modulus for the
intact rock, and Zmin = smallest width of an adjoin-
ing zone (joint aperture). Because the strength of the
UDEC-DM is governed by the flaw or joint strength,
both cohesion and friction of the joint separating
the polygonal blocks are needed to define the block
strength. The UCS variation with different friction and
cohesion parameters is shown in Figure 3. A reason-
able corre1ation to the strength and stiffness was found
using a friction angle of 53 degrees and 15 MPa of
cohesion. Table 1 compares the measured laboratory
properties with those obtained from the UDEC-DM.
Figure 4 and Table 1 compares the stress-strain
curve from an unconfined test using the UDEC-DM
with the laboratory test results at three key stress lev-
els suggested by Martin and Chandler (1993): (1)
initiation of cracking (σci ), (2) permanent axial defor-
mations due to unstable crack growth (σcd ), and (3) the
peak stress (σf ). The strength and deformability from
the UDEC-DM agrees with result from the laboratory
test except at very low stress levels. In this version of
the UDEC-DM a constant stiffness is applied which
limits the ability of the polygonal structure to respond
in a nonlinear manner at very low stress. The impact
of this restriction will be investigated in future work.
Figure 2. Edited plots of EDZ around the TSX tunnel at two locations using measured data (after Martino 2000).

Figure 4. Comparison of UDEC analysis result with

laboratory UCS test.

Table 1. Intact rock material properties from UCS test and

comparison stresses at three key stress level with stresses
from UDEC-DM.

Stress level and properties Lab. UDEC

Stress Crack initiation (σci ) 107 113

(MPa) unstable crack growth 160 148
(σcd )
peak stress (σf ) 205 203
Tangential Young’s modulus at 40% 70 65
of peak (GPa)
Figure 3. Peak stress (a) with different joint cohesion and Poisson ratio 0.27 –
(b) with different joint friction angle.

487
Figure 5. UDEC polygonal block structure used in the
damage model and the location of MVP boreholes used to
measure the seismic velocity. Figure 6. Velocity profiles from MVP-1 and MVP-3.

Table 2. Applied material properties for UDEC analysis.

4 STRESS REDISTRIBUTION AROUND
Intact Bulk modulus, K (GPa) 54.2
TSX TUNNEL
block Shear modulus, G (GPa) 25.0
properties Density, ρ (N/m3 ) 2,600 A description of the velocity profiling device is given
by Maxwell et al. (1998). The results from the velocity
Joint Aperture, a (mm) 5
properties Joint normal stiffness, 0.3 m 60 profiles were summarized by Martino and Chandler
Kn (103 GPa/m) 0.05 m 350 (2004). Those profiles clearly showed a characteris-
Joint shear stiffness, 0.3 m 30 tic decrease in velocity in the vicinity of the tunnel
Ks (103 GPa/m) 0.05 m 175 boundary. The velocity profiles obtained from MVP-
Cohesion, C (MPa) 15 1 and MVP-3 are given in Figure 6 and both show
Tensile strength, T (MPa) 10 a velocity decrease near the boundary of the tunnel
Friction angle, φ (deg) 53 but this decrease is not uniformed. MVP-1 is located
in the region of the maximum tangential stress while
MVP-3 is located in the region of maximum unload-
ing. Given that this velocity decrease is occurring in
3.2 Analysis of TSX tunnel
both the region of loading and unloading around the
As discussed previously the EDZ forms adjacent to the tunnel (compare the location with stress distribution
boundary of the excavation and the measured results shown in Figure 7), it is unlikely that the same mech-
supports this notion. Hence for the numerical analysis anism causing the velocity decrease is occurring in
the far-field material properties can be set to elastic both regions. Also note that the decrease in velocity
since the TSX tunnel was excavated in massive rock. extends to a depth of approximately 1 m in the unload-
The numerical analysis was carried out using a hori- ing region while in the loading region it only extends
zontal outer boundary of 30 m and a vertical boundary to a several centimeters. Nonetheless, regardless of the
of 20 m, which are about 6 times the excavation width mechanism and extent, the consequence of creating the
and height respectively. Two different sizes of polygo- TSX opening is a reduction in rock mass velocity near
nal blocks were applied in the inner boundary, the 4 m its boundary. The next objective is to establish if the
adjacent to the excavation boundary. Polygonal blocks decrease in seismic velocity is a related to the rock
with an average length of 0.05 m, were applied within mass response and is a measure of damage or simply
1.5 m from the excavation boundary and polygonal results from an opening of closed pores.
blocks with an average length of 0.3 m were applied The UDEC-DM model was developed to capture
to remaining inner boundary region. A close-up view the effect of damage near the boundary of the tun-
of the polygonal block structure and the location of nel. One of the consequences of this damage is
the boreholes used in the micro-velocity profiling sur- the redistribution of stresses where damage occurs.
vey are presented in Figure 5. The material properties Figure 7 compares the mean and minimum stress from
for the UDEC-DM were the same as those given in the UDEC-DM model with the elastic stresses from
Table 2 and used to calibrate the uniaxial compressive Phase2 in the region of maximum and minimum com-
strength. pressive stress. From these figures it is clear that the

488

Figure 7. Comparisons of (a) mean stresses and (b)
minimum stresses between UDEC-DM and Phase2 in the
maximum and minimum compressive zone.
UDEC-DM shows damage in the compressive stress
region but in the region of unloading both the elas-
tic stress and the stress from UDEC-DM are nearly
identical suggesting that in this region the response is
essentially elastic.
The damage in the UDEC-DM results from the
development of cracks. In the next section the density
of these cracks will be estimated and used to assess
the impact of these cracks on rock mass properties.
5 DEFORMATION MODULUS AND CRACK
DENSITY
It is well known that flaws reduce the stiffness of a
material (Griffith 1921). Kemeny & Cook (1986) used
this notion to develop a relationship between crack
density and the Young’s Modulus. Their correlation
was derived by substituting strain energy caused by
crack initiation into the following relation between
the intrinsic Young’s modulus, E, and the effective
489
Young’s modulus, E, for a solid containing voids under
a uniaxial stress, σ (Walsh 1965)
where ϕ is the increase in strain energy due to
the presence of the voids and V is the volume of the
body containing the voids. The total strain energy due
to N randomly distributed cracks is determined by
averaging the individual strain energy over all crack
orientations and crack length defined in the Griffith
locus as follows:
where c represent the effective crack contact lengths
from the averages of the lengths squared <c2 >. Using
equation (3) in (1), the effective Young’s modulus is
obtained for a body containing a random distribution
of cracks, respectively, as:
where χ = N πc2 /V is used as the crack density. This
crack density definition came from total surface area
of assumed narrow elliptical openings. Therefore, the
size, shape, location, and orientation of cracks can
be used to calculate effective Young’s modulus using
equation (4). The crack density from UDEC-DM can
be simplified by the ratio of cracked joint length to
total length of the perimeter of the polygonal blocks
per unit area. In this study, the crack density along
borehole depth is determined for an area with a 1 m
width and 0.05 m depth.
Figure 8 shows the crack distribution induced by
stress redistribution around TSX tunnel from UDEC-
DM. At the roof and floor of the tunnel, where the
rock mass is subjected to a region of high tangential
compression, a high density of cracks developed in the
narrow region adjacent to the boundary of the excava-
tion. While in the region of unloading in the sidewall
of the tunnel, cracks are distributed more widely, and
the average crack length and density are much less
than in loading or than in the compressive zone region.
The radial change in crack density in MVP-1 and
MVP-3 are also shown in Figure 9. The crack den-
sity in compressive region, MVP-1, decreased from
0.4 to zero within 0.4 m depth from the excavation
boundary while along the MVP-3, the lower density
of cracks decreases more gradually and extends to
a greater depth. The maximum crack density in the
unloading region is approximately 0.3 and decreases
to approximately zero at 1 m from the excavation
boundary.
Figure 8. Crack distribution around TSX tunnel from
UDEC.
Figure 9. Crack density with borehole depth at MVP-1 and
MVP-3.
The variation of deformability around the tunnel can
also be estimated using seismic velocity. According to
Timoshenko & Goodier (1951) the shear wave velocity
is related to the dynamic shear modulus by
where Gd = dynamic shear modulus, ρ = mass density
of the rock, and Vs = S-wave velocity.
We now assume that the effective Young’s modulus
developed by Equation 4 can be related to the Effective
Shear Modulus using:
given by Timoshenko & Goodier (1951) where
G = shear modulus, E =Young’s modulus, and
ν = Poisson’s ratio.
490
Figure 10. Comparison of effective shear modulus from
UDEC-DM with normalized dynamic shear modulus from
S-wave velocity at (a) MVP-1 and (b) MVP-3.
The calculated effective shear modulus based on
the crack density from UDEC-DM results were com-
pared with dynamic shear modulus determined from
the seismic velocity for MVP-1 and MVP-3 (Fig. 10).
In Figure 10, both the dynamic shear modulus and
the effective shear modulus are normalized to their far
field value at a distance of 1 meter from the excava-
tion. In the Figure 10, effective shear modulus curves
show a strong correlation with the normalized dynamic
shear modulus in both the compressive loading region
and the unloading tensile region. In the compressive
zone the effective shear modulus at the surface of
the excavation decreases to about 75% of intrinsic
shear modulus. Beyond this boundary, the effective
shear modulus is equal to the intact shear modulus.
The effective shear modulus in the unloading zone
decreased to approximately 80% of the intact shear
modulus. At a distance of 0.8 m from the tunnel wall
the effective shear modulus equals the intact shear
modulus.
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the UDEC-DM model was developed and
used to analyze a non circular tunnel in massive Lac
du Bonnet granite in order to quantify and characterize
the EDZ. The deformability and strength parameters
of the assemblage of polygonal blocks that are used
to simulate the flaws in intact rock were calibrated to
the intact rock properties determined from laboratory
uniaxial compressive tests. For the modeling, polygo-
nal blocks with an average length of 0.05 m and 0.3 m
were applied within the inner boundary adjacent to
the underground excavation. The material properties
of the polygonal blocks in the far field region, were
set to elastic.
Comparing the stress distribution from UDEC-DM
with result from linear elastic analysis revealed that
damage occurred in the highly concentrated com-
pressive stress region in the roof of the excavation.
However, in the region of unloading, both the stress
from UDEC-DM and the elastic stress are almost
coincident. Using both mean and minimum stresses,
the damage zone extends to a maximum of approx-
imately 0.4 m from the excavation boundary in the
compressive stress region in the roof.
To estimate the change in rock stiffness around TSX
tunnel, the effective shear modulus was related to the
crack density. Crack densities in the UDEC-DM model
were defined by the ratio of fractured flaw length to the
total length of polygonal block periphery for the unit
area. The effective Shear modulus from the crack den-
sities in UDEC-DM was compared to the rock mass
shear modulus recorded by the seismic velocities. The
EDZ zone based on this comparison, Beyond a radial
distance of approximately 0.5 m the effective shear
modulus is essentially the same as the intact shear
modulus. The EDZ zone based on this comparison,
is less than 0.5 m thick which is in agreement with the
finding reported by Martino & Chandler (2004).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge the financial contribu-
tion of the Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral
Resources (KIGAM) and the Swedish Nuclear Fuel &
Waste Management Company for this work. Also Mr.
491
Jason Martino (AECL) supplied the details for theTSX
experiment.
REFERENCES
Bruner, W.M. 1976. Comment on “Seismic velocities in dry
and saturated cracked solids” by O’Connel & Budiansky.
J. Geophys. Res. 81: 2573–2576.
Budiansky, B. & O’Connel, R.J. 1976. Elastic moduli of a
cracked solid. Int. J. Solids Struct. 12: 81–97.
CANMET. 1992. Uniaxial and triaxial compression tests
on URL rock samples from boreholes 207-045-GC3 and
209-069-PH3. Canada Center for Mineral and Energy
Technology. Division report. MRL 92-025(TR).
Cundal, P.A. 1976. Explicit finite difference methods in
geotechnics. In Proc. the EF Conference on Numerical
Methods in Geomechanics, Virginia. 11: 132–150.
Grifith, A.A. 1921. The phenomena of rupture and flow in
solids. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London, Series A 221: 163–198.
Kemeny, J. & Cook, N.G.W. 1986. Effective Moduli, non-
linear deformation and strength of a cracked elastic solid.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 23(2): 107–118.
Martin, C.D. & Chandler, N.A. 1993. Stress heterogeneity
and geological structures. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
Geomech. Abstr. 30(7): 993–999.
Martin, C.D. & Read, R.S. 1996. AECL’s Mine-by-
Experiment: A test tunnel in brittle rock. In Aubertin et al.
(eds.), Proc. of the 2nd North American Rock Mechan-
ics Symposium: NARMS ’96 Rock Mechanics Tools and
Technics. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Martin, C.D., Read, R.S. & Martino, J.B. 1997. Observations
of brittle failure around a circular tunnel. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. 34: 1065–1073.
Martino, J.B. & Chandler, N.A. 2004. Excavation-induced
damage studies at the Underground Research Laboratory.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41(8): 1413–1426.
Maxwell, S.C., Young, R.P. & Read, R. 1998. A micro-
velocity tool to assess the excavation damage zone. Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 35(2): 235–247.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundal, P.A. 2004. A bonded-
particle model for rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41:
1329–1364.
Tsang, C.F., Bernier, F. & Davies, C. 2005. Geohydrome-
chanical processes in the Excavation Damaged Zone in
crystalline rock, rock salt, and indurated and plastic clays –
in the context of radioactive waste disposal. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. 42: 109–125.
Timoshenko, S. & Goodier, J.N. 1951. Theory of Elasticity.
2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Walsh, J.B. 1965. The effect of cracks on the uniaxial elastic
compression of rock. J. Geophys. Res. 70: 399–411.
Zimmerman, R.W. 1985. The effect of microcracks on the
elastic moduli of brittle materials. J. Mater. Sci. Lett. 4:
1457–1460.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Characterization of step-path failure mechanisms: A combined field

based-numerical modeling study

M. Yan, D. Elmo & D. Stead

Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

ABSTRACT: The importance of step-path failure geometries in the stability of rock slopes has been emphasized
in recent research on high mountain slopes and large open pits. This paper documents the use of digital imaging
techniques including laser scanning in the characterization of both step-paths and intact rock fracture in rock
slopes. A combined finite element-discrete element code, ELFEN, is used to illustrate the factors influencing
step-path failure in uniaxial laboratory specimens containing pre-existing weakness planes. Based on the results
of the laboratory simulations step-path failure models of large open pit slopes are presented and the influence
of intact rock bridge length, step-path overlap and fracture spacing discussed. The importance of considering
step-path geometries for various translational failure mechanisms (planar, biplanar and toppling) are highlighted
using the results of both numerical simulations and field observations.

1 INTRODUCTION

Step-path failure mechanisms have become an increas-

ingly important area of investigation at scales ranging
from the micro- to macro-level. Figure 1 shows typ-
ical step-path geometries observed at the field (m)
and laboratory (mm) scales. Numerous experimental
fracture mechanics studies have attempted to describe
the importance of en-echelon and step-path features
in rock failure. The oil industry for example has
long recognized the importance of such step-path
or “zipper-like” fracturing in hydro-fracture. In rock
slopes Jennings (1970) was the first to fully docu-
ment their importance in open pit mining. Although
this was followed by several probabilistic limit equilib-
rium developments to incorporate step-paths into rock
slope design, comparatively little research has focused
on the description of step-paths and intact fracture Figure 1. Step-path fractures at the (a) field and (b) labora-
of rock bridges. The simulation of step-path failures tory specimen (Lajtai 1969) scales.
has received new momentum with the development
of deeper large open pits and their interaction with
2 FIELD CHARACTERIZATION OF STEP-PATH
underground mines. This paper presents laser scanning
GEOMETRIES
methods of surveying step-path geometries in the field,
followed by a description of methods of simulating
2.1 Digital-imaging techniques
step-path failure mechanisms at the laboratory scale
using physical and numerical methods. Simulations Traditional field survey techniques, i.e. scanline map-
of laboratory step-path failure using the combined ping and cell mapping provide important information
finite-discrete element code ELFEN are provided and, on discontinuity networks for use in stability analyses.
finally, the authors will illustrate developments in the Recent work has seen far more emphasis on the impor-
modeling of step-path failure mechanisms in asso- tance of adequate characterization of discrete fracture
ciated with variety of kinematic rock slope failure networks including measurement of fracture intensity,
mechanisms. spacing, persistence and block size (Mauldon 2000,

493
Kalenchuk et al. 2006). Much of this stems from an
appreciation of the importance of block size and per-
sistence in rock slopes and its incorporation into rock
mass characterization using the Geological Strength
Index (Marinos et al. 2005).
Block size, persistence and spacing are all inher-
ently associated with the definition of intact rock
bridges and step-path geometries. The current authors
suggest it is important to characterize in the field step-
path geometries using analogous techniques to those
used in laboratory studies, recognizing fracture over-
lap, length and spacing in a step-path context. To date
predominantly 2-D techniques have been used in step-
path research and it is emphasized that true step-path
failure mechanisms must be studies in a 3D- block net-
work with the recognition of three-dimensional “rock
bridges”.
As a preliminary stage in this research the authors
are adapting digital-imaging techniques including dig-
ital photography/photogrammetry and 3-D laser scan-
ning in an attempt to develop more comprehensive,
safer and three dimensionally efficient step-path map-
ping methodologies. These techniques are intended
to complement modified scanline/window surveys. A
LiDAR laser scanner can be used to remotely and
rapidly measure millions of 3-D coordinate points on
a rock slope. An x-y-z point-cloud (with an intensity
level for each point) is produced and easily rendered
into a 3-D digital elevation model, DEM, of the rock
slope. The intensity level can be processed as a series
of graylevels or using colour to represent intensity.
This can provide useful information on lithology and
fracture characteristics. Facility also exists to drape the
DEM on a digital photograph of the rock slope. A tri-
angular mesh can rapidly be generated from the point
cloud data using a variety of codes (e.g. Polyworks –
InnovMetric 2006, Split FX – Split Engineering 2006).
This facilitates the measurement of discontinuity data
directly from mesh, the production of stereonet and the
delineation of joints sets. This data is easily imported
into commercial slope stability assessment techniques
such as DIPS (Rocscience 2006). In next section the
authors describe the preliminary use of an Optech
ILRIS 3D laser scanner and digital photo-mapping
techniques for step-path characterization on selected
study sites in western Canada.

2.2 Field study
A roadcut slope in Banff National Park, Canada was
chosen to illustrate step-path fracture geometries, Fig-
ures 2 and 3. The laser scanner derived x-y-z point
cloud is illustrated in Figure 2b, where step-path
fractures and block movements highlighted by photo-
mapping. The point cloud data was processed using
Split FX (Split Engineering 2006) to generate a stere-
onet, shown in Figure 2c, which was also used to
Figure 2. Rock slope showing step-path geometries (a).
Digital photomap, (b). 3-D laser scan point cloud and (c)
Stereonet generated using Split FX.
identify the four major joint sets that were observed
to control step-path geometries identified from pho-
tomapping and field survey. Further examples of
step-path geometries and block movements are shown
in Figure 3.

494

Figure 3. Characterization of step-path fractures using
photo mapping.
3 ANALYSIS OF STEP-PATH FAILURE
3.1 Laboratory scale physical models
Considerable experimental and analytical research on
the behaviour of step-path fractures has been published
over recent decades. Bieniawski (1967) observed the
tensile cracking and non-linear behaviour of rock sam-
ples containing natural voids (grain boundary cracks).
Lajtai (1969) conducted direct shear tests on natu-
ral rock with two coplanar pre-defined fractures and
recorded the development of en echelon fracture coa-
lescence patterns. Savilahti et al. (1990) carried out
shear box testing to study the failure mechanism of
intact rock bridges between two step-path fractures.
Reyes & Einstein (1991) tested gypsum samples
in uniaxial compression ad observed coalescence
between two non-overlapping step-path flaws. Similar
495
Figure 4. Step-path fracture geometry.
gypsum specimen tests were repeated to investigate
the coalescence of two pre-existing step-path frac-
tures (Shen et al. 1993, Wong & Chau 1998, Bobet &
Einstein 1998), three step-path fractures (Wong et al.
2001) and multiple flaws (Sagong & Bobet 2002).
Coalescence patterns for step-path fractures have been
reported by several workers and are generally classi-
fied into three categories (Tension, shear or mixed).
These coalescence patterns are highly influenced by
the step-path fracture geometry, Figure 4, i.e. frac-
ture length, overlap, spacing and fracture angle. It is
suggested that characterization of step-path fracture
techniques at all scales should use such elementary
principles of fractography.
3.2 Analytical and numerical approaches
Step-path analyses of rock slopes developed by Jen-
nings (1970) adopted a deterministic limit equilibrium
approach; later workers incorporated this theory into
probabilistic simulations for pit slope design. These
techniques remain in use in pit design and are being
integrated with discrete fracture network represen-
tations; they are however constrained by the need
to realistically allow for the intact fracture of rock
bridges. Fracture mechanics approaches to step-path
analysis (generally using boundary element tech-
niques) have evolved from the treatment of conceptual
slopes containing single Mode I (i.e. tensile), Mode
II (i.e. shear) and mixed mode I-II cracks. Scavia &
Castelli (1996) investigated the mechanical behaviour
of intact rock bridges between a series of parallel
step-path joints and showed stable/unstable tensile
fracture propagation within the rock bridges is depen-
dent upon the crack spacing and confinement stress.
The Fracod code, Shen et al. (2006) uses a boundary
element approach based on the displacement discon-
tinuity method, DDM, and can simulate Mode I and II
step-path fracture propagation.
Particle Flow Codes, PFC, (Itasca 2003) have been
used to simulate the influence of jointing on final slope

Figure 5. (a) Simulated failure modes of rib pillar under
vertical loading using RFPA2D (from Kaiser & Tang 1998);
(b) Simulated uniaxial compression test by using R-T2D and
a comparison with the laboratory test sample (from Liu 2002).
failure within a heavily jointed rock slope Wang et al.
(2003) and the damage zones around underground
openings, Potyondy & Autio (2001) and Potyondy &
Cundall (2001).
Tang et al. (2001, 2004) use a continuum (i.e. finite
element) technique referred to as Rock Failure Process
Analysis, RFPA, to model rock failure processes. The
progressive accumulation of the damaged elements
illustrates the development of a macroscopic fracture
zone. Figure 5a shows the use of RFPA to simulate
pillar failure, Kaiser & Tang, (1998), whereas Fig-
ure 5b using a modified code R-T2D shows a simulated
uniaxial compression test by Liu et al. (2004).
A hybrid finite/discrete element code (ELFEN,
Rockfield 2005) has been successfully used for step-
path simulation in rock slopes by Stead et al. (2004)
and Eberhardt et al. (2004). The ELFEN code will be
used in this paper to further investigate step-path fail-
ure mechanisms at both the laboratory and rock slope
scales.
4 THE HYBRID FINITE/DISCRETE ELEMENT
MODEL (ELFEN)
The hybrid finite-/discrete-element method (ELFEN
2005, Klerck 2000) is able to simulate discrete frac-
ture under both tensile and compressive stress fields.
An ELFEN simulation begins with a continuum rep-
resentation of the problem geometry using finite
elements. Discontinuities (fractures) within the contin-
uum domain can be included by incorporating discrete
elements. Extension fracturing is modelled assuming
selected crack constitutive criteria. Extension fractures
may be generated in either of two ways, i.e. as intra-
or inter-element fractures, Figure 6.
496
Figure 6. Fracture initiation within a continuum
finite-element mesh in ELFEN (Rockfield 2005). Dashed
line shows generation plane and full dot shows new generated
nodal points showing (a) intra-element and (b) inter-element
fractures.
Figure 7. (a) Yield/failure surfaces in the Mohr-Coulomb
crack model with tensile cut off, where ft is tensile strength.
(after Rockfield 2005), (b) Simplified post-yield softening
curve, where l is element characteristic length in ELFEN
code (after Rockfield 2005).
The simulation of material damage (plasticity),
associated strain-softening, and extension/fracturing
is accomplished using a fracture energy approach
and an assumed constitutive crack criterion. The con-
stitutive crack criterion assumed an elasto-plastic
Mohr-Coulomb failure surface in compression with
a Rankine rotating crack model, Figure 7a. The Mohr-
Coulomb crack model with a Rankine cut-off uses a
hydrostatic cut-off defined by (σi − ft = 0, i = 1, 2, 3),
where σi refers to each principal stress and ft is the ten-
sile strength. This crack model simulates plastic strain
in both compression and tension in addition to discrete
fracture extension.
The crack criterion essentially states that if the max-
imum tensile stress reaches a tensile strength then
the material will enter a post-yield strain-softening
response before extension fracturing. The energy con-
servation law requires a certain amount of energy to
be consumed in the failure process or from a frac-
ture mechanics formation of a new crack or extension
of a pre-existing fracture (Klerck 2000). Therefore an
assumed linear post-yield strain-softening response is
introduced into the crack model in the failure process
(Fig. 7b). The linear strain-softening response, defined
by H in Figure 7b, can be calculated from the assumed

Figure 8. (a) Geometry of numerical specimen model, (b)
pre-existing fracture geometry and (c) the definition of
positive overlap between two fractures.
energy release rate Gf , (Klerck 2000, Klerck et al.
2004):
Where,
(e)
hc is the crack band width for a considered element
size,
ft is tensile strength of the material,
Gf is the critical strain energy release rate.
5 SIMULATION OF LABORATORY SCALE
STEP-PATH FAILURE.
5.1 Numerical model design
Two dimensional specimens simulated in this paper
adopt similar dimensions (152.4 mm high and
76.2 mm wide) as used in published physical models
by Bobet & Einstein (1998), Figure 8a. Two step-path
parallel fractures are pre-defined in the model with
10 mm length, Figure 8b. The step-path fracture geom-
etry is defined using three parameters: fracture incli-
nation angle to horizontal direction (α), spacing (s) and
overlap (o), Figure 4. Both the fracture spacing (s) and
overlap (o) are varied in multiples of the half fracture
length, a, i.e. 5 mm in this case. The definitions of pos-
itive and negative overlap are shown in Figures 8b and
c. The geometry of all pre-existing step-path fracture
models is described using a notation based on “fracture
angle-spacing-overlap”, e.g. 30-a-a.
The assumed material properties were based on
the gypsum material used in Bobet et al. (1998) and
are listed in Table 1. The intact specimen config-
uration (without pre-existing fractures) was initially
simulated under uniaxial compression in order to ver-
ify the model’s unconfined compression strength with
that reported by Bobet & Einstein (1998) and to con-
strain the assumed cohesion and friction angles to be
497
Table 1. Material properties used in the ELFEN modeling.
Young’s modulus* 5.96 GPa
Tensile strength* 3.2 MPa
Uniaxial Compressive Strength* 34.5 MPa
Poisson’s ratio* 0.15
Intact rock friction angle 45◦
Cohesion 7 MPa
Fracture energy 100 J/m2
Friction on fracture surface* 0.6
* Values are from Bobet and Einstein (1998).
adopted in later ELFEN models. A cohesion of 7 MPa
and a friction angle of 45◦ for intact rock were then
used in subsequent simulations.A velocity loading was
applied to both the top and bottom surface, with the two
ends of the modelled specimen moving at a velocity
of 5 mm/s in the vertical direction. A triangular mesh
was designed so that a fine mesh was present around
the two pre-defined fractures (0.5 mm) with a coarser
mesh in the far-field (1.5 mm).
5.2 Comparison of selected model results with
physical models
Selected step-path configurations were simulated
using the ELFEN code and the results compared with
physical model data as reported by Bobet & Einstein
(1998), and Wong et al. (2001). The selected models
presented for comparison are 60-0-(-a), and 60-a-(-2a).
In the physical models, shear crack coalescence
(Mode II) occurs when two pre-existing fractures are
coplanar or quasi- coplanar.The crack coalescence pat-
tern for the physical model with coplanar fractures is
shown in Figure 9a. The cracks extended from the two
inner tips in the same plane with the two pre-existing
fractures and propagated until coalescing (Fig. 9a).
Final failure of the physical specimen was as reported
by Wong et al. (2001) is shown in Figure 9b. The
outer wing crack from upper fracture extended sub-
vertically to the top sample boundary. The outer wing
crack from lower fracture, in contrast, ceased propa-
gation in the vertical direction, and curved to extend
to the left boundary. This process was subsequently
simulated using the ELFEN code. The linkage of the
simulated sub-vertical fractures within the rock bridge
forms the final crack in the same plane as the two pre-
defined fractures (Fig. 10). The two outer wing cracks
extended as observed in the physical model test. Sim-
ulated final failure in Figure 10 reproduced closely the
results of the physical model in Figure 9b.
Failure of a step-path with a geometry of 60-a-(-2a),
in both physical and numerical models are shown
in Figures 11 and 12 respectively. Fracture coales-
cence in the physical model is illustrated in Figure 11
and was produced by the linkage of the two inter-
nal secondary cracks due to a secondary tensile crack
 Figure 10. Fracture propagation in Model 60-0-(-a) at
selected increasing numerical time steps.

Figure 9. (a) Coalescence pattern in the physical model

45-0-(-2a) modified from Bobet & Einstein (1998); (b) final
failure of a physical model with similar configuration by
Wong et al. (2001).

Figure 11. Coalescence pattern in physical model

(Bobet & Einstein 1998). The numerical model shown
in Figure 12 reproduced closely the direction of sec-
ondary tensile cracking within the rock bridge. The
two secondary cracks forming at the inner fracture
tips were not apparent prior to a numerical time of
T = 0.14. The simulated coalescence was due to the
linkage of two pre-defined step-path fractures and the
secondary tensile cracks (Fig. 12).
The ELFEN code is able to realistically simulate
brittle fracture coalescence at the laboratory scale.
The two selected configurations, Figures 10 and 12,
agree with the coalescence and final failure patterns
reported in physical models by Bobet & Einstein
(1998) and Wong et al. (2001). In both the physical
60-a-(-2a) from Bobet & Einstein (1998).
and numerical models, step-path fracture geometry
controls the coalescence pattern.
6 STEP-PATH FAILURE ASSOCIATED WITH
VARIED SLOPE FAILURE MECHANISMS
Step-path fractures/failure processes in the field may
involve a wide variety of complex failure mecha-
nisms including planar, biplanar, toppling and wedge.
ELFEN, in this section, is used to simulate brittle
fracture within the rock bridges and various failure

498

Figure 12. Simulated fracture propagation of model
60-a-(-2a) at selected increasing time steps.
Figure 13. Simulated planar failure: (a) and (b) step-path
geometry; (c) fracture coalescence and (d) final failure.
Figure 14. Simulated biplanar failure: (a) step-path geom-
etry; (b) fracture coalescence and (c) final failure.
mechanisms involving step-path fractures. Some pre-
liminary model results are presented in Figure 13
(step-path planar failure), Figure 14 (step-path bipla-
nar failure) and Figure 15 (step-path toppling failure).
Brittle fractures initiating and propagating within rock
bridges before the slopes reach the final overall fail-
ure. The overlap and space between step-path fractures
controls the stability of the slope just as observed in
laboratory tests. Further research is ongoing to investi-
gate the relationship between step-path geometry and
slope stability using the ELFEN code.
499
Figure 15. Simulated toppling failure (a) step-path geome-
try; (b) fracture coalescence and (c) final failure.
Figure 16. Simulation of an 800 m deep open pit. Steps (a),
(b) and (c) show progressive stages of failure, whilst (d) and
(e) show close-up views of stages (b) and (c) respectively
with respect to the circled area.
7 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF OPEN PITS
Figure 16 shows the preliminary results of step-path
simulation in an open pit mine. The proprietary code
FracMan (Golder 2006, Dershowitz et al. 1998) is used
to develop a 3D Discrete fracture Network (DFN)
model from which 2D sections are taken and frac-
ture traces then imported into ELFEN via a dedicated
interface. This allows both the consideration of regu-
larly defined joint sets and parametric studies on the
effects of varying fracture orientation, intensity (i.e.
spacing) and persistence. Elmo et al. (2007) present
further simulations indicating the important role of
brittle fracture in open pit mines particularly where
they are influenced by underground mines.
8 CONCLUSIONS
Step-path fracturing is increasingly recognized as an
important mechanism in both high mountain slopes
and large open pits. Digital-imaging e.g. photo-
mapping, ground and airborne LiDAR and terres-
trial photogrammetry LiDAR may be highly suited
for deriving 3D data for rock slope characterization,
including the role of step-paths in failure mechanisms.
New techniques of field mapping should be developed
to emphasize the role of block geometry, persistence,
spacing and intact rock bridges on rock slopes. The
hybrid finite/discrete element approach is able to sim-
ulate the brittle step-path fracture propagation and
final failure at both laboratory and slope scales. Slope
failure mechanisms are frequently time dependent
involving the gradual propagation of micro-fractures
within rock slopes. As excavated mine slopes become
deeper and often overlie underground mine operations
brittle fracture must be considered. Similarly increased
development in high mountainous areas makes the
need to understand the role of step-path fracturing
fundamental to hazard and risk assessment.
REFERENCES
Bobet, A. & Einstein, H.H. 1998. Fracture coalescence in
rock-type materials under uniaxial and biaxial compres-
sion. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 35: 863–888.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1967. Mechanism of brittle rock fracture:
Part II – Experimental studies. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Science & Geomechanical
Abstracts 4(4): 407–423.
Dershowitz, W., Lee, G., Geier, J. & La Pointe, P.R. 1998.
FracMan: Interactive discrete feature data analysis, geo-
metric modelling and exploration simulation. User Doc-
umentation. Seattle: Golder Associates Inc.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D. & Coggan, J.S. 2004. Numerical anal-
ysis of initiation and progressive failure in natural rock
slopes – the 1991 Randa rockslide. International Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 41: 69–87.
Fracod 2006. Version 2.2. Fracom Ltd.,Finland.
Golder Associates 2006. www.fracman.golder.com.
InnovMetric 2006. Polyworks version 9.0. Quebec: Innov-
Metric software Inc.
Itasca 2003. HCItasca company, Minneapolis, USA.
Jennings, J.E. 1970.A mathematical theory for the calculation
of the stability of slopes in open cast mines. In Planning of
Open Pit Mines, Proceedings, Johannesburg, pp. 87–102.
Kaiser, P.A. & Tang, C.A. 1998. Numerical simulation of
damage accumulation and seismic energy release during
brittle rock failure – Part II: rib pillar collapse. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
and Geomechanics Abstracts 35(2): 123–134.
Kalenchuk, K.S., Diederichs, M.S. & McKinnon, S. 2006.
Characterizing block geometry in jointed rock masses.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 43: 1212–1225.
500
Klerck. P.A 2000. The finite element modelling of discrete
fracture of brittle materials. Ph.D. Thesis, University of
Wales, Swansea.
Klerck, P.A., Sellers, E.J. & Owen, D.R.J. 2004. Discrete frac-
ture in quasi-brittle materials under compressive and ten-
sile stress states. Computer Methods inApplied Mechanics
and Engineering 193: 3035–3056.
Lajtai, E.Z. 1969. Shear strength of weakness planes in rocks.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Science. & Geomech Abstracts 6: 299–315.
Liu, H.Y. 2002. Numerical modelling of the rock fracture
process under mechanical loading. Lulea University of
Technology, Licentiate thesis.
Liu, H.Y., Kou, S.Q., Lindqvist, P.-A. & Tang, C.A. 2004.
Numerical simulation of shear fracture (Mode II) in
heterogeneous brittle rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
41: 355.
Mauldon, M. 2000. Borehole estimates of fracture size.
In Proceedings of the North American Rock Mechanics
Symposium, pp. 715–721.
Marinos, V., Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2005. The geolog-
ical strength index: applications and limitations. Bul-
letin of Engineering Geology and the Environment
101007/s10064-004-0270-5.
Potyondy, D. & Autio, J. 2001. Bonded-particle simulations
of the in situ failure test at Olkiluoto. In Rock Mechanics
in the National Interest, Proceedings of the 38th US Rock
Mechanics Symposium, pp. 1553–1560.
Potyondy, D. & Cundall, P. 2001. The PFC model for rock:
predicting rock-mass damage at the underground research
laboratory. Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. Report No.
06819-REP-01200-10061-R00.
Reyes, O. & Einstein, H.H. 1991. Failure mechanisms of frac-
tured rock – A fracture coalescence model. In Proc. 7th
Proceedings of the Congress of the International Society
for Rock Mechanics, vol. 1, pp. 333–340.
Rockfield Software 2005. ELFEN Version 3.7. Rockfield
Software Ltd., Swansea, UK.
Rocscience 2006. Rocscience Inc., Ontario, Canada.
Sagong, M. & Bobet, A. 2002. Coalescence of multiple flaws
in a rock-model material in uniaxial compression. Inter-
national Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
39: 229–241.
Savilahti, T., Nordlund, E. & Stephansson, O. 1990. Shear
box testing and modelling of joint bridges. In Barton &
Stephansson (eds), Rock Joints, Proc. Int. Symp. Rock
Joints, Norway, pp. 295–300.
Scavia, C. & Castelli, M. 1996. Analysis of the propagation
of natural discontinuities in rock bridges. In Proceedings,
Eurock’96, Turin, pp. 445–451.
Shen, B. 1993. Mechanics of fractures and intervening
bridges in hard rocks. PhD thesis, University of Stock-
holm, Sweden.
Split FX version 1.0. Split Engineering.
Stead, D., Eberhardt, E. & Coggan, J.S. 2004. Modelling of
complex rock slope failure mechanisms using a hybrid
finite-/discrete element code. In Proceedings of the 9th
International Symposium on Landslides, Rio de Janeiro,
pp. 1067–1072.
Tang. C.A., Lin, P., Wong, R.H.C. & Chau, K.T. 2001. Analy-
sis of crack coalescence in rock-like materials containing
three flaws – Part II: numerical approach. International
 Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 38:
925–939.
Tang, C.A., Xu, T., Yang, T.H. & Liang, Z.Z. 2004. Numer-
ical investigation of mechanical behaviour of rock under
confining pressure and pore pressure. In SINOROCK2004
Symposium.
Wang, C., Tannant, D.D. & Lilly, P.A., 2003. Numerical anal-
ysis of the stability of heavily jointed rock slope using
PFC2D. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences 40: 415–424.
501
Wong, R,H.C. & Chau, K.T. 1998. Crack coalescence in a
rock-like material containing two cracks. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 35(2):
147–164.
Wong, R.H.C., Chau, K.T., Tang, C.A. & Lin, P. 2001. Analy-
sis of crack coalescence in rock-like materials containing
three flaws – part I: experimental approach. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 38:
909–924.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A discrete element damage model for rock slopes

A. Alzo’ubi, C.D. Martin & D.M. Cruden

Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: A modelling approach for rock slopes is proposed that is based on discrete element formulation.
This model allows damage to occur and propagate within intact rock blocks and along discontinuous joint sets.
The model uses traditional shear strength failure criteria and joint stiffness parameters. The discrete element
modelling methodology has been applied to direct shear box test results and several rock slopes to examine the
capabilities of this modeling approach. The role of tensile strength on slope instability has been investigated and
proved to be important when confining stress conditions are low such as in toppling slope failure.

1 INTRODUCTION

Analysis of a rock slope typically requires an evalu-

ation of the rock structure, an assessment of the mode
of failure and the strength of the material. Once a crit-
ical failure mode is determined, both continuum or
discontinuum analyses can be readily applied and the
analyses are relatively straight foreword. However, in
many rock slope situations no obvious failure mode or
surface of rupture are evident and in such situations
continuum and in many cases discontinuum analyses
are not appropriate. Eberhardt et al. (2004) showed that
a continuum/discontinuum hybrid approach based on
fracture mechanics could be used to simulate slope
failure in massive brittle rocks. However most rock
masses in nature have discontinuities and for those
situations a discontinuum approach that can readily
accommodate discrete fractures as well as provide for
the growth of new fractures is desirable.
Wang et al. (2003) used discrete elements to ana-
lyze a jointed rock slope by bonding circular disks.
However, it is not clear how spheres should be cali-
brated to represent discontinuities as the spheres create
very irregular surfaces. Potyondy and Cundal (2004)
noted that using bonded particles to represent intact
rock required extensive calibration.
The joints in rock slopes are rarely continuous at
the scale of the slope. Even when a small highway cut
fails, the result can be characterized as a “pile of rock
blocks”. The failure does not take place as a single
block sliding on a single discrete plane but the process
requires the development of fractures such that many
discrete blocks form. This implies that the rock mass is
composed of discontinuous joints or flaws that propa-
gate as the rock slope moves. For non-persistent rock
joints to form a continuous rupture surface, failure
Figure 1. Example of discrete blocks that form during a
small rock slope failure in competent rock.
must occur through the intact rock and along the exist-
ing joints. In such a case, the strength of a rock mass
must be derived from both the solid rock and the
discontinuities.
Jennings (1970) examined the shear strength
of non-persistent rock joints assuming the bridge
between the two joints failed in shear. Lajtai (1969)
also examined the failure of discontinuous joints sub-
jected to direct shear and concluded that the failure of
the intact rock bridge involved both tensile and shear
strength components. Hence the modelling of slope
failure involving discontinuous joints must provide for
both shear and tensile failure through the intact rock
bridges. In this paper, we utilize a discrete element
method that incorporates failure along naturally occur-
ring joint sets as well as failure of the intact blocks that
separate these natural joints. Failure can occur in both
shear and tension and form new blocks that are free to
move and rotate and completely detach. The model is

503
applied to the analysis of several slope types and the
mode of failure is in agreement with observations.

2 DAMAGE MODEL IN DIRECT SHEAR

Cundall (1971) proposed the discrete element numer-

ical modeling method to allow for finite displacement
and rotations of discrete deformable or rigid blocks, as
well as complete detachment. The calculation applies
a force-displacement law at the contacts and Newton’s
second law for the blocks. Local and global damp-
ing is necessary to keep the model under control. This
logic is used by the Universal Distinct Element Code Figure 2. Illustration of the polygonal structure used to
simulate intact rock.
(UDEC) (Itasca 2004).
To simulate rock failure processes using UDEC, a
polygonal block component is added to the usual cap-
ability of UDEC to model discrete fractures using the
Voronoi tessellation generator command which creates
randomly sized polygonal blocks. The randomly-sized
polygons are analogous to flaws in the intact rock
that can represent grain boundary flaws or larger
scale internal flaws (Fig. 2). This polygonal block
model will be referred to as the UDEC damage model
(UDEC-DM) in this paper. This polygonal block pat-
tern provides a unique method for simulating tensile
and/or shear fracturing through intact rock. Cohesion,
friction, and tensile strength can be assigned to the
boundaries of these polygonal blocks such that the
strength is the same as intact rock. Local variation in
strength and stiffness can also be applied if required.
While the polygonal flaw structure shown in Figure 2 Figure 3. The UDEC-DM model used simulate to Lajtai’s
may be representative of the flaws found in crystalline direct shear experimental results.
rocks, they are not commonly observed in sedimentary
rocks. In the case of sedimentary rocks, the main set of by a nonlinear envelope. The nonlinearity of the envel-
joints should be generated first and then the flaws gen- ope occurred because of the nonuniform mobilization
erated inside the major bedding units. This approach of friction (Hajiabdolmajid et al. 2003). At low nor-
produces polygonal shapes that are more representa- mal stress tensile strength controlled the failure while
tive of the cross-cutting joints observed in sedimentary at high normal stress frictional strength dominated the
rock. Hence in the UDEC-DM the user has control failure process.
over the creation of the internal flaws to match the The UDEC-DM model was used to simulate Lajtai’s
geological conditions of the rock mass being analyzed. experiments (Fig. 3). The tensile strength of the plaster
Lajtai (1969) conducted a series of tests using plas- of Paris was approximately 1.1 MPa and the fric-
ter of Paris to simulate intact rock blocks. The blocks, tion angle was 37◦ . The unconfined compressive
contain rectangular voids to represent the discontinu- strength was approximately 3.0 to 4.0 times the ten-
ous nature of joints, were subjected to direct shear sile strength. The plaster of Paris Young‘s modulus
at various normal stresses. Lajtai argued that in the can range between 2–10 GPa (Veknis et al. 1993).
case of non-continuous joints, the minor principal In our model the blocks have a Young’s modulus of
stress in the rock bridge is tensile even if the all- 4.5 GPa. The UDEC-DM model was calibrated to
around stresses are compressive, and that these tensile these properties such that both the tensile strength as
stresses were responsible for forming the fractures in well as the uniaxial compressive strength was cap-
the rock bridges. Lajtai concluded that at low nor- tured (Table 1). In these simulations the flaw size
mal stress, tensile fracturing in the rock bridge was in the plaster of Paris is very small, i.e., sub mm
the dominant mode of failure but as the normal stress scale. However, in the UDEC-DM model the length
increased the failure mode progressively became dom- of the polygonal block was limited to 7.0 mm. Dif-
inated by shear mechanisms. Based on his finding ferent block lengths were evaluated and the length
Lajtai suggested that the failure of rock containing used in this study provided a reasonable compromise
intact rock bridges between joints could be represented between accuracy and simulation time. A total of 23

504
Table 1. Comparison between Lajtai’s plaster of Paris model
properties and those used in the UDEC-DM.
Properties UDEC-DM
Friction angle (◦ ) 37
σt (MPa) 1.1
σucs (MPa) 4.0
Normal Stiffness(GPa/m) 40
Shear Stiffness(GPa/m) 20
Joints aperture (m) 0.0001
Figure 4. Comparison of UDEC-DM model results with the
results from direct shear tests on plaster of Paris, (data from
Lajtai 1969).
UDEC-DM models were carried out and Figure 4
compares the UDEC-DM model results with those
obtained by Lajtai. These results suggest that this
approach is capable of capturing the behaviour of dis-
continuous rock joints subjected to direct shear and
automatically captures the nonlinear failure envelope
that is so commonly observed in rock testing. In the
next section the UDEC-DM model is used to analyze
the failure of rock slopes.
3 APPLICATION OF DAMAGE MODEL TO
ROCK SLOPES
3.1 Planar failure with discontinuous rupture
surface
Stead et al. (2004a) analyzed a planar failure with
a discontinuous rupture surface. They used a hybrid
finite-discrete element formulation based on fracture
mechanics. They concluded that internal fracturing
is required to provide a kinematic rupture surface
and destroy the rock bridges. A similar slope to that
used by Stead et al. (2004a) was analyzed using
the UDEC-DM model. The 100 m high slope had
a discontinuous rupture surface (Fig. 5) which was
marginally stable when a friction angle of 38◦ and
Lajtai
37
1.1
4.0
–
–
–
Figure 5. Model of a slope with a discontinuous failure
surface using the UDEC-DM (a) before failure and (b)
coalescence between pre-existed joints.
tensile strength of 0.8 MPa was used for the intact
rock properties. The tensile strength was decreased
gradually in 0.02 MPa increments and the slope failed
when the tensile strength decreased to 0.7 MPa. At fail-
ure, the intact rock bridges fractured and coalescence
occurred between the pre-existed joints and the newly
formed fractures in the intact rock to form a continuous
rupture surface inside the rock mass (Fig. 5b).
Polygonal blocks were generated for the upper por-
tion of the slope to represent the internal flaws, and
the properties of the rock mass were selected to keep
the slope at equilibrium under gravity loading. Many
models were examined to investigate the effect of
weakening of the internal flaws and the basal joint
properties on the failure process. The weakening of
the internal flaws which can occur in a slope through
natural weathering processes can also result in dis-
placements and shearing along the rupture surface. If
the strength of the internal flaws was increased and the
basal surface strength parameters decreased, failure of
505
Figure 6. Example of the failed slope. Note how the failed
rock mass developed into a disaggregated rock mass.

the slope was prevented. In other words the discontinu-

ous surface was prevented from forming a continuous
rupture surface by the high strength of the intact blocks
separating the joints. The results of the modeling indi-
cate that internal distortion of the rock mass is required
to allow motion along the rupture surface. The day-
lighting of the rupture surface is essential in allowing
such planar failure to occur.
Figure 6 shows the completed movement of the Figure 7. Buckling failure a) The Model. b) failure initiation
slope. Note that aslope failure is a result of strength at the toe of the slope.
degradation of the internal flaws, which in turn leads
to a disaggregated rock mass (Fig. 6). This result is Table 2. Material properties used in modeling of the stepped
similar to field observations that suggests that rock path and the buckling examples.
slopes seldom move as a single rigid block (compare
Fig. 6 with Fig. 1). Property Planar Failure Buckling

(◦ ) (basal plane) 35 20

3.2 Buckling failure
One of the commonly observed failure mechanisms in
open pit coal mines in dipping layered rocks is buck-
ling of the layer near the toe of the slope (Stead &
Eberhardt 1997). Stead & Eberhardt 1997 reported that
the failure is restricted to layers that are less than 10 m
thick and suggested that this mode of failure involves
both shear and tensile fracturing. Figure 7 shows the
geometry of the slope used in the UDEC-DM model.
The slope is similar to that used by Stead et al. (2004b),
with a height of 75 m with a 30◦ slope angle. A layer
with a thickness of 3.5 m was assigned a basal fric-
tion angle of 20 degrees based on the suggestions by
Stead & Eberhardt (1997). The intact layer had the
properties given in Table 2, and the tensile strength was
gradually reduced everywhere in the layer until insta-
bility occurred. As observed by Stead & Eberhardt
(1997), the instability occurred as buckling of the toe
at the lower third of the slope face from the toe of the
slope.
Figure 7b shows the final failure after the ten-
sile strength was reduced from 30 kPa to 10 kPa. The
amount of displacement associated with the buck-
ling is directly related to the reduction in tensile
Cohesion (MPa) 1.5 0.3
Kn (GPa) 10 1
Ks (GPa) 10 1
Tensile strength (MPa) 0.7 0.03
(◦ ) (Intact material) 38 25
strength and hence the process once initiated continues
provided the tensile strength continues to degrade.
Rupture of the intact rock occurred when the ten-
sile strength reached 10 kPa at the toe as shown in
Figure 7b. This value is within the range of the ten-
sile strength of the coal suggested by Lockner (1995).
For the movement to occur as shown in Figure 7, the
friction angle of the basal shear plane must be suffi-
ciently low to allow sliding to occur once the toe of
slope starts to rupture. This complex mobilization of
shear strength is similar to that captured by Lajtai in
his experiments described in Section 2.
In a mining environment the displacements due
to excavation unloading and blasting-induced dam-
age may cause the loss of tensile strength used in
the UDEC-DM model. Once the instability is trig-
gered rupture along the basal slip surface occurs

506
Figure 8. Example of an under-dip topple described by
Cruden and Hu 1994. The beds are approximately 5 to 20 cm
thick.
and the buckling of the slope toe is observed. While
the complete process involves both shear and tensile
strength degradation mechanisms, the process in the
UDEC-DM model is controlled by the tensile strength
degradation.
3.3 Toppling
Topples are common in steeply dipping natural and
excavated slopes with distinctive layering. Goodman
et al. (1968), and Goodman & Bray (1976), recognized
three types of toppling failures: (1) flexural, (2) block,
and (3) block-flexural. In these topples, the main set of
joints were thought to dip into the slope. More recently,
Cruden (1989) identified under-dip topples.This mode
of toppling occurs when the main set of joints dip in the
same direction as the slope face (Fig. 8). In the under-
dip topples, Cruden & Hu (1994) described several
examples of block and block-flexural topples. They
concluded that in the underdip slopes, toppling type
is controlled by the discontinuity spacing, the ratio
between the joint spacings of strike joints to bedding
thickness (block ratio).
3.4 Underdip toppling
Cruden & Hu (1994) reported that these topples occur
mainly in bedded sandstones such as that shown in
Figure 8. The tensile strengths of these sandstones
range widely, depending on the clay and quartz con-
tents. While no tensile testing was carried out on the
sandstones described by Cruden & Hu (1994), ten-
sile strengths for these rocks could be expected to
range between 0.5 to 3 MPa, depending on the extent
of weathering (Lockner 1995).
A slope similar to that described by Cruden & Hu
with a height of 75 m was used to develop a UDEC-DM
model to explore the mechanism of failure and the
507
Figure 9. Geometry of the underdip toppling example.
Table 3. Material properties used in modeling of the Under-
dip and common toppling examples.
Property Underdip topple Common topple
(◦ ) (bedding plans) 25 30
Tensile strength (MPa) 0.06 0.03
Cohesion (MPa) 0.6 0.115
(◦ ) (intact Material) 30 30
Kn (GPa) 1 1
Ks (GPa) 0.1 1
effect of cohesion and tensile strength degradation on
this mode of slope instability. The main set of joints
dip at 80◦ and the slope face dips at 61◦ in the same
direction (Fig. 9). Initially the model contained a single
bedding joint set with a uniform thickness of 0.75 m.
The flaws were then generated inside each bed to
make the polygonal shape of the blocks more brick-
like. Table 3 shows the strength properties used in this
model.
The model was brought to equilibrium under gravity
loading and then both the cohesion and tensile strength
were decreased gradually. Griffith (1921) suggested
that the cohesion of a rock was related to the tensile
strength based on his experiments on brittle materials
containing flaws. There is very little evidence in the
literature to suggest if Griffith’s original relationship
is valid for sedimentary rocks. For the purposes of
this underdip example it is assumed that both the ten-
sile strength and cohesion decrease at the same rate;
if the tensile strength is decreased by 10% then the
cohesion is also decreased by 10%. While the friction
angle kept constant. During the UDEC-DM modeling,
as the cohesion and tensile strength decreased minor
local failures occurred but these did not result in a total
collapse of the slope. When the cohesion was reduced
to 0.5 MPa and the tensile strength to 0.05 MPa, the
slope collapsed with the toppling starting at the toe of

Figure 10. Initiation of toppling at the slope’s toe (uniform
bed thickness).
Figure 11. Underdip slope failure using the UDEC-DM
(non-uniform beds).
the slope and gradually extending back in the slope
(Fig. 10).
Cruden & Hu (1994) suggested that the block ratio
in the underdip slope plays an important role in the top-
pling mechanism. Figure 10 showed the results with a
constant block ratio. Figure 11 shows the underdip top-
pling failure with non-uniform beddings (block ratio
4–7). As the block ratio increases, the resulting failure
is more comparable to the actual failure observed in
the field and shown in Figure 8. . Cruden & Hu (1994)
reported that in these underdip topples the thickness
of the toppling is in the order of 15-m, this thickness
was also observed in this UDEC-DM example.
508
3.5 Common toppling
Topples where beds dip into the slope are more
common than the underdip topples discussed above.
Topples of this nature have been reported at scales
ranging from several metres high to several hundred
metres high in large open pit mines (Tosney et al.
2004, Sjoberg 1999). To simulate this mode of move-
ment a 50-m-high slope was created with 75◦ bedding
dipping into the slope. The simulations by Tosney
et al. (2004) and Nichol et al. (2002), using traditional
UDEC, required the placement of discrete cross joints
as well as the bedding joints to simulate toppling fail-
ure. Using their approach the movement kinematics
are defined by the geometrical constraints built into
the model. In the UDEC-DM the failure mode evolves
with deformation and does not follow a predefined
failure surface constrained by the input geometry. As
Cundall (2001) noted, the major advantage of the dis-
crete element logic is that the failure process does
not have to be constrained by the model geometry or
complex constitutive models. If properly formulated,
the failure process and rupture surface should develop
unconstrained as deformations occur.
In the analysis described previously, it is assumed
that the tensile and cohesive strength may degrade as
a function of time. Skempton (1964) showed that the
long-term (decades) stability of slopes in stiff over-
consolidated clay was a function of cohesion loss with
time. In soils, cohesion is a function of Van de Vaals’
bonding forces which are influenced by environmental
factors such as water content. In many rocks, the cohe-
sive forces are dominated by ionic and covalent bonds
which are not readily susceptible to environmental fac-
tors. However, these bonds are weaker in tension then
in shear. Hence, if tensile stresses exist these bonds
may break at relatively low stress magnitudes.Aydan &
Basu (2006) showed, using Brazilian tensile tests that
the tensile strength of a rock is extremely sensitive
to the degree of microstructure and weathering. They
found that the tensile strength could decrease by an
order of magnitude depending on the extent of weath-
ering and the stiffness of the rock decreased as the
tensile strength decreased. In other words, weathering
may be a significant factor in controlling the behaviour
of rock slopes, if the stability of the slope is controlled
by the tensile strength.
Figure 12 shows the UDEC-DM model used to
simulate common toppling and the material proper-
ties used in the analysis are provided in Table 3. In
the model only the bedding planes are provided as
through going discontinuities. The cross-cutting joints
are treated as internal flaws with the same properties
as intact rock. To simulate the effect of long-term pro-
cesses only the intact tensile strength is degraded and
the impact of this strength degradation is tracked.
The properties of the initial slope were established
such that the slope had a factor of safety approaching
Figure 12. The model used for common toppling failure
analysis using the UDEC-DM model.

unity, a state of limiting equilibrium. The tensile

strength of the intact rock was then degraded from
30 kPa to 15 kPa. When the intact rock reached a ten-
sile strength of 15 kPa a through-going rupture surface
Figure 13. Common toppling failure using the UDEC-DM
formed (Fig. 13). Figure 13 show the final stage for
model.
common toppling in the UDEC-DM. As is commonly
associated with toppling the model shows extensive
dilation before complete collapse.This is also reflected
in the monitored displacements shown in Figure 14.
From the numerical analysis conducted, without the
reduction in tensile strength failure will not occur. The
friction of the intact material was also reduced to exam-
ine its effect on the toppling failure in the UDEC-DM.
Reducing the friction of the intact rock had essentially
no effect on the rock mass toppling strength. This con-
clusion will be investigated in additional modelling
and should not be considered as a general conclusion
for all rock slopes.
The displacements were monitored at two points in
the model: (1) the top of the slope and (2) the toe of
the slope (Figure 14). The displacements associated
with these monitoring points once the tensile strength
reached 15 kPa are shown in Figure 14. Figure 14
shows that the displacements at the top of the slope
were considerably larger than the displacements at the
toe of the slope which is consistent with a toppling
mode of movement. Figure 14. Example of the deformation pattern observed in
the UDEC-DM model of common toppling.
4 CONCLUSIONS
going joints. The UDEC-DM was successfully used to
The discrete element formulation in UDEC was used to model direct shear tests of discontinuous joints. The
create a damage model (UDEC-DM) that can simulate resulting failure envelope was nonlinear and was found
a jointed rock mass where both continuous and dis- to be in general agreement with experimental results.
continuous joints are accommodated. The intact rock The UDEC-DM model was also successfully used to
between the joints are assigned internal flaws and the simulate typical types of slope movement commonly
flaw properties can be adjusted to simulate a rock mass observed in nature. The results from the UDEC-DM
that varies from a strong brittle rock mass to very are encouraging but additional calibrations are needed
weak rock. By creating the internal flaws, the rupture with well-documented case histories to develop this
surface can develop in a slope that contains no through approach.

509
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge the financial contribu-
tion of the Railway Ground Hazard Research Program
sponsored by CP Rail, CN and transport Canada,
and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada.
REFERENCES
Aydin, A. & Basu, A. 2006. The use of Brazilian Test as a
Quantitative Measure of Rock Weathering. Rock Mech.
Rock Engng. 39(1): 77–85.
Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of rock masses for the design of tunnel support.
Rock Mechanics 6: 189–236.
Cruden D.M. 1989. Limits to common toppling. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 26: 737–742.
Cruden D.M. & Hu, X. 1994. Topples on underdip slopes in
the Highwood Pass, Alberta, Canada. Quarterly Journal
of Engineering Geology 27: 57–68.
Cundall, P.A. 1971. A computer model for simulating pro-
gressive large scale movements in blocky rock systems. In
Proceeding of the Symposium of the International Society
of Rock Mechanics, Nancy, France, pp. 129–136.
Cundall, P.A. 2001. A discontinuous future for numerical
modelling in Geomechanics. Geotechnical Engineering
Journal 49: 41–47.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D., Karami, A. & Coggan, J. 2004.
Numerical analysis of brittle fracture propagation and
step-path failure in massive rock slopes. In Proceed-
ings 57th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and 5th
Joint CGS/IAH-CNC Conference Quebec City. CD-Rom,
Session 7c, 1–8.
Goodman, R.E. & Bray, J.W. 1976. Toppling of rock slopes.
In Specialty Conference on Rock Engineering for Founda-
tions and Slopes, Boulder, CO. American Society of Civil
Engineering, vol. 2, pp. 739–760.
Goodman, R.E., Taylor, R.L. & Brekke, T.L. 1968. A model
for the mechanics of jointed rock. Journal of Soil Mechan-
ics Div. American Society of Civil Engineering 94:
637–658.
Griffith, A.A. 1921. The phenomena of rupture and flow in
solids. Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London 221A: 163–198.
510
Hajiabdolmajid, V., Kaiser, P.K. & Martin, C.D. 2003.
Mobilised strength components in brittle failure of rock.
Geotechnique 53: 327–336.
Itasca. 2004. UDEC-Universal Distinct Element Code,
Version 4.0. Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Jennings, J.E. 1970. A mathematical theory for calculation of
the stability of slopes in open cast mines. In Planning of
Open Pit Mines, Johannesburg, pp. 87–102.
Lajtai, E.Z. 1969. Shear strength of weakness planes in rock.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Science 6: 499–515.
Lockner, D.A. 1995. Rock physics and phase relations. In A
Handbook of Physical Constants, American Geophysical
Union, pp. 127–147.
Nichol, S.L., Hunger, O. & Evans, S.G. 2002. Large-scale
brittle and ductile toppling of rock slopes. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 39: 773–788.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundall, P.A. 2004. A bonded-particle
model for rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences 41: 1329–1364.
Skempton, A.W. 1964. Long-term stability of clay slopes.
Geotechnique 14: 75–101.
Sjoberg, J. 1999. Analysis of large scale rock slopes. PhD
Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden.
Stead, D., Coggan, J.S. & Eberhardt, E. 2004a. Modelling
of complex rock slope failure mechanisms using a hybrid
finite-/discrete-element code. In Proc. 9th International
Symposium on Landslides, Rio de Janeiro, pp. 1067–1072.
Stead, D., Coggan, J.S. & Eberhardt, E. 2004b. Realistic simu-
lation of rock slope failure mechanisms: the need to incor-
porate principles of fracture mechanics. In SINOROCK
2004 symposium. International Journal of Rock of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Science, pp. 1–6
Stead, D. & Eberhardt, E. 1997. Development in the analy-
sis of footwall slopes in surface coal mines. Engineering
Geology 46: 41–61.
Tosney, J.R., Milne, D., Chance,A.V. &Amon, F. 2004. Verifi-
cation of a large scale slope instability mechanism at High-
land Valley Copper. Int. J. Surface Mining, Reclamation
and Environment 18(4): 273–288.
Vekinis, G., Ashby, M.F. & Beaumont, P.W.R. 1993. Plaster of
Paris as a model material for brittle porous solids. Journal
of Material Science 28: 3221–3227.
Wang, C., Tannant, D.D. & Lilly, P.A. 2003. Numerical analy-
sis of the stability of heavily jointed rock slopes using
PFC2D. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Science 40: 415–424.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

PFC modeling of rock cutting under high pressure conditions

L.W. Ledgerwood III

Hughes Christensen Company, The Woodlands, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT: For half a century, the oil and gas drilling industry has used compressive strength and friction
angle to parameterize Mohr-Coulomb-like constitutive relations in attempts to model the drilling process. Rates
of penetration based on these models underpredict the effect of pressure on drilling. This suggests that there
must be other rock properties that govern drilling under pressure. Discrete Element Modeling (DEM) of high
pressure rock cutting indicates that mechanical properties of crushed rock detritus are more important than
the mechanical properties of the original elastic rock. The deformation and extrusion of crushed rock detritus
consumes the bulk of the energy expended in rock cutting down hole. These results suggest that some measure
of the inelastic behavior of rock under pressure, such as the area under the stress strain curve, may be a more
appropriate measure of rock drillability in high pressure environments. The area under a stress strain curve is a
measure of specific energy. Characterizing rock in terms of the area under the stress strain curve may open the
door to more accurate ways to parameterize specific energy models of drilling.

1 HISTORY OF MODELING OF ROCK Mohr-Coulomb material. Garnier & Van Lingen

DRILLABILITY
During the early part of the twentieth century, the
drilling community did not account for the strengthen-
ing effect of downhole pressure on rock. Kühne (1952)
pointed out the effect of pressure and suggested that
rock may be treated as a Mohr-Coulomb material.
Research conducted at Rice University explored the
ramifications of Kühne’s proposal. (Bredthauer 1955,
Cunningham 1955, Galle 1959). Similar research
spread rapidly through the industry.
This early research showed that the most impor-
tant factor governing drillability downhole is the
differential pressure, defined as the difference
between the pressure of the mud in the bore-
hole (borehole pressure) and the pressure in the
pores of the rock (pore pressure). Differential pres-
sure defines an effective stress confining the rock
matrix and is much more important than the tec-
tonic stresses. These early researchers adopted a
Mohr-Coulomb model in which differential pressure
defines the hydrostatic component of stress. The
drilling community still uses Unconfined Compres-
sive Strength (UCS) and Friction Angle (φ), properties
which may be used to parameterize a Mohr-Coulomb
constitutive model, to characterize rock.
Drilling data, reported as early as Cunningham’s
thesis, showed that differential pressure had a more
profound effect on the rate of penetration than
would be expected by the increase in strength of a
(1959) and Van Lingen (1961) proposed that there are
other mechanisms at work which they described as var-
ious forms of a phenomenon called “chip hold down.”
Chip hold down refers to force that the drilling mud
may exert on a cutting, or a bed of crushed material, due
to differential pressure. The industry also recognized
that permeability has a strong effect on differential
pressure (Bobo et al. 1957, Feenstra et al. 1963). As
a drill bit shears rock, the rock dilates, causing the
pore volume to increase. If the rock is impermeable,
this will cause a reduction of pore pressure, increas-
ing differential pressure, strengthening the rock. More
recent laboratory tests have documented this effect in
shale (Cook et al. 1991, Gray-Stephens et al. 1994)
and analytical studies have quantified these effects
(Ledgerwood 1987, Kolle 1996, Detournay & Tan
2002). This phenomenon can explain, partly at least,
the low rate of penetration in impermeable low strength
rocks such as soft shale.
Complexities of the drilling process led some
researchers to abandon confined strength measured
in triaxial tests and define a “drilling strength” that
can be determined empirically with a drill bit itself
(Cunningham 1978). While useful in predicting rates
of penetration, such models give little insight into the
physical process of rock destruction.
Simons (1962) and Teale (1964) used another
approach based on specific energy. Specific energy
is the energy required to remove a unit volume of
rock and has the units N/m2 (psi). When drilling rock

511
efficiently at atmospheric pressure, the specific energy
approaches a number numerically close to the UCS of
the rock. (Note UCS happens to have the same units
as specific energy.) This is useful as a measure of the
drilling efficiency. A driller can measure the specific
energy of a drilling process, compare that to the UCS,
and quantify how efficient the drilling process is.
Pessier & Fear (1992) suggested that this concept
could be applied to drilling under pressure. However,
there remains the question of what strength should
be used to define efficient drilling in the pressure
environment. An obvious first guess might be that
Confined Compressive Strength (CCS) defines the
limit. However, it turns out that plugging CCS deter-
mined by Mohr-Coulomb type relations into specific
energy based models of drilling under predicts the
increased difficulty of drilling at a given differential
pressure (Judzis et al. 2007). Recently, several papers
have appeared exploiting specific energy methods in
oil and gas drilling (Dupriest 2005, Caicedo 2005,
Curry 2005). Typically these have lab derived empir-
ical relations defining a drilling strength or optimal
specific energy level.
In summary, as an industry we have realized for
a long time that UCS and φ are not sufficient to
account for the increased difficulty of drilling with
increasing hydrostatic pressure. However, we continue
to measure these properties and quote them when we
describe rock.
2 DISCRETE ELEMENT MODELING OF
ROCK CUTTING
As described by Potyondy & Cundall (2004), DEM
materials are created by establishing equivalence
between the mechanical response of selected lab tests
and DEM models of the same lab tests. Success in the
DEM method requires that appropriate lab tests and
mechanical parameters be chosen to calibrate the DEM
material. This raises the question, what are the appro-
priate lab tests and mechanical parameters that char-
acterize drilling under pressure? A common practice
in the mining industry is to establish an equivalence
in: density, elastic modulus, Poisson ratio, Brazilian
strength, UCS and φ. We should note that none of these
describe the inelastic response of the rock.
Rock cutting under pressure is very different from
rock cutting at atmospheric conditions.At atmospheric
conditions, the cutter drives long cracks into the rock
creating large chips of elastic rock. These chips usu-
ally fly away from the cutting face due to the release
of elastic energy. Rock cutting under pressure in a
mud environment does not create such chips. Cuttings
under pressure are long ribbons of rock material that
extrude up the face of the cutter and have a saw-toothed
shape as shown in Warren and Armagost (1988). This
512
cutting, however, is not composed of chips of elastic
material bonded together as they, and many other early
researchers, speculate. More recent examination of
cuttings shows that they typically consist of completely
crushed and recompacted material (Judzis et al. 2007).
The crushed material is held together, indeed strength-
ened, by the borehole pressure because drilling mud
inhibits penetration of fluid into the crushed material.
One major challenge in modeling rock cutting with
DEM is that of simulating the confining effect on a
cutting. The surface of the cutting is not known apri-
ori. We employ a topological routine that is run every
nth time step which examines the current state of the
DEM specimen and identifies all the discrete elements
on the surface of the cutting and the cut surface. It then
applies a force representing a hydrostatic pressure to
the balls on these surfaces. This pressure boundary
condition is like an impermeable filter cake of mud
in real life. Thus we are modeling the extreme condi-
tion of a very impermeable rock and cutting. This is
an upper bound as far as cutting forces are concerned.
The other extreme, the atmospheric case, can be mod-
eled easily, since this pressure boundary condition is
not needed. The atmospheric case represents a lower
bound as far as cutting forces are concerned. Many
real life drilling scenarios are well represented by one
of these bounds.
Because a large amount of plastic deformation
occurs in this rock extrusion process, we would expect
that the inelastic properties of rock would be impor-
tant. We would also expect strain softening or strain
hardening to play a role. The UCS and φ do not capture
any of this inelastic behavior of rock.
The practice we have adopted for calibrating DEM
rock material is to match the stress strain response
of rock and the virtual material, to high strain, and
over a wide range of hydrostatic pressures. The par-
ticular DEM code we are using is PFC2D. The FISH
functions that are commonly used to simulate triaxial
tests in PFC do not allow deformation to large strain
because the confining pressure is applied by “walls”
which cannot deform as the lateral sides of the speci-
men deform. We developed a new means of modeling
triaxial tests in PFC by applying confining pressure
with the same topological routines that apply pressure
to the surface of a chip.
In triaxial tests, most rocks exhibit a transition
from shear localization at low confining pressures to
shear-enhanced compaction at high confining pres-
sures (Vajdova et al. 2004, Wong et al. 1999). In the
shear localization mode, cracks coalesce along diago-
nal shear planes and after this, large elastic wedges of
material slide past each other shearing the rubble on
these shear planes. In the shear-enhanced compaction
mode, most of the rock volume is failed.
It was unknown whether PFC materials would
exhibit this same transition from shear localization
 800

280 MPa
600
stress (Mpa)

400
140 MPa

200 70 MPa
40 MPa
14 MPa
0 7 MPa
−0.02 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10
strain (%)
Figure 2. Typical triaxial test specimens. Left: 6.9 Mpa
Figure 1. PFC generated stress versus axial and volumetric (1,000 psi) confining pressure. Right 280 MPa (40,000 psi)
strain curves. confining pressure.

the low pressure case and shear-enhanced compaction

Table 1. PFC microproperties used to create the PFC triaxial
test specimen shown in Figure 1.
Minimum ball size
Maximum ball size
Density
Ball and bond elastic modulus
Ratio of normal to shear stiffness
Parallel bond normal strength
Parallel bond shear strength
Bond strength standard deviation
Ball-ball and ball-wall friction
Triaxial specimen size
to shear-enhanced compaction. We have conducted
triaxial tests with several different PFC rocks, over a
wide range of porosity, and have shown that a similar
mechanism occurs. Figure 1a shows PFC generated
stress strain curves for a typical PFC rock. Table 1
shows PFC microproperties used to generate this rock.
The solid curves represent axial strain and the dashed
curves represent volumetric strain, with dilation being
negative. The confining pressure was varied from
7 MPa (1000 psi) to 280 MPa (40,000 psi). These vir-
tual stress strain curves show the characteristics we
would expect: strain softening at low pressure and
strain hardening at higher pressures; dilation at low
pressures and minimal dilation at high pressures. This
particular PFC rock had 18% porosity. Higher porosity
PFC rocks undergo compaction at high pressure.
Figure 2 shows images of typical PFC triaxial spec-
imens at low and high confining pressure. The dark
colored balls in these figures represents balls still
having elastic bonds. The light gray color represents
cracks and balls that have broken all bonds with other
balls (crushed material). The balls on the lateral edges
of the specimens having black dots in them repre-
sent the surface on which the hydrostatic pressure is
applied. A strain localization mechanism is evident in
in the high pressure case.
It is not common to conduct triaxial tests to such
2.5 e-4 m
high strain in the oil and gas industry. Tests are usu-
4.5 e-4 m ally terminated after the elastic limit or proportional
2650 kg/m3 limit is reached. It is also common to conduct only a
40 e9 Pa few triaxial tests at confining pressures in the neigh-
2.5 borhood of the in-situ pressure of interest. But FEA
44e6 Pa and DEM models both show that the hydrostatic com-
44e6 Pa ponent of stress in the rock ahead of an advancing
8e6 Pa cutter is much higher than the in-situ confining pres-
0.5 sure. Also, the failure mechanism ahead of a cutter is
2.54 by 5.08 cm
more similar to shear-enhanced compaction than shear
localization. Both these observations suggest that we
should probe the mechanical properties of rock to
pressures significantly higher than the in-situ pressure.
Figures 3a, b show PFC models of rock cutting at the
two extremes of atmospheric and high pressure con-
ditions. The cutter, shown in outline by a black line,
is moving from left to right. The balls with black dots
in them in Figure 3b represent the boundary on which
confining pressure is applied. Note that the mecha-
nisms evident in these models are analogous to real
life descriptions above. At atmospheric pressure large
cracks are driven into the elastic rock matrix (not vis-
ible in the figure) and large elastic chips fly off (dark
pieces). In the high pressure case, the cutting is com-
posed of completely crushed material, having a saw
tooth shape and held together by confining pressure.
The reconstituted cutting is extruding up the face of the
cutter. Note there is also crushed rock detritus under
the cutter, some of which has flowed under the cutter.
Some of this detritus under the cutter is differentially
sticking to the under side of the cutter due to the effect
of hydrostatic pressure. The saw tooth shape is due
to a cyclical mechanism in which the detritus ahead
of the cutter is compacted until the stresses are large
enough to move a wedge of material upward, relieving
the stress in the crushed material until continued cutter
advancement raises the stress in the crushed material
high enough to cause the cycle to repeat.

513

Figure 3. PFC cutting at: a) atmospheric pressure, and
b) 20 MPa (3,000 psi).
3 DEM CUTTING RESULTS
Quantitative agreement between cutting forces gen-
erated by PFC models and measured cutting forces
is elusive because this is a 2D model and rock cut-
ting in the real world is always 3D. Kaitkay (2002)
showed that cutting in a groove has a significant effect
on the cutting forces that can not be accounted for with
PFC2D.
There is, however, a wide range of qualitative
agreement between rock cutting tests conducted at
high pressure and PFC models. For example, cut-
ting becomes less efficient with increasing backrake,
just like in real cutting rests. Figure 4 shows a
30 degree backrake cutter. This may be compared to
Figure 3b which shows a 15 degree backrake cut-
ter. The 30 degree backrake case required 45% more
normal force to maintain the depth of cut.
514
Figure 4. PFC cutting with 30 degree backrake.
Another qualitative agreement is that specific
energy required to cut rock increases with decreasing
depth of cut. That is, cutting becomes less efficient at
lower depths of cut, just like it does in actual drilling.
The mechanisms that govern this reduction in effi-
ciency in real life are evidently reproduced in the
model. We have observed a host of other qualitative
agreements that cannot be shared because of their
confidential nature.
PFC indicates that the flow of crushed material
under the cutter is an important mechanism govern-
ing cutting efficiency. This is not widely recognized in
the literature. Detournay and his students at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota have observed and modeled this
flow at atmospheric pressure (Detournay & Drescher
1992, Huang 1999, Richard 1999). Gerbaud and his
colleagues at the Ecole des Mines de Paris have per-
formed lab tests that indicate some material must be
flowing under the cutter (Gerbaud 1999, Gerbaud et al.
2006). However, the effects Gerbaud predicts in empir-
ical equations are not as profound as those indicated
by PFC.
The most important fact that PFC models force us
to face is the presence of a third material, the crushed
rock, playing a key role in the cutting process. Cutters
do not bear directly on the elastic rock that we seek to
excavate. There is always a layer of crushed material
between the cutter and the elastic rock. Some publica-
tions have shown this third material in illustrations. But
the mechanical properties of the crushed material are
almost always ignored in mathematical models, proba-
bly because it is tempting to consider this crushed rock
to be rather weak. The crushed material has no strength
resulting from elastic bonds, but may have significant
strength due to hydrostatic compression.

Figure 5. a) Metal rods bent by cuttings flowing on blade;
and b) PDC cutting split by a metal rod.
We need to determine the constitutive properties
of this crushed material. The strength of a cutting is
predominantly a function of differential pressure. As
soon as the cutting is created, it begins imbibing fil-
trate from the drilling mud reducing its strength. The
strength, therefore, must be evaluated under pressure
immediately after the cutting is created. We have devel-
oped a test that gives an approximation of the strength.
We built a PDC bit having cutters spaced far enough
apart that cuttings flowing on each blade do not inter-
act with each other. We mounted 3.17 mm (1/8 inch)
diameter rods protruding from the blade, in the path
of the cutting. We made the rods of different material:
copper, bronze and steel. The plan was to determine
which rods the cuttings are able to bend and obtain
an estimate of their strength. In tests with Cattoosa
shale at 41.4 MPa (6,000 psi) bottom hole pressure and
drilling at 60 RPM with a depth of cut of 5.1 mm/rev
(0.2 in/rev), the cuttings bent all the rods. The bit and
bent rods is shown in Figure 5a.
515
Bonneterre Dolomite:
Stress Difference vs Axial Strain at 34.5 MPa (5,000 psi) confining pressure
200
stress difference (MPa)
150 Elastic Energy
100
50
0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
Strain
Figure 6. Elastic and plastic energy in triaxial test.
A partially split cutting that was bearing against
one of the rods is shown in Figure 5b. The dimensions
shown on the ruler in the figure are in inches. Knowing
how much force is required to bend the rods and know-
ing typical dimensions of the cuttings, we estimate a
lower bound of cutting strength on the same order of
magnitude as the original strength of the Catoosa shale.
4 INELASTIC ROCK PROPERTIES GOVERN
ROCK CUTTING UNDER PRESSURE
PFC can show how much energy is partitioned in elas-
tic strain in the balls, elastic strain in the bonds, friction
between the balls, kinetic energy and damping. PFC
indicates that during cutting under pressure, fifty times
more energy is dissipated in friction (the sum of ball
to ball and ball to wall friction) than is stored in elas-
tic energy. This makes sense because: (1) the crushed
rock material is strong and large forces are required
to deform it; (2) the volume of the crushed material
being deformed at any instant is larger than the vol-
ume of the highly stressed elastic front ahead of the
crushed rock; (3) the strain of the crushed rock is very
high; (4) in a high strain elastic-plastic deformation
a lot more energy is dissipated in plastic deformation
than elastic deformation. This last comment is illus-
trated in Figure 6 which shows a stress strain curve
of Bonne Terre Dolomite. This stress strain curve is
from a triaxial test conducted at 34.5 MPa (5,000 psi)
confining pressure strained to 10% strain. Even at this
comparatively low strain, the plastic energy represents
the large majority of the energy dissipation.
If it is true that the majority of the energy expended
in cutting under pressure is dissipated in friction, then
it should not really matter what the elastic properties
of the rock are. As an experiment, we ran a PFC cutting
test that is identical to that shown in figure 3b, but with
all elastic bonds deleted. The rock with bonds (shown
in Fig. 3b) has a UCS of 55 MPa (8,000 psi). The rock
with no bonds, shown in Figure 7, was identical but
had a cohesion of zero; this material may be imagined
like loose sand.

Figure 7. Cutting unbonded material.
Both of these were under a hydrostatic pressure
of 20.7 MPa (3,000 psi) during cutting. The cutting
forces required to cut the unbonded material were
nearly identical to the cutting forces required to cut the
bonded material. (These cutting forces are not the PFC
wall forces alone. The wall force has been adjusted
account for the effect of hydrostatic pressure which,
in this model, acts on the balls but not the walls).
Real life experiments drilling on loose sand strength-
ened by borehole pressure have yielded similar results
(Cunningham & Eenink 1958).
What mechanical properties could we measure in a
triaxial test that would characterize this highly plastic
process of rock cutting?
The area under the stress strain curve might be an
appropriate measure of energy dissipated during defor-
mation and a measure of the specific energy. But at
what strain level should we quantify this area? Ideally
we would measure it to the level of strain experienced
by the rock during cutting. But it is not possible to iden-
tify one strain level imposed on the rock during cutting
because there is such a large variance in the strain field.
We might, however, be able to define an “effective”
strain during cutting by extending the strain until the
area under the stress strain curve equals the specific
energy consumed in a real test. This would indicate
that the effective strain is in the multiple hundreds of
percent. It does seem likely that if we were to com-
pare the specific energy of two drag bits, differences
in specific energy between them would be related to
differing amounts of strain imparted to the rock detri-
tus. More efficient bits are those which remove the
rock detritus with less strain.
Winters & Warren (1987) proposed that we measure
the area under the stress strain curve twenty years ago.
Kolle (1996) reaffirmed this point. As far as I know,
516
MPa
Flow Envelope
200
Yield Surface
100
200 400 600 MPa
Figure 8. Yield surface and high strain flow envelope for
Carthage Limestone.
this proposal has not been developed. Perhaps one rea-
son is because implementation is more difficult than it
sounds. As discussed above, we do not know to what
strain a triaxial test should be conducted. Even if we
did, it would not be possible to conduct a triaxial test to
such high strain. Another difficult question is at what
confining pressure should the area under the stress
strain curve be evaluated? There is a wide variance in
the hydrostatic component of stress in the stress field
ahead of the cutter. It is likely that the differences in
hydrostatic component of stress are great enough that
some parts of the rock are strain softening and others
are strain hardening.
Another measure of rock drillability in a triaxial test
might simply be the stress difference at high strain.
The stress difference at high strain is a measure of the
stress required to deform rock detritus. At very high
strain, the stress difference tends to approach a steady
value (like perfect plasticity). The area under the stress
strain curve at high strain approximates a long rectan-
gle. Strain softening or strain hardening in the early
part of the stress strain curve has a negligible effect on
the total area under a stress strain curve measured to
high strain. The height of the stress strain curve, com-
bined with an effective strain, define the majority of
the area.
It might be constructive to create something like
a “failure envelope” of the stress difference required
to deform detritus at high strain. Figure 8 shows such
an envelope, which I call a flow envelope, superim-
posed over a yield surface. These data were taken
from triaxial tests conducted to 10% strain at confining
pressures ranging from 3.4 MPa (500 psi) to 207 MPa
(30,000 psi). The flow envelope in fact represents the
position of the classical yield surface after strain soft-
ening and strain hardening have occurred. A measure
of strength based on the flow envelope would correlate
better with drillability than CCS since the shear stress
defining the flow envelope goes up more rapidly as a
function of pressure than the shear stress defining the
yield surface.
 It may be that triaxial tests are not the appropriate
test for evaluating rock properties that govern rock
cutting at pressure. I have heard suggestions that we
should develop a new mechanical property test in the
form of a cutting test. But this seems like cheating,
like creating a test that is identical to the process we
seek to understand. Even if it predicted cutting forces,
it would give us little physical insight.
One might think that the well known scratch test is
such a test. The scratch test, however, is conducted at
atmospheric pressure and the mechanisms occurring
in it are significantly different from those occurring at
pressure. At any rate, the scratch test is used to esti-
mate UCS and φ, the very parameters I am arguing are
insufficient to characterize drilling under pressure.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. DEM is a good tool for modeling rock cutting.
Large strain and crack propagation are handled
naturally. DEM materials exhibit a transition from
shear localization to shear-enhanced compaction
in virtual triaxial tests like real rocks do. PFC2D
gives good qualitative agreement between models
of cutting and actual cutting tests.
2. Inelastic properties have a stronger influence on
rock drillability than elastic properties.As an indus-
try, we should be seeking to identify inelastic
parameters that characterize rock. We should begin
evaluating rock at higher strain levels than we have
and seek new fundamental mechanical properties
that govern drilling.
3. The area under the stress strain curve may be a good
parameter with which to quantify rock drillability.
Given the current interest in specific energy there
are opportunities to use the area under the stress
strain curve to help us understand how to apply
those models at high pressure. The stress difference
at high strain may also be a practically attainable
measure that will correlate with rock cutting and
rock drillability.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Hughes Christensen for permis-
sion to publish this paper. David Curry has encouraged
me with critical discussions and guidance during this
research. Dave Potyondy has provided critical feed-
back about PFC modeling and he wrote the FISH func-
tions used to apply the pressure boundary condition.
Ron Bland is the primary source of the insights about
the morphology of PDC cuttings. Chad Beuershausen
designed and built the PDC bit used to estimate the
strength of cuttings. Doug Stead reviewed the paper
and offered constructive critique.
517
REFERENCES
Bredthauer, R.O. 1955. Strength characteristics of rock sam-
ples under hydrostatic pressure. Master’s Thesis, Rice
University.
Bobo, R.A. & Hoch, R.S. 1957. Keys to success-
ful competitive drilling, Part 5b. World Oil, October,
pp. 185–188.
Caicedo, H. & Calhoun B. 2005. Unique ROP predictor using
Bit-specific coefficient of sliding friction and mechanical
efficiency as a function of confined compressive strength.
SPE 92576, SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, Amsterdam.
Cook, J.M., Sheppard, M.C. & Houwen, O.H. 1991. Effects
of strain rate and confining pressure on the deformation
and failure of shale. SPE Drilling Engineering, June.
Cunningham, R.A. 1955. The effect of hydrostatic stress on
the drilling rates of rock formations. Master’s Thesis, Rice
University.
Cunningham, R.A. & Eenink, J.G. 1958. Laboratory study
of the effect of overburden, formation and mud column
pressures on drilling rates of permeable formations. In
33rd Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum
Engineers, Houston.
Cunningham, R.A. 1978. An empirical approach for relat-
ing drilling parameters. Journal of Petroleum Technology,
July, pp. 987–991.
Curry, D.A. & Fear, M.J. 2005. Technical limit specific
energy – an index to facilitate drilling performance evalu-
ation. SPE/IADC 92318, SPE/IADC Drilling Conference,
Amsterdam.
Detournay, E. & Drescher, A. 1992. Plastic flow regimes for
a tool cutting a cohesive-frictional material. In Pande &
Pietruszczak (eds.), Numerical Models in Geomechanics.
Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 367–376.
Detournay, E. & Tan, C.P. 2002. Dependence of drilling
specific energy on bottom-hole pressure in shales.
SPE/ISRM 78221, SPE/ISRM Rock Mechanics Confer-
ence, Irving, TX.
Dupriest, F.E. 2005. Maximizing drill rates with real-time
surveillance of mechanical specific energy. SPE 92194,
SPE/IADC Conference, Amsterdam.
Feenstra R. & Van Leeuwen, J.J.M. 1964. Full scale exper-
iments on jets in impermeable rock drilling, Journal of
Petroleum Technology, March, pp. 329–336.
Galle, E.M. 1959. Photoelastic analysis of the stress near
the bottom of a cylindrical cavity due to non-symmetrical
loading. Master’s Thesis, Rice University.
Garnier, A.J. & Van Lingen, N.H. 1959. Phenomena affecting
drilling rates at depth. Trans. AIME 217.
Gerbaud, L. 1999. Optimisation de l’interaction PDC-Roche:
application a la conception d’outils pour forage petrolier
en petit diameter. PhD thesis, Ecole des Mines de Paris.
Gerbaud, L., Menand, S. & Sellami H. 2006. PDC bits: All
comes from the cutter rock interaction. IADC/SPE 98988,
IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, Miami.
Gray-Stephens, D. & Sheppard, M.C. 1994. Influence of pore
pressure on drilling response of hard shales. SPE Drilling
and Completion, December, pp. 263–270.
Huang, H. 1999. Discrete element modeling of tool-rock
interaction. PhD Thesis, University of Minnesota.
Judzis, A, Bland, R.G., Curry, D.A., Black, A.D.,
Robertson, H.A., Meiners, M.J. & Grant, T. 2007.
Optimization of deep drilling performance; benchmark
testing drives rop improvements for bits and drilling fluids.
 SPE/IADC 105885, SPE/IADC Drilling Conference,Ams-
terdam.
Kaitkay, P.V. 2002. Modeling of rock cutting using dis-
tinct element methods. Master’s Thesis, Kansas State
University.
Kolle, J.J. 1995. Dynamic confinement effects on fixed cutter
drilling. Final Report, Gas Research Institute.
Kühne, I.G. 1952. Die wirkungsweise von rotarymeiseln und
anderen drehenden gesteinsbohrern. Sonderdruck aus der
Zeitschrift, Bohrtecknik-Brunnenbau, Helf 1–5.
Ledgerwood, L.W. 1987. An investigation of the effects of
deformation induced pore pressure on the failure of rock
loaded by a punch. Masters Thesis, Rice University.
Pessier, R.C. & Fear, M.J. 1992. Quantifying common drilling
problems with mechanical specific energy and a bit-
specific coefficient of sliding friction. In SPE 24584, 67th
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the SPE,
Washington.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundall P.A. 2004. A bonded-particle
model for rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41(8):
1329–1364.
518
Richard, T. 1999. Determination of rock strength from cutting
tests. Master’s Thesis, University of Minnesota.
Simon, R. 1963. Energy balance in rock drilling. SPE
Journal, December, pp. 298–306.
Teale, R. 1964.The concept of specific energy in rock drilling.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Mining Sci. 2: 57–73.
Vajdova, V., Baud, P. & Wong, T.F. 2004. Compaction, dila-
tancy, and failure in porous carbonate rocks. Journal of
Geophysical Research 109.
Van Lingen, N.H. 1961. Bottom scavenging-a major factor
governing penetration rates at depth. Journal of Petroleum
Tech., Feb, pp. 187–196.
Warren, T.M. & Armagost, W.K. 1988. Laboratory drilling
performance of pdc bits. SPE Drilling Engineering, June,
pp. 125–135.
Winters, W.J. & Warren T.M. 1987. Roller cone bit model with
rock ductility and cone offset. SPE 16696, 62nd Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas.
Wong, T.F. & Baud, P. 1999. Mechanical compaction of
porous sandstone. Oil and Gas Science and Technology
54(6): 715–727.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Numerical modeling of rock ridge breakage in rotary cutting

B. Yu
Agapito Associates, Inc., Grand Junction, Colorado, USA

A.W. Khair
West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

ABSTRACT: In this paper, the finite element code, LS-DYNA 3D, was chosen as the simulation tool to study
the rotary rock cutting process. By using an Automated Rotary Rock Cutting Simulator as the prototype, a
numerical model of a continuous miner was developed. The rock grooves cut by the bits in the numerical model
were used to investigate the rock ridge failure mechanism. The numerical study indicated that shear breakage
acted as the dominant mechanism in ridge removal. Drum speed, depth of cut, and multiple bit interaction have
minimal effects on the groove width. For a given bit pattern, Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the rock are
two major parameters affecting the ridge removal.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rotary cutting machines, such as continuous miners

and shears, are widely utilized in underground soft
rock mining (e.g. coal mining and salt mining). These
machines usually use cylinder-shaped cutting drums
on which bits are laced based on certain patterns.
During operation, the rotating drum sumps into the
rock face with bits cutting the rock. Breakage of the
rock ridges between the bits occurs when the bits hit
the rock. Two contradictory theories exist to explain
the mechanism of rock ridge breakage. One of the
fundamental rock cutting theories was proposed by
Evans (Evans et al. 1966), who considered the rock
ridge breakage as tensile rock failure. This theory was
utilized by other researchers to explain the general
failure phenomenon of rocks (Whittaker et al. 1973,
Roxborough 1973). On the other hand, Nishimatsu
(1972) assumed shear strength of the rock is the
dominant parameter governing rock failure.
The intention of this paper is to evaluate the theories
on rock ridge breakage mechanism during rotary rock
cutting based on numerical experiments. The numeri-
cal model used to simulate rotary rock cutting is first
described in Section 2. Some numerical experiments
and results are analyzed in Section 3. Conclusions
drawn from the analysis are listed in the last section.
2 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF ROTARY
ROCK CUTTING
An Automated Rotary Coal Cutting Simulator
(ARCCS), shown in Figure 1, was chosen as the
Figure 1. The automatic rock & coal rotary cutting
simulator.
prototype for the numerical model. This simulator
has been used to conduct rock cutting experiments
for 20 years at West Virginia University, and vast
experimental data can be used directly to calibrate
the numerical model. LS-DYNA 3D was chosen as
the simulation tool because of its ability to simu-
late dynamic processes. Figure 2 shows the cutting
drum of the ARCCS and a piece of rock discretized in
elements. The rock element size was approximately
7.6 mm × 7.6 mm × 7.6 mm. Quiet boundaries were
applied on lateral and back boundaries of the rock in
order to absorb body waves created by the bit impact
approaching the boundaries in both normal and shear
directions. By using this boundary scheme, an infinite
rock medium was simulated before the cutting drum.
In order to further relieve the computational burden,

519
 (2) Whenever penetration of a slave node into a master
element is detected, the slave node is returned to
the surface of the element it has penetrated and the
associated loss of momentum is transferred to the
appropriate nodes of the master element.
Two failure criteria were used for the rock mate-
rial. One was the tensile failure criterion, expressed in
Equation 1, and the other is the shear failure criterion
expressed in Equation 2.

where σ1 = the maximum principal stress, and σt = the

tensile strength of the rock.

where σc = the simple compressive strength of rock,

and σ’ij = the deviatoric stress components.

Figure 2. Cutting drum and rock in elements

Table 1. The mechanical properties of materials.

Internal
E Poisson’s UCS Friction Angle where σij = Cauchy stresses, I1 = sum of the diagonal
(Gpa) Ratio (Mpa) (◦ ) terms of σij , δij = Kronecker Delta, and σkk = sum of
the principal stresses.
Bit block 2,069 0.29 NA NA Figure 3 is the plots of the cutting process captured
Bit body 2,759 0.29 NA NA at different time points during the computation. The
Bit tip 6,317 0.21 NA NA bright points are the nodes belonging to the deleted
Rock 207 0.33 6.9 30 elements. The deleted elements in the rock represent
the excavated material. The cutting grooves in the
computer model and the grooves cut in a lab cutting
rigid material properties were assigned to the bits, bit experiment under similar cutting conditions are pre-
holders, and drum body. The average bit spacing was sented in Figure 4 for comparison. Both the simulation
45.7 mm. The mechanical properties of bit block, bit and the experiments showed that in a rotary cutting
body, bit tip, and rock are listed in Table 1. The detailed action, the shape of the groove cut by an individual
model setup and calibration have been published in bit resembles a crescent. Each bit on the drum starts
other paper (Yu & Khair 2005). the cutting face from zero depth of cut. As the bits
In rotary rock cutting, bit-rock interaction consists penetrate further into the rock face, the depth of cut
of the basic mechanism of rock fragmentation. An increases to a maximum at the vertical centerline of
interaction algorithm with erosion (Belytschko & Lin the path of each cutting bit. the depth of cut decreases
1984) was utilized to simulate the fragmentation pro- to zero when the bit exits the cutting face.
cess by eroding failed rock elements. This algorithm
uses a concept of slave nodes and master elements.
3 NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS AND
One of the two interaction bodies, usually a bit, is
ANALYSIS
defined by the slave nodes; the second body, the rock,
is defined by the master elements. The mechanics of
Before the rotary cutting model was utilized in numer-
the interaction of the two bodies are executed com-
ical studies, it was calibrated by the experiment data
pletely through the interaction of the slave nodes with
(i.e. the rock properties were adjusted so that the aver-
the master elements. The rules of this interaction are
age thrust and cutting force applied by the drum in
summarized as follows:
the numerical model were at the same force magni-
(1) Slave nodes are not permitted to penetrate master tudes applied in the lab test, assuming under the similar
elements. cutting conditions). In the study of rock failure mode

520

Figure 3. Various time stages in the cutting process.
521
Figure 4. Cutting grooves comparison.
during rotary cutting, several numerical tests were con-
ducted for single bit cutting. In the first test, both shear
and tensile failure criteria were used for the rock mate-
rial. In the second test, only tensile failure was allowed
during rock cutting. And in the third test, only shear
failure was applied.
The grooves obtained from these three tests are
highlighted in Figure 5. The result indicated that no
tensile failure occurred during cutting intact rock,
which is apparently opposed to Evan’s theory. In order
to check the erosion algorithm’s ability of simulating
tensile failure, a model of a projectile penetrating a
rock plate was built. This plate was only 6.35 mm in
thickness, so tensile stress must be generated in it due
to the strike of the projectile. Figure 6 shows the half
model of both the projectile and the rock plate. In
this model, only tensile failure mode was allowed for
the rock plate. After the projectile penetrated through
the plate, a large number of tensile failure elements
were found in the rock. Figure 7 shows the penetration
Figure 5. Cutting grooves of bit 1 in three numerical tests (left: both shear and tensile failure criteria were used; middle: only
tensile failure was allowed; right: only shear failure was used).
Figure 6. A projectile penetrates a rock plate.
Figure 7. The projectile penetrated through the rock plate.
results, in which an irregular hole was torn on the
rock plate by the projectile. Through this test, the algo-
rithm’s ability to simulate tensile failure in rock was
verified.
522
Figure 8. Nodal forces in a rock element due to bit
penetration.
The above studies clearly showed that shear fail-
ure causes the rock breakage during rotary cutting
an unbounded homogeneous rock medium. Then, the
next question is how the shear stress affects the rock
ridge removal (i.e. what the mechanism of rock ridge
removal is). Figure 8 illustrates the interaction of a bit
and a rock element, and rock nodal force directions
due to bit impact. All nodal forces are pointing out
Figure 9. E and µ effect on the ridge removal.
and downward from the element. If there are adjacent
elements around this element, then it will squeeze its
adjacent elements when the bit penetrates into this ele-
ment. These lateral forces are the ones that remove the
ridge. Therefore, the larger these forces are, the larger
the area of the ridge will be removed, and the steeper
they are, the deeper the ridge will be removed.
In reality, it was observed that the rock underneath
the bit is first crushed and then recompacted in a very
short time to gain a very high stiffness and sticks to the
bit (Nishimatsu 1972, Evans 1966). The energy release
of this high stiffness element can generate huge lateral
forces. In order to simulate this phenomenon, a very
high stiffness can be assigned to the rock material so
that before a rock element is crushed and deleted from
the model, it can accumulate very high internal energy.
Another approach to increase the lateral forces would
be to increase the Poisson’s ratio of the rock material.
Based on this analysis, it is predicted that increas-
ing the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio together
would greatly increase the removed ridge volume.
To prove this conjecture, a series of numerical tests
were carried out on the cutting model (shown in Fig. 9).
In the first model, two adjacent bits on the drum
were used to cut a rock medium with a Young’s mod-
ulus of the rock of 2 GPa and a Poisson’s ratio of
0.33. In the second model, a larger Young’s modulus,
20 GPa, was used for the rock material. In the third
model, the Young’s modulus of the rock material was
20 GPa and its Poisson’s ratio was increased to 0.49.
As shown in Figure 9, the ridge between the grooves
was greatly reduced after the two parameters were both
increased.
In order to further study the effects of the Young’s
modulus and the Poisson’s ratio on the cutting result,
a numerical model, shown in Figure 10, was built so
that the drum could be fed into the rock 38.1 mm and
523
then cut down 241.3 mm. In this model, the Young’s
modulus of the rock was 20 GPa and its Poisson’s ratio
was 0.49. During rock cutting simulation, only the bit
tips were allowed to cut the rock. Figure 10 shows
the cutting model and the cutting result. It clearly
shows that all the ridges were removed and a clear
face was left.
Other numerical tests were run to analyze the effects
of multiple bit interaction, cutting depth, drum speed,
and rock compressive strength on the ridge removal.
Shown in Figure 11, the grooves were identical in
single bit cutting and two adjacent bit tip cutting.
Two adjacent bit tip cutting, shown in Figure 12, was
studied as the cutting depth from 0 to 38.1 mm.
It was noted that the groove width remained
unchanged after cutting depth reached 25.4 mm, which
implied that if the bit body were not allowed to impact
the rock, the groove would not become wider as the
bit tip cut deeper into the rock. The drum advance
rate can not change the width of the groove either.
Shown in Figure 13, as the drum advance rate increased
from 5 m/s to 10 m/s, the groove width did not become
wider.
The rock compressive strength has only a minor
effect on ridge removal, since when the compressive
strength of the rock underneath the bit is increased in
order to accumulate more energy, whole rock strength
is increased and the rock around the bit becomes more
difficult to cut. Shown in Figure 14, the grooves of two
bit tip cutting became a little bit wider as the rock com-
pressive strength increased from 3.4 MPa to 10.3 MPa.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Both Evan’s and Nishimatsu’s theories of rock break-
age during rock cutting were based on experimental
results. Because of the inhomogeneity of the rock
Figure 10. Sumping and cutting action in high E and µ value rock cutting.
Figure 11. Two bit interaction test.
material and the difficulties encountered with spec-
imen preparation, experiments of the same kind rock
may yield widely scattered results and totally differ-
ent theoretical explanations. In this numerical study,
the rock breakage theory was examined on homoge-
neous rock materials. It was found that for an intact
homogeneous rock:
• Shear breakage acts the dominant mechanism in
rotary rock cutting.
524
• Young’s modulus and Poisson ratio are two impor-
tant parameters which affect the ridge removal. For
designing a drum to cut brittle materials, the bit
spacing can be larger.And if the Poisson’s ratio of the
rock is large, the bit spacing can be widened further.
Drum speed, depth of cut, and multiple bit inter-
action do not affect the groove width during cutting.
Rock compressive strength only has limited influence
on groove width.
Figure 12. Cutting depth effect on the ridge removal.

Figure 13. Drum advance rate effect on the ridge removal.

Figure 14. The rock compressive strength effect on ridge removal.

525
REFERENCES
Belytschko, T. & Lin, J.I. 1987. A three dimensional impact
penetration algorithm with erosion. Computers and Struc-
tures 25(1): 95–104.
Evans, I. & Pomeroy, C.D. 1966. Strength, Fracture, and
Workability of Coal. New York: Pergamon, 277 pp.
Nishimatsu, Y. 1972. The mechanics of rock cutting. Inter-
national Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
9: 261–270.
526
Roxborough, F.F. 1973. Cutting rocks with picks. Mining
Engineer 132(153): 445–454.
Whittaker, B.N. & Szwilski, A.B. 1973. Rock cutting by
impact action. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech.Abstr.
9: 659–671.
Yu, B. & Khair, A.W. 2005. Computer Generated Evalua-
tion of Cutting Drum for Continuous Miner. In Proc. 4th
International Conference Mining Techniques, Krakow.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Fracture pattern of anisotropic rock by drilling or cutting using the PFC

N. Schormair & K. Thuro

Engineering Geology, Technische Universität München, Germany

ABSTRACT: Anisotropy plays a key role in fracture propagation models and rock fragmentation processes by
rock drilling and cutting. Drilling tests with a percussive rock drill have been performed to examine the influence
of anisotropy and inhomogeneity on fracture propagation in different rock types. Subsequently, thin sections of
the bottom of the borehole were analyzed to get the associated crack patterns. Based on that, the attempt was
made to simulate the drilling process in a specific rock material with the Particle Flow Code (PFC). Since the
code is based on the discontinous mechanical approch, a rock sample is converted into an assembly of spheres,
where the particles are able to interact with each other and fractures are able to propagate. Different rock cutting
tools were applied such as button bits or disc cutters to penetrate different rock samples. The aim of the numerical
simulation of the drilling and cutting processes was to examine the crack patterns in correlation with foliation.
In this paper the first results of the PFC modeling are presented.

1 INTRODUCTION

Geological parameters such as foliation, acting as

weakness planes in the rock, may have a high impact
on the fragmentation process underneath rock cutting
tools. Extensive field and laboratory studies have been
performed to examine drilling or cutting progress in
correlation with the orientation of foliation and other
rock properties (Thuro 1997, 2002, 2003, Thuro &
Spaun 1996, Thuro et al. 2002). It has been found, that
the drilling velocity as well as the disc cutter penetra-
tion is best orthogonal to foliation or schistosity and
poor parallel to it. Between those angles, the drilling
or cutting rates decrease significantly. After these field
studies it seemed promising to investigate the obtained
microscopic fracture patterns underneath rock cutting
tools in different rock types and to perform a numerical Figure 1. Formatted and drilled granite rock sample.
simulation of it. Using the Particle Flow Code “PFC”,
which is based on discontinuous mechanical proper-
ties, virtual rock samples were modeled and virtual foliated (anisotropic) and isotropic rock samples (size
drilling and cutting tests were performed. approx. 0,4 m × 0,4 m × 0,3 m) were selected. Using
an Atlas Copco COP 1838 25 kW rock drill under
on-site-conditions, about 10 cm deep boreholes were
drilled into the samples. To examine the influence
2 ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY DRILLING of the anisotropy according to the drilling process,
the boreholes were drilled under different angles to
To investigate the rock fragmentation process in detail, foliation.
on-site drilling tests have been performed with a com- After the drilling process, the samples were filled
mon percussive rock drill using different rock types with a two-component epoxy resin containing a yel-
(Schormair 2003). Special attention was given to the low fluorescent colour (0,2% of the quantity of resin)
crack formation at the bottom of the borehole. The aim under vacuum conditions. A very low viscosity guar-
of the study was to detect and analyze the cracks, which anteed good filling also of small fissures. The colour
were produced by the drilling process. In the first step, in the resin was used to visualize the cracks under the

527
Figure 2. Thin section of the mylonitic granite sample.
Drilling direction slanting to foliation, cracks propagate
parallel to foliation marked black.
microscope. A series of subsequent thin sections were
produced, especially to get the interesting parts of the
bottom of the borehole. The main task was to detect
the crack patterns. Details about the findings are given
in Schormair et al. (2006). To get an impression of the
crack patterns, a mylonitic granite slanting to foliation
is shown in Figure 2.
With subsequent thin sections, the microscopic
crack patterns of different rock types were investi-
gated. A correlation of the crack patterns between the
spacing of the foliation and the grain size could be
detected in all of the thin sections. In the very tight
foliated, fine-grained mylonitic granite, the cracks
run along the mica layers as zones of weakness
(Fig. 2). Rarely found are cracks across mineral com-
ponents (since they are no zones of weakness). At
the bottom of the borehole a roof-shaped or stair-like
structure of the crack patterns could be detected. The
opening of the mica layers seems to be caused by the
percussive process and the shearing process of the bit
created the breakout of the fragments. An angle of
about 15 degrees seems to be useful to break out the
fragments. After the crack patterns of different rock
samples were investigated normal, parallel and slant-
ing to foliation according to macroscopic and micro-
scopic crack patterns, schematic drawings were made
to illustrate the results of the investigations (Fig. 3).
Knowing that drilling performance is best normal to
foliation and worst parallel, the observed macroscopic
crack patterns support the following statements:
• When the direction of drilling is normal to the ori-
entation of foliation, rock material is compressed
normal but sheared parallel to it. Although cracks
will develop radial to compression, the cracks par-
allel to the bottom of the borehole will be used for
chipping. Usually in this case the highest drilling
velocities are obtained because of the favourable
schist orientation. Drilling is controlled by the
shear strength of the foliated rock material. This
528
Figure 3. Schematic drawing of crack patterns slanting to
foliation. Macroscopic and microscopic cracks marked.
causes large sized chips and a maximum drilling
performance.
• If the drilling axis is oriented parallel to foliation,
compression also is parallel but shear stress is nor-
mal to foliation. Less and smaller cracks (1 mm
observed) develop for reasons of higher strength
normal to the weakness planes. Drilling is controlled
by the tensile strength parallel to the foliation pro-
ducing small sized fragments and minimum drilling
performance.
• Generally, drilling is controlled by the dip angle of
foliation, submitting medium sized fragments dur-
ing the crushing process. Drilling performance is,
by geometrical reasons, mainly a cosine function
of the dip angle. Anyway, it is for sure, that in the
parallel case, rock properties are the highest and
drilling rates are low. In addition blasting conditions
are often related with drilling. So if the tunnel axis
is parallel to the main foliation, drilling and blasting
conditions suppose to be very poor.
In the thin sections, there seems to be a relation-
ship between the crack pattern and the direction and
condition of the foliation. Fractures in widely foliated
rock types sometimes propagate along the mica layers,
but it is not compelling. The cracks develop parallel to
the surface and use foliation only if the foliation runs
along a surface-parallel crack. Mainly they propagate
across mineral components and the crack pattern looks
like the one in isotropic rock. In the mylonitic granite
samples it can be clearly seen, that the spacing and the
condition of the foliation is important. It can be imag-
ined, that the better the condition of the foliation (clear
mica layers) and the closer the foliation is, the more the
cracks are running along the mica layers. This means,
that mica layers as zones of weakness were used to
develop fractures almost exclusively.
This reflects, as already suggested by Thuro &
Spaun (1996) and Thuro & Plinninger (2003), that the
dip angle of anisotropy plays a key role in rock frag-
mentation. But up to now, no precise statement can be
made about the role of the foliation. To obtain a deeper
understanding of the crack propagation in anisotropic
rock, a simulation of the drilling process has been
conducted using the numerical code PFC (© Itasca).

3 ROCK FRAGMENTATION IN VIRTUALITY

Since the drilling investigations and subsequent thin

section analyses only provided crack patterns, the
attempt was made to simulate the drilling process and
the rock material with a numerical code. The Particle
Flow Code (PFC © Itasca) seemed to have all neces-
sary features to perform this simulation, allowing to
design tools with different shapes as well as the rock
material with its anisotropy and inhomogeneity.
The code is based on a discontinuous mechan-
ical approach, this means a sample can be com-
posed of particles and the particles interact with each
other. In PFC, movements and interactions of loaded
element assembleys are shown with two- or three-
dimensional “balls” (although still in 2D). Through the
randomized connection, arrangement and interaction
of these elements, different physical systems can be
simulated.
3.1 Procedure
A common problem with PFC is, that the mate-
rial parameters in PFC don’t correlate with the rock
properties in continuous mechanical models. When
designing the rock material, micromechanical param-
eters have to be defined such as bond strength. For
calibration purposes, a virtual laboratory test, such
as the unconfined compressive test, has to be per-
formed to get the unconfined compressive strength
and other properties as macroscopic values. By vary-
ing the micromechanical parameters, reasonable rock
properties can be gained.
Using the PFC, it is possible to simulate micro-
and macromechanical processes simultaneously. For
example, on a loaded block simultaneously the
micromechanical process of destruction and the
macromechanical process of movements and cracks
can be simulated. Therefore in the first step, vir-
tual rock samples had to be designed and tested in
Figure 4. Stress-strain-curve of a virtual anisotropic mate-
rial (see Fig. 5) under biaxial loading (UCS = 63 MPa).
a biaxial load test to examine rock properties like the
unconfined compressive strength.
3.2 Virtual drilling tests
The graph in Figure 4 shows that the stress-strain-curve
of the virtual biaxial load test corresponds with the
diagram of the “real” unconfined compressive test.
Also the samples in Figure 5 show typical sandglass
failure structures like in a laboratory test.
In the virtual sample, the number of micro cracks
can be counted and it is possible to determine, if
the cracks are developing from shear forces or nor-
mal forces. In Figure 5 for example 13761 micro
cracks have been generated. The black coloured cracks
develop from shear stress, the white coloured cracks
from normal stress. Most of the black coloured
cracks propagate through the simulated mica layers.
After the rock materials were designed and the
unconfined compressive strength gained, it was possi-
ble to simulate drilling tests. For the rotary percussive
drilling tests different bits and buttons had to be
designed as well, e.g. conical, ballistic and spheri-
cal buttons (Fig. 6). The hard metal buttons of the
drilling bits used in underground construction are
made of tungsten carbide and are crucial for the drilling
performance.
To simulate the percussive component, a vertical
movement had to be implemented, to simulate the rota-
tional component, a horizontal movement had to be
implemented accordingly. In this way, it was possi-
ble to examine developing crack patterns in different
virtual rock samples.

529

Figure 5. Virtual anisotropic rock sample tested under
uniaxial loading at failure with typical sandglass failure
structures.
Figure 6. Hard metal bits for drilling tests. From the left:
conical, ballistic and spherical bit shapes.
Four types of virtual anisotropic rock samples were
created varying the spacing of foliation, the width of
the zones of weakness and the bond strength. The ori-
entation of foliation and its influence was tested from
0◦ to 90◦ in steps of 10◦ .
The rock sample in Figure 7 (sample 1) shows
typical orientation of the forces induced by the bit pen-
etration. The forces enter the sample at the right side
of the bit shape, because the movement of the bits is
to the right. In the area of the bit in the middle, the
shearing of the dark coloured zone of weakness can be
seen.
The crack pattern shown in Figure 8 corresponds to
the rock sample shown in Figure 7 at the same moment
of the test. Most of the cracks in the zones of weak-
ness are caused by shear failure, only a few cracks
are caused by normal failure. In the area of high bond
530
Figure 7. Anisotropic rock sample after the drilling test. The
forces from the bits are traced in black. Dark balls are zones
of weakness (foliation).
Figure 8. Fracture pattern after the drilling test according to
Figure 7. Cracks caused by shear failure are marked in black;
cracks caused by normal failure are marked white.
Figure 9. Anisotropic rock sample after the drilling test. The
forces from the bits are marked in black. Dark balls are zones
of weakness (foliation).
strength, only cracks caused by normal failure occur.
Looking at the distribution of the cracks around the
bits, a roof-shaped or stair-like structure of the crack
patterns can be detected, which is traced by the line in
Figure 8.
The biaxial compressive strength of this rock sam-
ple is 48,1 MPa. In the entire sample 423 cracks were
created by the indentation of the bits.
All different rock samples were tested accordingly.
Different crack patterns could be seen, depending on
the parameters of foliation like spacing, width and ori-
entation angle. To get a comparison between different
crack patterns, a very tight foliated rock sample under
the same testing parameters and direction of foliation
is shown in Figure 9. In this rock sample, a very tightly
foliated assembly is displayed. The shape of the forces
indented by the bits (moving to the right) look similar
to those of the rock sample in Figure 7.
The crack pattern in Figure 9 (and 10) differs signif-
icantly from the one shown in Figure 7 (and 8). Most
Figure 10. Fracture pattern after the drilling test according
to Figure 8. Cracks caused by shear failure marked in black,
cracks caused by normal failure marked white.
Figure 11. Number of cracks after the drilling test plotted
against the dip angle of foliation. Sample 1 related to Figure 7
and 8, sample 2 related to Figure 9 and 10.
of the cracks are caused by shear failure; fewer cracks
are caused by normal failure. Looking at the distri-
bution of the cracks around the bits, a roof-shaped or
stair-like structure of the crack patterns can be stated,
which is marked by the line in Figure 10. The biaxial
compressive strength of this rock sample is 37,4 MPa.
In the entire sample 807 cracks were created by the
indentation of the bits.
In this very tightly foliated rock sample, the num-
ber of cracks produced by the bit indentation is nearly
twice as high as in the rock sample shown in the Fig-
ures 7 and 8. This implies that in a tightly foliated rock,
bonded with the same forces as a rock sample with a
wider spacing of the foliation, the crack formation and
therefore the fragmentation in the “mineral bonds” are
much better.
To show the impact of anisotropy on the drilling
tests, different degrees of foliation were tested and the
total number of cracks was counted for each orienta-
tion angle. In the tightly foliated rock sample 2 the
number of produced cracks is twice as high as in rock
sample 1. Furthermore the three different bit shapes of
Figure 6 were tested in the same rock sample to ana-
lyze the influence of the bit geometry. In rock sample
1, the ballistic bit shape created the highest number of
cracks (Fig. 12).
531
Figure 12. Number of cracks after the drilling test plot-
ted against the dip angle of foliation using three types of
bit shapes.
Figure 13. Disc cutters used for the indentation tests. From
left: new disc, symmetric wear and asymmetric wear.
3.3 Virtual cutting tests
Another type of rock fragmentation in tunnelling is
cutting performed by a tunnel boring machine (TBM).
Therefore disc cutters were simulated as wedge inden-
ters with a defined vertical load (penetration) into the
rock samples. The cutting test endures 1000 steps in
the code and every 250 steps, the penetrating forces by
the disc cutters and the resulting crack patterns were
analyzed.
Furthermore, symmetrical and asymmetrical wear
of a disc cutter were simulated to analyze the influ-
ence of tool wear during to crack formation. In the
tests, two discs with a distinct distance from each other
according to reality were modeled to investigate the
interference of the forces. When these forces are high
enough, chipping will occur.
During the penetration process, the development of
the forces by increasing indentation of the cutter can be
observed. In Figure 14 the development of the forces
is shown every 250 steps until the end of the test (1000
steps). The overlap of the forces increases with increas-
ing penetration. In Figure 14, picture 3 (750 steps) and
4 (1000 steps) the overlapping forces form a large chip
that can be released between the two disc cutters. In
direct contact to the cutter, the bonds between the par-
ticles are completely broken. This corresponds with
the zone of crushed and powdered rock underneath a
real disc cutter. With increasing forces, the number of
cracks in the assembly rises too. The number of cracks
Figure 14. Development of forces by indenting disc cutters.
Dark balls are zones of weakness (foliation). From the top: Figure 15. Development of cracks by indenting disc cutters
250, 500, 750, 1000 calculated time steps. (250, 500, 750, 1000 steps). Cracks caused by normal failure
marked white, cracks caused by shear failure marked in black.

and the crack patterns is dependent on the generated

rock type. In Figure 15 the development of the crack
patterns of the rock sample corresponding to Figure 14
and for the same time steps in the cutting test can be
seen.
In the zones of weakness most of the cracks are
caused by shear failure; only a few cracks are created
by normal failure. In the zones of high strength cracks
produced by normal failure are abundant. Directly
under the disc cutters, where the highest forces are Figure 16. Development of forces by indenting cutters after
applied, cracks are induced mainly in the zones of the cutting test. Dark balls are zones of weakness (foliation).
weakness. The cracks form a radial corona around the
discs as it can be observed at the tunnel face. The ori- sample 1605 cracks were created by the indentation
entation of the cracks seems to be independent from of the disc cutters.
the foliation. To get the influence of anisotropy on the indenting
Most of the cracks are oriented slanting or normal forces and the resulting crack patterns, rock types with
to foliation. The density of the crack pattern decreases different spacing of foliation (zones of weakness) were
with depth, respectively distance from the disc cutter tested in the same way.
wedges. The distribution of the forces induced by the disc
The biaxial compressive strength of this rock sam- cutters in Figure 16 after the cutting test look similar
ple was determined with 48,1 MPa. In the entire to the distribution in Figure 14. But in this tightly

532
Figure 17. Development of cracks by indenting cutters after
the cutting test. Cracks caused by normal failure marked in
white, cracks caused by shear failure marked in black.

foliated rock sample, the forces propagate much

deeper into the rock. The overlap of the forces is not
as clear as in the rock sample shown in Figure 14. It Figure 18. Number of cracks after the cutting test plot-
seems, that this phenomena is mainly caused by the ted against the dip angle of foliation. Sample 1 related to
tight foliation of the rock. Figures 14 and 15, sample 2 related to Figures 16 and 17.
The crack pattern in Figure 17 differs significantly
from the crack pattern shown in Figure 15. The prop-
agation of the cracks is connected with the forces
shown in figure 16. Zones of weakness and zones
of high strength can’t be distinguished like it is pos-
sible in Figure 15. Furthermore most of the cracks
occur directly under the cutting edge and crack den-
sity decreases with increasing distance from the disc
cutters. The biaxial compressive strength of this rock Figure 19. Development of forces by indenting disc cutters
sample is 37,4 MPa. In the entire sample 3801 cracks with symmetric wear after the cutting test. Dark balls are
were created by the indentation of the disc cutters. zones of weakness (foliation).
Here, the number of cracks in the rock sample is
much higher than in the rock sample shown in Fig-
ure 15. This phenomenon was already observed in the
drilling tests within the same rock samples. Also, there
is an analogy in the decreasing density of the crack pat-
tern with increasing depth respectively distance from
the cutting edge.
To show the impact of anisotropy on the cutting
tests, different degrees of foliation were tested and the
total number of cracks was counted for each orienta- Figure 20. Development of cracks by indenting disc cutters
tion. In the tightly foliated rock sample 2 the number with symmetric wear at the end of the cutting test. Cracks
of produced cracks is about twice as high as in rock caused by normal failure marked in white, cracks caused by
sample 1 (Fig. 18). shear failure marked in black.
In TBM tunneling the wear of the disc cutters play
a key role in the economics of a project. The two main cracks developed between the cutter traces. Similar to
wear types are the “symmetric wear” under general the crack pattern of a new disc cutter, the orientation of
conditions and the “asymmetric wear” of the outer disc foliation doesn’t play a significant role and is not rep-
cutters. In Figure 19 symmetric worn disc cutters are resented in the distribution of the cracks. In the entire
cutting the rock sample 2. sample 2316 cracks were created by the indentation of
The forces propagating into the rock sample are dis- the disc cutters.
tributed in a very remote area around the discs only. During penetration with asymmetric worn disc
The overlap of the forces between the disc traces is cutters, two areas of the induced forces can be dis-
minor and the breaking of bonds around the disc cutters tinguished (Fig. 21). The main area is located near the
is limited. long side of the cutter; here the forces penetrate much
The crack pattern traces the obtained force distri- deeper into the rock. The smaller area underneath the
bution (Fig. 20). In contrast to a new disc, cracks are short edge leads to a low range of the induced forces.
concentrated in a limited area around the cutters. The All in all, the forces propagate a little bit deeper into
range of the cracks produced is only about half com- the rock sample than in the case with asymmetric worn
pared to the one of a new disc. Also there are only few disc cutters.

533

Figure 21. Development of forces by indenting disc cutters
with asymmetric wear at the end of the cutting test. Dark balls
are zones of weakness (foliation).
Figure 22. Development of cracks by indenting disc cutters
with asymmetric wear at the end of the cutting test. Cracks
caused by normal failure marked in white, cracks caused by
shear failure marked in black.
Figure 23. Number of cracks according to the dip angle of
foliation and disc shape after a full cutting test.
Again, the crack pattern traces the obtained force
distribution (Fig. 22). At the long side of the cutter
more cracks are visible than along the short side. Also
there are only few cracks developed between the cut-
ter traces. Similar to the crack pattern of a new disc
cutter, the dip angle of foliation is not represented in
the crack distribution under the asymmetrically worn
cutter since cracks are more or less oriented slanting or
normal to foliation. In the entire sample 2316 cracks
were created by the indentation of the disc cutters.
534
It is amazing, that the wear status of the disk cut-
ter is crucial to crack formation and fragmentation
of the rock material (Fig. 23). Nearly twice as much
cracks are formed with a new and “sharp” disc cutter in
contrast to a cutter with symmetrical or asymmetrical
wear. Unlike this, the difference between symmetrical
or asymmetrical wear is negligible.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The crack patterns in correlation with foliation could
be examined successfully. It could be demonstrated,
that fracture propagation is mainly influenced by the
spacing of foliation an therefore the presence of zones
of weakness. No clear correlation with the orientation
could be determined in the microcracks. This may be
due to the forming of large cracks that can’t be created
by the numerical model anyhow, large (macroscopic)
fragments could be estimated by surrounding forces
and the breakage of bonds e.g. between disc cutter
traces. Notably the different bit shapes and disc wear
types had a significant impact on the crack pattern and
the depth of the induced forces.
REFERENCES
Schormair, N. 2003. Rock fragmentation during rotary per-
cussive drilling. Diploma Thesis, Technische Universität
München (in German).
Schormair, N., Thuro, K. & Plinninger, R.J. 2006. The influ-
ence of anisotropy on hard rock drilling and cutting.
In Culshaw et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 10th IAEG
International Congress, Nottingham, UK. Rotterdam:
Balkema, Paper No. 491.
Thuro, K. 1997. Drillability prediction – geological influ-
ences in hard rock drill and blast tunnelling. Geol.
Rundsch. 86: 426–437.
Thuro, K. 2002. Geologisch-felsmechanische Grundlagen
der Gebirgslösung im Tunnelbau. Geological and rock
mechanical fundamentals of excavatability in tunnelling.
Münchner Geologische Hefte, B18, Technische Univer-
sität München.
Thuro, K. & Plinninger, R.J. 2003. Hard rock tunnel boring,
cutting, drilling and blasting: rock parameters for exca-
vatability. In Proc., 10th ISRM Congr. on Rock Mech.,
Johannesburg, pp. 1227–1234.
Thuro, K., Plinninger, R.J. & Spaun, G. 2002. Drilling, blast-
ing and cutting – is it possible to quantify geological
parameters of excavation? In van Roy & Jermy (eds.), Pro-
ceedings of the 9th IAEG International Congress, Durban,
South Africa. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 2853–2861.
Thuro, K. & Spaun, G. 1996. Drillability in hard rock drill
and blast tunnelling. Felsbau 14: 103–109.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A hydraulic fracture model with filtration for biosolids injection

G.W. Xia
Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

M.B. Dusseault
Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

E. Marika
Terralog Technologies Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: A semi-analytical hydraulic fracture model for injection of a compressible substance (biosolids)
is developed. The approach is a modification of the Perkins-Kern-Nordgren (PKN) hydraulic fracture model
modified with a pseudo-dynamic leak-off function that describes the deposition (filtration) and plugging effect
of biosolids on the fracture wall in a porous medium. The pseudo-dynamic leak-off function is given in terms of
the net pressure and the resistance of the filter cake to flow. In contrast to the conventional PKN leak-off model,
the simulation results show that the induced fracture volume is much larger because of the impaired leak-off and
because of the volumetric effects and consolidation of the biosolids in the fracture. Solids contents and biosolids
compaction behavior have significant impacts on the geometry of fracture (width, length, volume). The model
was developed to help guide large-scale injection of municipal and animal biosolids as an environmentally more
secure method of treatment than surface approaches.

1 INTRODUCTION We believe that deep injection could eliminate much

Since about 1988, non-hazardous solid waste mate-
rials such as drill cuttings, drilling mud, produced
sand, saltwater, emulsions and precipitates have been
successfully re-injected into the deep subsurface
using oilfield hydraulic fracturing technology (Veil &
Dusseault 2003, Bruno et al. 1995, Dusseault et al.
1994, Dusseault 1995).
With success in oilfield applications, deep
underground injection is proposed as an alternative
technology for treatment of degradable biosolids, par-
ticularly sludges from animal husbandry and wastew-
ater treatment. Slurry consisting of 5–20% by volume
of biosolids and other fine-grained solid wastes can
be injected down-hole above the formation hydraulic
fracture pressure into appropriate sandstone forma-
tions. This is in contrast to other deep, clear-liquid
injection processes, which are operated below the
fracture pressure.
Injection invariably attracts concern about possible
negative impacts; however, experience with millions
of tonnes of non-hazardous oil field wastes in many
geological environments above the fracture pressure
give confidence that it can be used safely for biosolids
disposal (Tsang & John 2005, Reed et al. 2001).
public concern about environmental pollution and
health impacts from biosolids.
A critical factor for deep slurry injection is avail-
ability of a suitable geological site that has sufficiently
thick, highly permeable and porous sedimentary strata.
Target strata must be able to episodically (e.g. daily
for ∼8 hr) accept large volumes of slurried biosolids
(e.g. 1000 m3 ) yet readily dissipate induced pressures.
Groundwater must be protected by an appropriate
lithostratigraphic disposition, and ideally a suitable
gas-trapping geometry for eventual methane recovery
should be present.
During biosolids injection, massive hydraulic frac-
tures are generated, and the dynamic dissipation of
part of the aqueous phase of the fracturing slurry, a
process described as “leak-off” in hydraulic fracture
literature, is a vital aspect of active fracture behavior.
Because leak-off rate controls fracture volume, it also
affects fracture geometry (width, length, shape). Pre-
dictions of leak-off rate are also used for interpretation
of net bottom-hole pressure (pfrac – σ3 ) effects during
active fracturing.
Carter (1957) developed the first solution for fluid
leak-off assessment under the assumption of con-
stant fracture width and pfrac . He postulated a leak-off

535
coefficient
√ inversely proportional to the square root of
time ( t), and, subject to various modifications, this
approach remains widely used.
Many experimental studies of leak-off behavior
have been conducted (McDaniel 1985, Gulbis 1982,
1983, Roodhart 1985, Mayerhofer et al. 1991a).
Mathematical models (e.g. Settari 1985, 1988) have
been developed to simulate this important process in
hydraulic fracturing treatment.
Mayerhofer et al. (1991b) studied filter cake prop-
erties and their relation to leak-off rate. The concept
of filter cake resistance was introduced, and viscoelas-
ticity was applied to describe the incompressible filter
cake behavior in his study.
In the Frac&Pack treatment process, as well as
other proppant injection methods, a granular prop-
ping agent is carried by the fluid into the fracture.
Yi & Penden (1993) focus on a Frac&Pack model √ in
which the leak-off volume is not a function of t, as in
Carter’s theory. A leak-off model proposed by Fan &
Economides (1995) describes non-Newtonian fluid
invasion into the porous medium in high-permeability
reservoirs. These processes share physical similari-
ties with biosolids injection, and yet are different
because they do not generate a thick, compressible,
low-permeability filter cake during active pumping at
constant solids content.
Physically, a biosolids filter cake builds up on the
fracture walls during injection because of leak-off.
This filter cake decreases fracture wall permeability
and increases resistance to fluid flow. More of the
injected fluid must travel down the fracture, so the
pressure distribution changes, the fracture geometry
is altered, a larger aperture appears near the injection
point, and these lead to a different fracture length for
a given injection rate. As the cake builds, i.e., the frac-
ture wall cake thickness increases, massive changes
of leak-off rate will occur, and conventional leak-off
models can then no longer describe solids filtration
along with the fracturing process.
The mechanics of simultaneous solids filtration,
fracture propagation, and biosolids compaction dur-
ing biosolids injection are discussed in this paper.
To mathematically describe the deposition (filtration)
and plugging effect of biosolids, a modified Perkins-
Kern-Nordgren (PKN) leak-off model with a dynamic
leak-off coefficient is first developed.
2 BIOSOLIDS INJECTION MECHANISMS
Slurry injection is achievable only by fracturing, so the
fracture pressure, pfrac , must be larger than the mini-
mum stress σ3 (assumed to be horizontal and constant).
However, formation pore pressure po is far less than
σ3 , hence pfrac – po is the p value which is driv-
ing aqueous phase leak-off to surrounding rocks. This
p is often as high as 14–18 kPa per metre of depth
536
to the fracture point and drives a high-gradient filtra-
tion process simultaneously with the fracture growth
process.
The distinct properties of biosolids, its high com-
pressibility and tendency to plug the fracture wall
porosity, mean that a biosolids cake builds up quickly
on the formation; the fracture wall permeability is
then massively altered, and continues to drop as the
filter cake consolidates. Hence, fracture wall per-
meability changes during slurry injection and cake
deposition affects fracture geometry. When fracturing
ceases, excess pressures gradually dissipate so that the
biosolids filter cake is irreversibly compressed by an
effective stress of at least σ3 – po , a value that is on
the order of 11–14 kPa per meter depth to the fracture
point. Once consolidation is complete, the biosolids
filter cake has become an integral part of the solid
strata. Below, the filtration process is treated in part as
a leak-off effect and in part as a volume effect in the
PKN fracture model.
3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
3.1 Formation of filter cake on fracture face
Different biosolids streams have different properties
depending on provenance, non-organic mineral con-
tent, lipids content, and so on, but all biosolids are
highly compressible and will form low-permeability
filter cakes when filtered and compressed.
During injection, solids can penetrate only a short
distance into the formation before bridging in pore
throats, thus eliminating further solids flux into the
permeable rock. As the aqueous phase continues to
filter into the surrounding rock under high p, a satu-
rated biosolids mass is deposited on the fracture walls,
further blocking permeability. Injection is at a constant
rate, so to carry fluid farther into the fracture the total
width (open aperture + cake thickness) must grow to
transmit slurry down the fracture to encounter “new”
unfiltered fracture walls. As the length grows, so does
the width, and slow cake deposition onto the fracture
walls may continue.
Although hydraulic fracturing is usually simulated
√
with a constant leak-off coefficient (q = f ( t)), this
turns out to be insufficient to simulate biosolids depo-
sition where the effective capacity of the fracture wall
to transmit water may be reduced by many orders of
magnitude in a relatively short time.
3.2 Impacts of dynamic leak-off or filtration
on hydraulic fracture propagation
Because leak-off rate has a large effect on fracture
geometry during fracture extension and growth, any
dynamic change in the leak-off rate is an important
factor for biosolids injection processes.
 The biosolids filter cake is subjected to a high effec-
tive stress on the formation face because of the seepage
force. Assuming the water flux does not affect po
within the permeable formation, the effective stress
is σ  = p = pfrac – po at the formation-cake contact,
but at the inside part of the cake (fracture-cake) it
approaches zero. Thus, biosolids are hydrodynami-
cally compacted under high effective stresses, and
flow resistance across the cake increases so that less-
and-less water will flow into the formation, reducing
the cake deposition rate. Injection continues, so the
fracture propagates and new fracture face is created
through extension. Leak-off rates through “old” faces
will be less than through “new” faces because of low
filter cake permeability.
A leak-off coefficient that decreases with time or Figure 1. Volumetric balance for an induced fracture.
injection volume is introduced as a descriptor for the
deposition and plugging effects of biosolids. Based
on filtration theory, dissipation of p across the filter
cake results in a high effective consolidation stress,
which compacts the biosolids and further reduces per-
meability. As the fracture grows in length it becomes
wider, and the deposition of fresh biosolids on to the
old filter cake also increases the cake thickness, and
partially contributes to the increased flow resistance.
Hence, a filter cake with changing thickness, exposed Figure 2. Sketch of hydraulic fracture with biosolids filter
to different pressures over time, leads to different cake.
leak-off behavior. This study will show the impact
The boundary conditions used to solve this equation
of a dynamic leak-off rate on fracture geometry and
are written as:
net pressure at the wellbore, using a widely accepted
fracture model.

4 FRACTURE MODEL AND ANALYSIS

To make the problem tractable, a Perkins-Kern-
Nordgren (PKN) leak-off model is selected to describe
biosolids injection. A dynamic leak-off coefficient,
decreasing with time (or injection volume), is intro-
duced to represent the deposition (filtration) and
plugging effect of biosolids, which in turn affects the
fracture geometry. The major assumptions of PKN-
type fracture are still applied, and other assumptions
of the model include:
• Non-deformable biosolids particles
• One-dimensional planar filtration
• Darcy flow, single-phase liquid
Continuity and mass balance are used to describe
the relation of injected fluid volume to fracture volume
(Fig. 1). A first-order differential equation to describe
the elementary fracture volume can be given as:
Here, Ac is cross-sectional area, h is height, Sp is
spurt loss, t is time and Cl is a leak-off coefficient.
In Eqns. 2 and 3, µf = dl/dt, defined as the growth-rate
of fracture length with time and Q(t) is the injection
rate at time t.
Once a fracture exists, further fracture propagation
would be described by the following equation:
where A is the fracture face area, τis the leak-off start-
ing time. The same leak-off evolution for each fracture
face element is assumed, thus the process is simulated
to be self-similar as the fracture propagates outward
(Fig. 2).
As shown in Figure 2, the fracture is created at a
constant injection rate and is discretized into a set of
segments with an infinitesimal constant time interval.
The subscript (n) denotes the time step number. For
each step, each fracture element is assigned a fluid
flow resistance that decreases from the wellbore to the
fracture tip. Since a fracture is assumed to exist, initial
conditions for Eqn. 4 may be written as:

537
 Because an open system without geometrical prop-
agation limits is assumed, only the volume quantity
controls fracture propagation.
A dynamic leak-off coefficient is introduced into
the fracture model. The pseudo leak-off coefficient
first developed by Mayerhofer (1991b) is written as:
where tc is the characteristic time and R0 is the filter
cake resistance achieved at time tc .
R0 combines formation permeability and fluid
properties, and a version for solids filtration of highly
compactable biosolids is developed using Darcy’s law
for flow across a compactable, porous cake describing
one-dimensional planar filtration. The resistance of a
biosolids filter cake relative to flow rate and pressure
drop is written as:
where ω is the volume of solids per unit filter area
over the entire thickness of filter cake, and αav is the
averaged specific resistance. Empirical relations for
solidity (εs ), specific flow resistance (α) and perme-
ability (k) as functions of effective stress (p or solid
pressure Ps ) are used in the model. These relations are
of the form (Cleveland et al. 1996):
where the subscript o refers to the null stress value
of εs , k, and α, with β, n, and δ defined as empirical
compactibility parameters determined experimentally
(e.g. Tiller et al., 1999). The resistance of the filter
cake is now written as:
Eqn. 9 combined with formation resistance is substi-
tuted into Eqn. 6 to derive a dynamic pseudo-leak-off
coefficient. And a finite difference equation for frac-
ture propagation in both height and length from Eqn. 4
is written as:
Assume that a fracture propagates continuously
with constant height and is composed of many tiny
538
discrete segments; for an arbitrary segment j, fracture
length xj can be obtained by iterative calculation from
previous steps associated with the dynamic pseudo-
leak-off coefficient and no spurt loss. The number 0.25
in the equation is a constant to describe average leak-
off starting at a particular time point within the time
interval (Valko & Economides 1995).
The equations used to calculate fracture dimen-
sions are based on the PKN-type fracture that uses
an elliptical shape arising from continuum mechanics
considerations. The length equation for more than two
segments can be derived from Eqn. 10 as:
where:
The equation for average fracture width is given as:
The net bottom-hole pressure for a PKN-type frac-
ture is given as:
As new slurry is injected and a new net pressure
produced, the leak-off coefficient is changed corre-
spondingly. Because filter cake deposition is “moving
forward” with the fracture, the cake in segment j will
undergo the same growth process as in segment j-1
(this is what we mean by “self-similar”).
The model considers elastic rock behavior, incom-
pressible fluid flow, biosolids filtration and consoli-
dation, combined with changes in wall permeability.
An iterative numerical method is used to estimate
changes of fracture volume, length, and biosolids
volume during a biosolids injection cycle.
5 MODEL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Simulations are conducted for various injection sce-
narios. Table 1 shows the basic model parameters. A
basic issue is to compare dynamic leak-off conditions
with typical fracturing assumptions of constant-leak-
off rate or no-leak-off (Fig. 3).
Table 1. Simulation input.

Injection rate for two wing frac, m3 /s 0.042

Injection time, seconds 600
Injection depth, m 800
Pore pressure, mPa 8
Closure pressure, mPa 18
Formation leak off coefficient, m/s1/2 5.94 × 10−5
Total fracture height, m 30
Young’s modulus, Pa 1 × 1010
Shear modulus, Pa 4 × 109
Poisson’s ratio 0.25
Fluid viscosity, cp 1
Null pressure, Pa 1000
Specific flow resistance, m−2 2 × 1010
Volume of solids per unit slurry % 20%
Biosolids compactibility parameters nn 1.83

Figure 4. a) Half-lengths at different solids contents;

b) Fracture volumes at different solids contents; and
c) Fracture widths at different solids contents.

Comparing results with a typical PKN leak-off

Figure 3. a) Fracture volumes; b) Fracture lengths; and
c) leak-off coefficients and net pressure.
model, the fracture volume is larger because of
impaired leak-off caused by filtration and cake consol-
idation. The fracture length is greater for the dynamic
(impaired) leak-off condition (Figs. 3a,b). The length
and volume of fractures propagating with time fol-
low the same trend, corresponding to the trend of
the dynamic leak-off coefficient curve in Figure 3c,
which also includes net pressure for the three cases.

539
Figure 5. Dynamic leak-off coefficients at different depths.

A decreasing leak-off coefficient promotes a bottom-

hole net pressure increase. Figure 3a also shows fluid
volume injected, fluid lost, fracture volume and solids
volume in the fracture. The fracture volume for no
leak-off is the same as for the new model if the leak-
off coefficient is set to zero, providing a degree of
model validation. In our parametric study, we varied
solids content, injection depth and biosolids charac-
teristics. Solids contents of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%
by volume are used, keeping other parameters as in
Table 1. Higher solids content results in thicker fil-
ter cake deposited on the fracture face, which reduces
leak-off rate, giving a larger fracture volume (Fig. 4).
The biggest effect is between 0 and 5% solids; the rel-
ative impact of solids content on fracture geometry
gradually declines as the solids content rises.
Injection depths of 300, 600, 1000 and 1500 m are
used, all with hydrostatic pore pressures (10 kPa/m),
with closure pressures of 7 MPa, 14 MPa, 23 MPa and
35 MPa; to reflect the effect of depth on stiffness, cor-
responding Young’s moduli of 3, 8, 15 and 30 GPa
are taken. Figures 5 to 9 show that fracture width
decreases because of the higher Young’s modulus, the
net pressure is higher at depth, and the filter cake under
higher net pressure results in a lower leak-off coeffi-
cient, favoring long and narrow fractures, as expected
at greater depths.
A simulation at z = 1500 m with a smaller leak-off
coefficient of 5.94 × 10−6 m/s1/2 , keeping all other
parameters as in Table 1, yielded the results plotted
in Figure 10. Comparing with Figure 9, we note that
the initial leak-off rate has a significant effect on frac-
ture geometry. The impact of depth on geometry at a
small leak-off rate is not as much as in a high leak-off
rate. Fracture volume with dynamic leak-off does not
deviate too much from the result at a constant leak-off
condition.
In Figure 11, a small value for biosolids compress-
ibility is incorporated into the simulation for 600 m Figure 6. a) Fracture volumes at a depth of 300 m;
depth, all other parameters as in Table 1. The coeffi- b) Half-lengths at a depth of 300 m; c) Fracture widths at
cient “n” in Eqn. 8 is reduced from 1.83 to 1.5, thus less a depth of 300 m; and d) Leak-off coefficients at injection
compressible biosolids have a smaller impact on the depth of 300 m.

540
 Figure 9. a) Half-lengths at a depth of 1500 m; and
b) Fracture widths at a depth of 1500 m.
Figure 7. a) Half-lengths at a depth of 600 m; and b) Fracture
widths at a depth of 600 m.

Figure 10. a) Length at 1500 m with a small leak-off

Figure 8. a) Half-lengths at a depth of 1000 m; and coefficient; and b) Width at 1500 m with a small leak-off
b) Fracture widths at a depth of 1000 m. coefficient.

541

Figure 11. a) Fracture length at n = 1.5 (Eqn 8); b) Frac-
ture width at n = 1.5 (Eqn 8); and c) Leak-off coefficient for
n = 1.5 (Eqn. 8).
leak-off coefficient, yet the fracture volume and length
with dynamic leak-off conditions do not deviate much
from the constant leak-off condition. A higher value
of compressibility coefficient in the simulation will
impose a big difference in geometry between dynamic
and constant leak-off cases; in other words, the model
is quite sensitive to the biosolids’ compressibility.
542
6 CONCLUSION
A model describing biosolids filtration processes dur-
ing deep fracture injection into a porous medium has
been developed. The filter cake deposited during injec-
tion affects hydraulic fracture dimensions. Filter cake
thickness depends on the net pressure profile, the
solids content, and the biosolids characteristics.
A dynamically modified leak-off coefficient was
incorporated into a PKN-type fracture model to deter-
mine the injection domain (disposition) of biosolids
for one cycle of injection. The model shows substan-
tial differences between biosolids injection and regular
hydraulic fracture treatment, and may help provide
guidance for environmentally benign biosolids treat-
ment based on deep injection so as to achieve thermal
treatment, full isolation, and methane co-generation.
REFERENCES
Bruno, M.S., Bilak, R.A., Dusseault, M.B., & Rothenburg,
L. 1995. Economic disposal of solid oil field wastes
through slurry fracture injection. Paper SPE 29646, West-
ern Regional Meeting, Bakersfield, CA.
Cleveland, T.G., Tiller, F.M & Lee, J.B. 1996. Theory of filtra-
tion of highly compactable biosolids. Water Sci. and Tech.
34(3-4): 299–306.
Dusseault, M.B., Bilak, R.A., Bruno, M.S. & Rothenburg,
L. 1994. Disposal of granular solid wastes in the Western
Canadian Sedimentary Basin by slurry fracture injection.
International Symposium on Scientific and Engineering
Aspects of Deep Injection Disposal of Hazardous and
Industrial Wastes, Berkeley.
Dusseault, M.B. 1995. Slurry fracture injection; the disposal
of granular solid wastes in Western Canada. In Hazardous
Materials Management, pp. 16–18.
Fan, Y. & Economides, M.J. 1995. Fracturing fluid leakoff
and net pressure behavior in Frac&Pack stimulation.
Paper SPE 29988, International Meeting on Petroleum
Engineering. Beijing.
Carter, R.D. 1957. Derivation of the general equation for
estimating the extent of the fractured area, Appendix to
”Optimum Fluid Characteristics for Fracture Extension”,
by Howard & Fast, Drilling and Production Practices, API,
pp. 261–270.
Gulbis, J. 1982. Dynamic fluid loss study of fracturing fluids.
In CIM Annual Technical Mtg., Pet. Soc. of CIM, Calgary.
Gulbis, J. 1983. Dynamic fluid loss of fracturing fluids.
Paper SPE 12154, SPE Annual Tactical Conference and
Exhibition, San Francisco.
Mayerhofer, M.J., Economides, M.J. & Nolte, K.G. 1991a.
Experimental study of fracturing fluid loss. In Annual
Technical Conference of the Pet. Soc. of CIM andAOSTRA,
Banff.
Mayerhofer, M.J., Economides, M.J. & Nolte, K.G. 1991b.An
experimental and fundamental interpretation of fracturing
filter-cake fluid loss. Paper SPE 22873, 66th Ann. Tech.
Conf. & and Exhib., SPE, Dallas, TX.
McDaniel, R.R., Deysarkar, A.K., Callanan, M.J. &
Kohlhaas, C.A. 1985. An improved method for measur-
ing fluid loss at simulated fracture conditions. Soc. Pet.
Eng. J. 25(4): 482–490.
Reed, A.C., Mathews, J.L., Bruno, M.S. & Olmstead, S.E.
2001. Chevron safely disposes one million barrels of
NORM in Louisiana through slurry fracture injection.
Paper SPE 71434, SPE Ann. Tech. Conf. & Exhib., New
Orleans, LA.
Roodhart, L.P. 1985. Fracturing fluids: fluid-loss measure-
ments under dynamic conditions. SPEJ : 629.
Settari, A. 1985. A new general model of fluid loss in
hydraulic fracturing. SPE-JPT : 491–501.
Settari, A. 1998. General model of fluid flow (leak off)
from fractures induced in injection operations. Paper SPE
18197, SPE Ann. Tech. Conf. & Exhib., Houston, TX.
543
Tiller, F.M., Lu, R., Kwon, J.H. & Lee, D.J. 1999. Variable
flow rate in compactable filter cakes. Water Resources
33(1): 15–22.
Tsang, C.F. & Apps, J.A. 2005. Underground Injection
Science and Technology. New York. Elsevier Inc.
Valko, P. & Economides, M.J. 1995. Hydraulic Fracture
Mechanics. New York: John Wiley& Sons.
Veil, J.A. & Dusseault, M.B. 2003. Evaluation of slurry
injection technology for management of drilling wastes.
Argonne National Laboratory Report for the US Dept. of
Energy. W-31-199-Eng-38, 110 pp.
Yi, T.C. & Penden, J.M. 1993. A comprehensive model of
fluid loss in hydraulic fracturing. Paper SPE 25493, SPE
Production Operations Symposium, Oklahoma City, OK.
Brittle Fracture & Damage Mechanics
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Effects of alteration on the engineering behaviour and intact rock fracture

characteristics of granite under uniaxial compression

J.S. Coggan & J.L. Chilton

Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, United Kingdom

D. Stead
Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

J.H. Howe
IMERYS Minerals Ltd, Cornwall, United Kingdom

R. Collins
SLR Consulting Ltd, Nottingham, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT: The engineering characterization of altered granites through the processes of kaolinisation is
critical for effective extraction and design of slopes for the china clay industry in south-west England. As part of
on-going research into the engineering behaviour of variably kaolinised granites a series of instrumented uniaxial
compression tests were performed on representative samples taken from a varying decomposition grade range of
altered granite. Analysis of acoustic emission (AE) and strain gauge deformation measurements, together with
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images taken at various stages of failure, were used to characterize the
fracture development and damage processes occurring during uniaxial compression. The results of the testing
confirm that the degree of alteration or kaolinisation and associated changes in mineralogy of the granite is
directly related to reduction in both uniaxial compressive strength and porosity. The assessment of strength and
alteration grade is a fundamental component of geotechnical characterization of slopes in altered granite.

1 INTRODUCTION component of geotechnical characterization of slopes

A consequence of implementation of the Quarries
Regulations 1999, for the United Kingdom quarrying
industry, has been a need to identify potential hazards
in order to initiate, if required, more detailed geotech-
nical assessment of critical slopes that are deemed to
pose a significant hazard to either persons or property.
Hazard identification within the china clay indus-
try requires appropriate characterization of altered
or kaolinised granite. Stead et al. (2000) provided a
review of the approaches to engineering character-
ization of altered granites, taking into account the
previous work undertaken in south-west England and,
in particular, Hong Kong.
Characterization of altered granites usually involves
categorization into classes, zones or grades according
to readily recognized or simply measured variations
in their characteristics. This paper presents the results
of an on-going investigation into factors controlling
the engineering behaviour of altered granites. The
assessment of material properties is a fundamental
in altered granite. This task may be extremely chal-
lenging due to the inherent variability of alteration
within a particular slope. The kaolinisation intensity
can vary both vertically and horizontally along a slope
profile. Stead et al. (2000), for example, noted that
kaolinisation is structurally controlled and generally
occurs in association with sheeted greisen, tourmaline
and quartz veining.
Recent investigations have included multistage tri-
axial and uniaxial studies undertaken by Imperial
College London Consultants (2004), analysis of index
testing and petrographic analysis, together with field-
based mapping to establish a correlation between the
Geological Strength Index (GSI) and decomposition
or alteration grade. The primary focus of this paper
is to describe the results of a series of instrumented
uniaxial compression tests that were performed at the
Camborne School of Mines on representative samples
taken from varying grades of altered material, taking
into consideration associated changes in mineralogy
and porosity. Analysis of acoustic emission (AE) and

547

Figure 1. Image of the western slope at Wheal Martyn.
strain gauge deformation measurements, together with
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images taken at
various stages of failure, were used to characterize the
fracture development and damage processes occurring
during uniaxial compression.
2 PETROGRAPHIC AND ENGINEERING
CHARACTERISATION
The Wheal Martyn china clay pit is located on the
Hensbarrow Downs, which form part of the St Austell
granite cupola. The pit is approximately 100 m deep,
and 700 m by 30 m in plan area. The deepest part
of the pit intersects a northeast-southwest trending
zone containing sub-vertical and sub-parallel quartz-
tourmaline sheeted vein-systems and stockworks.
Figure 1 shows an image of the western slope of the pit.
According to Bristow & Exley (1994) and Sel-
wood et al. (1998) the granites were emplaced at
the end of the Varsican Orogeny (300–275 Ma) into
metasediments of early and middle Devonian age
(410–380 Ma). Differences in textures, composition
and age of the granites between, as well as within,
the outcropping bodies indicate that different magma
were emplaced in several distinct phases.
The lithology of the St Austell granite has been
described by Manning et al. (1996) who recognized
four different varieties based on whether biotite, tour-
maline, lithium mica or topaz was the main mineral in
addition to quartz and feldspar. Within the tourmaline
granite there is also textural variation, with three sub-
groups being recognized; the globular quartz facies,
the equigranular facies and the fine grained facies.
2.1 Engineering characterization of weathered
granites
Several researchers including Baynes & Dearman
(1978), Dearman et al. (1978), Irfan & Dearman
548
Table 1. Engineering classification of weathered uniform
materials (from Anon 1995).
Grade Description Characteristics
I Fresh rock No visible alteration.
II Slightly Altered Slight discolouration and
weakening.
Schmidt Hammer ‘N’> 45.
III Moderately Altered Considerable weakening.
Penetrative discolouration.
Schmidt Hammer ‘N’ 25–45.
IV Highly Altered Large pieces broken by hand.
Schmidt Hammer ‘N’ 0–25.
V Completely Altered Considerably weakened.
Geological pick penetrates.
Original texture preserved.
Slakes readily in water.
Hand penetrometer,
50–250 kPa.
(1978), Hencher et al. (1990) and Stead et al. (2000)
provided important guidelines on the description and
characterization of kaolinised granite in the south-
west of England. Similarly, Hencher & McNicholl
(1995) and Irfan (1996 & 1999) provided details of
the characterization of the weathered granites of Hong
Kong. Table 1 summarizes typical weathering grades
for altered granites, which provide a basis for field-
based categorization and use of the Schmidt Hammer
for index testing.
Hencher et al. (1990) indicated that the kaolinised
zones of St Austell granite show many similarities
to tropically weathered granites and can be classi-
fied for engineering purposes according to similar
criteria. They noted good correlation between alter-
ation and Schmidt Hammer rebound value, feldspar
decomposition, field strength and degree of slaking.
2.2 Petrology and kaolinisation
Mineralogical changes that occur during kaolinisation
have been previously described by Psyrillos (1996)
and Psyrillos et al. (1997). Quartz, tourmaline and
muscovite remain essentially unaltered during kaolin-
isation. Feldspars, however, are dissolved by water
passing through vein and fracture systems permeating
the adjoining granite through micro-fractures. Kaolin
and smectite are formed in the dissolution cavities
inside the feldspars. Alteration fronts expand away
from fluid pathways into fresh granite resulting in
varying degrees of alteration:
– fresh granite
– partially kaolinised granite with partially dissolved
plagioclase and dissolution cavities filled with
kaolin and smectite
– extensively kaolinised granite with fully altered Table 2. Summary of changes in observed mineralogy from
plagioclase and partially altered K-feldspar, kaoli- petrographic analysis of thin sections taken from representa-
nite being more abundant than smectitie, and tive samples of different alteration grade material.
– fully kaolinised granite with all feldspar dissolved
Alteration Grade
and kaolinite being the primary reaction product
present. II III IV V
Mineral (%) (%) (%) (%)
Suringar (2004) described the rock as a porphyrritic
medium-grained muscovite tourmaline leuco-granite Quartz 25 30 30 30
K-feldspar 35 30(5–20) 30(10–50) 0
with K-feldspar megacrysts up to 6 cm and granu- Plagioclase 35 35(10–50) 30(20–90) 0
lar quartz crystals up to 1 cm. Representative samples Kaolinite 50
from the varying alteration grades were taken from Secondary mica 10
the Wheal Martyn pit by Suringar for petrographic Tourmaline 3 3 5 5
and X-ray diffraction analysis. In addition, the spe- Muscovite 2 2 5 5
cific density, dry bulk density and porosity were also
determined. Note: Numbers in brackets show percentage alteration of
Due to the friable nature of some samples, all sam- feldspars to either kaolinite or secondary micas for Grade
ple material selected for thin section analysis using a III and IV material.
Nikon petrographic microscope was impregnated with
resin under a vacuum. Thin sections of 50 by 75 mm
and of 0.03 mm thickness were prepared for alteration
Grades II to IV, whereas 20 by 30 mm sections were of a Grade III, moderately altered material. In the lower
prepared for Grade V material. centre of the plagioclase there is an area that is rela-
Table 2 provides a summary of the petrographic tively unaltered. The linear features are cracks filled
analysis undertaken by Suringar (2004). Note that with secondary mica.
changes in mineralogy were considered to be gra- Figure 2c shows dissolution holes in a K-feldspar
dational inside and between the alteration grades. crystal filled with secondary mica and kaolinite, typ-
Observations indicate that in Grade II material pla- ical of Grade IV material. Also shown are masses
gioclases are increasingly affected by alteration and of kaolinite and secondary mica. Figure 2d shows a
change to secondary mica, while K-feldspars remain higher magnification image of a kaolinite groundmass
unchanged. in a completely altered granite, typical of Grade V
Alteration then attacks the albitic exsolution lamel- material. The images shown in Figure 2 have been
lae in K-feldspar megacrysts and alters them to sec- taken with crossed polars; as these provide better detail
ondary mica and kaolinite, while at the same time than images taken under plane polarized light.
completing the alteration of plagioclase to a mixture Table 3 shows the relationship between alteration,
of secondary mica and kaolinite. For typical Grade bulk dry density and porosity for the different grade
III material all plagioclase crystals contain 10 to 50% material. Marked changes in density and porosity are
secondary mica, and some K-feldspars crystal are observed in Grade IV and V material, which can be
20% altered to secondary mica. K-feldspars are then linked to the observed variations in mineralogy.
progressively converted from the exsolution lamellae Figure 3 summarizes the results of the strength test-
outward. ing undertaken on different grades of altered material
For Grade IV material only about 10% of the orig- from Wheal Martyn Pit. As part of the investiga-
inal plagioclase remains; some crystals are 100% tion field strength testing, using a Schmidt Hammer
altered to secondary mica, others are altered to a type ‘N’, was performed and representative drill core
mixture of 50% secondary mica and 50% kaolinite samples were also sent to Imperial College London
and others only 20 to 50% altered. Some K-feldspar Consultants (ICLC 2004) for uniaxial and multistage
crystals show 50% alteration to secondary mica and triaxial testing. The uniaxial compressive strength
kaolinite. The final alteration phase consists of a (UCS) data presented in Figure 3 is taken from the
groundmass of kaolinite with the remaining unaltered Imperial College London Consultants report. During
quartz, muscovite and tourmaline. the sampling process at Wheal Martyn intermediary
Figures 2a–d show example photomicrographs to classes, such as II–III and III–IV, were assigned to
illustrate the alteration process, and represent typi- the varying grade material and is reflected in the data
cal Grade II through to Grade V material. Figure 2a presented in Figure 3.
shows a large K-keldspar megacryst surrounded by The data confirm there is an obvious strength reduc-
smaller quartz, feldspar, tourmaline and muscovite tion with increased alteration; with major loss of
crystals, typical of Grade II material. Figure 2b shows uniaxial compressive strength between Grade II and
an image of a 75% altered plagioclase crystal typical Grade III material.

549
 Table 3. Variation in bulk dry density and porosity for
kaolinised granites.

Bulk dry density Porosity

Grade kg/m3 %

II 2604 3
III 2410 5
IV 2260 15
V 2110 28

Rebound No UCS (ICLC, 2004)

60 140

Schmidt Hammer Rebound N

50 120

100
40

UCS (MPa)
80
30
60
20
40

10 20

0 0
1 2 3 4 5
Alteration Grade

Figure 3. Strength reduction with increased alteration.

3 DEFORMATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND

FRACTURE DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERED
GRANITES UNDER UNIAXIAL LOADING

Eberhardt (1998), Eberhardt et al. (1998) and more

Figure 2. Crossed-polars optical micrograph images of
a) slightly altered, b) moderately altered, c) highly altered
and d) completely altered granite. Note: k = K-feldspar,
p = plagioclase, q = quartz, m = muscovite, t = tourmaline
and ka = kaolinite (adapted from Suringar 2004).
recently Diederichs et al. (2004) have shown how
instrumented uniaxial compression tests can be used
to observe and record the deformational behaviour and
brittle fracture propagation of rock under compressive
loading conditions. Analysis of the stress-strain and
acoustic response to rock under compressive loading
allows identification of specific deformation phases
and damage thresholds including crack closure (σcc ),
linear elastic deformation, crack initiation (σci ), stable
crack propagation and subsequent coalescence (σcs )
and crack damage (σcd ). Figure 4 shows the thresh-
olds previously identified by Eberhardt et al. (1998).
Guidance for identification of the appropriate thresh-
olds from laboratory data is provided in both Eberhardt
et al. (1998) and Diederichs et al. (2004).
In order to provide further insight into factors influ-
encing altered material behaviour a series of instru-
mented uniaxial compression tests were performed
on representative samples from the differing alter-
ation grades. Analysis of acoustic emission (AE) and
strain gauge deformation measurements, together with

550
Figure 4. Stages of stress/strain and acoustic response in
uniaxial testing (after Eberhardt et al. 1998).
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images taken at
various stages of failure, were used to characterize the
fracture development and damage processes.
3.1 Uniaxial compression testing and associated
instrumentation
Uniaxial compression tests on various alteration grade
material have been carried on a MTS servo-controlled
hydraulic testing machine in accordance with ISRM
guidelines (ISRM 1979). A minimum of 2 Pico AE
sensors was used for each test to detect emission
data. The acoustic data was processed using the MIS-
TRAS system (PAC 1995), allowing either graphic
display via the PC monitor or conversion to a text
file for use in Excel. The system used the AEDSP
(Acoustic Emission Digital Signal Processing) board
to process all necessary data including time, ampli-
tude, duration, counts and rise time. In addition, axial
and lateral micro-measurement N2A series electric
resistance strain gauges were secured to each sam-
ple, with M-Bond 610 epoxy resin, to record strain
development on loading. In order to reduce initial
noise effects a small ‘pre-load’ was included within
the uniaxial compressive loading cycle.
3.2 Use of scanning electron microscope (SEM)
images
Several researchers have used SEM images to examine
the development, interaction and propagation of frac-
tures within different rock types (Bobet & Einstein
1998, Sousa et al. 2005, Wong 1982). As part of the
current investigation Chilton (2006) used SEM images
of polished mounts prepared from samples tested to
specific stages of a uniaxial test to observe fracture
development and associated material behaviour. Prior
to mounting and polishing the sample is first impreg-
nated with resin and allowed to harden. Preparation
of the polished mount was carried out in a number of
stages beginning with coarse grade silicon powder and
decreasing to a very fine diamond paste (25 µm). Prior
551
Figure 5. Stress/strain response for unaltered granite under
uniaxial compression.
to analysis the polished surface is coated with carbon
to prevent surface charging under the SEM electron
beam.
3.3 Behaviour of unaltered granite under uniaxial
loading
Figure 5 shows a typical stress versus strain response
under uniaxial loading for unaltered granite. Table 4
provides a summary of the key observations from the
test and identified threshold levels according to Eber-
hardt et al. (1998). The observed threshold levels have
been normalized with respect to the maximum stress
or uniaxial compressive strength of the sample.
Analysis of SEM images indicates that prior to test-
ing grain boundary cracks are present between all
minerals and in all orientations. 25% of the cracks are
of an open structure and individual cracks are typically
between 10 and 50 µm in length. On testing the sam-
ple exhibited a reasonably long crack closure phase
(13%) and linear elastic phase (40%), as depicted
in Table 4. Examination of the internal structure of
the material at this of testing revealed no new dam-
age below crack initiation. Subsequent loading beyond
crack initiation resulted in propagation of grain bound-
ary cracks in directions sub-parallel to the loading
direction. Figure 6 shows coalescence of grain bound-
ary and cleavage fractures taken from an SEM image
of a sample of unaltered granite loaded beyond the
crack coalescence threshold (σcs ).
Following the unstable crack propagation thresh-
old there was a significant increase in AE emission,
with associated increases in amplitude and rise-time.
SEM analysis suggests that this is associated with fur-
ther coalescence of grain boundary cracks, leading
to subsequent failure of the sample and evidence of
shear-related mechanisms (large fractures containing
debris material). Feldspars aligned parallel to major
fractures show evidence of splitting along cleavage
planes, while feldspars aligned perpendicular display
a stepped fracture pattern.
Table 4. Summary of key observations during uniaxial
loading of unaltered granite (Grade I).
% of UCS Threshold Observations
Non linear axial strain. Elevated
hits and amplitude
13% σcc crack closure
Low AE hit. Linear axial strain and
stiffness. Fractures confined to grain
boundaries and feldspar cleavage
53% σci crack initiation
Increase in AE hits and amplitude
(from 50–60 dB). Fluctuations in
volumetric stiffness. Onset of
propagation of existing grain
boundary cracks.
69% σcs crack coalescence
Increase in AE rise-times and
amplitude (60 to 75 dB). Fracturing
increases: coalescence of grain
boundary cracks and feldspar
cleavage cracks.
81% σcd crack damage
Reversal of volumetric strain and
stiffness curves. Rapid increase in
AE hits, with associated increases
in amplitudes (up to 90–100 dB)
and rise-times. Extensive fracturing
running sub-parallel to loading, and
fractures are no longer confined to
boundaries or cleavage.
100% σpeak Maximum stress, 172 MPa
Major fracture development and
sample failure. Sub-parallel
secondary fractures adjacent to
main failure fractures.
Figure 6. Coalescence of grain boundary and cleavage
fractures.
3.4 Behaviour of altered granite under uniaxial
loading
Samples of Grade II, III and IV were also tested
under uniaxial loading conditions. Table 5 provides
552
Table 5. Summary of identified threshold levels for differ-
ent alteration grades.
Grade
Threshold
(% of UCS) I II III IV
σcc 13 16 21 28
σci 53 43 39 38
σcs 69 60 48 52
σcd 81 80 58 62
σpeak 100 100 100 100
UCS (MPa) 172 160 33 21
Values are given as a percentage of the respective uniaxial
compressive strength of the sample.
a summary of the identified threshold levels from
the stress/strain data, together with the respective
uniaxial compressive strength values determined for
the varying grades of alteration. A summary of the
observations is presented below.
3.4.1 Slightly altered, Grade II granite
Grade II materials display similar stress/strain results
to the unaltered granite, although the linear elastic
phase is slightly shorter (27%). Both Grade I and II
material show evidence of two distinct phases of sta-
ble fracturing. The key differences in behaviour are
associated with evidence of initial fractures within the
slightly altered granite (prior to testing cracks appear
longer in the altered feldspars, up to 1 grain length
and 60% appear open). These provide preferential
locations for subsequent propagation.
3.4.2 Moderately altered, Grade III granite
Grade III material shows a dramatic reduction in uni-
axial compressive strength when compared to Grade
II material (79% reduction). Prior to testing SEM
analysis showed the presence of grain boundary frac-
tures between unaltered minerals, but the kaolinised
feldspars showed evidence of both cleavage splitting
and voids. Some cracks contained secondary mica.
The material shows a relatively long crack closure
phase (21%) and reduced (18%) linear deformation
phase. Following crack initiation there is a steady
increase in AE activity, but a dramatic increase in rise-
times. SEM analysis suggests that in some areas the
material shows evidence of minor initiation of grain
boundary cracks, with unaltered minerals remaining
undamaged, while crack initiation and subsequent
growth is concentrated in kaolinised regions. During
the unstable crack propagation phase zones of coalesc-
ing microfractures propagate at shallow angles to the
direction of loading between kaolinised regions. This
results in clear linkages between kaolinised feldspars,
as shown in Figure 7.
 Figure 8. Stress/strain response for highly altered
(Grade IV) granite under uniaxial compression. Note the
initial ‘pre-load’ prior to commencing the uniaxial loading
cycle.

Figure 7. Fracture coalescence/linkage of kaolinised

regions in moderately altered, Grade III granite.

3.4.3 Highly altered, Grade IV granite

Figure 2c highlights the alteration associated with
feldspars and regions of kaolinite groundmass for
Grade IV material. SEM analysis confirms open
and closed grain boundary cracks between all min-
erals and voids within the kaolinite groundmass.
The initial loading phase indicates that the sample
undergoes high axial strain. Relatively high AE activ-
ity occurs throughout the test, although there is a
clear increase in activity associated with crack initia-
tion. During unstable crack propagation SEM analysis Figure 9. Propagation of fractures in highly altered,
of polished mounts shows extensive coalescence of Grade IV granite.
fractures within the groundmass and propagation of
rain boundary cracks adjacent to unaltered grains,
Figure 9. Failure is associated with large axial and
lateral strain, Figure 8, and spalling of the sample Unaltered granites display low AE amplitudes
suggesting a gradual degradation of the material throughout the greater part of the test before exhibit-
structure. ing a major increase at the crack damage thresh-
The preceeding results suggest that altered gran- old, Figure 10. This supports the evidence for low
ites comprise a mixture of high cleavage minerals level amplitudes at the start of the test being asso-
and quartz resulting in mechanical incompatibility. ciated with microcrack closure while larger amplitude
This is emphasized where regions of more extensively emissions approaching failure are probably a result
altered minerals provide damage nucleation sites and of fracture propagation, coalescence and macrocrack
preferential weaknesses within the material. development.

553
 100 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Grade I
90
The authors would like to acknowledge the petro-
80 graphic work undertaken by Ben Suringar. The views
expressed are not necessarily those of IMERYS Min-
70
erals Ltd or SLR Consulting Ltd.
60

50
AE Amp. 0 20 40 60
(dB)
100
Grade IV
90
80
70
60
50
0 20 40 60
Stress (% of UCS value)
Figure 10. Comparison of AE amplitude during test for
unaltered (Grade I) and highly altered (Grade IV) granite.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Petrographic and Scanning Electron Microscope
image analysis provides useful additional data for
interpretation of stress/strain and acoustic emission
data for altered granites under uniaxial compression
loading.
Increasing levels of alteration result in a major
reduction in the uniaxial compressive strength of the
material. This is directly associated with changes in
mineralogy and associated porosity.
Regions of kaolinisation provide damage nucle-
ation sites and preferential weaknesses that enhance
the mechanical incompatibility of different minerals
within altered granites.
AE monitoring provides a useful insight into mate-
rial behaviour, in particular the ability to relate crack
damage threshold levels to different alteration grades.
This type of investigation provides new data on
the engineering behaviour of altered granites. The
structural controls on rock mass characteristics in
kaolinised granites are clearly important at a wide
range of scales from micro to macro-level. It is empha-
sized that the design of slopes in altered granite
requires additional characterization of the rock mass
strength and evaluation of scale-related effects.
The field and laboratory work described have
assisted in the design process for excavated slopes at
the Wheal Martyn Pit. The application of the work to
design is to be described in a future publication by the
authors.
80 100 REFERENCES
Anon. 1995. The description and classification of weath-
ered rocks for engineering purposes. Geological Society
working Party Report. Quarterly Journal of Engineering
Geology 28: 207–242.
Baynes, F.J. & Dearman, W.R. 1978.The relationship between
the microfabric and the engineering properties of engi-
neering granite. Bulletin of International Association of
Engineering Geology 18: 191–197.
Bobet, A. & Einstein, H.H. 1998. Fracture coalescence in
80 100
rock-type materials under uniaxial and biaxial compres-
sion. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 37(7): 863–888.
Bristow, C.M. & Exley, C.S. 1994. Historical and geologi-
cal aspects of china clay industry of southwest England.
Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall
21: 247–314.
Chilton, J.L. 2006. The evolution of the brittle deformation
process in uniaxial compression. PhD thesis, University
of Exeter, 324 pp.
Dearman, W.R., Baynes, F.J. & Irfan, T.Y. 1978. Engineering
geology of weathered granite. Eng. Geol. 12: 345–374.
Eberhardt, E. 1998. Brittle rock fracture, progressive dam-
age in uniaxial compression. PhD thesis, University of
Saskatchewan, 335 pp.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D., Stimpson, B. & Read, R.S. 1998.
Identifying crack initiation and propagation thresholds in
brittle rock. Can. Geotech. J. 35(2): 222–233.
Diederichs, M.S., Kaiser, P.K. & Eberhardt, E. 2004. Damage
initiation and propagation in hard rock during tunnelling
and the influence of near-face stress rotation. Int. J. Rock
Mech. & Min. Sci. 41: 785–812.
Hencher, S.R., Ebuk, E.J., Abrams, J.H. & Lumsden, A.C.
1990. Field description and classification of hydrother-
mally altered granite of SW England. In 10th Southeast
Asian Geotechnical Conference, Taipei, pp. 303–308.
Hencher, S.R. & McNicholl, D.P. 1995. Engineering in weath-
ered rock. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology 28:
253–266.
Imperial College London Consultants 2004. Multistage tri-
axial and unaxial compression studies. Report to Imerys
Minerals Limited. 12 pp.
International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) 1979. Sug-
gested methods for determining the uniaxial compressive
strength and deformability of rock materials. Int. J. Rock
Mech. & Min. Sci. 16: 135–140.
Irfan, T.Y. 1996. Mineralogy, fabric properties and classi-
fication of weathered granite in Hong Kong. Quarterly
Journal of Engineering Geology 29: 5–35.
Irfan,T.Y. 1999. Characterisation of weathered volcanic rocks
in Hong Kong. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology
32: 317–348.
Irfan, T.Y. & Dearman, W.R. 1978. Engineering classifica-
tion and index properties of a weathered granite. Bulletin

554
 of International Association of Engineering Geology 17:
79–90.
Manning, D.A.C., Hill, P.I. & Howe, J.H. 1996. Primary
lithological variation in the kaolinised St Austell gran-
ite, Cornwall, England. Journal of the Geological Society,
London 153: 827–838.
Physical Acoustics Corporation 1995. MISTRAS Operators
Manual.
Psyrillos, A. 1996. Low temperature hydrothermal mineral-
isation in the St Austell pluton, Cornwall, England. PhD
thesis, University of Manchester.
Psyrillos, A., Howe, J.H., Manning, D.A.C. & Burley, S.D.
1997. Geological controls on kaolin particle shape and
consequences for mineral processing. Clay Minerals 34:
193–208.
Selwood, E.B., Durrance, E.M. & Bristow, C.M. 1998. The
Geology of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Exeter:
University of Exeter Press.
555
Sousa, L.M.O., Suarez del Rio, L.M., Calleja, L., Ruiz
de Argandona, V.G. & Rey, A.R. 2005. Influence of
microfractures and porosity on the physico-mechanical
properties and weathering of ornamental granites. Engi-
neering Geology 77: 153–168.
Stead, D., Coggan, J.S. & Howe, J.H. 2000. Engineering geol-
ogy and hazard assessment of excavated china clay slopes.
Geoscience in South-West England 10: 72–76.
Suringar, G.C.B. 2004. Petrological, geotechnical and com-
mercial aspects of kaolinised granites in the Wheal Mar-
tyn china clay pit, St Austell, UK. MSc dissertation,
University of Exeter, 96 pp.
Wong, T.F. 1982. Micromechanics of faulting in Westerly
granite. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 19: 49–64
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Crack initiation and propagation from frictional fractures

C.H. Park & A. Bobet

School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

ABSTRACT: An extensive experimental work has been conducted on pre-cracked rock-model materials. Pris-
matic gypsum specimens have been prepared with three pre-existing closed flaws. All the flaws have a constant
length of 12.7 mm and are parallel to each other. Different specimens are prepared by changing flaw angle,
spacing and continuity. The specimens are loaded in uniaxial compression until failure. In each test the nature
of any new crack (tensile or shear), initiation stress and angle, and coalescence stress and pattern are recorded.
Three different types of cracks have been observed: wing cracks, coplanar shear, and oblique shear cracks. These
are the same types of cracks observed from open flaws. The most significant difference between open and closed
flaws is the stress at which initiation occurs. For the same geometry initiation is systematically higher for closed
flaws than for open flaws.

1 INTRODUCTION

There are two competing mechanisms for failure Wing

in rocks and other brittle geomaterials: tension and
shear. Due to their lower toughness in tension (e.g.
Bieniawski 1967) tensile crack initiation may be
favored. However the magnitude of tensile stresses at
the tips of pre-existing cracks decreases as confine-
ment increases, and at some point crack initiation in
shear prevails (Bobet & Einstein 1998a).
Wing (tensile) and secondary (shear) cracks have
been observed to initiate at the tips of pre-existing
fractures in rock and rock-type specimens loaded in
compression (Ingraffea 1985, Petit & Barquins 1988,
Huang et al. 1990, Reyes & Einstein 1991, Chen et al.
1992, Germanovich et al. 1994, Shen et al. 1995, Wong
& Chau 1998, Bobet & Einstein 1998a, b, Bobet 2000,
Wong et al. 2001, Sagong & Bobet 2002, Sahouryeh
et al. 2002, Li et al. 2005, Wong & Einstein 2006,
Ko et al. 2006). Extensive experimental and numeri-
cal work supports the observation that wing cracks are
tensile cracks and secondary cracks are shear cracks
(Reyes & Einstein 1991, Chen et al. 1992, Shen et al.
1995, Bobet & Einstein 1998a, b, Sagong & Bobet
2002, Li et al. 2005, Ko et al. 2006, Wong & Einstein
2006). Wing cracks initiate at or near the tips of pre-
existing fractures (from now on the term flaw will
be used for pre-existing fractures) and propagate in
a curvilinear path towards the direction of maximum
compression (Fig. 1). Wing cracks propagate in a sta-
ble manner at least until coalescence occurs (crack
coalescence is defined as the linkage of two flaws).
Secondary cracks always initiate at the tips of the
flaws. Two initiation directions have been reported for
crack
Open flaw
Tip
Figure 1. Initiation of wing crack near the tip (Sagong
2001).
open flaws: coplanar and oblique (Sagong & Bobet
2002); see Figure 2. Coplanar flaws are defined as
those that initiate along a plane coplanar or quasi-
coplanar to the flaw, and oblique as those that initiate
at an angle. The angle of initiation of oblique cracks is
similar to that of wing cracks but in the opposite direc-
tion (Fig. 2). Secondary cracks typically originate after
wing cracks and are stable initially; as they propagate
they may become unstable and produce coalescence.
Thus the coalescence patterns are determined by the
type of the cracks producing the linkage (Sagong &
Bobet 2002). This expands (and contradicts) a some-
what established belief that crack coalescence can
only occur through wing (tensile) cracks (Horii &
Nemat-Nasser 1985).
Most of the work done on fracturing in rock materi-
als has focused on open flaws subjected to mixed-mode

557

Open flaw
Tip
Wing crack
Quasi-coplanar
secondary crack
Open flaw
Tip
Oblique
secondary crack
Wing crack
Figure 2. Two types of secondary cracks (Sagong 2001).
loading (mode I, opening-tensile, and in-plane shear
or mode II). The research has provided a clear frame-
work and understanding of cracking processes and
coalescence of open fractures. In contrast there is a
significant lack of data regarding frictional fractures,
which by far are predominant in rock masses. It is thus
critical to explore the mechanisms for crack initiation,
propagation, and coalescence from closed, frictional,
fractures. This is a timely issue as recent advances
in numerical modeling have provided the engineering
profession with very powerful tools to predict behav-
ior of rock masses. The numerical models rely heavily
on fracture propagation in tension while propagation
in shear is not sufficiently explored, in our opinion,
due to the deficient understanding and scarce data on
shear cracks.
In this paper we present results on an on-going
research with a focus on observation of cracking and
coalescence in specimens with three closed flaws. We
define open flaws as those that are initially open and
remain open during testing, and closed flaws as those
that close during compression. Hence open flaws can-
not transfer normal or shear stresses across their faces,
while closed flaws transfer normal stresses without
disturbance. As long as there is no slip between the
faces of a closed flaw, shear stresses are also trans-
mitted, but once the flaw slips, the magnitude of shear
stresses is limited to the maximum frictional strength
of the fracture. This creates a shear stress jump or
discontinuity across the fracture.
The experimental work presented extends the
research conducted on two open and closed flaws
by Bobet (1997) and on three open flaws by Sagong
(2001).
558
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
2.1 Flaw geometry
An extensive experimental program has been con-
ducted on pre-cracked specimens made of gypsum.
Gypsum can be considered as a rock-model material
and has been extensively used for the investigation
of crack initiation and coalescence (Nelson 1968,
Einstein & Hirschfeld 1970, Reyes 1991, Takeuchi
1991, Shen et al. 1995, Bobet & Einstein 1998a, Wong
& Einstein 2006, Ko et al. 2006). There are two main
reasons to use gypsum: one because of the extensive
database already generated with this material, and two
because it is easy to prepare specimens and the results
are highly repeatable.
For this experiment series, prismatic specimens are
prepared with three closed flaws. The preparation pro-
cess is similar to that used with open flaws by Sagong
& Bobet (2002), which makes the results from the two
test series comparable. The specimens are 203.2 mm
high, 101.6 mm wide, and about 30 mm thick (i.e.
8 × 4 × 1.1 inches). Three closed flaws are placed
across the thickness of each specimen and are perpen-
dicular to the 203.2 × 101.6 mm faces of the prism.
This is done to ensure that the flaws are loaded only
under mode I-II conditions. The flaws all have a con-
stant length of 12.7 mm and are parallel to each other.
Figure 3a provides an overall view of the prismatic
gypsum specimens.
Different flaw geometries are produced by chang-
ing flaw angle, spacing, and continuity of the flaws
(see Fig. 3b). Flaws 1 and 3 are always coplanar and
are placed at a distance between their closest tips of
12.7 mm (one flaw length). Flaw 2 is placed below
the plane of flaws 1 and 3 at different locations. The
position of flaw 2 is defined by Spacing (S) and Conti-
nuity (C). Spacing is defined as the minimum distance
between flaw 2 and the plane of flaws 1 and 3 (i.e. mea-
sured along a direction perpendicular to the plane of
the flaws). Continuity is the distance between the right
tip of flaw 2 and the left tip of flaw 3 measured along
the plane of the flaws. Continuity is taken as positive
when the two flaws overlap and negative when they do
not overlap.
The flaw geometries are identified with three
parameters: flaw inclination angle (β), spacing (S),
and continuity (C). The range of parameters investi-
gated is: Flaw angle (β): 30◦ , 45◦ , 60◦ ; Spacing (S):
a, 2a; and Continuity (C): −2a, 0, a, 2a, where “a” is
one half the flaw length (i.e. a = 6.35 mm).
The flaw geometry for each test is determined
following the nomenclature used for open flaw
tests. It is defined by “spacing-continuity-flaw
angle”. For instance, “a2a30” represents a geome-
try with spacing = “a”, continuity = “2a”, and flaw
angle = 30◦ . Also, the flaw tips are defined by their
flaw number and their location with respect to the
 identical, and each has three slits. Through the slits a
~30 mm videotape strip is inserted through the thickness of the
Open/ mold before pouring the gypsum. The mold with the
closed fresh gypsum is vibrated and then stored at room tem-
flaws perature. Twenty minutes after vibration the videotape
Figure 3b
is pulled out of the mold.At this time the gypsum is soft
Initial flaws
203.2 mm enough such that the strips can be completely pulled
(Width:12.7 mm) out and the gypsum can flow to fill the gap left behind
by the strips, but the gypsum paste is stiff enough such
that a discontinuity is created. Twenty four hours after
vibration the specimen is unmolded and the front and
back faces are polished. Afterwards the specimen is
stored in an oven at 40◦ C for four days. At the end of
the curing process, the specimen is tested.
101.6 mm The mass proportions used to make the specimens,
preparation process (except for creating the closed
a) Overall view flaws), and the curing process are the same as those
used with two open and closed flaws (Bobet 1997) and
3R
with three open flaws (Sagong 2001). Thus, the results
Flaw 3 from previous experiments should be comparable.

3L β
2.3 Testing
After curing, the specimens are loaded in uniaxial com-
2R
Spacing (S)
Flaw 2 pression until failure. The direction of compression
1R is along the height of the specimen (Fig. 3a). Load-
Flaw 1 β ing is applied by displacement control at a rate of
Continuity (C)
2L
0.0005 mm/sec, which is slower than previous experi-
1L β ments (Sagong & Bobet 2002). This is done to improve
observations of crack initiation and crack coalescence.
Flaw angle (β) During loading the surface of each specimen, in
b) Detail view
particular the area close to the tips of the flaws, is
Figure 3. Geometry of three closed flaws. continuously scanned with a low-power microscope to
detect initiation of new cracks. In each test the nature
flaw (Fig. 3b). For example, “2L” means that the tip of any new crack (tensile or shear), initiation stress and
is located on the left side of flaw 2. angle, and coalescence stress and pattern are recorded.

2.2 Specimen preparation
The specimens are made of a mixture of Hydrocal
B-11, a gypsum, diatomaceous earth, and tap water.
The water and mass proportions used are as follows:
Water = 400 cc
Gypsum = 1000 g
Diatomaceous earth = 11.4 g
Water/gypsum ratio = 0.4
Water/diatomaceous earth ratio = 35.0
Diatomaceous earth is added to the mixture because
it prevents bleeding of water to the top of the specimen
during fabrication.
The specimens are prepared by mixing water, gyp-
sum, and diatomaceous earth in a blender; the mixture
is then poured into a steel mold. The mold consists
of four steel plates and a pair of PMMA plates, one
placed at the top and the other one at the bottom of the
mold (front and back in Fig. 3a). The two plates are
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
3.1 Wing cracks
Before any new crack can be observed, slip has to occur
along the closed flaw.This is so because a discontinuity
in the specimen is not effectively created until there is
a shear stress jump across the flaw. Full slip along the
flaw generally occurs through a number of small slip
events which are detected before initiation of any new
crack. Wing cracks are the first cracks observed in the
tests and they are usually associated with a cracking
sound.
As with open flaws, wing cracks initiate at an angle
with the closed flaw and propagate in a stable manner
towards the direction of maximum compression. The
initiation of wing cracks is easily recognized because
the opening associated with a tensile crack is clearly
distinguished from the surface of gypsum.
Figure 4 shows wing cracks for different flaw
inclination angles. Note that in the figure the flaws

559
 120

Wing Crack Initiation Angle (deg)

100

Flaw tip 80

60 2a-2a
2a0
Initiation 2aa
Angle
2a2a
40
a-2a
aa
a2a
20
30 45 60
Flaw
F Inclination Angle (deg)
a) Closed Flaws
a) 2aa60 (left tip of flaw 1) 100

Wing Crack Initiation Angle (deg)

90

aa, open flaws

aa, closed flaws

80

70

60
Flaw tip 30 45 60
Flaw Inclination Angle (deg)

b) Comparison of open and closed flaws

b) 2aa30 (right tip of flaw 3) Figure 5. Wing crack initiation angle versus flaw angle.

Figure 4. Wing cracks observed in uniaxial compression.

appear somewhat open; this is the result of slip of
the flaws and associated dilation. Wing cracks initiate
right at the tip for 60◦ flaw inclination angles (Fig. 4a),
and near the tip for specimens with 30◦ inclination
angles (Fig. 4b). For 45◦ flaw inclination angles, wing
cracks may initiate near the tip or at the tip. This con-
firms previous experimental results that indicated that
the position of wing crack initiation shifts from the tip
of the flaw toward the flaw center as the flaw inclina-
tion angle decreases (Sagong & Bobet 2002, Wong &
Einstein 2006).
Wing crack initiation angles are measured coun-
terclockwise from the plane of the flaw (see inset
in Fig. 5a). Figure 5a is a plot of wing crack initia-
tion angle versus flaw inclination angle. The scatter
observed in the figure is due to the effects of flaw
geometry, as the presence of one of the flaws changes
the stress field at the tips of the other two. The experi-
ments show that for a given flaw arrangement, the wing
crack initiation angle decreases as the flaw inclination
angle increases. This is supported by the data plotted
in Figure 5b, which shows wing crack initiation angles
for specimens with spacing and continuity equal to half
the flaw length. A similar trend is observed for other
geometries.
When the wing crack initiates near, but not at the
tip, the initiation angle is about perpendicular to the
flaw. For 60◦ flaw angles the average initiation angle
is around 65◦ and for 45◦ flaws, the average initiation
angle is about 70◦ . Figure 5b provides a comparison of
wing crack initiation angles between open and closed
flaws for geometries with C= S= a. The wing crack
initiation angle for open flaws is consistently higher
(about 10◦ ) than closed flaws. A similar trend was
observed by Bobet (1997).
The stresses at which wing cracks initiate are also
reported during testing. In all tests wing cracks initiate
from all the tips of the flaws. The records show that, for
the same specimen, all the wing cracks initiate at the
same stress level irrespective of the tip or the flaw from
which they originate. This is illustrated in Figure 6
that shows a comparison of wing crack initiation stress
from the right and left tips of flaw 1 (Fig. 6a) and

560
 35 35
Wing Crack Initiation Stress at Tip R1 (MPa)

Mean Wing Crack Initiation Stress (MPa)

30 30
R1

25 L1 25

20 20
β=300, S=a C = -2a, open flaws
β=450, S=a C = a, open flaws
15 15 C = 2a, open flaws
β=600, S=a
C = -2a, closed flaws
C = a, closed flaws
10 10 C = 2a, closed flaws
10 15 20 25 30 35
30 45 60
Wing Crack Initiation Stress at Tip L1 (MPa)
Flaw Inclination Angle (deg)
a) Flaw 1
35 Figure 7. Mean wing crack initiation stress versus flaw
Wing Crack Initiation Stress at Tip R2 (MPa)

angle.
30

25
L2
20
15
10
10
Figure 6. Wing crack initiation stresses at the tips of flaws
1 and 2 for Spacing “a”.
flaw 2 (Fig. 6b). The same conclusion was reached
by Bobet & Einstein (1998) and by Sagong & Bobet
(2002) with open flaws.
Figure 7 is a plot of the mean wing crack initiation
stress for open and closed flaws with the same geom-
etry. The mean stress is the average of the initiation
stress from all tips of the flaws; since the experiments
show that initiation occurs simultaneously at all tips,
the mean is used as a representative value. The initi-
ation stress increases with flaw angle both for closed
and open flaws. It can be seen that for the same geom-
etry initiation is systematically higher for closed flaws
than for open flaws. The differences however decrease
as the flaw inclination angle increases.
3.2 Secondary cracks
Secondary cracks are always observed after wing crack
initiation and they always emanate from the tips of the
flaws. While wing cracks show a clean and smooth
surface, the surface of shear cracks appears rough and
R2
covered with powder, which is an indication of slip
between the faces of the crack. This is supported by
evidence of surface spalling at the tip of the flaw where
a secondary crack initiates, since it is an indication of
β=300, S=a high compression (Fig. 8).
β=450, S=a Two different propagation directions of secondary
β=600, S=a cracks are observed: coplanar and oblique to the
flaw. Sagong (2001) defined quasi-coplanar secondary
cracks as those secondary cracks with an initiation
angle between 0◦ and 40◦ with respect to the flaw;
15 20 25 30 35
Wing Crack Initiation Stress at Tip L2 (MPa)
oblique secondary cracks with an angle between 60◦
b) Flaw 2
and 130◦ . Here we follow the same definition.
Figure 8 shows examples with two different sec-
ondary cracks. Figure 8a depicts a quasi-coplanar
secondary crack observed at tip “3L” of geometry
“a2a60”. Figure 8b shows an oblique secondary crack
at tip “3R” of the same geometry.
Figure 9 is a plot of quasi-coplanar and oblique
secondary crack initiation stresses. Given the same
geometry, the initiation stresses of quasi-coplanar and
oblique secondary cracks are the same. This may pro-
vide an indication that the mechanisms of initiation of
the two cracks are the same. It has to be noted that in
the past (Sagong & Bobet 2002), only one secondary
crack was observed at the tip of a flaw; either a copla-
nar or a shear crack, but not both at the same tip. In
our experiments we have observed initiation of the two
types of secondary cracks from the same tip.
The initiation stress of secondary cracks is smaller
than that of wing cracks. This is illustrated in Fig-
ure 10 which is a plot of the observed wing crack and
secondary crack initiation stresses at the right tip of
flaw 3 in specimens with spacing equal to the length of
the flaws. Secondary crack initiation stresses are sys-
tematically higher than wing crack initiation stresses.
The differences decrease as the flaw inclination angle
increases.

561
 35

Secondary Crack Initiation Stress (MPa)

Flaw
30

Quasi-coplanar
secondary crack 25

20
0
Coplanar β=30
Tip Coplanar β=45
0

0
15 Coplanar β=60
0
Oblique β=30
0
Oblique β=45
0
Oblique β=60
10
-2 0 1 2
Continuity (in multiples of half flaw length)

a) Quasi-coplanar secondary crack (a2a60) Figure 9. Comparison of initiation stresses between

quasi-coplanar and oblique secondary cracks.

Wing Secondary Crack Initiation Stress at Tip R3 (MPa)

35
crack Oblique
secondary crack 30

25

Tip
Tip 20

Wing β=300, S=2a

β=450, S=2a
crack 15
β=600, S=2a
Flaw
10
10 15 20 25 30 35
b) Oblique secondary crack (a2a60) Wing Crack Initiation Stress at Tip R3 (MPa)

Figure 8. Different types of secondary cracks. Figure 10. Wing and Secondary crack initiation stress at the
right tip of flaw 3 for S = “2a”.

Figure 11 is a plot of the initiation stresses recorded

from the two tips of the same flaw (flaw 1 in Fig. 11a
and flaw 2 in Fig. 11b). The figure shows a consistent
trend of simultaneous initiation of secondary cracks
at the two tips of the flaws. The same conclusion was
reached for wing cracks. The figure also shows that
secondary crack initiation stresses increase with flaw
angle. The rate of increase is smaller than that for wing
cracks (see Fig. 6).
Figure 12a is a plot of the mean secondary crack ini-
tiation stresses of both open and closed flaws. As with
wing cracks, mean secondary crack initiation stresses
are obtained by averaging the initiation stresses found
at the six tips. The scatter in the figure is due to the
effect of Continuity. The Figure shows that the mean
secondary crack initiation stresses from closed flaws
are higher than open flaws. The differences decrease
with flaw inclination angle. In fact for 60◦ flaw angles,
the differences are very small (Fig. 12b).
3.3 Coalescence
Coalescence occurs when two flaws are linked
together. Linkage is produced by wing cracks, sec-
ondary cracks or a combination of the two. When
coalescence occurs through wing cracks, the final
stages of propagation and linkage are typically stable;
however when coalescence occurs through secondary
cracks, the final propagation and linkage are unstable.
Figure 13 is a plot of the coalescence stress observed
in tests with open and closed flaws with the same
geometry. Coalescence stress increases with flaw incli-
nation angle in both cases. Similar to what is observed
for wing and secondary cracks, the coalescence stress
is higher for closed flaws than for open flaws, with dif-
ferences decreasing with flaw inclination angle. This is
related to the higher stresses required for initiation.The
scatter of the data in the figure indicates that the stress

562
 Secondary Crack Initiation Stress at Tip R1 (MPa)
35 35
Mean Secondary Crack Initiation Stress (MPa)

30 30

R1

25 25
L1

0
20 20 β=30 , S=a
C = -2a, open flaws
0
C = a, open flaws β=45 , S=a
C = 2a, open flaws 0
β=60 , S=a
15 C = -2a, closed flaws 15
C = a, closed flaws
C = 2a, closed flaws
10 10
30 45 60 10 15 20 25 30 35
Flaw Inclination Angle (deg) Secondary Crack Initiation Stress at Tip L1 (MPa)
a) All geometries a) Flaw 1
35
Mean Secondary Crack Initiation Stress (MPa)

Secondary Crack Initiation Stress at Tip L2 (MPa)

35

30
30

25
25 R2

20 L2
aa, open flaws 20
0
aa, closed flaws β=30 , S=a
0
15 β=45 , S=a
0
β=60 , S=a
15

10

30 45 60 10
10 15 20 25 30 35
Flaw Inclination Angle (deg)
Secondary Crack Initiation Stress at Tip R2 (MPa)
b) “aa” b) Flaw 2

Figure 11. Secondary crack initiation stresses at the tips of Figure 12. Mean secondary crack initiation stress versus
flaws 1 and 2 for S = “a”. flaw angle.

at which coalescence occurs is largely influenced by 35

flaw geometry.
Coalescence Stress (MPa)

30

4 SUMMARY
25

Fifty-two tests with three closed flaws have been con- C = -2a, open flaws
ducted with twenty one different flaw geometries. 20 C = 0, open flaws
Three different types of cracks have been detected: C
C
= a, open flaws
= 2a, open flaws
wing cracks, coplanar shear and oblique shear cracks. 15
C = -2a, closed flaws
C = 0, closed flaws
These are the same types of cracks found in specimens C = a, closed flaws
with open flaws. In addition the general cracking pro- C = 2a, closed flaws
10
cess observed in specimens with closed flaws is also 30 45 60
observed in specimens with open flaws. The most sig- Flaw Inclination Angle (deg)
nificant difference between open and closed flaws is
the stress at which initiation and coalescence occur. Figure 13. Coalescence stress versus flaw inclination angle.
Wing and shear cracks from closed flaws initiate at
higher stresses than from open flaws. Coalescence ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
also occurs at higher stresses. The differences how-
ever decrease as the flaws are oriented at smaller angles The research presented in this paper has been
with the direction of loading. supported in part by the American Chemical Society

563
with grant ACS PRF# 41457-AC8; acknowledgement
is made to the Donors of The Petroleum Research
Fund, administered by the American Chemical Soci-
ety, for partial support of this research. The authors are
grateful to the sponsors for their support.
REFERENCES
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1967. Mechanism of brittle fracture of rock,
Part III-Fracture in tension and under long-term load-
ing. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 4: 425–430.
Bobet, A. 1997. Fracture Coalescence in Rock Materi-
als: Experimental Observations and Numerical Predic-
tions. D.Sc. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA, USA.
Bobet, A. & Einstein, H.H. 1998a. Fracture Coalescence in
Rock-type Materials under Uniaxial and Biaxial Com-
pression. International Journal of Rock mechanics and
Mining Sciences 35(7): 863–888.
Bobet, A. & Einstein, H.H. 1998b. Numerical Modeling
of Fracture Coalescence in a Model Rock Material.
International Journal of Fracture 92: 221–252.
Bobet, A. 2000. The initiation of secondary cracks in
compression. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 66(2):
187–219.
Chen, G., Kemeny, J. & Harpalani, S. 1992. Fracture prop-
agation and coalescence in marble plates with pre-cut
notches under compression. In Symposium on Fractured
and Jointed Rock Mass, pp. 443–448.
Einstein, H.H. & Hirschfeld, R.C. 1970. Model Studies
on Mechanics of Jointed-Rocks. ASCE Journal of the
Geotechnical Division 99(SM3): 229–248.
Germanovich, L.N., Salganik, R.L., Dyskin,A.V. & Lee, K.K.
1994. Mechanisms of brittle fracture of rock with multi-
ple pre-existing cracks in Compression. Pure and Applied
Geophysics 143(1–3): 117–149.
Horii, H. & Nemat-Nasser, S. 1985. Compression-Induced
Microcrack Growth in Brittle Solids: Axial Splitting and
Shear Failure. Journal of Geophysical Research 90(B4):
3105–3125.
Ingraffea, A.R. 1985. Fracture Propagation in Rock. In
Mechanics of Geomaterials, pp. 219–258.
Huang, J.F., Chen, G.L. & Zhao, Y.H. 1990. An experimental
study of the strain field development prior to failure of
564
a marble plate under compression. Tectonophysics 175:
269–284.
Ko, T.Y., Einstein, H.H. & Kemeny, J. 2006. Crack Coales-
cence in Brittle Material under Cyclic Loading. In Golden
Rocks 2006, 41st U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics,
ARMA/USRMS 06-930.
Li, Y., Chen, L. & Wang, Y. 2005. Experimental research
on pre-cracked marble under compression. International
Journal of Solids and Structures 42: 2505–2516.
Nelson, R. 1968. Modeling a Jointed Rock Mass. M.Sc. The-
sis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
MA, USA.
Petit, J.P. & Barquins, M. 1988. Can natural faults propagate
under Mode II conditions? Tectonics 7(6): 1243–1256.
Reyes, O. & Einstein, H.H. 1991. Failure mechanism of frac-
tured rock –A Fracture coalescence model. In Proceedings
7th International Congress of Rock Mechanics, vol. 1,
pp. 333–340.
Sahouryeh, E., Dyskin, A.V. & Germanovich, L.N. 2002.
Crack growth under biaxial compression. Engineering
Fracture Mechanics 69: 2187–2198.
Sagong, M. 2001. The Study on the Fracture of Multiple
Flaw Specimens. Ph.D. Thesis, Purdue University, West
Lafayette, IN, USA.
Sagong, M. & Bobet, A. 2002. Coalescence of multiple flaws
in a rock-model material in uniaxial compression. Inter-
national Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
39: 229–241.
Shen, B., Stephansson, O., Einstein, H.H. & Ghahreman, B.
1995. Coalescence of fractures under shear stress experi-
ments. Journal of Geophysical Research 100: 5975–5990.
Takeuchi, K. 1991. Mixed-Mode Fracture Initiation in Gran-
ular Brittle Materials. M.Sc. Thesis, Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Wong, L.N.Y. & Einstein, H.H. 2006. Fracturing behavior of
prismatic specimens containing single flaws. In Golden
Rocks 2006, 41st U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics,
ARMA/USRMS 06-899.
Wong, R.H. & Chau, K.T. 1998. Crack Coalescence in a
Rock-like Material Containing Two Cracks. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 35(2):
147–164.
Wong, R.H.C., Chau, K.T., Tang, C.A. & Lin, P. 2001. Analy-
sis of crack coalescence in rock-like materials containing
three flaws – Part I: experimental approach. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 38:
909–924.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Crack growth study of a 3-D surface fracture under compression using

strain and acoustic emission measurements

R.H.C. Wong
Dept. of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

T.C. Li
Dept. of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China &
Shandong University of Science and Technology, Taian, Shandong, China

K.T. Chau
Dept. of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

S.C. Li & W.S. Zhu

Geotechnical & Structural Engineering Research Center, Shandong University, Taian, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the mechanism of crack growth from a 3-D surface flaw in granite specimens
subjected to both uniaxial and biaxial compressions through the use of strain measurement and the acoustic
emission (AE) technique. Four types of crack patterns were observed under both compressions: wing cracks,
petal cracks (crack growing along the edge of a flaw plan), compressive cracks and anti-wing cracks (crack
growing from the same tip of the wing crack but at the opposite side). The anti-wing cracks initiated after
the wing cracks initiated, but the growth rate is 4.5 to 10 times faster than that of the wing cracks under both
compressions. The strain records indicated that when the anti-wing cracks propagated, the strain values of the
wing crack at the other tip of the same flaw reduced. The average released AE energy (energy/event) from the
growth of the wing crack is the smallest (600 aJ to 6,478 aJ), but the average released energy from the growth
of the compressive cracks is the highest (10 × 103 aJ to 207 × 103 aJ). The crack growth mechanism of a 3-D
surface flaw is strongly affected by the ratio of the flaw depth ‘d’ to specimen thickness ‘t’. The growth of
anti-wing cracks is dominant in all the specimens containing a 3-D surface flaw. Thus, the analysis of anti-wing
cracks cannot be ignored in the study of a sliding 3-D surface flaw model.

1 INTRODUCTION
Numerous fractures exist in the earth crust. The size of
fractures is varied from several millimeters to several
kilometers. Some of the fractures which expose on the
ground surface are defined as the surface fractures,
while some of them which embed in the ground are
defined as the internal fractures. Under compression
stresses, cracks propagated from the pre-existing frac-
tures may result in rock failure or earthquakes. Crack
initiation and propagation of the two-dimensional
(2-D) fractures or three dimensional (3-D) internal
fractures have been subjects of the intensive investi-
gation in rock mechanics and earthquake mechanics.
However, a few studies have been done on 3-D sur-
face fractures (or flaws). For surface flaws, part of
the flaw exposes on the free surface whilst the other
part of the flaw embed in the rock mass. Under applied
loading, the flaw plan near the free surface slides freely
while the sliding of the other part of the flaw plan is
restricted by the intact portion of the rock mass. The
crack growth mechanism of a 3-D surface flaw would
be different from a 3-D internal flaw. However, a few
studies have been conducted to investigate the crack
growth mechanism of the surface flaws.
Teng et al. (1987) and Yin et al. (1989) investigated
the effect of the frictional coefficient on crack prop-
agation of a close type 3-D surface flaw in various
materials including glass, PMMA and marble.
In their studies, the close type 3-D surface flaw was
created by a three-point bending method. A shallow
notch was cut on the middle of specimen surface first.
Then, the three-point bending method was used to bend
the specimen until the notch propagated to form a
3-D surface flaw (Fig. 1a). This created 3-D surface
flaw extended into 73% of the specimen thickness.

565
Figure 1. (a) Creating a close type 3-D surface flaw in mar-
ble specimen by using a 3-point bending method. (b & c)
Crack propagation of a 3-D surface flaw being captured from
the front surface (b) and back surface (c). After Teng et al.
(1987).
The frictional coefficient of the flaw plan was changed
by adding different amounts of oil to study its effect
on the crack propagation and the nucleation of earth-
quakes.Teng et al. (1987) andYin et al. (1989) reported
that cracks might initiate from several points around
a flaw tip. Wing cracks propagated from the flaw tips
might stop before the final failure of the specimen
(Fig. 1b). Thus, not all the initiated cracks could grow
to the edge of the specimen. Moreover, petal cracks
(Fig. 1c) induced along the flaw plan which is inside
the specimen, and extended to the back surface of the
specimen to form a type of crack array. The studies by
Teng et al. (1987) and Yin et al. (1989) were done on
fixed flaw geometry.
Based on the previous studies, Wong et al. (2003,
2004, 2006a, b) and Guo et al. (2006) carried out a
series of experiments to study the crack growth mech-
anism of a 3-D surface flaw in PMMA and real rock
specimens under uniaxial compression. A flaw angle
α (measured from axial loading) was changed from
15◦ to 85◦ with 15◦ increments. A flaw length (2C)
was changed from 20 mm to 50 mm with 5 mm incre-
ments and the specimen thickness (t) was changed
from 12 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm. A notch was cut on
the specimen surface to form a 3-D surface flaw with
varied notch depth (or flaw depth ‘d’) by using a cir-
cular cutting blade. The opening of a flaw was about
0.8 to 1.0 mm. For a homogeneous solid (PMMA)
containing a 3-D surface flaw, the flaw plans slide
when the applied loading increased (Wong et al. 2003).
However, since part of the flaw plan embedded into
the specimen, thus the sliding of the flaw plan was
restricted. Small wing cracks (Fig. 2a) sprouted from
the initial flaw when the axial stress increased to
78%σc (σc is the uniaxial compressive strength,). When
the loading increased further, some small petal cracks
(Mode III) appeared along the flaw edge (Fig. 2b). The
growth of petal cracks released the restriction of the
flaw plan. The further sliding of the flaw plan could
cause the wing cracks growing further (Figs. 2c, d).
However, in the real rock specimens (gabbro, mar-
ble and sandstone), the phenomenon was different
(Wong et al. 2004, 2006a, b). When the loading
566
Figure 2. Crack propagation from the flaw tips of a 3-D
surface flaw in PMMA specimen. (a) and (c) show the full
view, (b) and (d) show the close-up view of wing cracks and
petal cracks (Wong et al. 2003).
Figure 3. The growth of anti-wing cracks from a 3-D sur-
face flaw in a gabbro specimen. A wing crack appears at the
later stage. To produce a contrast for crack observations, the
surfaces of rock specimens are painted in white color (Wong
et al. 2006a).
Anti-Wing Wing crack
crack Anti-Wing
Wing crack
crack
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Figure 4. Wing cracks and the anti-wing cracks in marble
specimens.
increased to a certain value, cracks appeared at a dis-
tance away from the flaw tips which is the opposite
direction of the wing crack propagation (Fig. 3a). The
cracks grew towards both the flaw tips and the edges of
specimen. When the growing cracks approached to the
flaw tips, compressive cracks initiated at each flaw tip
and coalesced with the growing cracks (Fig. 3b). This
phenomenon has not been reported by any researcher.
This type of cracks was defined as “anti-wing crack”
(Wong et al. 2006a, Guo et al. 2006). The overall
angle of the anti-wing crack was 5◦ to 10◦ from the
axial loading. The wing cracks grew after the anti-wing
cracks developed.
Furthermore, in marble specimens with the same
flaw geometry, the wing cracks and the anti-wing
cracks could appear (Fig. 4). Acoustic emission was
used to investigate the crack growth process of the
3-D surface flaw. The AE signals indicated that micro-
cracks initiated inside the specimen and concentrated

Figure 5. AE events and the related photos showing the
growing process of the anti-wing cracks from a 3-D surface
flaw in a gabbro specimen. The small dots in Fig. 5 represent
the locations of each AE event while the large dots represent
the locations of the sensors (Wong et al. 2006a).
at the location of anti-wing cracks (Fig. 5). When
the loading increased further, the microcracks jointed
together and extended to the specimen surface to form
the anti-wing cracks. The growth mechanisms of the
3-D surface flaw were affected by several parameters:
(a) the ratio of the flaw penetration depth ‘d’ to the
specimen thickness ‘d/t’; (b) the degree of homogene-
ity; (c) the ratio of the compressive to tensile strengths
(σc /σt ) of the solids and (d) the flaw dipping angle γ
(Wong et al. 2006a, b, Guo et al. 2006).
Although some significant results have been
obtained from our previous studies, the growth mecha-
nisms of the anti-wing crack are still questionable. For
example, what are the stresses around the 3-D flaw
plan and the energy released from different crack pat-
terns? Besides, the pervious studies only focused on
the test under uniaxial compression.Actually in nature,
surface flaws are under biaxial compression. However,
the mechanism of the crack growth from a surface flaw
under biaxial compression is not known. Therefore, it
is worth to investigate the crack growth mechanisms
of a 3-D surface flaw under both unaixial and biax-
ial compressions in granite specimens. The acoustic
emission and the strain measurement are used in this
study to detect the location and the energy released
from the cracks, and to understand the deformation
field around a 3-D surface flaw. The experimental
results should provide the understanding on the crack
growth mechanism and the progressive failure of the
rock mass containing initial surface flaws under both
the uniaxial and biaxial compressions. The results
should strengthen the knowledge on rock mechanics
and fracture mechanics on the surface flaw study.
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
The granite specimens used in this study were pur-
chased from Mainland China. The size of the granite
specimens was 202 mm × 130 mm (length × width).
567
Table 1. Mechanical properties of granite.
σc σt KIC γ E
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa · m0.5 ) (kg/m3 ) (GPa) µ
190.7 9.12 1.42 2571 52.76 0.28
Mineral Plagioclase Orthoclase Biotite Quartz
Content (%) 25 30 15 30
σc : Compressive strength, σt : tensile strength, E: Young’s
modulus, µ: Poison ratio, KIC : Fracture toughness, γ:
Density.
. Strain gage Loading
Fla w system
AE System
Stra in
gage
(a) (b) (c)
Pre-amplifier
Figure 6. The front face (a) and (b) back face of the tested
specimen. The symbol of
is the AE sensor, the rectangle
and strips are the strain gages. (c) Testing system.
The surface flaw was created by using a circular cut-
ting blade. The flaw angle was fixed at 45◦ and the
flaw length 2C was 35 to 38 mm. To study the effect of
the flaw depth ratio (d/t) on the crack growth mecha-
nisms, the thickness ‘t’ of the specimens was changed.
Total six d/t ratios were created: 0.22, 0.26, 0.45, 0.54,
0.7 and 1. Owing to the limited pages of this confer-
ence paper, results of this study are partially presented.
The mechanical properties of the granite are listed in
Table 1. The testing procedure was accordance with
the testing standard of ASTM and ISRM. In our per-
vious study, the specimen surface was painted in color
to produce a contrast for crack observations (Figs. 3
and 4). However, it was found that, the appearance
of the wing cracks of the 3-D surface flaws was very
weak. The paint would interrupt the observation on the
initiation of the wing cracks. Thus, in this study, the
specimens were tested without surface painting.
Either four or eight strain gages were mounted on
the surface near the flaw tips (Fig. 6a) to measure the
deformation field of the flaw area under compressions.
The other three strain gages were mounted on the back
surface (Fig. 3b) to measure the axial and lateral strains
of the specimen. The acoustic emission (AE) system
used in our laboratory is developed by the Physical
Acoustic Corporation (PAC). The AE system contains
8 channels. The sensors used in this study are the PICO
sensor with the diameter of 2 mm and the resonant fre-
quency in the range from 200 to 750 kHz. Four of the
PICO sensors were mounted on the front surface of
the specimen while the other four were mounted on
the back surface (Figs. 6a, b). The AE signals were
recorded by using the MISTRAS-2001 AE recording
 Anti-Wing (a) (b)
Wing
crack crack
(2) (3)
(5) (1)
Wing
Anti-Wing (4) crack Anti-Wing
crack crack
Figure 7. The growth of wing cracks and anti-wing cracks of
a surface flaw under (a) uniaxial and (b) biaxial compressions.
The d/t ratio of the flaw is 0.26. Figs. 7a and 7b are captured
by using the microscope with the focal length of 800 mm and
400 mm, respectively.
software. The recorded sample rate was up to 1 MHz
per each channel. The number, the magnitude, the fre-
quency and the location of theAE events were acquired
by using the AEwin software.
The compression machine used in this study was
a conventional load-control machine (Fig. 6c). The
biaxial loading frame was a self-designed system. The
loadings were recorded by load cells. One displace-
ment transducer was installed behind the specimen
to measure the vertical displacement of the machine.
The applied loading rate was 0.05 kN/s and reduced to
0.025 kN/s after the axial stress increased to 50%σc .
In biaxial compression study, both the lateral and axial
load was applied simultaneously. When the lateral
pressure reached to 2.7 MPa, the lateral pressure kept
constant throughout the whole testing whilst the axial
load was applied continually until the macrocracks
appearing on the specimen surface. The loadings and
strains were recorded by a Data Logger and stored in
an IBM computer. A microscope connected to a video
recorder was used to capture the growth process of the
cracks.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, the crack growth process, the defor-
mation and energy released from a 3-D surface flaw
under uniaxial and biaxial compressions are presented
first. Then, the effect of the d/t ratio on the crack
growth mechanisms of the 3-D surface flaw under
biaxial compression is discussed.
3.1 Crack growth process of 3-D surface flaw
under uniaxial and biaxial compressions
Figure 7 shows the crack growth around a flaw with
d/t of 0.26. The numbers (1) to (5), represent the crack
growth sequence. It was observed that under uniaxial
compression (Fig. 7a), when the axial stress increased
to 46%σc , a wing crack (1) initiated at the left flaw
near the tip. The appearance of the wing cracks is weak
and the growth rate (1.8 mm/min) is slow. When the
axial stress increased to 51%σc , an anti-wing crack (2)
568
appeared at a distance away from the left flaw tip and
propagated. The growth rate of the anti-wing crack
(8 mm/min) is 4.5 times faster than that of the wing
crack. The cracks of (3), (4) and (5) occurred when
the axial stress increased to the 54%σc , 65%σc and
68%σc , respectively. The wing cracks grew actively
again after the anti-wing was developed.
Under biaxial compression (Fig. 7b), when the devi-
ated stress (σ1 − σ2 ) increased to 59%σc , a wing crack
appeared. The appearance of the wing crack looked
like a white line inducing along grain boundaries
(Fig. 7b). It was difficult to discern the point of the
wing crack initiation without comparing with photos
taken. Thus, to obtain the clear photos, the microscope
with the focal length of 400 mm was used to focus on
one flaw tip (Fig. 7b). The growth rate of the wing
crack under biaxial compression (0.24 mm/min) was
much slower than that of the wing crack under uniax-
ial compression. When the deviated stress increased to
71%σc , an anti-wing crack initiated at a distance away
from the flaw tip and then propagated. The growth rate
of anti-wing crack (2.4 mm/min) is 10 times faster than
that of the wing crack. Next section discusses the strain
measurements around the 3-D surface flaw.
3.2 The deformation of 3-D surface flaw under
uniaxial and biaxial compressions
Figure 8 shows the stress-strain curves of the granite
specimens containing a flaw with an angle of 45◦ and
d/t ratio of 0.26 under uniaxial and biaxial compres-
sions. Four strain gages were mounted horizontally
around flaw tips (see a small figure shown in the left
corner of the Figures 8a, b.
Under uniaxial compression (Fig. 8a), all the strain
values were negative. It was indicated that the field
of the flaw was under local tensile stress. However,
under biaxial compression (Fig. 8b), all the strain val-
ues were positive initially (compression stress), and
then changed to negative (tensile stress) when the axial
stress increased. Figure 8a indicates that the deforma-
tion of A0 and A4 (wing crack field) is slightly larger
than that of the A3 and A7 (anti-wing crack field).
However, under the biaxial compression (Fig. 8b), the
deformation of A3 and A7 (anti-wing crack field) is
0.5 to 1 times larger than that of A0 and A4 (wing crack
field). It is obvious that under the biaxial compression,
the initiation and the propagation of the wing crack
are restricted by the lateral pressure. Figure 8b indi-
cates that when the axial stress increases to 105 MPa,
the deformation of A7 increases suddenly whilst the
deformation of A0 reduces. The same phenomenon is
observed in the strain record of A3 and A4 at the axial
stress of 126 MPa, and the strain record of A7 and A0
in Fig. 8a at the axial stress of 115 MPa. It is obvi-
ous that when the anti-wing cracks grow, the growth
of the wing cracks at the other tip of the same flaw
is restricted. It cab be explained why the wing cracks
 (a) A3 140
Uniaxial
120 compression
A7
Stress (MPa)

A4 100

A0 80
Flaw
A0 60
A3
A7 40
A4 Vertical
20 strain
Strain gages
0
-0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2
Strain (%)

160
(b)
140 Biaxial
compression
120
A7
Stress (MPa)

A3 100
A0
Flaw 80
A0
A4 60
A3
A7
40
A4 Vertical
20 strain
Strain gages
0
−0.5 −0.3 −0.1 0.1
Strain (%)

Figure 8. Stress-strain curves of granite specimen contain- Figure 9. (a) Stress, AE energy and AE events (accumu-
ing a flaw with an angle of 45◦ and d/t ratio of 0.26 under lative) against strain value under uniaxial compression. The
uniaxial (Fig. 8a) and biaxial compressions (Fig. 8b). flaw depth ratio is d/t = 0.26. (b) AE events and the captured
photos showing the crack growth process.

grow after the anti-wing cracks develop. Furthermore,

the stress for the anti-wing crack propagation would be Figure 9a indicates that the AE events increase grad-
between 105 MPa (55%σc ) and 126 MPa (66%σc ). It ually so that the accumulative curve increases rapidly.
is interesting to know why the growth of the anti-wing The average released AE energy (energy/event) from
cracks is more active than that of the wing cracks. The the anti-wing cracks is 4,636 aJ which is 4.6 times
AE study may give some insight for this question and larger than that of the wing cracks (1,003 aJ). The AE
will be discussed in next section. energy provides useful information to explain why the
growth of anti-wing cracks more active than that of
the wing cracks. When the axial stress increased to
3.3 The AE study of the 3-D surface flaw under 130 MPa (the strain value of 0.285%), more AE events
uniaxial and biaxial compressions appeared along the flaw plan (Fig. 9biii) and this events
could be considered as the micro petal cracks (refer to
Figures 9 and 10 show the stress, the AE energy
Fig. 2b).The average releasedAE energy from the petal
and the AE events (accumulative) against the strain
cracks is 8,356 aJ. When the axial stress increased to
with the captured photos under uniaxial and biaxial
139 MPa (the strain value of 0.3%), some AE events
compressions, respectively.
induced from two tips of the compression region (refer
Based on the observation from video records, under
to Fig. 3b) with high released AE energy. The aver-
uniaxial compression, a wing crack and an anti-wing
age released AE energy from the compressive tip is
crack initiated at the strain value of 0.21% (axial stress
10,219 aJ.
88 MPa) and 0.23% (axial stress 98 MPa), respec-
Under biaxial compression, four observations were
tively (Fig. 9a). The cracks initiated at a very low
found in the specimen containing a 3-D surface flaw
AE energy (0 to 5 aJ where 1 aJ = 10−18 J). When the
(Fig. 10).
axial stress increased to 115 MPa whilst the strain
value was 0.26%, (Fig. 9a), large amount of the AE • By comparing Figure 9b with Figure 10b, petal
energy released. Figure 9bii indicates that the large cracks and compressive cracks induced along the
amount of the released energy is caused by a cluster flaw plan and from the flaw tips respectively. When
of AE events at the location of the anti-wing cracks. the compressive cracks initiated, it was found small

569

0.23%
Figure 10. (a) Stress, AE energy and AE events (accumula-
tive) against strain value under biaxial compression. The flaw
depth ratio is d/t = 0.26. (b) AE events and captured photos
showing the growth process of the cracks.
fragments spalled off from the flaw tip. The aver-
age released AE energy from the compressive tip is
17,319 aJ.
• The micro anti-wing cracks initiated at the strain
value of 0.23% (axial stress 116 MPa, Fig. 10a). The
macro anti-wing cracks appeared on the specimen
surface at the axial stress of 125 MPa (Fig. 10bi).
The growth process of anti-wing cracks could be
observed through out the test (Fig. 10b). But the
growth of the wing cracks could not be observed
form the captured photos. It is due to the weak
appearance of the wing cracks. The wing crack was
observed when the loading was released.
• The average released AE energy from the wing
cracks (620 aJ) under biaxial compression is 1.4
times lower than that of the anti-wing cracks, 2.5
times and 28 times lower than that of the petal cracks
and that of the compressive cracks, respectively.
Next section presents the effect of d/t ratio on the
deformation and the AE energy of the crack growth of
3-D surface flaw under biaxial compression.
3.4 The effect of d/t on the crack growth from the
3-D surface flaw in biaxial stress condition
Figure 11 shows the crack patterns of a 3-D surface
flaw with a varied d/t ratio from 0.22 to 1 (2-D
570
Figure 11. The effect of d/t on crack pattern in biax-
ial compression. The arrows represent the crack growth
direction.
140
120
Wing crack
Crack angle (°)
100
80
60
40
20 Anti-wing crack
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
d/t
Figure 12. The average angle of the wing cracks and
the anti-wing cracks of 3-D surface flaw under biaxial
compression.
flaw) under biaxial compression. The numbers (1)
to (4), represent the crack growth sequence. Three
observations are found in Figure 11.
• With the increased ratio of d/t, the flaw plan restric-
tion reduces. The growth length of the wing cracks
is longer, and the growth rate is faster. In gen-
eral, the wing cracks and the anti-wing cracks grow
symmetrically.
• For d/t ≤ 0.7, the anti-wing cracks initiate at a
distance away from the flaw tip and propagate.
For d/t > 0.7, the anti-wing cracks are formed by
the extension of the wing cracks. For d/t = 0.22,
the wing cracks initiate after the anti-wing cracks
initiated.
• The angle of anti-wing cracks and stress for crack
initiation is affected by the d/t ratio.
Figure 12 shows the effect of the d/t ratio on the
crack angles measuring from the flaw plan. The crack
angles in Figure 12 are the average angle taken from
both the left and the right flaw tips. The angle of anti-
wing cracks increases from 34◦ to 43◦ when the d/t
changes from 0.22 to 1, but the angle of wing cracks
seems not to change with the d/t.
Figure 13 shows the stress for crack (wing and anti-
wing) initiation with a varied d/t from 0.22 to 1. The
values shown in Figure 13 are the average stress for the
crack initiation taken from both the left and the right
flaw tips. When the d/t ratio increased, the stress for
crack initiation decreased. It is because the restriction
 Stress (MPa) 160
Horizontal A4 A2 A6
140 A5
140
2
R = 0.7078
120
100 A3
A7

Stress (MPa)
100
A1
Flaw A0 80
60 Wing crack A0
A1
Anti-Wing crack R2 = 0. 8672 A7 A2
60
A6
20 A3
40
A5
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Vertical
A4 20
d/t Strain gauges d/ t = 0.22
0
Figure 13. Stress for wing crack and anti-wing initiation -0.5 -0.3 −0.1 0.1 0.3
with the various of d/t. Strain (%)

180
Horizontal A1
along the flaw plan reduces when the flaw penetration 160
A6
depth increases. 140
A3 A2
120
Stress (MPa)
A7 A5
3.5 The effect of d/t on the strain and the AE study of A4 100
the 3-D surface flaw under biaxial compression Flaw A0
A0
80
A1
A7 60
Figure 14 shows the stress-strain curves of granite A6
A2

A3
specimen with d/t ratio of 0.22, 0.45 and 1 under A5 40
Vertical
biaxial compression. Eight strain gages were mounted A4
20
around the flaw tips and the arrangement of the strain Strain gauges d/t = 0.45
0
gages is shown in the left corner of each stress-strain −0.5 −0.3 −0.1 0.1 0.3
curve in Figure 14. Three observations are found from Strain (%)
Figure 14.
120
• The strain of A2 and A6 is under local compres- A3, A7 A6
sion throughout the whole test. The other strains 100
A3 A7 A4
around the flaw are under local compression ini- A2
tially, and then become local tensile stress when the Horizontal 80
axial stress increases. For d/t = 0.22, the strain of
Stress (MPa)

A1
A0
A1 and A5 becomes local tensile stress when the Flaw A0 60
A5
axial stress increases to 90 MPa. It can be explained A7
A1
A2
for d/t = 0.22, why the wing cracks initiate after the A6 A3
40
Vertical
anti-wing cracks initiated. A5
20
• For d/t < 0.5, the deformation of the anti-wing A4
Strain gauges d/t = 1.0
cracks (A3 and A7) is 1 to 2 times larger than that 0
of the wing cracks (A0 and A4). But when d/t = 1 −0.8 −0.6 −0.4 −0.2 0 0.2
(2-D case), the deformation of the wing cracks (A1 Strain (%)
andA5) is 75 times larger than those of the anti-wing
cracks (A3 and A7 at the axial stress of 70 MPa). Figure 14. Stress-strain curves with the d/t of 0.22, 0.45
• For d/t = 0.22, when the axial stress increases to and 1.0 under biaxial compression.
110 MPa, the deformation of A3 and A7 increases
suddenly whilst the deformation ofA4 &A5, andA0 patterns under different d/t are summarized in Table 2.
& A1 reduces, respectively. This phenomenon is the The final applied axial stress on the specimens is also
same as we observed in the section 3.2. However in a listed in the Table 2 for information. Four observations
2-D specimen (d/t = 1), when the wing cracks (A1 were found from Figure 15 and Table 2.
and A5) propagate, the strain value of A2, A3, A6
• By comparing Figure 15a with 15b, for d/t = 0.45,
and A7 seems not to change. A further discussion on
clusters of AE events induce at the region of anti-
this observation is presented in the next paragraph.
wing crack, and then the anti-wing cracks gorw.
Figure 15 shows the results of AE study under biax- But, for d/t = 1.0, clusters of AE events induce at
ial compression with d/t ratio of 0.45 and 1.0 and the region of wing crack and then the wing cracks
the captured photos of the crack growth process. The grow. It is obvious that the growth of the wing cracks
energy released from the AE events of the four crack depends on the degree of flaw plan restriction. When

571
 stopped before the specimen failure. Thus, higher
energy may be released at the later stage. Thus,
further study should be carried out to prove this
observation.

4 CONCLUSIONS

This paper studies the crack growth mechanisms of a

3-D surface flaw in granite specimen under both
uniaxial and biaxial compressions using the strain
measurement and acoustic emission (AE) technique.
The effect of flaw penetration depth ratio of d/t (‘t’ the
thicknesses of the specimen) on crack growth mecha-
nisms is also investigated. The following observations
are found in this paper.
• For a 3-D surface flaw, since part of the flaw plan
embedded in the rock specimen, the sliding of the
flaw plan was restricted. As the results, the growth
rate of the wing cracks was slow. The initiation of
the anti-wing cracks was later than that of the wing
cracks, but the growth rate of the anti-wing was 4.5
time and 10 times faster than that of the wing cracks
under uniaxial and biaxial compressions.
Figure 15. AE events and the photos captured from the spec- • The results from strain measurement indicated that
imens containing flaw with d/t of 0.45 and 1.0 under biaxial when the anti-wing cracks propagated, the defor-
compression. mation of the wing cracks at the other tip of the
same flaw reduced. The AE measurement indi-
Table 2. The average released energy from AE events of cates that the average released AE energy form the
four crack patterns.
wing cracks is smallest (600 aJ to 6,478 aJ, 1 aJ =
Stress Wing crack Anti-wing Petal Compressive
10–18 aJ). The average released AE energy from
d/t (MPa) (aJ) crack (aJ) crack (aJ) crack (aJ) the anti-wing cracks is higher than that of the wing
cracks 1.5 to 5.5 times. The average released AE
0.26 140 620 885 1,574 17,319 energy from the growth of the compressive cracks
0.45 151 907 4,954 3,561 40,710 is the highest (10×103 aJ to 207 × 103 aJ).
1.00 114 6,478 25,120 1,037 207,578 • The crack growth mechanism of a 3-D surface flaw
was strongly affected by the d/t.
– For d/t ≤ 0.7, the anti-wing cracks grew at a
the restriction of the flaw plan reduces, wing cracks
distance away from the flaw tip and propagates
grow easily.
towards both the flaw tip and the edge of the spec-
• Table 2 indicates that for a 3-D surface flaw
imen. For d/t > 0.7, the anti-wing cracks was
(d/t < 1) under biaxial compression, the average
formed by the extension of the wing cracks.
energy released from the wing cracks is the lowest.
– With d/t increased, the restriction of the flaw
The released AE energy from the wing cracks 1.4 to
plan reduced. Thus the stress for crack initiation
5.5 times lower than the anti-wing cracks. In the case
decreased. The growth length of the wing cracks
of 2-D flaw (d/t = 1), although the anti-wing cracks
was longer, and the growth rate was faster.
were formed by the extension of the wing cracks, the
average energy released from the anti-wing cracks Although some results have been obtained from
is 3.9 times higher than that of the energy from the this study, it is not fully understood why the energy
wing cracks. released from the anti-wing cracks is higher than that
• The energy released from the compressive cracks is from the wing cracks. Thus, in future studies, more
the highest among the four types of crack pattern. strain gages should be mounted on the specimen sur-
Small fragments spalling off from the compressive face to investigate the deformation and AE energy
flaw tip can be observed in all the specimens under released from the 3-D surface flaw. Furthermore, the
uniaxial and biaxial compressions. anti-wing cracks grow faster in all specimens con-
• The energy released from the cracks seems to taining the 3-D surface flaw under both uniaxial and
increase with the d/t. However, the tests were biaxial compressions. Thus, the analysis of anti-wing

572
cracks cannot be ignored in the sliding 3-D surface
crack model.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study is supported by the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University to RHC Wong (A-PE46, PolyU5285/05E),
the National Science Foundation of China to W.S.
Zhu (40212120, 90510019 and 50579033), and the
National Basic Research Program (973 Program) of
China to W.S. Zhu and S.C. Li (2002CB 412705).
REFERENCES
Guo, Y.S.H., Wong, R.H.C., Chau, K.T., Zhu, W.S. & Li, S.C.
2006. Crack growth mechanisms from 3-D surface flaw
with varied dipping angle under uniaxial compression. In
Asian Pacific Conference on Fracture and Strength, Sanya,
Hainan Island, China, p. 335.
Teng, C., Yin, X., Li, S. & Chai, D. 1987. Experimental
study of three dimensional fracture in plate specimen with
573
non-penetrating crack. ACTA Geophysical Sinca 30(4):
371–378.
Wong, R.H.C., Huang, M.L., Jiao, M.R., Tang, C.A. &
Zhu, W. 2003. The mechanisms of crack propagation from
surface 3-D fracture under uniaxial compression. Key Eng.
Materials: 261–263, 219–224.
Wong, R.H.C., Law, C.M., Chau, K.T. & Zhu, W.S. 2004.
Crack propagation from 3-D surface fractures in PMMA
and marble specimens under uniaxial compression. Int. J.
of Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 41(3): 360.
Wong, R.H.C., Guo,Y.S.H., Li, L.Y., Chau, K.T., Zhu, W.S. &
Li, S.C. 2006a. Anti-wing crack growth from surface flaw
in real rock under uniaxial compression. In 16th Euro-
pean Conference of Fracture (ECF16), Alexandroupolis,
Greece, p. 825.
Wong, R.H.C., Guo, Y.S.H., Chau, K.T., Zhu, W.S. & Li, S.C.
2006b. The fracture mechanism of 3-D surface flaw with
strain and acoustic emission measurement under axial
compression. In Asian Pacific Conference on Fracture and
Strength, Sanya, Hainan Lsland, China, p. 336.
Yin, X., Li, S., Teng, C., Li, H. & Li, J. 1989. An experimental
investigation on the extension of non-penetrating cracks
in rocks and other brittle solids. Earthquake Research in
China 3: 1–11.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Sliding crack model for the uniaxial compression of rock

E. David
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, Paris, France

R.W. Zimmerman
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

ABSTRACT: Uniaxial compression tests on rocks, if conducted at stresses below failure, typically show non-
linearity in the stress-strain curve, and hysteresis. Walsh (J. Geophys. Res., 1965) explained this behavior in
terms of frictional sliding along the faces of closed cracks. Although well known and widely cited, Walsh’s
model has not previously been developed in sufficient detail to be used for quantitative predictions. We revisit
and extend his model, by including the effect of the stress required to close an initially open crack, and we
examine the unloading process in detail. Our analysis leads to closed-form expressions for the loading and
unloading portions of the stress-strain curve, as functions of elastic modulus of the uncracked rock, the crack
density, the characteristic aspect ratio, and the crack friction coefficient. The model provides a good fit to the
loading and unloading portions of the stress-strain curves, for experimental data on sandstones taken from the
literature.

1 INTRODUCTION Under deviatoric loading, the effect of cracks is

The mechanical behavior of rocks is to a great extent
controlled by the presence of cracks and crack-like
voids. This is true both with regards to the elastic
behavior of the rock (see Jaeger et al. 2007), and with
regards to inelastic processes such as yielding and fail-
ure (Paterson & Wong 2005). In 1965, Walsh (1965a,
b ,c) published a set of three papers that provide the
conceptual basis of much of our understanding of the
influence of cracks on elastic rock deformation. Under
hydrostatic loading (Walsh 1965a), open cracks ini-
tially (i.e., at low stresses) contribute an excess compli-
ance to the rock. But each crack closes up at a stress that
is roughly equal to αE , where E is theYoung’s modulus
of the uncracked rock, and α is the initial aspect ratio
of the crack. After a crack is closed, it is assumed to
make no contribution to the behavior of the rock under
hydrostatic loading, because the loading is assumed to
cause no tangential traction on a closed crack face.This
model has been extended (Morlier 1973, Zimmerman
1991) to account for the presence of a distribution
of aspect ratios. The resulting models successfully
explain how the bulk compressibility of a cracked rock
decreases with increasing confining pressure, eventu-
ally leveling off to a value that reflects the intrinsic
compressibility of the minerals, along with the influ-
ence of any non-closable “equi-dimensional” pores.
more complicated. Consider the case of uniaxial com-
pressive loading, and imagine that there is only one
crack, oriented at some angle to the direction of the
applied load. Initially, the crack is open, and con-
tributes an additional compliance to the rock. At a
certain stress, related to the initial aspect ratio and the
angle of orientation, the crack will close, causing the
effective Young’s modulus to increase. Depending on
the angle of orientation, a further increase in axial load
may cause the two crack faces to begin to slide. In this
situation, the crack contributes to the overall compli-
ance, but by an amount that is different than that of
either an open crack or a non-sliding closed crack. If
the axial load is decreased, the cracks will eventually
undergo reverse sliding, but in a way that is “asym-
metric” with respect to loading and unloading. Hence,
the stress-strain curve will exhibit hysteresis.
Walsh (1965b) modeled the cracks as two-
dimensional elliptical voids, utilising the known solu-
tion (Stevenson 1945) to the elasticity problem for a
crack under compression oriented at some arbitrary
angle to the crack plane. The constitutive frictional law
for closed crack faces was taken to be the classical law
of Amontons, in which, during quasi-static sliding, the
tangential traction τ acting on the closed crack faces
must exceed µσ , where σ is the normal traction and
µ is the friction coefficient. We will follow Walsh’s

575
approach, but with a few modifications and extensions. σ
Firstly, Walsh’s analysis was a mixture of two- and
three-dimensional considerations, in that elasticity
solutions for two-dimensional cracks were used, yet
the cracks were assumed to be three-dimensional
objects with their normal vectors distributed randomly
β
in three-dimensional space. Although this has little
fundamental influence on the results, the hybrid nature
of Walsh’s approach renders it difficult to reproduce L
2c
and extend the model. Hence, we assume a thin plate-
like specimen in which all the cracks lie parallel to
the “thin” direction, and then consistently use a plane
stress analysis. Our results can be converted into those
applicable for plane strain by a simple re-definition of t
the Young’s modulus. b
More fundamentally, Walsh simplified his calcula-
tions dramatically by assuming that the stress required Figure 1. Thin plate of dimensions L × b × t, containing a
single elliptical crack whose plane makes an angle β with the
to close an initially open crack was negligible com- direction of the applied compressive stress, σ .
pared to the actual applied stress. As the stress required
to close a crack increases drastically as the plane of
the crack approaches the direction of loading, this 2 EFFECT OF A SINGLE CRACK DURING
assumption can never be true for many of the cracks. LOADING
We have eliminated this assumption, and consider
both the closure process and the subsequent sliding Consider a rock specimen of length L, width b, and
process. Finally, although Walsh showed that the effec- thickness t, containing a single open elliptical crack
tive elastic modulus at the onset of unloading will of half-length c, subjected to a uniaxial compression
be nearly equal to the modulus of the hypothetical σ in the longitudinal direction (Fig. 1). The effective
uncracked rock, he did not explicitly model the unload- Young’s modulus of this specimen can be defined by
ing process. We extend the analysis to cover the entire
unloading portion of the stress-strain curve.
In the decades following Walsh’s original paper,
several researchers have developed this model further,
in various directions. Kachanov (1982) developed a where W is the excess energy stored in the rock due
formalism for treating sliding on a system of randomly to the presence of the crack.
oriented penny-shaped cracks, including the effects of If the crack is open, and the plane that it lies in (i.e.,
both an axial load and a lateral (traditional triaxial) not its normal vector) is oriented at an angle β to the
confining stress, but assumed, as did Walsh, that the direction of loading, the excess energy term is, under
crack faces were initially closed. Horii and Nemat- the assumption of plane stress, equal to (Walsh 1965b)
Nasser (1983) considered a sliding-crack model based
on three-dimensional penny-shaped cracks, but treated
in detail only the two limiting cases of µ = 0 and
µ = ∞. Lawn & Marshall (1998) extended Walsh’s
model by adding a cohesion term to the frictional con-
stitutive law for the cracks, thereby allowing the model This result can be transformed into one appropriate for
to predict yield-type behavior, but again retained plane strain by replacing E by E/(1 − ν 2 ), where ν is
the simplification of assuming that the compressive the Poisson’s ratio of the uncracked rock. To simplify
stress required to initially close a crack is negligi- the notation, we will consider the case of plane stress,
ble. Despite the extensive analysis presented in these in which case ν does not appear. However, the term
and other works, the full implications of Walsh’s fric- (1 − ν 2 ) is usually very close to unity, in any event.
tional sliding crack model do not yet seem to have Hence, the effective modulus of a rock containing this
been explicitly developed for the entire loading and single crack will be
unloading process.
We note in passing that a much larger number of
papers have been devoted to models in which cracks
propagate under suitably large applied loads, giving
rise to inelastic behavior. The phenomenon of crack where γ = c2 /bL is the two-dimensional crack density
extension is outside the intended scope of our model. parameter.

576
 Now consider the case when the crack is closed, so
that the two opposing faces are in contact and sliding
past each other. The energy, supplied by the external
load, that is required to cause the crack faces to slide
is given by (Walsh 1965b)
where σ sin βcosβ = τ is the resolved shear traction
along the crack plane, and τf is the frictional trac-
tion that resists the sliding. Adopting the simplest law
of sliding friction, we assume that τf will equal µσn ,
where µ is the friction coefficient, and σn is the nor-
mal traction acting on the crack surface. Following
Walsh’s argument, if σc is the normal stress necessary
to cause the crack faces to close up and come into
contact, then the actual “effective” value of the nor-
eff
mal traction acting on the crack will be σn = σn − σc .
But σn = σ sin2 β, so, combining all of these relations
gives
In conjunction with the general expression (1), we can
then say that the effective elastic modulus for the rock
containing a single sliding crack will be
Finally, we note that if a crack is closed but not sliding,
it makes no contribution to the energy, and hence no
contribution to the elastic modulus.
2.1 Criterion for a crack to be open or closed
Although we now have relations for the effects on the
elastic modulus of an open crack or a closed sliding
crack, it remains for us to derive criteria to decide
whether or not a given crack is open or closed, or,
if closed, to decide if it is sliding. The normal stress σc
required to close an elliptical crack whose initial aspect
ratio is α is Eα/2 (Sneddon 1946). Note that we define
α to be the ratio of the minor axis to major axis, so that
α < 1. Furthermore, by our definition, α is the initial
aspect ratio of the crack, at zero load. The model of
Walsh, as well as the other models mentioned above,
can be interpreted as corresponding to the idealized
case of α = 0.
The resolved normal traction on the face of the
crack is σn = σ sin2 β, so the criterion for a crack
to be open at an applied compressive stress σ is
σ sin2 β < σc = Eα/2. Hence, at a given stress σ , a
crack will be open if β < βc , and closed if β > βc ,
where the critical angle βc is given by
577
If we normalize the stresses with respect to the crack
closure stress, the critical angle can be expressed as
Cracks at all orientations will be open at stresses below
σc , which is to say, at normalized stresses below 1.
When σ̂ = 1, βc (σ̂ ) = π/2, and only those cracks that
are precisely normal to the loading direction will close.
As σ increases, cracks that are oriented at smaller
angles to the loading axis will close, since (8) shows
that the critical angle βc (σ̂ ) decreases as σ̂ increases.
2.2 Criterion for a crack to be sliding
For a crack to be sliding, it must of course already be
closed. Hence, one
 necessary condition for sliding is
β > βc = arcsin 1/σ̂ . However, we must also con-
sider the fact that sliding can occur only if the shear
traction exceeds the frictional resistive traction, which
is to say, the parenthesized term in eq. (5) must be
positive, i.e.,
Using standard trigonometric identities, this condition
can be rearranged into the form
It can be shown that when σ̂ = 1, βs = π/2, and when
σ̂ → ∞, βs → arctan(1/µ). Moreover, it can also be
verified numerically that, for all normalized stresses
σ̂ > 1, the critical angle for sliding, βs , as given by
(10), exceeds the critical angle for closure, βc , as given
by (8).
To summarize, then, if σ̂ < 1, a crack at any orien-
tation to the axial load will be open. If σ̂ > 1, cracks
will be open if β < βc , and closed if β > βc , where the
critical angle for closure is given by (8). A closed crack
will be sliding if βc < β < βs , and will not be sliding
if βs < β < π/2, where the critical angle for sliding is
given by (10). Since βc < βs for all σ̂ > 1, there will
always be a range of crack orientations for which slid-
ing will occur. The situation is illustrated in Figure 2.
3 LOADING OF A ROCK CONTAINING
RANDOMLY ORIENTED CRACKS
Now imagine that the rock contains a distribution
of N cracks, each with the same size, and with
their orientation angles uniformly distributed. By
symmetry, we need only consider the range of val-
ues 0 ≤ β ≤ π/2. To simplify the calculations, we
 σ From (3), the compliance due to the open cracks,
when σ̂ > 1, is

βc
βs

closed, not sliding

closed, sliding

open Note that γ represents the total crack density; the

Figure 2. Three cracks at different orientations, under a
given compressive stress, σ . One of the cracks is open, one is
closed but not sliding, and the other is closed and sliding. The
critical angles that delineate these three regimes are given by
Eqn. (8) and (10).
proportions of the cracks that are open or sliding
are accounted for by the stress-dependent limits of
integration.
From (6) the compliance due to the sliding cracks
is given by

invoke the ‘no-interaction” approximation, in which

the excess energy due to each crack is computed as
if it were an isolated crack in an infinite body (Walsh
1965b, Zimmerman 1985). This approximation is by
definition very accurate at low crack densities, but
becomes increasingly in error as the crack density
increases. However, Grechka & Kachanov (2006) have
recently showed, by comparison with numerical sim-
ulations, that the no-interaction approximation has a
much greater range (with respect to crack density)
of applicability than one might expect. Neverthe-
less, alternative methods to approximately account
for crack-crack interactions are discussed below in
section 6.
In the regime σ̂ < 1, all cracks are still open. Since
the contributions of each crack to the compliance will
be additive, we can average the right-hand side of (3)
over the entire range 0 ≤ β ≤ π/2, to find
where βc and βs are given by (8) and (10), respec-
tively. The full expression for the elastic modulus is
then given by 1/Ê = 1 + Copen + Csliding .
4 EFFECT OF CRACKS DURING UNLOADING
Assume now that the compressive load has increased
to some value σ  , after which it begins to decrease. A
decrease in the compressive stress can be through of
as a superposition of a tensile stress, i.e., a stress of the
opposite sign. If the applied stress is reduced from σ 
to some value σ , where σ = σ  − σ , there will be an
associated decrease τ in the shear traction acting on
the crack, and a decrease τf in the frictional resistive
traction. Reverse sliding will occur if (Walsh 1965b)

where γ = Nc2 /bL is the standard two-dimensional

crack density parameter. If we define a normalised
elastic modulus as Ê = Eeff /E, then the normalised where
modulus for a body containing N randomly distributed
open cracks will be Ê = 1/(1 + γ ).
For σ̂ > 1, we must integrate the right-hand term
in (3) for those cracks that are open, i.e., β < βc ,
and the right-hand side of (6) for those closed cracks
that are sliding, i.e., βc < β < βs . As mentioned above,
cracks for which β > βs will be closed and not slid-
ing, and so make no contribution to the energy After some trigonometric manipulation, we find
budget. We now introduce the obvious temporary that reverse sliding will occur if the stress during
notation 1/Ê = 1 + Copen + Csliding , where the C terms unloading satisfies the following criteria:
are compliances due to the open and sliding cracks,
respectively.

578
where the critical (maximum) angle for reverse sliding
is given by
By analogy with (4) and (13), and making use of (15)-
(17), the excess compliance contributed to those cracks
that are undergoing reverse sliding will be given by
The full expression for the elastic modulus is now
given by 1/Ê = 1 + Copen + Creverse , with Copen given
by (12), and Creverse given by (20).
In order to initiate reverse sliding, (14) shows
that the tangential traction must not merely start to
decrease, but must decrease by a finite amount. Hence,
at the onset of unloading, any cracks that had not yet
closed during loading will remain open, those closed
cracks that had not been sliding remain “stuck”, but
those cracks that had been sliding will now also be
stuck. Hence, the elastic modulus increases by a finite
amount at the start of unloading, and so the rock will
unload at a steeper slope (when plotted as stress vs.
strain) than it had at the end of the loading phase.
This model therefore does indeed predict the hysteresis
that is typically observed in real uniaxial stress-strain
curves (Morgenstern & Tamuly Phukan 1969, Guyer
et al. 1997, Nihei et al. 2000).
5 EFFECT OF THE VARIOUS PARAMETERS
Expressions for the evolution of the elastic modu-
lus with the applied macroscopic stress have been
derived, for both the loading and unloading regime.
The strain can be calculated
 σ by integrating the relation
dε = dσ/Eeff , i.e., ε = 0 (dσ/Eeff ). From our defini-
tions of normalized stress and modulus, a normalized
strain can be defined by d ε̂ = d σ̂ /Ê. It follows from
our previous definitions of σ and E that ε̂ = 2ε/α.
Except for the regime of σ̂ < 1, when all cracks are
still open, the strain must be calculated by numerical
integration.
Numerous graphs of the behavior of Ê and ε̂ as
functions of σ̂ have been presented by David (2006),
to illustrate the effects of the various parameters. Here,
we make only a few qualitative comments. The nor-
malized modulus, Ê = Eeff /E, scales inversely with
579
the modulus of the uncracked rock, E. Hence, the
dependence on E is somewhat trivial.
Because we used the no-interaction approximation
for calculating the effective modulus, the compliance
(1/Ê) is a linear function of crack density. Hence, if all
other parameters are held constant, the compliance will
be a linear function of γ , although this simple behavior
is masked when the modulus is plotted instead of the
compliance.
The aspect ratio enters the model only through the
definition of the dimensionless stress, σ̂ = 2σ/Eα.
Since Ê is independent of stress for σ̂ < 1, the aspect
ratio controls the stress level at which nonlinear
behavior begins.
The only parameter whose influence cannot be seen
in a clear manner from the equations is the friction
coefficient, µ. Indeed, the graphs presented by David
(2006) show no simple pattern, due to the complex
behavior caused by different cracks being mobilized
during loading and unloading.
6 APPLICATION TO EXPERIMENTAL DATA
David (2006) has applied this model to several sets of
uniaxial compression data. However, it is known that
for unconfined compression tests, frictional effects
between the rock specimen and the loading platen lead
to experimental artifacts in the stress-strain curve that
can be quite pronounced in the low stress range. David
(2006) found that the model could give very good fits
to the data of Guyer et al. (1997) and Nihei et al. (2000)
if the data below 4 MPa were ignored.
Bésuelle discussed these experimental issues in
detail, and made great efforts to avoid these frictional
artifacts. He loaded a specimen of Vosges sandstone
up to 23 MPa, and unloaded back down to zero axial
load, with a small confining stress of 0.1 MPa (Fig. 3).
We used a nonlinear least-squares method to fit our
model to his data, with E, α, γ and µ as the fit-
ting parameters. Note that E in this context represents
the modulus of the “uncracked” rock, which reflects
the influence of any non-closable, equi-dimensional
pores. Hence, it should be less, by a factor of 2–3,
than the mean modulus of the minerals that comprise
the rock (Zimmerman 1991). Furthermore, when the
model is applied to sandstones, the cracks must be
interpreted as partially-contacting grain boundaries.
The residuals tend to have broad minima over fairly
large regions of the parameter space, and the exact
“best fitting” values are slightly sensitive to the num-
ber of data points used for the fits. Hence, the precise
values of the fitted parameters are of less interest
than the question of whether or not the entire hys-
teretic curve can be fit using reasonable values of
the parameters. Figure 3 shows the fit obtained using
the values E = 13 ± 1 MPa, α = 1.2 × 10−3 ± 10−5 ,

Figure 3. Uniaxial stress–strain curve of Vosges sandstone.
Data points are the values measured by Bésuelle (1999); curve
is generated by our sliding-crack model. Parameter values
used in the model are discussed in the text.
γ = 1.5 ± 0.25, and µ = 0.60 ± 0.05. The best-fitting
parameters were E = 10 ± 1 MPa, α = 10−3 ± 10−5 ,
γ = 2.25 ± 0.25, and µ = 0.95 ± 0.05. Considering
the highly-nonlinear and hysteretic shape of the stress-
strain curve, it can be said that the model does a very
good job of capturing its essential features. Moreover,
the values of the parameters used in this fit are all
reasonable.
Nevertheless, the best-fitting crack density of 2.25
might be difficult to accept. This high crack density
may be an artifact of having neglected stress-field
interactions between nearby cracks. If we had utilized
the differential effective medium theory (Zimmerman
1985, Hashin 1988) instead of the no-interaction
approximation, for example, then the effective mod-
ulus of the case of open cracks, as given by (11),
would be replaced by Ê = exp (−γ ). Hence, if one
uses our model to fit experimental data, the best-fitting
value of the crack density, according to the differen-
tial theory, would be related to that obtained from the
no-interaction theory by γdemt = ln(1 + γni ). So, for
example, the crack density inferred from Bésuelle’s
data for Vosges sandstone would be only 1.18. As all
effective medium theories that attempt to account for
crack-crack interactions predict an enhanced effect of
crack density on the elastic modulus, using any of
these other theories in place of the no-interaction the-
ory would lead to a smaller, and presumably more
realistic, value of the crack density. However, the
contentious question of which effective medium the-
ory best accounts for interactions between cracks is
beyond the scope of our present work.
7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Walsh’s conceptual model for the effect of sliding
cracks on the uniaxial loading of a rock in its elastic
range has been extended throughout the entire loading
580
and unloading cycle. Closed form expressions have
been developed for the evolution of the elastic modu-
lus as a function of the applied stress. The model has
been found to provide good fits to experimental data
on the deformation of some consolidated sandstones.
REFERENCES
Bésuelle, P. 1999. Deformation and rupture in soft rocks and
indurate solids: homogeneous behaviour and localization.
PhD thesis, University Joseph-Fourier Grenoble I.
David, E. 2006. Modeling of the stress-strain behavior of
a rock under uniaxial compression. MSc report, Royal
Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
Grechka, V. & Kachanov, M. 2006. Effective elasticity of
rocks with closely spaced and intersecting cracks. Geo-
physics 71: D85–D91.
Guyer, R.A., McCall, K.R. & Boitnott, G.N. 1997. Quantita-
tive implementation of Preisach-Mayergoyz space to find
static and dynamic elastic moduli in rock. J. Geophys.
Res. B 103: 5281–5293.
Hashin, Z. 1988. The differential scheme and its applications
to cracked materials. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 36: 719–734.
Horii, H. & Nemat-Nasser, S. Overall moduli of solids
with microcracks: load-induced anisotropy. J. Mech. Phys.
Solids 31: 155–171.
Jaeger, J.C., Cook, N.G.W. & Zimmerman, R.W. 2007. Fun-
damentals of Rock Mechanics, 4th ed. Oxford: Blackwell.
Kachanov, M.L. 1982. A microcrack model of rock inelastic-
ity. Part I: Frictional sliding on microcracks. Mech. Mater.
1: 19–27.
Lawn, B.R. & Marshall, D.B. 1998. Nonlinear stress-strain
curves for solids containing closed cracks with friction. J.
Mech. Phys. Solids 46: 85–113.
Morgenstern, N.R. & Tamuly Phukan, A.L. 1969. Non-linear
stress strain relations for a homogeneous sandstone. Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 6: 127–142.
Morlier, P. 1971. Description de l’etát de fissuration d’une
roche à partir d’essais non-destructifs simples (Descrip-
tion of the state of fracturisation of a rock through simple
non-destructive tests). Rock Mech. 3: 125–138.
Nihei, K.T., Hilbert, L.B., Cook, N.G.W., Nakagawa, S. &
Myer, L.R. 2000. Frictional effects on the volumetric
strain of sandstones. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 37:
121–132.
Paterson, M.S. & Wong, T.F. 2005. Experimental Rock
Deformation – the Brittle Field, 2nd ed. Berlin: Springer.
Sneddon, I.N. 1946. The distribution of stresses in the neigh-
bourhood of a crack in an elastic solid. Proc. Roy. Soc.
Lond. 187: 229–260.
Stevenson, A.C. 1945. Complex potentials in two-
dimensional elasticity. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. 184:
129–179.
Walsh, J.B. 1965a. The effect of cracks on the compressibility
of rocks. J. Geophys. Res. 70: 381–389.
Walsh, J.B. 1965b. The effect of cracks on the uniaxial
compression of rock. J. Geophys. Res. 70: 399–411.
Walsh, J.B. 1965c. The effect of cracks in rocks on Poisson’s
ratio. J. Geophys. Res. 70: 5249–5257.
Zimmerman, R.W. 1985. Effect of microcracks on the elastic
moduli of brittle solids. J. Mater. Sci. Letts. 4: 1457–1460.
Zimmerman, R.W. 1991. Compressibility of Sandstones.
Amsterdam: Elsevier.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Coalescence behavior in Carrara marble and molded gypsum containing

artificial flaw pairs under uniaxial compression

L.N.Y. Wong & H.H. Einstein

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

ABSTRACT: Laboratory uniaxial compression tests were conducted on prismatic, molded gypsum and Carrara
marble specimens containing two pre-existing artificial straight open flaws. Crack initiation and the sequence
of the development of multiple cracks were observed by using a high speed camera. Besides confirming certain
coalescence types seen in previous research, additional new coalescence types were observed in the present
study. In addition, the crack initiation stresses and the overall strength of the specimens were measured.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. Various specimen parameters and loading condi-

Crack coalescence, which is the linkage of pre-existing
fractures by new cracks is common in nature over a
wide range of scales from millimeters (e.g. Wang &
Kemeny 1992) to meters (e.g. Kim et al. 2003). As
an extension of the work presented last year (Wong &
Einstein 2006), which studied the fracturing behav-
ior in specimens containing single artificial flaws, the
present experimental study investigated the interaction
(coalescence) of two artificial flaws in Carrara mar-
ble and laboratory-molded gypsum specimens. The
use of a high speed video system allows one to pre-
cisely observe the cracking mechanisms, in particular
if shear or tensile fracturing takes place and to estab-
lish the sequence of the development of multiple new
cracks. The observed coalescence behavior is very
complex regarding the type of coalescence cracks
(shear & tensile) and the number of coalescence cracks
involved.
2 EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Specimen preparation
Molded gypsum has been used in the MIT rock
mechanics group for the study of initiation, propa-
gation and coalescence of rock fractures since the
late 1960’s (e.g. Einstein et al. 1969, Einstein &
Hirschfeld 1973). Systematic investigations have been
undertaken in the past 15 years to study the influ-
ence of various material and geometric parameters
and loading conditions (Table 1) on the coalescence
behavior experimentally (Reyes & Einstein 1991, Shen
et al. 1995, Bobet & Einstein 1998, Ko et al. 2006,
tions tested by MIT rock mechanics group.
Specimen • rock type (molded gypsum, Barre granite,
Parameters Vermont marble, Carrara marble)
• number of flaws (single vs double)
• flaw nature (closed vs open)
• flaw aperture (0.1 mm vs 1.3 mm)
• flaw inclination angle∗
• bridging angle∗
• ligament length∗
Loading • uniaxial compression
Conditions • biaxial compression
• uniaxial cyclic loading
∗
Refer to Figure 1 for schematic representation.
Wong & Einstein 2006). Note also that Bobet con-
tinued his work started at MIT at Purdue University
(e.g. Sagong & Bobet 2002) with testing on other flaw
geometries. Crack coalescence research has also been
actively carried out by other research groups recently
on various geo-materials and flaw geometries (e.g. Li
et al. 2005, Mughieda & Alzo’ubi 2004, Wong & Chau
1998). From now on, the term “flaw” will be used to
describe an artificially created, pre-existing crack or
fracture.
For the sake of consistency, the same proce-
dures of specimen preparation and creation of open
flaws as used in previous studies (Wong & Einstein
2006) were followed. Prismatic specimens (6 ×
3 × 1.25 ; ∼152 mm × ∼76 mm × ∼32 mm) of arti-
ficially molded Hydrocal-B11 gypsum and Carrara
marble (made available by Prof. Brian Evans, MIT)
containing two open straight flaws (0.5 ; 12.7 mm
long) oriented at different angles were prepared

581
Figure 1. (i) Dimensions of a prismatic specimen containing
a pair of straight flaws. (ii) geometry of a flaw pair defined
by bridging angle (α), flaw inclination angle (β) and ligament
length (L).
(Fig. 1i). All the flaws in gypsum and marble have
rounded tips. The gypsum specimens were cast from
a mixture of Hydrocal B-11 powder, celite powder
and water at mass ratios of 700:8:280. Open flaws
were created by inserting metal shims into a fresh
gypsum paste. When the paste became hardened, the
shims were removed leaving straight openings inside
the specimens. The tip regions were then rounded by
a wire saw. The flaws in marble were created using an
OMAX abrasive jet, which ejected a high-speed stream
of garnet abrasive-laden water onto marble specimens.
Its extremely high erosive power was able to create
straight flaws within a few seconds.
Various stepped flaw pair geometries (Fig. 1ii) were
prepared by systematically altering the bridging angle
(α = −60◦ , −30◦ , 0◦ , 30◦ , 60◦ , 90◦ , 120◦ ), while fix-
ing the flaw inclination (β = 30◦ ). Ligament length
and flaw length were equal to 12.7 mm. Flaw pairs of
different stepping relationships and various degree of
overlapping were thus obtained (Fig. 2). Two and four
specimens were tested for each flaw-pair geometry
in marble and gypsum respectively. An extra speci-
men was tested when inconsistent coalescence patterns
were observed.
2.2 Loading test
The specimens were loaded uniaxially to failure
in a Baldwin 200 Kips Loading Machine, which
was controlled by a computer program called
MTESTWindows™. Load and displacement data
were automatically logged at a rate of 2000 sam-
ples/minute (0.03 second sampling interval). The frac-
turing behavior was continuously video-taped by a
SONY digital camcorder (DCR-HC65). The specimen
front face was also simultaneously monitored by the
PHANTOM V5.0 high speed recording system, which
was triggered manually to capture images when the
582
Figure 2. Geometrical relationship between pre-existing
flaws.
coalescence crack(s) developed or specimen failure
occurred. This system was capable of capturing up to
3800 frames per second and the captured video could
cover images several seconds prior to and during spec-
imen failure. The actual time period of the recordings
depends on the pre-set frame rate and the resolution of
the images. By adopting an appropriate combination
of frame rate and image resolution, it was thus possible
to view the cracking mechanisms precisely and with
sufficient details, in particular to determine if shear or
tensile fracturing was taking place.
3 ANALYSIS
Figure 3 shows a Carrara marble specimen before and
after the uniaxial compression testing. In addition to
the coalescence cracks developed between the inner
flaw tips regions, other new cracks also developed,
preferentially from the outer flaw tips.
The corresponding stress-strain (σ-ε) curve was
also plotted (Fig. 4), on which the maximum stress
(uniaxial compressive strength) of the specimen was
identified. Notice that the camcorder video recording,
high speed video recording and the logging of the load-
displacement data were all operated independently
during the experiment, i.e. they were not automati-
cally synchronized. The key step in the analysis was
thus to correlate the stress-strain data with the two
video recordings. The following phenomena recorded

Figure 3. A marble specimen (number 2a-30-90-A) of
flaw inclination angle β = 30◦ and bridging angle α = 90◦
(i) before and (ii) after uniaxial compression. The two
coalescence cracks are marked by a pair of horizontal arrows.
Figure 4. Stress-strain curve of the marble specimen
(2a-30-90-A) shown in Figure 2. σ R is the crack initiation
stress ratio defined in equation (1) and εR is the uniaxial
strain ratio defined in equation (2).
during the tests and subsequent analyses served this
purpose.
• A distinct cracking sound (recorded by the cam-
corder) due to the initiation of a new crack often
corresponded to an abrupt change of gradient on
the σ-ε curve.
• Images corresponding to the onset of several rela-
tively large and abrupt deformation cracking-related
events close to specimen failure were first iden-
tified. Since these events (e.g. initiation of a new
shear crack, reduction of flaw aperture size, surface
spalling around flaw tips) were usually associated
with multiple identifiable stress drops on the σ-ε
curve, the high speed video recording could then be
synchronized with the σ-ε curve.
After synchronizing the videos with the σ-ε curve,
the next tasks were to (i) identify the mode of initiation
583
(shear vs tensile) of the new cracks, and (2) estab-
lish the sequence of the development of those new
cracks. Extreme care was exercised in differentiating
true shear cracks from tensile cracks which were sub-
jected to a later shearing. The development of white
patches (see below for explanation) and fracturing pro-
cesses of the marble specimen shown in Figure 3 is
illustrated in Figure 5.
In Figure 5, every crack (thin solid line) and/or other
features (see below) related to the cracking process are
identified by reference letters, e.g. B, C etc. These let-
ters are only for identification purposes and they do
not imply any crack initiation sequence. Each letter is
then followed by a letter T or S in parentheses, which
refers to the tensile or shear mode of crack initiation.
The sequence of crack initiation is indicated by num-
bers shown as subscripts at the end. The first crack
to initiate is designated as 1, the second as 2, etc. The
same number will be assigned to multiple cracks which
initiate simultaneously. Take G (T)5 as an example. It
was identified to initiate in a tensile mode from tip
Z of the top flaw after the initiation of other cracks
with numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. A pair of arrows over its
trace indicates that shearing occurred along it after its
initiation as a tensile crack. Note however that feature
A, for instance, which is represented by a thick grey
line, is not a crack in this specimen. It is a white patch,
which is speculated to be the process zone, initiating
from the lower face of the bottom flaw which has a
wing shape without observable cracking.
Apart from the above identifiers, two more param-
eters are defined. The crack initiation stress ratio σ R
is defined as
The smaller the σ R value, the earlier the first crack ini-
tiates relative to the specimen maximum stress. A σ R
value equal to one indicates that the initiation of the
first cracks is concurrent with the maximum stress. In
Figure 5, σ R for the initiation of crack B is 0.894 (stage
4), which means that additional loading is required
to “fail” the specimen. Since coalescence can occur
before, at or after the occurrence of maximum stress,
there will be confusion in using σ R to describe the
temporal relationship between coalescence and maxi-
mum stress. Another parameter called uniaxial strain
ratio εR is thus defined:
In the illustration shown in Figure 5, the εR corre-
sponding to the coalescence event achieved by cracks
C and D is 1.017 (stage 8), i.e. coalescence occurs after
the occurrence of specimen maximum stress. See also
Figure 4 for reference.

Figure 5. Development of white patches and fracturing pro-
cesses of the marble specimen shown in Figure 3. Refer to
the text for explanation of notations.
584
Figure 6. (i) View of white patches in marble with incipient
localized tensile cracking at the top segment of white patch
A. (ii) As loading increased, complete tensile crack opening
occurred along white patch A. Cracking occurred at the top
segment of white patch B, but not at its bottom segment.
No observable crack opening along white patch C. Specimen
number is 2a-30-(-60)-A.
4 CRACK INITIATION AND
PROPAGATION
In gypsum, the cracking process is relatively more
elastic and brittle than in marble. The growth of tensile
wing cracks (TWCs) and other types of tensile cracks
in gypsum was very rapid and was not accompanied by
a prior development of observable white patches (see
below for marble). The crack propagation was so fast
that the incremental growth of the tensile cracks nor-
mally could not be captured by the high speed camera
even with a frame rate as high as 3800 pps.
Similar to what was previously observed in marble
specimens containing single flaws (Wong & Einstein
2006), distinctively white zones, indicating the pres-
ence of process zones also developed in the marble
containing double flaws during the early stage of the
loading process. They developed much earlier than the
actual initiation of the first observable cracks. Those
initially short and narrow white patches, which devel-
oped close to/around flaw tips continued to grow in
length and width stably with increasing stress. As load-
ing continued, cracking (tensile and/or shear) occurred
in these white zones (crack B in Fig. 5, crack A in
Fig. 6). These white patches could also only become
partially cracked (patch B in Fig. 6) or remain as white
patches with no cracking (patch A in Fig. 5, patch C
in Fig. 6) till specimen failure.
The initiation of shear cracks in molded gypsum
and marble is usually associated with localized surface
spalling events, probably related to a local compres-
sion stress field. After the spalling fragments detached
from/fell off from the specimen surface, the trace of
the underlying shear crack was revealed.
5 COALESCENCE BEHAVIOR on molded gypsum specimens (Fig. 10), one can state
that (1) certain coalescence types that were observed
5.1 Coalescence patterns before were again observed (coalescence types, e.g.
I, II, III, etc, are marked beside the sketches in Figs.
The fracturing and coalescence behavior of all gypsum
6–8), (2) a number of new coalescence patterns were
and marble specimens was analyzed using the same
also observed (see Figs. 7–9 and Tables 2–3).
approach as shown in Figure 5, and the coalescence
Note that tensile wing cracks (TWCs) initiated
patterns are summarized in Figures 7 to 9. There are
in specimens containing flaw pairs of high bridg-
several points to note in reading the figures. (1) Only
ing angles (α = 90◦ & 120◦ ) were also the coales-
the coalescence cracks are shown and the traces of
cence cracks in both gypsum and marble (Fig. 9).
other cracks are omitted (in contrast to Fig. 5), (2) The
However, cracks with other trajectories (not showing
traces of white patches in marble are omitted, (3) S
wing shape) were responsible for coalescence in other
and T in parentheses again refer to the mode of crack
initiation (shear vs tensile), (4) The number of cracks
involved in coalescence for each flaw pair geometry
is also shown and the cracks involved are represented
by different traces (dotted and dashed).
Comparing our coalescence results observed in the
present study with those generalized by Sagong &
Bobet (2002) from their experimental study at Purdue
University and previous experimental studies at MIT

Figure 9. Coalescence patterns observed in geometries of

positive bridging angle α = 60◦ , 90◦ and 120◦ . The arrows
indicate the crack propagation direction.

Figure 7. Coalescence patterns observed in geometries of

negative bridging angles α = −60◦ and −30◦ .

Figure 8. Coalescence patterns observed in geometries of Figure 10. Crack coalescence modes in molded gypsum
α = 0◦ (coplanar flaws) and α = 30◦ . observed by Sagong & Bobet (2002).

585
Table 2. New coalescence patterns observed in gypsum.
α New coalescence patterns
−30◦ 2 cracks – Two tensile tip cracks coalesce
(Fig. 6) (1 out of 3 specimens)
−30◦ 3 cracks – An inclined shear crack links up two
(Fig. 6) vertical tensile cracks initiated from the
inner flaw tips (1 out of 3 specimens)
60◦ 3 cracks – Two cracks initiated from the inner
(Fig.8) flaw tips are linked up by a central shear crack
(1 out of 4 specimens)
Table 3. New coalescence patterns observed in marble.
α New coalescence patterns
−60◦ ,−30◦ , 0◦ 3 cracks – An inclined tensile crack links
(Figs. 6 & 7) up two vertical cracks initiated from the
inner flaw tips
120◦ 1 crack – A tensile crack which curves
(Fig. 8) away from the pre-existing flaws links
up flaw tips of the same side.
(1 out of 2 specimens)
geometries. For instance, the coalescence cracks for
α = 30◦ and 60◦ , which linked up the inner flaw
tips, were cracks initiated after the development of
TWCs. Also, at negative bridging angles, coalescence
was not produced by TWCs, but by other tip cracks
including vertical tensile, inclined tensile and inclined
shear cracks (Fig. 7). In some of these specimens,
coalescence was not produced by a single crack, but
by linkage of two or three cracks (e.g. α = 0◦ in mar-
ble, Fig. 8). To summarize, coalescence patterns are
strongly controlled by the geometry of pre-existing
flaw pairs.
6 CRACK INITIATION STRESS AND
SPECIMEN FAILURE STRESS
6.1 Stresses associated with crack initiation
The stresses at which the first crack initiated in the
marble specimens (σc-marble-pair ) are always higher than
those in the gypsum specimens (σc-gypsum-pair ) contain-
ing the same flaw pair geometries (Fig. 11). Both
σc-marble-pair and σc-gypsum-pair reach their minimum at
α = 60◦ , while they reach their maximum at α = −60◦
and α = −30◦ respectively.
The stress at which the first crack initiated in
gypsum specimens (σc-gypsum-single = 29.11 MPa) and
marble specimens (σc-marble-single = 59.59 MPa) con-
taining single flaws inclined at 30◦ inclination angle
(β) obtained in the earlier study (Wong & Einstein
586
80
Crack Initiation Stress (MPa)
60
40
20
0
-60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
Bridging Angle α (°)
marble data marble average
gypsum data gypsum average
gypsum single flaw at 30 degree marble single flaw at 30 degree
(29.11 MPa) (59.59 MPa)
Figure 11. Crack initiation stress versus bridging angle α
in gypsum and marble for flaw pairs of 30◦ flaw inclination
angle.
2006) are also shown in Figure 11 as dashed and dotted
lines respectively. The presence of a neighboring flaw
was found to lower the first crack initiation stress in
gypsum specimens. However, this effect is not obvious
in marble specimens.
From the experiments, tensile wing cracks (TWCs)
are observed to be the first cracks to initiate in gypsum
for all the bridging angles (α) tested. The variation of
σc-gypsum-pair with α might suggest that the presence of a
pre-existing flaw increases the local tensile stress field
around a neighboring pre-existing flaw to a varying
extent which depends on the geometric relationship of
the two flaws.
6.2 Stresses associated with specimen failure
The specimen maximum stresses in the marble spec-
imens (σmax-marble-pair ) are always higher than those
in the gypsum specimens (σmax-gypsum-pair ) contain-
ing the same flaw pair geometries (Fig. 12). Both
σmax-marble-pair and σmax-gypsum-pair reach their minimum
at α = 30◦ . Again, the specimen maximum stresses
of gypsum specimens (σmax-gypsum-single = 36.44 MPa)
and marble specimens (σmax-marble-single = 59.91 MPa)
containing single flaws inclined at 30◦ inclination
angle are also shown in Figure 12 as dashed and dotted
lines respectively for reference. All the gypsum data
points are below the dashed line, which indicates that
gypsum specimens containing two flaws are always
weaker than those containing a single flaw. This con-
clusion cannot be made for marble since data points
above and below the dotted line both exist.
A comparison of Figures 11 and 12 reveals that in
some flaw pair geometries, the initiation of first cracks
was immediately followed by the occurrence of max-
imum stress, i.e. “failure”; while in some geometries,
 80
Specimen Maximum Stress (MPa)

60

60

Stress (MPa)
40
40

20 20

0
-60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 0
Bridging Angle α (°) -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
Bridging Angle α (°)
marble data marble average
gypsum data gypsum average marble white patch initiation data marble white patch initiation average
gypsum single flaw at 30 degree marble single flaw at 30 degree
gypsum crack initiation data gypsum crack initiation average
(36.44 MPa) (59.91 MPa)

Figure 12. Specimen maximum stress versus bridging angle Figure 14. Comparison of first crack initiation stress in gyp-
in gypsum and marble for flaw pairs of 30◦ flaw inclination sum with the stress corresponding to the first white patch
angle. initiation in marble. All flaw pairs were oriented at 30◦ flaw
inclination angle.
1
first cracks in marble occurred when the specimen
maximum stress was reached.
Crack Initiation Stress Ratio

0.8

0.6 7 FIRST CRACKS IN GYPSUM VS WHITE

0.4
0.2
-60 -30
marble data
gypsum data
gypsum single flaw at 30 degree
(0.7965)
Figure 13. Crack initiation stress ratio versus bridging angle
in gypsum and marble for flaw pairs of 30◦ flaw inclination
angle.
the specimens had to be loaded further to reach the
maximum stress. To better show this relationship, the
crack initiation stress ratio (equation 1) is plotted in
Figure 13.
Gypsum and marble display different trends for the
variation of crack initiation stress ratio versus bridg-
ing angle. Similar to the first crack initiation stress
(σc-gypsum-pair in Fig. 11), the maximum and mini-
mum crack initiation stress ratios (σR-gypsum-pair ) in
gypsum also occurred respectively at α = −30◦ and
α = 60◦ . However, the crack initiation stress ratios in
marble specimens (σR-marble-pair ) were close to 1 for
most of the geometries (except those of large posi-
tive bridging angles) and they were always higher than
those in gypsum specimens (σR-gypsum-pair ) containing
the same flaw pair geometries (Fig. 13). Recall that
a σR-marble-pair = 1 indicates that the initiation of the
PATCHES IN MARBLE
In response of loading, the first observable change
in gypsum and marble specimens was respectively
0 30 60 90 120
the initiation of cracks and the development of white
Bridging Angle α (°)
patches. It thus may not be proper to simply compare
first crack initiation stresses in gypsum and mar-
marble average
gypsum average ble as was done above. We thus try to compare the
marble single flaw at 30 degree
(0.9946)
stresses corresponding to the development of the first
observable white patches from the pre-existing flaws in
marble with the first crack initiation stress in gypsum
(Fig. 14). A very similar trend was observed between
these two series of data. A maximum occurred at
α = −30◦ for both materials, and a minimum occurred
at a moderate positive value of α (α = 30◦ in marble,
α = 60◦ in gypsum).
The white patch initiation stress ratio of each mar-

ble specimen (σR-marble-pair ) which is defined in equa-
tion (3) is plotted along with the crack initiation stress
ratio in gypsum (σR-gypsum-pair defined in equation (1))
in Figure 15.
The two materials not only show a similar trend of
variation of stress ratio (σ R in gypsum, σ
R in mar-
ble) with bridging angle, but also have strikingly close
values for negative bridging angles (α = −30◦ & 60◦ )
and small positive bridging angles (α = 0◦ & 30◦ ). The
production of white patches may thus indicate the pres-
ence of microcracks associated with the process zone.

587
 1 (not showing wing shape) and nature (shear/tensile)
0.8
Stress Ratio
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 of variation of stress ratio with bridging angle, but
-60 -30 0 30
Bridging Angle α (°)
marble white patch initiation data
gypsum crack initiation data
Figure 15. Comparison of first crack initiation stress ratio
in gypsum (σR-gypsum-pair ) with the white patch initiation stress

ratio in marble (σR-marble-pair ). All flaw pairs were oriented at
◦
30 flaw inclination angle.
There is thus an analogy between the white patch (pro-
cess zone?) in marble and the first crack occurence in
gypsum. This needs further study, however.
To summarize this section, marble and molded gyp-
sum not only developed similar tensile wing shaped
features during the early stage of loading (cracks in
gypsum, white patches in marble followed by visible
cracking), but also displayed a similar trend of stress
ratio variation with bridging angles.
8 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
In the present study, the fracturing and coalescence
behavior of gypsum and marble specimens containing
double flaws inclined at β = 30◦ was experimentally
studied with a high speed camera. The influence of the
angular relationship between two neighboring flaws
on the coalescence patterns was studied by systemati-
cally varying the bridging angle (α) between the inner
flaw tips.
In both gypsum and marble, tensile wing cracks
(TWCs) were often the first cracks to initiate. Their
initiation was usually followed by the development
of other cracks from the flaw tips. Unique to marble
(not to gypsum), distinctively white zones, which are
speculated to be process zones, developed prior to the
actual initiation of the first observable cracks. Tensile
crack opening or shearing will occur along some of
these white patches, but there are also cases where
no cracking or only partial cracking took place along
these white patches (Section 4).
TWCs initiated in specimens containing flaw pairs
of high bridging angles (α = 90◦ & 120◦ ) were also
the coalescence cracks in both gypsum and mar-
ble (Fig. 9). However, cracks with other trajectories
were responsible for coalescence in other geome-
tries. To summarize, while keeping the ligament length
between the inner flaw tips constant, significantly dif-
ferent coalescence patterns result when the bridging
angle varies.
Comparing the stress ratio for the initiation of the
first white patch in marble with the stress ratio for the
initiation of the first crack in gypsum (Fig. 15), one can
state that both materials not only show a similar trend
60 90 120 also have strikingly close values for negative bridging
angles (α = −30◦ & 60◦ ) and small positive bridging
marble white patch initiation average angles (α = 0◦ & 30◦ ). The formation of white patches
gypsum crack initiation average showing wing appearance in marble and the initiation
of tensile wing cracks in gypsum thus appear to be
similar.
In the present experimental study, the high speed
camera is found useful for observing cracking pro-
cesses, particularly in determining the nature of cracks
(shear vs tensile) and the sequence of crack devel-
opment. Further experimental studies again with the
use of the high speed camera will be conducted to
reveal the influence of other parameters (Table 1) on
the coalescence behavior.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Louis Wong, a PhD candidate at MIT, was sup-
ported by the Croucher Foundation Scholarship and
the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship for Over-
seas Study. The project is also sponsored by the
NSF Geomechanics and Geotechnical Systems Pro-
gram and the US Department of Energy Geothermal
Program.
REFERENCES
Bobet, A. & Einstein, H.H. 1998. Fracture coalescence in
rock-type materials under uniaxial and biaxial compres-
sion. Int. J Rock Mech Min Sci. 35(7): 863–88.
Einstein, H.H. & Hirschfeld, R.C. 1973. Model studies on
mechanics of jointed rocks. ASCE J. of the Geotechnical
Division 99(SM3).
Einstein, H.H., Nelson, R.A., Bruhn, R.W. & Hirschfeld, R.C.
1969. Model studies of jointed rock behavior. In Proc. 11th
Symposium on Rock Mechanics, pp. 83–103.
Kim, Y.S., Peacock, D.C.P. & Sanderson, D.J. 2003. Strike–
slip faults and damage zones at Marsalforn, Gozo Island,
Malta. Journal of Structural Geology 25: 793–812.
Ko, T.Y., Einstein, H.H. & Kemeny, J. 2006. Crack coales-
cence in brittle material under cyclic loading. In Golden
Rocks, Proc. of the 41st U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechan-
ics, Golden, Colorado.
Li, Y.P., Chen, L.Z. & Wang, Y.H. 2005. Experimental
research on pre-cracked marble under compression, Inter-
national Journal of Solids and Structures 42: 2505–2516.
588
Martinez, A.R. 1999. Fracture coalescence in natural rock.
MSc Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
341 pp.
Mughieda, O. & Alzo’ubi, A.K. 2004. Fracture mechan-
ics of offset rock joints – a laboratory investigation.
Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 22: 545–562.
Reyes, O. & Einstein, H.H. 1991. Failure mechanism
of fractured rock – a fracture coalescence model.
In Wittke (ed.), Proc., 7th International Congress on
Rock Mechanics, Aachen. Rotterdam: Balkema, vol. 1,
pp. 333–340.
Sagong, M. & Bobet, A. 2002. Coalescence of multiple flaws
in a rock-model material in uniaxial compression. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 39: 229–241.
589
Shen, B., Stephansson, O, Einstein, H.H. & Ghahreman, B.
1995. Coalescence of fractures under shear stress experi-
ments. J. Geophys. Res. 100(6): 5975–5990.
Wang, R.Q. & Kemeny, J.M. 1992. Fracturing mechanisms in
Apache Leap tuff under compressive stress, In Myer et al.
(eds.), Symposium on Fractured and Jointed Rock Mass,
Lake Tahoe, pp. 407–414.
Wong, L.N.Y. & Einstein, H.H. 2006. Fracturing Behavior of
Prismatic Specimens Containing Single Flaws. In Golden
Rocks, 41st U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Golden,
Colorado.
Wong, R.H.C. & Chau, K.T. 1998. Crack coalescence in
a rock-like material containing two cracks. Int. J. Rock.
Mech. Min. Sci. 35(2): 147–164.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A fracture mechanics code for modelling sub-critical crack growth and

time dependency

B. Shen
CSIRO Exploration and Mining, Kenmore, Queensland, Australia

M. Rinne
FRACOM Ltd., Kyrkslätt, Finland

ABSTRACT: A fracture mechanics numerical code, FRACOD, has previously been developed to predict the
explicit fracturing process such as fracture initiation and fracture propagation in rock masses. It has been used in
studying borehole breakouts, tunnel stability, and rock mass stability for nuclear waste disposal. FRACOD has
recently been further developed to predict sub-critical crack growth and time-dependent rock behaviour. This
paper describes the theories of sub-critical crack growth and numerical procedures implemented in the code.
This new function in FRACOD is validated against creep test results of coal and hard rock samples. The coal sam-
ples contain numerous fractures (cleats) and represent a highly fractured rock mass; whereas the hard rock sample
is basically intact rock which only contains microcracks.The model results are compared with the creep test results
of the two types of rock samples and the capability of the FRACOD in modelling time-dependency is discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION predicts the explicit fracturing process including frac-

Time-dependency is an important consideration when
studying the long-term stability of large slopes, under-
ground caverns, and nuclear waste repositories etc. In
brittle rocks, time-dependency is mainly dominated
by sub-critical crack growth. Flaws, defects, voids
and other small cracks tend to grow slowly when the
stresses are less than the material strength or the stress
intensity factor is less than the fracture toughness. The
sub-critical crack growth is typically caused by stress
and chemical corrosion.
Traditionally, rock mass time-dependency has been
modelled by the principles of continuum and dam-
age mechanics. However, when the instability of the
rock mass is dominated by explicit fracturing, it is
more realistic to use theories of fracture mechanics and
sub-critical crack growth to predict its time dependent
behaviour.
This paper discusses the application of a frac-
ture mechanics numerical code to the time dependent
behaviour of rock.
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF
FRACOD
FRACOD is a two-dimensional code based on Dis-
placement Discontinuity Method (DDM) principles. It
ture sliding/opening, fracture initiation and fracture
propagation in rocks. A brief description of FRACOD
in handling fracture initiation and propagation is given
below.
2.1 Modelling fracture propagation
Both tensile and shear failure mechanisms are com-
mon in rock masses. Therefore, to effectively predict
rock fracture propagation, Shen & Stephansson (1993)
suggested a fracture propagation criterion for both
mode I (tensile) and mode II (shear) fracture prop-
agation, namely the F-criterion. According to the
F-criterion, in an arbitrary direction (θ) of a fracture
tip there exists a F-value, which is calculated by
where GIc and GIIc are the critical strain energy release
rates for mode I and mode II fracture propagations
respectively; GI (θ) and GII (θ) are strain energy release
rates due to the potential mode I and mode II fracture
growth of a unit length.
The direction of fracture propagation will be the
direction that F reaches the maximum value. If the
maximum F reaches 1.0, fracture propagation will
occur.

591

1.2
Probability of fracture initiation
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
a
0 Figure 2. Predicted AE locations due to fracture sliding and
0 0.25 0.5
Stress/strength ratio
Figure 1. Probability of fracture initiation as a function of
the stress/strength ratio.
2.2 Modelling fracture initiation
Based on laboratory test results and Acoustic Emis-
sion (AE) monitoring, damage (fracture initiation)
may start at a stress level much lower than the strength
and increases with stress (Falls & Young 1996). The
chance of failure at a give location increases as the
loading stress increases.
FRACOD uses a probabilistic approach to simulate
fracture initiation. It is assumed that, at a candidate
location, the probability of fracture initiation depends
upon the stress/strength ratio (σ/σm ):
where p is the probability of fracture initiation; σ/σm is
the stress/strength ratio; α is the initial stress/strength
ratio, which is also an indication of fracture initia-
tion level. In FRACOD the Mohr-Coulomb intact rock
strength criterion is used. The probability of fracture
initiation is plotted in Figure 1 for α = 0.3.
2.3 Predicting Acoustic Emission (AE)
Acoustic Emission (AE) is a low energy seismic event.
A seismic event can be considered as sudden inelastic
deformation within a given volume of rock that radi-
ates detectable seismic waves. A seismic event may be
induced by:
• Sudden movement (e.g. shearing) of existing frac-
tures;
• Fracture propagation;
• Fracture initiation.
Fracture element
Possible AE location 2
Possible AE location 1
Possible AE
Fracture propagation
location 1
Possible AE
location 2
0.75 1 1.25 fracture growth.
In FRACOD, the existing fractures and the grid
points in the intact rock are checked in every step
of the calculation to determine any possible fracture
surface movement (including elastic, sliding or open-
ing movement), fracture propagation and initiation. If
a fracture element is found to undergo a movement
or there are new fracture initiations and propagations
in intact rock in any calculation step, an AE event is
predicted to occur in the vicinity of the failed fracture
element or the new fracture element. Theoretically, the
location (epicenter) of this AE event should be located
at the centre of the element. To avoid overlapping of
many AE events from the same element in the process
of failure, we assume each individual AE event occurs
randomly within a circular region as shown in Figure 2.
The AE magnitude is determined using the concept
of moment tensor. For an idealised planar source, the
seismic moments are defined as:
where Ds and Dn are the displacement discontinu-
ity of the source area Ain shear or normal directions.
G is the shear modulus and E is the Young’s modulus.
2.4 Numerical compression loading tests
FRACOD has been used to simulate biaxial compres-
sion tests. The tests were conducted using numerical
“samples” with sizes similar to the real samples in
laboratory. The “samples” were loaded in biaxial com-
pression until failure. The objective of the numerical
compression test was to demonstrate the capacity of
FRACOD to predict the full pre- and post- failure
curve.
The tests were performed using a standard “sam-
ple” with a length of 120 mm and width of 60 mm.
The top and bottom boundaries were restricted from
shear movement to simulate non-lubricated contact
conditions (i.e. strong friction) in laboratory tests.
A confinement stress of 10 MPa is applied to the
side boundaries. A vertical compressive strain is
applied on the top and bottom boundaries to simulate
592
Figure 3. Predicted sample failure process and the full loading curve by FRACOD. Unloading is due to stress relief caused
by fracture propagation.

displacement-controlled axial loading. The applied
axial strain was increased by 1.25 millistrain in every
incremental step until the “sample” collapsed. The pre-
dicted process of fracture initiation and propagation
during loading is shown in Figure 3. The locations
and relative magnitudes of the AE events during the
test are also given in Figure 3. They indicate that the
smaller cracks coalesce to form larger coherent cracks
at failure.
sub-critical fracture growth and propagation velocities
can vary over many orders of magnitude as a function
of stress intensity.
When a single fracture in an elastic and isotropic
medium is under a far-field tension (σ), as shown in
Figure 4, the stress intensity factor KI depends on the
far-field stress (σ) and the crack half length (a).

Classical fracture mechanics suggests that the fracture

3 SUB-CRITICAL CRACK GROWTH initiation from the fracture tip takes place when

Classical fracture mechanics postulates that a fracture

tip which has a stress intensity equal to the mate-
rial’s critical fracture toughness, KIc , will propagate where KIc is the mode I fracture toughness, a material
and the propagation speed will increase to speeds constant that can be determined by laboratory tests.
approaching the elastic wave speed of the medium The sub-critical crack growth theory states that slow
(Irwin 1958). In cases of long term loading, however, crack extension takes place when
fractures can grow at stress intensities significantly
below the critical values. This process is termed

593
In this paper, the approach used to model the subcrit-
ical crack growth consists of a mathematical relation
between crack growth rate and the stress intensity. A
variety of mathematical functions can be fitted to the
laboratory data. Charles (1958) stated that most of
the experimental data fit into an expression for the
sub-critical velocity equation:
where is v1 the crack velocity, A is a material constant,
KI is the stress intensity factor and n1 , the stress cor-
rosion or crack propagation factor. The subscript “1”
indicates the mode I sub-critical growth.
Assuming that the maximum propagation veloc-
ity (vmax )1 occurs when KI = KIc , the constant of
proportionality, A, can be expressed as
and the expression for propagation velocity becomes
The above expression has been used by Olson (1993)
and Kemeny (2002).
Similarly, if a crack is under pure shear stress as
shown in Figure 5, and assuming that the crack will
propagate in its own plane in shear mode, the subcriti-
cal fracture propagation velocity can be expressed by:
Where ν2 is the crack velocity for mode II creep,
(νmax )2 is the maximum mode II crack velocity, n2
is a constant, KII is the mode II stress intensity factor
and KIIc is the mode II fracture toughness.
If the stress intensity factor K is kept constant at
the fracture tip, the velocity is constant and the time
Figure 4. An infinite plate containing a crack under biaxial
loading (Whittaker et al. 1992).
594
dependent crack length can be easily calculated by
multiplying the velocity with time. However, in static
loading conditions, as the crack extends the stress
intensity will increase and it will lead to an increasing
crack velocity.
4 MODELLING SUBCRITICAL CRACK
GROWTH IN FRACOD
The sub-critical crack growth discussed above is
implemented in FRACOD using the iteration process.
A time step t is used in the iteration. The following
calculation steps are performed in FRACOD:
Step 1: Calculate KI and KII at any given crack tip
for the given loading condition and fracture configura-
tion. Determine the sub-critical crack velocity v1 and
v2 at time of t0 using Equations (9) and (10).
Step 2: Calculate the length of sub-critical crack
growth for a time step t
Step 3: If the length of growth is equal to or greater than
an element length, a new tip element is added to the
pre-existing tip. Otherwise, the length is temporarily
stored in memory and accumulated in the next time
step until it reaches one element length.
Figure 5. An infinite plate containing a crack under in-plane
shear. τi = remote in-plane shear stress (Whittaker et al.
1992).
m
2 ∆l2
2
1
Creep growth
m
2 1
1 ∆l1 Initial crack
Figure 6. Simulating sub-critical crack growth in FRACOD,
mth time step (t = t0 + mt).
 Step 4: Repeat Steps 1–3 using the new time
t0 + N t until the specified ending time is reached.
N is the simulation cycle number.
In the current version of FRACOD, the time step is
automatically updated based on the KI /KIC or KII /KIIC
values to minimise the iteration cycles needed to reach
the specified time. When the stress intensity ratio
is low (KI /KIC or KII /KIIC  1.0), the speed of sub-
critical crack growth is low, hence the time step is set
to be large. When the above ratio is close to 1.0, the
speed of sub-critical crack growth is high, hence the
time step is set to be small.
5 VERIFICATION TEST
FRACOD is used to model the problem. The numer-
ical results are shown in Figure 7. Figure 8 shows
the modelled crack length at different times compared
with the analytical results.
The accuracy of calculated time-to-failure (TTF).
i.e. the time till unstable fracture propagation has been
evaluated. A minor numerical error in the calculated
initial stress intensity can lead to a major shift of failure
time. Figure 9 shows the sensitivity of element number
0.03
0.025
Analytical solution

Crack length (m)

40 elements
0.02
20 elements
A simple problem as shown in Figure 7 is used to
validate the sub-critical fracture growth function in 0.015

FRACOD. Here only the mode I sub-critical crack

growth is involved. The following values are assumed 0.01

in this model:
Remote stresses: σx = 0; σy = 10 MPa, 0.005
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Initial crack length: 2ao = 0.01 m, Time (years)
Fracture toughness: KIC = 3.80 MPa m1/2 ,
Sub-critical crack growth parameters: (Vmax )1 = Figure 8. Modelled time vs. crack length.
500 m/s; n1 = 30.
An analytical solution exists for this simple prob- 0.4
lem. At time t, the crack half length can be expressed
Fracod
as (Rasilainen 2006): 0.38
Analytical solution
0.36
KI/KIC

0.34

0.32

0.3
The crack will grow very slowly at the start. After 6 0 20 40 60 80 100
years the crack has extended only by 2 mm. The crack Number of elements
velocity increases rapidly and after about 6.4 years the
stress intensity factor has reached the critical state of Figure 9. Number of elements defining the pre-existing
unstable facture propagation (KI /KIC ≥ 1.0). fracture at the start of simulation (t = 0) vs KI /KIC .

Figure 7. Sub-critical crack growth in tension. (a) Initial stage (t = 0) with a crack length of 0.010 m. (b) After 6.0 years the
crack the crack extended by 2 millimeters. (c) After 6.4 years the crack reached the state of unstable fracture propagation when
the crack grows rapidly.

595
 1600
Sample 1
Sample 2
1400 Sample 3
Sample 4
Sample 5
1200 Sample 6
FRACOD
Creep rate, 10-12/sec

1000

800

600

400

200

0
2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
Axial stress level, MPa

Figure 10. Comparison of laboratory and numerical results

of creep tests of coal.

on stress intensity. In addition to the element number,

the predicted TTF is also affected by the applied time
Figure 11. Subcritical crack growth in a simulated coal sam-
steps. ple leads to the creep failure of the sample. (a) after 1 day at
an axial stress of 3 MPa; (b) after 6 days at stress of 5.6 MPa.

6 APPLICATION EXAMPLES

FRACOD is applied to simulate the laboratory creep
tests of two types of rock samples:
1) Coal with pre-existing fractures,
2) Intact hard rock (Diorite).
6.1 Creep behaviour of coal
Coal samples collected from a coal mine in Australia
were tested in the Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology (AIST) of Japan to investigate its creep
behaviour. The coal samples were highly fractured and
contained numerous discontinuities such as cleats.
The tests were conducted in uniaxial compression
using stepped loading. In each loading step, the sam-
ple was allowed to deform for one day under constant
stress. The creep deformation was measured for each
loading step and the creep rate was then calculated.
The creep rates of 6 coal samples are summarised in
Figure 10 (Shen et al. 2003).
Modelling real coal samples is very challenging
due to the many cracks inside them. Most numeri-
cal models cannot consider every crack in the sample
even if their location and size were known. Instead, we
took a simplified approach, where only one critical
inclined fracture was considered (Fig. 4). The follow-
ing mechanical properties were used based available
laboratory test results (Shen et al. 2003):
Young’s modulus: E = 2.2 MPa
Poisson’s ratio: ν = 0.25
Fracture toughness:
KIC = 0.35 MPa m1/2 ; KIIC = 0.85 MPa m1/2
Subcritical crack growth parameters:(Vmax )1 =
(Vmax )2 = 500 m/s; n1 = n2 = 25.
The sample loading steps were the same in both the
laboratory and numerical tests.
In the simplified model of the coal sample, the
inclined crack did not reach the critical stage of
fast fracture propagation under the specified load.
However, it grew slowly toward the loading direc-
tion (Fig. 11) at an initial velocity of approximately
3×10−7 m/s. As the crack grew in this direction, the
stress intensity factor at the crack tips reduced and the
velocity of the sub-critical fracture growth decreased.
Note that this case is different from the tensile load-
ing case shown in Figure 7, and the crack growth in
the direction of loading tends to be a stable process.
Further loading however increased the crack velocity
again. As a result, the crack continued to grow slowly
until the sample failed. Overall, with increasing axial
stress the crack velocity increased, resulting in high
creep strain, see Figure 12.
When the modelled average creep rate in each
loading step is compared with the laboratory results
(Fig. 10), a general agreement is achieved. At the very
end of the creep failure, the modelled creep rate does
not increase significantly, possibly because the crack
tips get very close to the constrained boundaries.
This example suggests that sub-critical crack
growth can be the key mechanism of creep behaviour,
particularly in brittle material with sizeable pre-
existing fractures. FRACOD with the sub-critical
crack growth function can efficiently predict this type
of creep behaviour.

596
 3.5E-03 5.0E-04
Strain
4.5E-04
Creep strain
3.0E-03 4.0E-04
3.5E-04

Creep Strain
2.5E-03 3.0E-04
Strain

2.5E-04
2.0E-03 2.0E-04
1.5E-04
1.5E-03 1.0E-04
5.0E-05
1.0E-03 0.0E+00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time (days)

Figure 12. Modelled strain and creep strain vs. time during
the simulated creep test of the coal sample.

Table 1. Summary of the parameters describing fracture Figure 13. Modelled fracturing pattern of a Diorite sample.
growth. From left: Fracture initiation, propagation and failure.

KC fracture n Sub-critical -log A

toughness) crack growth Sub-critical
Mode [MPa m1/2 ] index scaling factor

I 2.74 48 24

II 4.46 94 65

6.2 Creep behaviour of hard rock

Diorite samples from Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory
(ÄHRL) were tested at Helsinki University of Tech-
nology (HUT) to study their creep behaviour as part Figure 14. Strain rate stepping test results for a test speci-
men and the modelled behaviour.
of a DECOVALEX research program. The diorite rock
has a uniaxial compression strength of approximately
200–300 MPa. The samples were intact with no visual is “stiffer” than the actual sample close to failure,
defects or cracks. resulting in a higher stress than that of the real sample
The triaxial creep tests were carried out with stepped at the same strain. This is possibly due to the limited
loading as described in Lockner (1998). Axial strain number of cracks considered in the FRACOD model.
rate is varied while the axial stress and time to fail- Fewer initial cracks will result in a more intact sample
ure are recorded. The total duration of the tests is and hence stiffer behaviour.
about 1 day. The time to failure predicted by the numerical
Additional laboratory tests were carried out to deter- model however, agrees very well with the laboratory
mine the fracture toughness and the sub-critical crack experimental results.
parameters by GeoFrames (Backers et al. 2006), see
Table 1.
FRACOD was used to model the creep test results of 7 CONCLUSIONS
Diorite samples (Rinne 2006). In the numerical model,
actual loading rate and sample dimensions were used. Sub-critical crack growth is a key mechanism of
The model mechanical properties were based on the creep behaviour of brittle rocks and can be caused by
laboratory test results of Diorite. stress corrosion, chemical corrosion and temperature
The numerical model did not include any pre- changes etc.
existing fractures. Crack initiations were simulated Sub-critical crack growth has been incorporated
using the procedures described in Section 6.1. The in the fracture mechanics modelling code FRACOD.
simulated fracturing process of the sample at different The code is demonstrated to effectively predict the
loading levels and times are shown in Figure 13. time-dependent behaviour of rocks caused by the
Both the laboratory and numerical results are shown sub-critical crack growth.
in Figure 14. The modelled results are consistent with FRACOD has been applied to reproduce the labo-
the laboratory results. However, the numerical model ratory results during creep tests of coal and Diorite

597
samples. The coal samples contain numerous frac-
tures (cleats) and represent a highly fractured rock
mass; whereas the Diorite samples are basically an
intact rock and contain only microcracks. The numer-
ical models produce reasonably good predictions of
both the creep strain and the failure time for the two
types of rock samples. However, the limited modeling
capacity of FRACOD in considering a large number
of microcracks tends to underestimate the creep strain
close to the failure.
Modelling the creep behaviour using sub-critical
crack growth theory is a theoretically well founded
approach. The incorporation of the sub-critical crack
growth with the fracture mechanics package FRACOD
has the potential to solve some fundamental and engi-
neering time-dependent problems in geomechanics.
REFERENCES
Backers, T., Antikainen, J. & Rinne, M. 2006. Time depen-
dent fracture growth in intact crystalline rock. Labora-
tory procedures and results. In GeoProc 2006/5 Nanjing,
China.
Charles, R.J. 1958. Static fatigue of glass. J. Appl. Phys. 29:
1549–1560.
Falls, D.S. & Young, R.P. 1998. Acoustic emission and
ultrasonic-velocity methods used to characterise the exca-
vation disturbance associated with deep tunnels in hard
rock. Tectonophysics 289: 1–15.
598
Kemeny, J.M. 2003. The time-dependent reduction of sliding
cohesion due to rock bridges along discontinuities: A frac-
ture mechanics approach. Rock Mech. Rock Engng. 36(1):
27–38.
Irwin, G.R. 1958. Fracture. In Flugge (ed.), Handbuck der
Physik, vol. 6, Berlin: Springer, pp. 551–590.
Lockner, D. 1998.A generalized law for brittle deformation of
Westerley granite. Journal of Geophysical Research 103
(B3): 5107–5123.
Olson, J.E. 1993. Joint pattern development: Effect of sub-
critical crack growth and mechanical crack interaction.
Journal of Geophysical Research 98(B7): 12251–12265.
Rasilainen K. 2006. The Finnish Research Programme on
Nuclear Waste Management (KYT) 2002–2005. Final
Report. VTT research notes 2337. Espoo 2006.
Rinne, M. 2006. Annual Report. Time-dependent fractur-
ing of rock mass and modelling of EDZ of a reposi-
tory for spend nuclear fuel (CREEP II). Phase 3 (1.2.
2005–30.10.2006). Team Fracom.
Shen. B. & Stephansson. O. 1993. Modification of the
G-criterion of crack propagation in compression. Int. J.
of Engineering Fracture Mechanics 47(2): 177–189.
Shen, B., Takehara, T., Yamahuchi, T. & Boland, J. 2003.
Time-dependent roadway behaviour in underground coal
mines. In Proceeding CSIRO/QCAT and AIST/GREEN
Work shop, pp. 45–62.
Whittaker, B.N., Singh, R.N. & Sun, G. 1992. Rock frac-
ture mechanics: principles, design and applications.
Amsterdam: Elsevier.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Experimental study of subcritical crack growth in brittle materials

Y. Nara, M. Takada & K. Kaneko

Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

H. Owada
Radioactive Waste Management Funding and Research Center, Tokyo, Japan

T. Hiraishi
Research Center, Taiheiyo Consultant Corporation, Chiba, Japan & Taiheiyo Cement Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: Subcritical crack growth in glass, rock, and cementitious material was investigated experimen-
tally by Double Torsion (DT) test. Especially, relations between the crack velocity and the stress intensity factor
were investigated, controlling the temperature and humidity. It was shown that the relations between the crack
velocity and the stress intensity factor in glass and rock were affected by temperature and humidity. When the
temperature and the relative humidity were higher, the crack velocity at a given stress intensity factor was higher
in both glass and rock. It is considered that subcritical crack growth in glass and rock is controlled by stress cor-
rosion. On the other hand, the relation between the crack velocity and the stress intensity factor in cementitious
material was insensitive to the environmental condition in this study. It is concluded that the nature of subcritical
crack growth in cementitious material is quite different from that in rock.

1 INTRODUCTION several researchers, because HSULPC is being consid-

In classical fracture mechanics, it has been postulated
that the crack propagates rapidly, once the critical
stress intensity factor (fracture toughness) has been
reached. In fact, the crack can propagate even when
the stress intensity factor is lower than the critical
stress intensity factor.This phenomenon is called “sub-
critical crack growth” (Atkinson 1984, Atkinson &
Meredith 1987). Subcritical crack growth is one of
the main causes of time-dependent behavior. Informa-
tion on time-dependent crack propagation is important
for considering the long-term stability and lifetime of
brittle materials.
In this study, subcritical crack growth in brittle
materials was investigated. Especially, the relation
between the crack velocity and the stress intensity
factor was determined experimentally by a fracture
mechanics test, and dependence of subcritical crack
growth on the environmental conditions, such as
temperature and the relative humidity, was inves-
tigated. Soda-lime glass, rock, and a cementitious
material were used. For the rock sample, andesite was
used as an isotropic rock. Granite was used as an
anisotropic sample. For a cementitious material sam-
ple, high-strength and ultra low-permeability concrete
(HSULPC) was used. HSULPC has been studied by
ered for a radioactive waste package for the geological
disposal of TRU wastes (Kawasaki et al. 2005, Shibuya
et al. 2005).
2 SUBCRITICAL CRACK GROWTH
Figure 1 shows the trimodal behavior observed for
subcritical crack growth in glass (Atkinson 1984). In
region I, the crack velocity is controlled by the rate of
the stress corrosion reaction at the crack tip (Ander-
son & Grew 1977, Atkinson & Meredith 1987). Crack
growth in region II is also caused by stress corro-
sion, but the crack velocity is controlled by the rate
at which the reactive species are transported to the
crack tip (Lawn 1974). Region III consists of the tran-
sition from subcritical to critical crack growth. Here,
the crack growth is relatively insensitive to the chem-
ical environment. Instead, it is largely controlled by
mechanical conditions (Atkinson & Meredith 1987).
Subcritical crack growth in cementitious materials
has been studied by several researchers, for exam-
ple, for cement paste (Mindess et al. 1974, Nadeau
et al. 1974, Beaudoin 1985), Portland cement mortar
(Wecharatana & Shah 1980), calcium silicate hydrate
(Beaudoin et al. 1998), and a mixture of calcium

599

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the relation between the
stress intensity factor and the crack velocity for subcritical
crack growth. KIC is the fracture toughness and K0 is the stress
corrosion limit.
silicate hydrate and calcium hydroxide (Beaudoin et al.
1998). For example, Beaudoin (1985a) reported that
the crack velocity in the cement paste increased when
the relative humidity was higher. Subcritical crack
growth in HSULPC has never been studied; therefore,
the exact mechanism of subcritical crack growth in
HSULPC is unknown.
For rocks exposed to atmospheric conditions,
the relation between the stress intensity factor and
the crack velocity shows the behavior of region I
(Atkinson & Meredith 1987). In silicate materials,
stress corrosion is a weakening process due to a chemi-
cal reaction between the strong siloxane bond structure
near the crack tip strained by the tensile stress and the
corrosive agent, which is likely to be water, which
is transported to the crack tip (Anderson & Grew
1977). The chemical reaction is expressed as follows
(Michalske & Freiman 1982):
When stress corrosion controls the crack growth,
the crack velocity, da/dt, is related to the stress
intensity factor, KI , as
600
Figure 2. The configuration for Double Torsion method.
where E ‡ is the activation energy, R is the gas constant,
T is the absolute temperature, and v1 and β are material
constants (Wiederhorn et al. 1980).
Charles (1958) showed a different relation between
da/dt and KI for subcritical crack growth:
where v2 and n are constants. Especially, n is called
the subcritical crack growth index (Atkinson &
Meredith 1987). This equation has been used by many
researchers, because it is convenient for integration
and differentiation.
In this study, the relation between da/dt and KI (KI -
da/dt relation) is discussed by using both Equations
(2) and (3).
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Experimental method
In this study, the Double Torsion test was used to mea-
sure the crack velocity and the stress intensity factor.
The DT test is one of the typical fracture mechanics
tests used for the study of subcritical crack growth.
The loading configuration for the DT test is shown in
Figure 2. The DT test is classified into three methods
with respect to differences in loading the specimen,
namely: constant load (CL) (Kies & Clark 1969),
constant displacement (CDR) (Evans 1972), and load
relaxation (RLX) (Williams & Evans 1973, Sano &
Kudo 1992). In this study, the RLX method is adopted
to determine the relationship between KI and da/dt
(KI -da/dt relationship). In the RLX method, the dis-
placement of the loading point is kept constant and the
load relaxation due to the crack propagation is mea-
sured during the experiment. The crack velocity and

Figure 3. The illustration of the experimental apparatus.
the stress intensity factor are calculated from the load
relaxation data (Williams & Evans 1973, Sano & Kudo
1992).
3.2 Experimental apparatus
The apparatus of the DT test used in this study
is shown in Figure 3. The DT specimen is loaded
by the electrical-powered cylinder via ball bearings.
Crack propagation can be monitored by the digital
microscope placed under the specimen.
Applied load is measured by the load cell with an
accuracy of 0.04 N. Displacement of the loading points
is measured by two displacement transducers with an
accuracy of 0.1 µm.
The apparatus is set in a temperature- and humidity-
controlled room. The temperature and relative humid-
ity can be kept constant within 0.1 K in the range of
283∼333 K and within 1% in the range of 40∼75%,
respectively.
3.3 Experimental procedure
Precracking was conducted at first. For precracking,
load was applied to the specimen slowly while occa-
sionally fixing the displacement of the loading points.
During this operation, crack propagation was moni-
tored by the digital microscope; load decreased rapidly
when the crack length reached 25 mm, which is the
minimum length required to satisfy the “Constant-K
characteristics”, that is, the condition in which the
stress intensity factor is independent of the crack
length for the DT specimen (Trantina 1977, Pletka
et al. 1979).
601
10−3
, : 329K, 52%
Water vapor pressure : 8600Pa
, , : 284K, 53%
10−4 Water vapor pressure :700Pa
Crack velocity [m/s]
10−5
10−6
10−7
soda-lime glass
10−8
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Stress intensity factor [MN/m3/2]
Figure 4. KI -da/dt relations for soda-lime glass.
After precracking, the temperature and the humidity
in the testing room were set and held, and the testing
apparatus with the rock specimen was exposed to the
testing environment for 20 hours. After these opera-
tions, the DT test was carried out. In the DT test, after
applying preload to the specimen slowly, the displace-
ment was applied to the loading points of the specimen
rapidly and kept constant during the test.
4 RESULTS
4.1 Results for glass
DT tests using soda-lime glass specimens with no
guide grooves were conducted to examine the relia-
bility of the testing apparatus and procedure. For glass
specimens, the loading points were moved rapidly by
0.05 mm after applying the preload of 7∼9 N.
Figure 4 shows the KI -da/dt relationships for soda-
lime glass. Solid and open symbols show the rela-
tionships obtained under high and low temperature
conditions, respectively. It is shown that the crack
velocity increases when the temperature is higher.
Since the KI -da/dt relationships agree well with each
other when the temperature and the humidity are the
same, it is confirmed that the testing apparatus and the
experimental procedure adopted in the present study
are suitable.
4.2 Results for andesite
Kumamoto andesite was used in this study as one rock
sample. Kumamoto andesite is known as an isotropic
rock (Obara et al. 1992). P-wave velocity was 4.8 km/s.
 10−2
, , , : 330K, 73%
10−3 Water vapor pressure : 12300Pa

10−4
Crack velocity [m/s]

10−5

10−6

10−7
, , : 284K, 44%
Water vapor pressure : 570Pa
10−8
Kumamoto andesite
10−9
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2
Figure 6. Specimen orientations for granite. Planes-1, -2,
Stress intensity factor [MN/m3/2]
and 3 are corresponding to Hardway, Grain, and Rift plane,
respectively.
Figure 5. KI -da/dt relations for Kumamoto andesite.

10−2
In Figure 5, KI -da/dt relationships for Kumamoto Temperature : 284K
andesite are shown (Nara & Kaneko 2005). Solid Relative humidity : 44%
−3 Water vapor pressure : 570Pa
10
and open symbols show the relationships obtained
under the high-temperature and -humidity and the low-
temperature and -humidity conditions, respectively. It 10−4
Crack velocity [m/s]

is shown that the crack velocity increases when the

temperature and the humidity are higher. This result 10−5
indicates that subcritical crack growth in andesite is
controlled by stress corrosion.
10−6

4.3 Results for granite 10−7

Oshima granite was used as an anisotropic rock :2⋅3 : 1⋅3

10−8 :1⋅2
sample. It is shown that Oshima granite possesses : 3⋅2
anisotropic elastic wave velocity and orthorhom- :2⋅1 : 3⋅1
bic elasticity by Sano et al. (1992). In this study, 10−9
three principal axes of orthorhombic elasticity are 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2
defined as “axis-1”, “axis-2”, and “axis-3” in order of Stress intensity factor [MN/m3/2]
P-wave velocity, and the planes normal to these axes
are called as “plane-1”, “plane-2”, and “plane-3”, Figure 7. KI -da/dt relations for Oshima granite obtained
respectively. P-wave velocities in axes-1, -2 and -3 under the same environmental condition.
were 4.9, 4.6 and 4.5 km/s, respectively. Planes-1, 2
and 3 are corresponding to Hardway, Grain or Rift
plane, respectively. Considering orthorhombic elastic- to plane-3 (Rift plane), the crack velocity at the same
ity, 6 kinds of specimen were prepared as shown in stress intensity factor is the highest.
Figure 6. For example, the crack propagates parallel to KI -da/dt relationships for Oshima granite obtained
axis-1 and opens parallel to axis-2 in 1 • 2-specimen. under different environmental conditions are shown
In Figure 7, KI -da/dt relationships for Oshima gran- in Figure 8 (Nara & Kaneko 2006). Solid and open
ite obtained under the same environmental condition symbols show the relationships obtained under high-
are shown (Nara & Kaneko 2006). From this figure, temperature and -humidity and low-temperature and
it is shown that the KI -da/dt relationship for granite -humidity conditions, respectively. From Figure 8, it is
is anisotropic. In the case of 1 • 3-specimen and 2 • 3- shown that the crack velocity at a given stress intensity
specimen, that is, when the crack propagates parallel factor is higher when the temperature and the humidity

602
 10-2
, , : 330K,73%
Water vapor pressure : 12300Pa
10-3 , ,
: 284K, 44%
Water vapor pressure : 570Pa
10-4
Crack velocity [m/s]
10-5
10-6
10-7
10-8
10-9
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7
Stress intensity factor [MN/m3/2]
Figure 8. KI -da/dt relations for Oshima granite obtained
under different environmental conditions.
are higher. It is indicated that stress corrosion con-
trols subcritical crack growth in granite. Although only
KI -da/dt relationships for 3 • 2-specimen are shown in
Figure 8, the same tendency was observed in other
specimens.
4.4 Results for cementitious material
The HSULPC used in this study was made by steam
curing at a temperature of 363 K for 2 days after plac-
ing the concrete in a mold and kept for 2 days under air
at 293 K. HSULPC is isotropic and the P-wave velocity
is 5.0 km/s.
It was not sure whether subcritical crack growth
occurs or not in HSULPC. Therefore the critical
stress intensity factor was measured before investi-
gating subcritical crack growth by the CDR method
of the DT test. The displacement rate of the loading
point on the specimen was set as 0.23 mm/s, because
it was the highest rate of the experimental appara-
tus in this study. The critical stress intensity factor
measured by the CDR method of the DT test was
1.62 MN/m3/2 .
In Figure 9, KI -da/dt relationships for HSULPC in
air are shown. Solid and open symbols show the rela-
tionships obtained under high and low temperatures,
respectively. From this figure, it can be recognized
that subcritical crack growth occurred in HSULPC.
However, it is recognized that the KI -da/dt relation-
ship for HSULPC is independent of the temperature
even though subcritical crack growth was observed. It
is indicated that the effect of the temperature on sub-
critical crack growth in HSULPC is smaller than that
of rock.
10-2
, , : 284K, 52%
, , , : 329K, 52%
10-3
10-4
Crack velocity [m/s]
10-5
10-6
10-7
Oshima granite 10-8
3 ⋅ 2 -specimen HSULPC
10 -9
1.8 1.9 2 2.1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7
Stress intensity factor [MN/m3/2]
Figure 9. KI -da/dt relations for HSULPC obtained under
different environmental conditions.
4.5 Summary of experimental results
The results for glass, andesite, granite and HSULPC
obtained by the DT test are summarized inTables 1 to 4,
respectively. In these tables, the values of the slope
β and n, the stress intensity factor at the same crack
velocity, KI (y), and the crack velocity at the same
stress intensity factor, da/dt(x), are shown, where y
and x are the values of the crack velocity or the stress
intensity factor. The mean values and the standard
deviations of the data of 2∼4 specimens are provided.
It can be recognized that KI (y) is lower and da/dt(x) is
higher when the temperature and humidity are higher
for glass and rock. On the other hand, the effect of
differing environmental conditions on the stress inten-
sity factor and the crack velocity is not recognized for
HSULPC.
The values of β and n for glass were estimated from
the KI -da/dt relationship in region I (see Fig. 1). The
values of β and n for andesite and granite were esti-
mated from the linear part of KI -da/dt relationship. It is
shown that the value of subcritical crack growth index
n of HSULPC is larger than that of glass or rocks.
5 DISCUSSION
It was shown that the crack velocity in glass and rock
increased when the temperature and humidity were
higher. KI -da/dt relationships for glass and rock in air
are affected strongly by the temperature and humid-
ity. On the other hand, it was shown that the KI -da/dt
relation for HSULPC was not affected by temperature.
603
Table 1. Results of DT test for soda-lime glass.

KI (10−6 ) da/dt(0.45)
Condition β[m5/2 /mol] n [MN/m3/2 ] [m/s]

284 K, 53% 0.087 ± 0.006 18 ± 1 0.49 ± 0.01 2.00*10−7±0.08

P(H2 O) = 700 Pa
329 K, 52% 0.106 ± 0.001 17 ± 1 0.42 ± 0.01 3.98*10−6±0.11
P(H2 O) = 8600 Pa

Table 2. Results of DT test for Kumamoto andesite.

KI (10−5 ) da/dt(1.6)
Condition β[m5/2 /mol] n [MN/m3/2 ] [m/s]

284 K, 44% 0.062 ± 0.007 43 ± 5 1.65 ± 0.03 2.82*10−6±0.36

P(H2 O) = 570 Pa
330 K, 73% 0.078 ± 0.014 43 ± 8 1.52 ± 0.01 1.10*10−4±0.24
P(H2 O) = 12.3 kPa

Table 3. Results of DT test for Oshima granite.

KI (10−5 ) da/dt(1.8)
Sample Condition β[m5/2 /mol] n [MN/m3/2 ] [m/s]

2-1 284 K, 44% 0.084 ± 0.030 70 ± 21 200 ± 0.13 1.66*10−8±1.01

P(H2 O) = 570 Pa
330 K, 73% 0.104 ± 0.012 70 ± 6 1.87 ± 0.06 8.32*10−7±0.74
P(H2 O) = 12.3 kPa
3-1 284 K, 44% 0.100 ± 0.021 83 ± 16 1.97 ± 0.07 6.16*10−9±1.17
P(H2 O) = 570 Pa
330 K, 73% 0.088 ± 0.003 61 ± 2 1.89 ± 0.02 6.31*10−7±0.29
P(H2 O) = 12.3 kPa
1-2 284 K, 44% 0.107 ± 0.024 82 ± 16 1.82 ± 0.08 6.76*10−6±1.39
P(H2 O) = 570 Pa
330 K, 73% 0.092 ± 0.023 60 ± 19 1.80 ± 0.13 7.08*10−6±1.75
P(H2 O) = 12.3 kPa
3-2 284 K, 44% 0.098 ± 0.012 76 ± 10 1.82 ± 0.04 3.72*10−6±0.77
P(H2 O) = 570 Pa
330 K, 73% 0.063 ± 0.008 70 ± 6 1.70 ± 0.04 1.12*10−4±0.51
P(H2 O) = 12.3 kPa
1-3 284 K, 44% 0.120 ± 0.031 88 ± 24 1.74 ± 0.04 1.96*10−4±0.67
P(H2 O) = 570 Pa
330 K, 73% 0.098 ± 0.015 61 ± 7 1.71 ± 0.09 3.72*10−4±1.63
P(H2 O) = 12.3 kPa
2-3 284 K, 44% 0.097 ± 0.019 71 ± 13 1.72 ± 0.08 3.31*10−4±1.54
P(H2 O) = 570 Pa
330 K, 73% 0.081 ± 0.017 49 ± 12 1.67 ± 0.10 3.98*10−4±1.19
P(H2 O) = 12.3 kPa

604
 Table 4. Results of DT test for HSULPC.
Condition β[m5/2 /mol] n [MN/m3/2 ]
284 K, 52% 0.27 ± 0.07 149 ± 35
P(H2 O) = 680 Pa
329 K, 52% 0.21 ± 0.02 101 ± 9
P(H2 O) = 8600 Pa
The temperatures of the DT tests (284 K and 329 K)
were lower than the temperature of the curing pro-
cedure for HSULPC (363 K). It is probable that the
temperature of the DT test was not high enough to
accelerate subcritical crack growth in HSULPC. It
might be necessary to conduct experiments under tem-
peratures higher than that of the curing procedure to
clarify the dependence of subcritical crack growth on
temperature in HSULPC.
The value of β or n for HSULPC was larger than that
for glass or rock. It is possible that the mechanism of
subcritical crack growth in HSULPC is different from
that in glass or rock.
The relative humidity for the experiments in rock
was varied. Since the crack velocity is proportional to
the relative humidity when the temperature is the same
(Wiederhorn et al. 1980), the difference of the relative
humidity in this study has little effect on the result
for rock.
The characteristics presented in this study are con-
sidered to be favorable for a radioactive waste package,
because the material is considered not to be weakened
by the temperature. Considering the environment in
which HSULPC may be used for a radioactive waste
package for geological disposal, it is necessary to
conduct experiments under higher temperatures or in
water. These additional experiments will be the subject
of future studies.
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the subcritical crack growth behaviors in
soda-lime glass, Kumamoto andesite, Oshima gran-
ite and high-strength, ultra low-permeability concrete
(HSULPC) in air were investigated experimentally
by the Double Torsion test. Especially, the effect of
temperature and humidity was investigated. It was
shown that the relationships between the crack veloc-
ity and the stress intensity factor for glass and rock
were affected by temperature and humidity. When
the temperature and the humidity were higher, the
crack velocity increased. The relationship between
the crack velocity and the stress intensity factor for
HSULPC was not affected by temperature. The values
605
KI (10−5 ) da/dt(1.3)
[m/s]
1.31 ± 0.03 2.57*10−6±1.29
1.33 ± 0.06 3.63*10−6±1.92
of the subcritical crack growth index and the con-
stant β for HSULPC were larger than those for glass
and rock.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study includes a part of the result “Development
of a TRU Waste Disposal Package” under a grant
from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry,
Japan.
REFERENCES
Anderson, O.L. & Grew, P.C. 1977. Stress corrosion theory
of crack propagation with applications to geophysics. Rev.
Geophys. Space Phys. 15(1): 77–104.
Atkinson, B.K. 1984. Subcritical crack growth in geological
materials. J. Geophys. Res. 89(B6): 4077–4114.
Atkinson, B.K. & Meredith, P.G. 1987. The theory of sub-
critical crack growth with applications to minerals and
rocks. In Atkinson (ed.), Fracture Mechanics of Rock,
pp. 111–166.
Beaudoin, J.J. 1985. Effect of humidity on subcritical
crack growth in cement paste. Cem. Concr. Res. 15(5):
871–878.
Beaudoin, J.J., Gu, P. & Myers, R.E. 1998. The fracture of
C-S-H and C-S-H/CH mixture. Cem. Concr. Res. 28(3):
341–347.
Charles, R.J. 1958. Static fatigue of glass II. J. Appl. Phys.
29(11): 1554–1560.
Evans, A.G. 1972. A method for evaluating the time-
dependent failure characteristics of brittle materials – and
its application to polycrystalline alumina. J. Mater. Sci. 7:
1137–1146.
Kawasaki, T., Asano, H., Owada, H. Otsuki, A., Yoshida, T.,
Matsuo, T., Shibuya, K. & Takei A. 2005. Development of
waste package for TRU-disposal(4) – Evaluation of con-
finement performance of TRU waste package made of
High-Strength and Ultra Low-Permeability concrete. In
Proc. GLOBAL 2005, Tsukuba, Paper No. 254.
Kies, J.A. & Clark, A.B.J. 1969. Fracture propagation rates
and times to fail following proof stress in bulk glass. In
Platt (ed.), Fracture 1969, pp. 483–491.
Lawn, B.R. 1974. Diffusion controlled subcritical crack
growth in the presence of a dilute gas environment. Mater.
Sci. Eng. 13: 277–283.
Michalske, T.A. & Freiman, S.W. 1982. A molecular inter-
pretation of stress corrosion in silica. Nature 295(11):
511–512.
Mindess, S. & Nadeau, J.S. 1974. Effects of different curing
conditions on slow crack growth in cement paste. Cem.
Concr. Res. 4(6): 953–965.
Nadeau, J.S., Mindess, S. & Hay, J.M. 1974. Slow crack
growth in cement paste. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 57(2):
51–54.
Nara, Y. & Kaneko, K. 2005. Study of subcritical crack
growth in andesite using the Double Torsion test. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 42(4): 521–530.
Nara, Y. & Kaneko, K. 2006. Sub-critical crack growth
in anisotropic rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 43(3):
437–453.
Obara,Y., Sakaguchi, K., Nakayama,T. & Sugawara, K. 1992.
Anisotropy effect on fracture toughness of rock. In Proc.
Eurock’92, Chester, pp. 7–12.
Pletka, B.J., Fuller Jr., E.R. & Koepke, B.G. 1979. An eval-
uation of Double-Torsion testing – experimental. ASTM
STP 678: 47–59.
Sano, O. & Kudo, Y. 1992. Relation of fracture resis-
tance to fabric for granitic rocks. PAGEOPH 138(4):
657–677.
606
Sano, O., Kudo, Y. & Mizuta, Y. 1992. Experimental deter-
mination of elastic constants of Oshima granite, Barre
granite, and Chelmsford granite. J. Geophys. Res. 97(B3):
3367–3379.
Shibuya, K., Asano, H., Owada, H. Otsuki, A., Kawasaki, T.,
Yoshida, T., Matsuo, T. & Takei A. 2005. Development
of waste package for TRU-disposal(3) – Examination of
manufacturing technique of TRU waste package made of
High-Strength and Ultra Low-Permeability concrete. In
Proc. GLOBAL 2005, Tsukuba, Paper No. 256.
Trantina, G.G. 1977. Stress analysis of the Double-Torsion
specimen. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 60(7–8): 338–341.
Wecharatana, M. & Shah, S.P. 1980. Double Torsion tests for
studying slow crack growth of Portland cement mortar.
Cem. Concr. Res. 10(6): 833–844.
Wiederhorn, S.M., Fuller Jr., E.R. & Thomson, R. 1980.
Micromechanisms of crack growth in ceramics and
glasses in corrosive environments. Met. Sci. 14: 450–458.
Williams, D.P. & Evans, A.G. 1973. A simple method for
studying slow crack growth. J. Test. Eval. 1(4): 264–270.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Subcritical crack growth of rocks using the double torsion method with
consideration of the crack length

K.W. Kwok, R.H.C. Wong & K.T. Chau

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

T.-f. Wong
Departments of Geosciences and Mechanical Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA

ABSTRACT: The double torsion (DT) load relaxation test method has been widely used to study the subcritical
crack growth (SCG) of rocks because the determination of the stress intensity factor KI is independent of the
crack length. However, such disregard of the crack length may affect the results of SCG parameters obtained
from the typical double torsion test seriously. Based on the analytical method with consideration of the crack
length, the experimental results of this paper show that the stress corrosion index n and the logarithm of SCG
parameter v0 are adjusted up to a factor of 2.2 and 2.0 respectively when the crack length is considered. As
such influence on SCG parameters will affect the prediction of the long-term subcritical cracking of materials,
it is concluded that DT data should be analyzed with consideration of the crack length. However, the corrective
method of Ciccotti et al. (2001) requires complicated interpolations when analyzing double torsion test data.
This paper simplifies the corrective method to predict the SCG parameters of rocks with suggested specimen
sizes by developing charts and tables.

1 INTRODUCTION by Williams & Evans (1973) as

Many previous researchers adopted the double torsion

(DT) load relaxation test method to study the subcrit-
ical crack growth (SCG) of different materials. The
major reasons are that the determination of the stress
intensity factor, KI is independent of the crack length
and a wide range of data can be obtained by a single where P is the corresponding load, Wm is the semi-
experimental testing. moment arm of the specimen, υ is Poisson’s ratio, W
However, the independent of the crack length may is the specimen width, t is the specimen thickness, and
be viewed as a serious limitation since it is clear that tn is the reduced thickness in the plane of the groove
the stress intensity factor, KI must depend on the (Fig. 1). The crack growth rate, v, is obtained from
crack size, no matter how small is the change. Vari-
ous researchers (Outwater et al. 1974, Trantina 1977,
Shetty & Virkar 1978, Fuller 1979) have already dis-
cussed the dependence of the crack length on stress
intensity factor of DT test and proposed the opera-
tional ranges of crack length a for nearly constant KI where dP/dt is the slope of the relaxation curve at
of the DT test. Tait et al. (1986) summarized those load P. The constants ai,f and Pi,f are simultaneous
operational ranges for DT specimen with the length to measurements of both crack length and load before
width ratio (L/W ) from 1.5 to 4.0. and after the relaxation test respectively. The factor
Within these operation ranges, KI is considered to φ was introduced by Evans (1972) to consider the
be independent of crack length. Thus the DT data can inclination of crack front. Thus, the important SCG
be analyzed by the following typical method. The val- parameters such as stress corrosion index n can be
ues of stress intensity factor KI at the crack tip is given obtained according to the power law suggested by

607

Figure 1. Schematic drawing of the double torsion specimen
(modified after Ciccotti et al. 2001).
Charles (1958) and modified by Miura et al. (2003)
and many others:
where v0 and n are the crack growth velocity at KI = K0
and stress corrosion index respectively.
To further consider the effects of the initial notch
and the side-groove together with the dependence
of the crack length, Ciccotti (2000) performed a
three-dimensional finite element analysis of the DT
specimen to investigate the influence on strain-energy
release rate of the specimen width and length, the frac-
ture length, the presence and shape of the side-groove,
the presence of the initial notch, and the curved shape
of the fracture front. Two corrective factors ξ(a) and
ψ(a) which are dependent of the crack length a were
introduced to estimate the stress intensity factor KI
and the crack velocity v so that the above effects could
be compensated. To estimate KI , the square root of the
corrective coefficient ψ(a) should be used as follows:
where the superscript E stands for Evans’ typical
method (1972). The crack growth velocity v was
estimated by introducing of the corrective factors as
follows:
Based on these corrective factors, Ciccotti et al. (2000,
2001) defined a new methodology for analysis of the
double torsion load-relaxation test (hereafter called
the corrective method). The details of this corrective
method will be mentioned in section 3.2.
608
Ciccotti et al. (2000) simulated DT relaxation
experiments numerically by using the corrective
method. The simulation showed that the stress cor-
rosion index n obtained from the typical analytical
method mentioned by Evans (1972) were underesti-
mated up to 30% even though the crack length fell
within the operational range. Later, Ciccotti et al.
(2001) applied this corrective method to analyze the
DT test data on both lava rocks and sandstones. The
results reported that the corrected values of stress cor-
rosion index n were also greater than the typical ones
up to 19%. This influence on the stress corrosion index
n should be viewed as an important issue for predicting
long-term subcritical cracking of materials. For exam-
ple, Chau & Shao (2006) examined SCG in façade rock
panels and it was indicated that the time of failure of
rock panels was very sensitive to the SCG parameters.
Since this method has been only adopted by the Cic-
cotti et al. (2001) to study four lava rock and sandstone
specimens, it is worth to further study the SCG of dif-
ferent rock types by using this corrective method with
consideration of the crack length.
In the present study, DT test will be conducted on
two types of rock. The results obtained from the DT
load relaxation method were analyzed by both typical
method provided by Evans (1972) and the correc-
tive method respectively. The results will be compared
and discussed. On the other hand, since the correc-
tive method requires several times of the interpolation
to obtain corrective factors ξ(a) and ψ(a), charts and
tables are developed to simplify the complicated inter-
polations when the suggested DT specimen parameters
are followed.
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
2.1 Test materials
Two types of rock including granite and dolomite
were tested in this study. The granite was purchased
from Fujian, China. The average grain size was about
0.52 mm. The rock contained about 50–55% feldspar,
30–35% quartz, 8–10% mica, and 1–2% opaque min-
erals. Apart from granite, dolomite (industrial name:
Ariston marble) was purchased from Greece.The mean
grain size of dolomite was about 0.13 mm and it con-
sisted of about 100% dolomite. Table 1 shows the basic
physical and mechanical properties of the above rocks
which were obtained according to standard testing of
ASTM (1995) and ISRM (1987).
2.2 Sample preparation of the DT specimen
The dimension of double torsion specimens was
150 mm long (L) × 60 mm wide (W ) × 4 mm thick
(t) as shown in Figure 1. Both top and bottom sur-
faces of the samples were grounded and polished
Table 1. The general physical and mechanical properties of
granite and dolomite used in this study.
Granite Dolomite
Density, ρ (kg/m3 ) 2360 2830
Uniaxial compressive strength 197 144
σc (MPa)
Young’s modulus, E (GPa) 54 68
Poisson’s ratio, υ 0.387 0.776
Porosity (%) 0.9 0.6
Figure 2. Experimental setup of the double torsion test.
to a maximum tolerance of 0.05 mm and parallel to
within 0.025 mm using grinding machine according
to the criteria suggested by Atkinson (1979). A cen-
tral rectangular axial groove with the width (gw ) of
1.45 mm was cut along the length of each specimen
to approximately one-third of its thickness by using
a table-cutting saw. An initial notch of 10 mm long
was cut in one end of each specimen along the line
of axial groove. Each specimen was then pre-cracked
by loading at a slow cross-head speed of 0.05 mm/min
using a displacement controlled loading machine until
the instantaneous slope of the load-time curve just
changed. The initial crack length was measured by a
microscope after pre-cracking process. Experimental
setup is shown in Figure 2.
2.3 Subcritical crack growth by the load
relaxation test
The subcritical crack growth (SCG) parameters were
obtained from the load relaxation test. In the relaxation
test, a pre-determined loading, Pi (∼80% of critical
load, Pc ) was applied at 1.0 mm/min so that no signifi-
cant crack extension occurred before relaxation. When
Pi was reached and the crosshead was stopped, the load
relaxation was recorded versus time within 45 minutes.
More details of the load relaxation test are referred to
Henry et al. (1977) and Meredith & Atkinson (1985).
609
When the relaxation test was completed, the specimen
was fractured at a rapid speed of 10 mm/min. The crit-
ical load Pc for fracturing the specimen was used to
determine the fracture toughness KIC .
3 THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF DOUBLE
TORSION TEST RESULTS
3.1 Application of the typical analytical method
As mentioned that the typical analytical method pro-
posed by Williams & Evans (1973) were conducted
to compare the results obtained from the corrective
method. To analyze the DT test data, the stress inten-
sity factor KI at the crack tip and the crack growth
rate, v were obtained from Eq. (1) & (2) respectively.
According to Evans (1972), the factor φ in Eq.(2) was
assumed to be 0.196 in this study.
3.2 Application of the corrective method
To apply the methodology proposed by Ciccotti et al.
(2001), a scaling factor should be determined first to
produce a specimen with the same aspect ratio as the
ones analyzed in the finite-element model. Scaling
factor was determined by the following equation:
where the aspect ratio of finite-element model = tFE :
WFE : LFE and that of tested specimen = t : W : L.
In this study, the aspect ratios (t : W : L) of both
granite and dolomite specimens were very sim-
ilar to the model geometries with tFE = 7 mm,
WFE = 100 mm and LFE = 250 mm as stated in Cic-
cotti et al. (2000, 2001). The scaling ratios applied to
both granite and dolomite specimens were determined
by Eq. (6) and are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respec-
tively. Upon creating the appropriate scaled model,
the sets of five corresponding corrective coefficients
ψ(a) and ξ(a) at particular crack lengths were obtained
from linear interpolations with the order starting from
the notch length (nl ), the groove width (gw ) and the
groove depth. Due to the limitation in the skewness of
the finite element model, Ciccotti et al. (2001) sug-
gested that the crack front inclination, c = a/tn = 4
should be used.
After two sets of five coefficients ψ(a) and ξ(a)
at the relative crack lengths for the scaled model had
been obtained from the tables stated in Ciccotti et al.
(2000, 2001), smooth functions can be interpolated
to provide solutions for all crack lengths. A least-
square third-degree polynomial (Fig. 3) was used to
fit the coefficient ψ(a). A second-order polynomial
(Fig. 4) was used to fit the normalized compliance
Table 2. Geometrical properties of granite specimens.

Scaling
Specimen t(mm) W (mm) L(mm) tn /t ratio Eq.(6)

DTG1 3.97 60.03 150.55 0.690 0.590

DTG4 4.05 60.00 150.51 0.704 0.594
DTG9 4.02 60.02 150.00 0.664 0.591
DTG4a 3.99 60.02 150.50 0.677 0.591
DTG5a 4.00 60.02 150.50 0.655 0.591
DTG7a 4.00 59.98 150.60 0.688 0.591
DTG8a 4.10 60.03 150.50 0.707 0.596
DTG9a 4.07 60.00 150.67 0.641 0.595

Table 3. Geometrical properties of dolomite specimens.

Scaling
Figure 4. Interpolated curves of the ξ coefficient for both
Specimen t(mm) W (mm) L(mm) tn /t ratio Eq.(6)
granite and dolomite specimens.
DTD2a 4.00 60.02 149.92 0.668 0.590
DTD3a 4.00 60.02 149.60 0.665 0.590 intensity factor KI and the crack velocity v. Thus, KI
DTD4a 4.00 60.04 149.52 0.675 0.590 and v should be estimated by using Eq. (4) & (5)
DTD5a 4.02 60.02 149.33 0.669 0.591 respectively. To account for the effect of the crack
front inclination, a coefficient φ should be multiplied
when determining the crack growth velocity of double
torsion test as shown in Eq. (5). According to Cic-
cotti et al. (2001), the values of φ of both granite and
dolomite specimens were assumed to be 0.25 in this
study.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Analysis of the relaxation test data

Figure 3. Interpolated curves of the ψ coefficient for both
granite and dolomite specimens.
aξ(a), and then divided by the crack length a. Thus, the
interpolating functions ψ(a) and ξ(a) for both granite
and dolomite specimens were in form of Eqs. (7) &
(8) respectively. The coefficients of the equations are
listed in Tables 4 and 5.
These crack length dependent corrective factors
ψ(a) and ξ(a) were introduced to estimate the stress
Since the corrective method is dependence of the crack
length, specimens with different precrack lengths (i.e.
an initial crack length before relaxation test, ai ) were
prepared to study the effect of the initial crack length.
To prepare a specimen with different initial crack
lengths, the load relaxation test was repeated five times
on the same granite specimen (DTG9a). The initial
crack length was measured and recorded before each
load relaxation test. Therefore, total fifteen relaxation
tests on both granite and dolomite specimens were
conducted in this study.
The SCG data of load relaxation tests analyzed by
both analytical methods are presented by a log-log
plot of the crack growth rate v versus the normalized
stress intensity factor (KI /KIC ). The graphs of granite
and dolomite specimens obtained from both analytical
methods are plotted together. For a clear presentation,
only four specimens of each rock type are plotted as
shown in Figures 5 & 6.
From Figures 5 & 6, it is found that the KI − v curves
of both granite and dolomite specimens shift to the left
when the corrective method is applied. These results
are matched with the experimental results obtained

610
 Table 4. Coefficients of the interpolating function ψ(a).

Specimen A B C D

DTG1 2.601 × 10−3 −5.165 × 10−2 3.322 × 10−1 2.421 × 10−1

DTG4 2.538 × 10−3 −5.089 × 10−2 3.309 × 10−1 2.345 × 10−1
DTG9 2.642 × 10−3 −5.210 × 10−2 3.320 × 10−1 2.546 × 10−1
DTG4a 2.610 × 10−3 −5.172 × 10−2 3.314 × 10−1 2.494 × 10−1
DTG5a 2.704 × 10−3 −5.320 × 10−2 3.379 × 10−1 2.469 × 10−1
DTG7a 2.577 × 10−3 −5.124 × 10−2 3.299 × 10−1 2.467 × 10−1
DTG8a 2.488 × 10−3 −5.019 × 10−2 3.285 × 10−1 2.339 × 10−1
DTG9a 2.776 × 10−3 −5.471 × 10−2 3.476 × 10−1 2.304 × 10−1
DTD2a 2.628 × 10−3 −5.188 × 10−2 3.310 × 10−1 2.549 × 10−1
DTD3a 2.644 × 10−3 −5.215 × 10−2 3.324 × 10−1 2.535 × 10−1
DTD4a 2.618 × 10−3 −5.173 × 10−2 3.306 × 10−1 2.534 × 10−1
DTD5a 2.609 × 10−3 −5.156 × 10−2 3.294 × 10−1 2.570 × 10−1

Table 5. Coefficients of the interpolating function ξ(a).

Specimen E F G

DTG1 1.142 × 10−2 8.206 × 10−1 4.043 ×10−1

DTG4 1.129 × 10−2 8.203 × 10−1 3.569 ×10−1
DTG9 1.162 × 10−2 8.202 × 10−1 5.034 ×10−1
DTG4a 1.146 × 10−2 8.210 × 10−1 4.526 ×10−1
DTG5a 1.205 × 10−2 8.156 × 10−1 5.632 ×10−1
DTG7a 1.139 × 10−2 8.210 × 10−1 4.134 ×10−1
DTG8a 1.120 × 10−2 8.203 × 10−1 3.445 ×10−1
DTG9a 1.265 × 10−2 8.084 × 10−1 6.553 ×10−1
DTD2a 1.152 × 10−2 8.212 × 10−1 4.855 ×10−1
DTD3a 1.161 × 10−2 8.203 × 10−1 4.996 ×10−1
DTD4a 1.148 × 10−2 8.213 × 10−1 4.570 ×10−1
DTD5a 1.149 × 10−2 8.214 × 10−1 4.789 ×10−1

Figure 6. Log (KI /KIC ) – log v curve for dolomite speci-

mens. Curves with solid symbols represent the results ana-
lyzed by the corrective method. Curves with hollow symbols
represent the results analyzed by the typical method.

by Ciccotti et al. (2001). This is mainly because the

square root of the corrective coefficient ψ(a) is used
to estimate the stress intensity factor, KI . However, to
study SCG, the SCG parameters such as stress cor-
rosion index n and crack velocity v0 at K0 should be
discussed and will be presented in the next session.

4.2 Effect on SCG parameters

Figure 5. Log (KI /KIC ) – log v curve for granite specimens.
Curves with solid symbols represent the results analyzed by
the corrective method. Curves with hollow symbols represent
the results analyzed by the typical method.
As mentioned that the stress corrosion index n is an
important parameter to study SCG, indices n of both
granite and dolomite specimens obtained from both
analytical methods are compared. The slope of the lin-
ear part of the log (KI /KIC ) – log v curves is used to
determine the index n as reported in Table 6.

611
Table 6. The subcritical crack growth index n using typical
and corrective analyzing method.

Specimen ai /L nE nC log v0E log vC0

DTG1 0.46 133.9 133.0 −110.0 −106.3

DTG4 0.45 81.6 78.1 −67.3 −63.4
DTG9 0.23 105.3 123.1 −85.6 −98.5
DTG4a 0.30 94.5 99.7 −72.8 −74.8
DTG5a 0.29 95.5 102.2 −76.5 −80.2
DTG7a 0.37 78.0 77.0 −63.8 −61.8
DTG8a 0.34 156.0 159.4 −119.7 −119.7
DTG9a-r1 0.09 57.2 106.3 −47.3 −71.9
DTG9a-r2 0.23 55.2 63.9 −46.0 −50.7 Figure 7. Difference in the stress-corrosion index n (hollow
DTG9a-r3 0.36 66.6 66.9 −53.9 −53.6 symbols) and the crack velocity v0 (solid symbols) between
DTG9a-r4 0.55 53.2 61.1 −44.3 −49.0 the typical and the corrective methods of rock specimens with
DTG9a-r5 0.66 44.2 97.8 −36.6 −73.9 different initial crack lengths. The shaded area represents that
DTD2a 0.38 43.8 42.7 −34.5 −33.2 the difference is noticeably small (0.31 < ai /L < 0.46).
DTD3a 0.33 26.6 26.3 −25.1 −24.8
DTD4a 0.31 28.9 29.5 −25.8 −25.7
DTD5a 0.18 32.4 40.0 −25.7 −29.1

∗ E factor reached a threshold value K0 and this value is

n and nC stand for the stress corrosion index obtained from
the typical and Ciccotti’s method respectively.
∗ E
v0 and v0C stand for the crack velocity at K0 obtained from
the typical and Ciccotti’s method respectively.
From Table 6, it is found that the most of the stress
corrosion index n obtained from the corrective method
is larger than that obtained from the typical analytical
method, especially when the initial crack length is rel-
atively small or large, the difference in n is up to a
factor of 2.2. According to both numerical simulation
and experimental results conducted by Ciccotti et al.
(2001), it was reported that the stress corrosion index
n was generally underestimated when the typical ana-
lytical method was adopted and it is matched with the
results in this study. To investigate the effect of crack
length, the graph of change in n against initial crack
length ratio (ai /L) is plotted as shown in Figure 7. From
Figure 7, it is discovered that the difference in n is not
noticeably large (i.e. nC /nE = 0.96 – 1.02) when the
crack length of the specimen is within the certain range
(∼0.31 < ai /L < ∼0.46). This means that typical ana-
lytical method is still valid when the initial crack length
falls within the above range. According to Tait et al.
(1986), for DT specimen with L/W = 2.5, the opera-
tional range of typical method is ∼0.2 < ai /L < ∼0.6
which is much wider. It could be concluded that the
operational range of typical method is insufficient for
the determination of the stress corrosion index n when
the L/W of specimen is 2.5. For specimens with other
L/W , it is recommended that a further study should be
conducted.
Apart from the index n, the parameter v0 stated in
Eq. (3) is compared. According to Atkinson (1984), it
is assumed that SCG occurs when the stress intensity
noted to be 10–20% of the critical stress intensity fac-
tor KIC . The velocity v0 is defined as velocity at K0
which is assumed to be 15% of KIC in this study. The
velocityv0 of each specimen is obtained from the y-
intercept of the log (KI /KIC ) – log v curves. Since
the velocity is a small number, log v0 is presented as
shown in Table 6. In this study, it is found that the log
v0 decreases up to 2.0 when the corrective method is
applied. However, as same as n value, the difference
in v0 is relatively smaller when the initial crack length
falls within the range of (∼0.31 < ai /L < ∼0.46) as
shown in Figure 7.
Although the difference in both n and vit0 is very
small when the initial crack length falls within a certain
range, it is still worth to apply the corrective method.
This is because it cannot be expected that the initial
crack length of DT specimen will fall within the range
due to uncontrollable pre-cracking processes of the
DT test.
4.3 Implication of the corrective method
Chau & Shao (2006) examined SCG in rock panels,
it was found that the time to failure is strongly depen-
dence on n and v0 . Figure 8 shows that the time to
failure decreases non-linearly from 650 days to 286
days when n increases by a factor of 1.4 (from 16 to 22).
Moreover, the time to failure decreases non-linearly
from 808 days to 102 days when v0 increases from
0.6 × 10−12 m/s to 5 × 10−12 m/s. That is the value of
log v0 increasing by a factor of 1.08. The large influ-
ence of SCG parameters n and v0 obtained from the
corrective method can affect the determination of the
life of rock panels seriously. Thus, it can be concluded
that the corrective method should be applied to analyze
the DT data.

612

Figure 8. The dependence of the SCG parameters n and v0
on the time to failure of rock panels studied by Chau & Shao
(2006). The value of v0 should be multiplied by 10−12 m/s.
5 PROPOSED SIMPLIFICATION OF THE
CORRECTIVE METHOD
5.1 Need for the simplified method
Experimental results in the present study show that
the corrective method is worth to use to investigate
SCG because the effects of the crack length, the crack
front inclination, the notch length, the groove width
and the groove depth are considered. However, the
disadvantage of this method is that complicated inter-
polations should be conducted to obtain two corrective
coefficients before analysis of the DT data. There-
fore, charts and tables are developed in this study to
simply the complicated interpolations when DT spec-
imens with suggested dimension ratios (t : W : L) and
geometrical parameters are used.
5.2 Introduction of design charts and tables
According to Ciccotti (2000) and Ciccotti et al. (2000),
specimens with dimensions of 17 cm (L) × 10 cm
613
Figure 9. Chart 1A for the function of the ψ coefficient for
specimens with t : W : L = 1:15:25.5 and nl /L ≤ 0.08.
Figure 10. Chart 1B for the function of the ξ coefficient for
specimens with t : W : L = 1:15:25.5 and nl /L ≤ 0.08.
(W ) × 7 mm (t) and 25 cm (L) × 10 cm (W ) × 7 mm
are presented. Thus, based on these two specimens,
four design charts 1A, 1B, 2A & 2B (Figs. 9–12) for
two specimens with dimension ratios (t : W : L) of
1:15:25.5 and 1:15:37.5 are developed to simplify the
interpolation process to obtain the corrective coeffi-
cients ψ(a) and ξ(a). The crack front inclination, c is
assumed to be 4 when preparing the design charts and
it is one of the limitations of this simplified method. To
ensure that the charts and tables can be used broadly,
all the parameters shown in the charts are normalized.
The functions ψ(a) and ξ(a) shown in the design
charts for both granite and dolomite specimens can be
represented in form of Eqs. (9) & (10) respectively.
The coefficients of the equations are listed in Tables 7
and 8.
 Table 7. Coefficients of ψ(a) of design charts 1A & 2A.

A B C D

t : W : L = 1:15:25.5
tn /t = 1/2
gw /W = 0.005 16.2693 −20.0698 8.5833 −0.2841
gw /W = 0.035 19.1462 −23.3854 9.9506 −0.4552
tn /t = 2/3
gw /W = 0.005 11.8851 −15.4922 6.9928 −0.1545
gw /W = 0.035 12.9075 −16.6040 7.4220 −0.2020
t : W : L = 1:15:37.5
tn /t = 1/2
gw /W = 0.005 12.8732 −16.2616 6.5434 0.1286
gw /W = 0.035 15.0894 −18.7885 7.4592 0.0374
tn /t = 2/3
Figure 11. Chart 2A for the function of the ψ coefficient gw /W = 0.005 8.4353 −11.0584 4.6790 0.2962
for specimens with t : W : L = 1:15:37.5 and nl /L ≤ 0.08. gw /W = 0.035 9.6012 −12.5465 5.2756 0.2313

Table 8. Coefficients of ξ(a) of design charts 1B & 2B.

Specimen E F G

t : W : L = 1:15:25.5
tn /t = 1/2
gw /W = 0.005 0.5237 0.5619 0.1630
gw /W = 0.035 0.6497 0.4950 0.1987
tn /t = 2/3
gw /W = 0.005 0.3567 0.6550 0.0704
gw /W = 0.035 0.4056 0.6297 0.0857
t : W : L = 1:15:37.5
tn /t = 1/2
gw /W = 0.005 0.2736 0.7482 0.0973
gw /W = 0.035 0.3526 0.0729 0.1224
Figure 12. Chart 2B for the function of the ξ coefficient for tn /t = 2/3
specimens with t : W : L = 1:15:37.5 and nl /L ≤ 0.08. gw /W = 0.005 0.1620 0.8280 0.0287
gw /W = 0.035 0.1907 0.8148 0.0390

5.3 Application of the simplified method

To apply this simplified method, the specimen with
dimension ratio (t : W : L) of either 1:15:25.5 or
1:15:37.5 should be prepared. As the dimension ratio
of the test specimen is same as that of the scaled model,
it is not required to determine the scaling ratio by
Eq. (6). Then, based on the normalized groove width
(gw /W ) and depth of specimen (tn /t), the functions of
both corrective factors ψ(a) and ξ(a) can be obtained
from the charts and tables directly. After obtaining the
functions of ψ(a) and ξ(a), the stress intensity fac-
tor KI and the crack growth velocity are estimated by
Eqs. (4) and (5). A flow chart is shown in Figure 13
to indicate how to apply this simplified method. This
simplified method can be only applied to the speci-
men with fixed dimension ratios with the normalized
groove width and depth. For other dimensions, the
interpolation mentioned in the corrective method is
required. This may be viewed as the limitation of this
simplified method. Nevertheless, it is suggested that
the specimen with required dimension ratio should be
prepared so that the complicated interpolations of the
corrective method can be neglected.
6 CONCLUSION
The corrective methodology of double torsion load
relaxation test is used to investigate subcritical crack
growth of granite and dolomite with consideration of
the crack length. Based on the results of this study,
it is found that the both SCG parameters n and v0 is
adjusted when the corrective method is applied except
the initial crack length falls within a narrow range.
Since the previous study reported that the time of fail-
ure of rock panels is very sensitive of SCG parameters
n and v0 , it is concluded that the corrective method
should be applied due to significant changes of both n
and v0 with consideration of the crack length.

614

Figure 13. Flow chart indicating the application of the
simplified method.
The corrective method requires complicated inter-
polations to obtain two corrective coefficients ψ(a)
and ξ(a). Design charts and tables are developed to
obtain two corrective factors without the complicated
interpolations. However, the limitation of this simpli-
fied method is that specimen with suggested specimen
sizes should be prepared when conducting the double
torsion test.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work described in this paper was fully supported
by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
(Project No. PolyU 5166/04E). This study is part of
the Master study of the first author, K.W. Kwok.
REFERENCES
ASTM 1995. Standard test method for unconfined com-
pressive strength of intact rock core specimens. Test
Designation D 2938-95 Annual book of ASTM standards,
American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia,
(14)02.
Atkinson, B.K. 1979. Fracture toughness of Tennessee sand-
stone and Carrara marble using the double torsion testing
method. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 16:
49–53.
615
Atkinson, B.K. 1984. Subcritical crack-growth in geolog-
ical materials. Journal of Geophysical Research 89:
4077–4114.
Charles, R.J. 1958. Static fatigue of glass. J. Applied Physics
29: 1549–1560.
Chau, K.T. & Shao, J.F. 2006. Subcritical crack growth of
edge and center cracks in façade rock panels subject to
periodic surface temperature variations. Int. J. of Solids
and Structures 43: 807–827.
Ciccotti, M. 2000. Realistic finite-element model for the
double-torsion loading configuration. J. of the American
Ceramic Soc. 83(11): 2737–2744.
Ciccotti, M., Gonzato, G. & Mulargia, F. 2000. The double
torsion loading configuration for fracture propagation: an
improved methodology fro the load-relaxation at constant
displacement. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 37: 1103–1113.
Ciccotti, M., Negri, N., Gonzato, G. & Mulargia, F 2001.
Practical application of an improved methodology for the
double torsion load relaxation method. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. 38: 569–576.
Evans, A.G. 1972. A method for evaluating the time-
dependent failure characteristics of brittle materials – and
its application to polycrystalline alumina. J. of Materials
Science 7: 1137–1146.
Fuller, Jr., E.R. 1979. An evaluation of double-torsion test-
ing – analysis. In Freiman (ed.), Fracture Mechanics
Applied to Brittle Materials. ASTM STP 678: 3–18.
Henry, J.P., Paquet, J. & Tancrez, J.P. 1977. Experimental
study of crack propagation in calcite rocks. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 14: 85–91.
ISRM 1981. Suggested methods for determining water con-
tent, porosity, density, absorption and related properties.
In Rock Characterization Testing and Monitoring – ISRM
Suggested Methods. Pergamon Press Ltd., pp. 81–89.
Meredith, P.G. & Atkinson, B.K. 1985. Fracture toughness
and subcritical crack growth during high-temperature ten-
sile deformation of Westerly granite and Black gabbro.
Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 39: 33–51.
Miura, K., Okui,Y. & Horii, H. 2003. Micromechanics-based
prediction of creep failure of hard rock for long-term
safety of high-level radioactive waste disposal system.
Mechanics of Materials 35: 587–601.
Outwater, J.O., Murphy, M.C., Kumble, R.G. & Berry, J.T.
1974. Double torsion technique as a universal fracture
toughness test method. Fracture Toughness and Slow-
Stable Cracking, ASTM STP 559: 127–138.
Shetty, D.K. & Virkar, A.V. 1978. Determination of the use-
ful range of crack lengths in double torsion specimens
J. of the American Ceramic Society 61: 93–94.
Tait, R.B., Fry, P.R. & Garrett, G.G. 1986. Review and evalua-
tion of the double torsion technique for fracture toughness
and fatigue testing of brittle materials. Experimental
Mechanics 27(1): 14–22.
Trantina, G.G. 1977. Stress analysis of the double torsion
specimen J. of theAmerican Ceramic Society 60: 338–341.
Williams, D.P. & Evans, A.G. 1973. A simple method for
studying slow crack growth. Journal of Testing and
Evaluation 1: 264–270.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Experimental relationship between fracture toughness and fracture

roughness in anisotropic granitic rocks

M.H.B. Nasseri, G. Grasselli & B. Mohanty

Lassonde Institute, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

J. Wirth
HSR Hochschule fuer Technik, Raperswil, Switzerland

M. Braun
Stadtpolizei, Zurich, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: In this paper we present an experimental approach aiming at assessing the correlation between
fracture roughness and fracture toughness (KIC ) of two granitic rocks exhibiting significant fracture toughness
anisotropy. Fractured surfaces obtained under mode I testing method from three orthogonal planes with respect
to microstructural fabrics in Barre and Stanstead granites were analyzed for their degree of roughness. There
exists a clear correlation between roughness and toughness within each rock examined along the three planes.
Stanstead being coarser revealed a higher roughness but lower toughness in comparison to Barre granite.

1 INTRODUCTION in a limited area called fracture process zone located

Preferentially oriented microstructural fabric and
microcracks in granitic rocks are largely responsible
for the anisotropic behaviour of physico-mechanical
properties of otherwise apparently isotropic medium.
In a previous attempt to study the fracture toughness
anisotropy and its relation to the microstructural fab-
rics in granitic rocks, (Nasseri et al. 2006, Nasseri &
Mohanty 2006) it was concluded that fracture tough-
ness is linked more closely to the presence of oriented
microcracks than grain size and distribution. The for-
mer was also found to have good correlation with
measured differences in seismic velocities. The study
showed that the measured value of fracture tough-
ness can show variations by a factor ranging from
1.3 to 2.4 in the same rock type. This anisotropy has
been conclusively shown to be linked directly to the
microstructural anisotropy present in the rock, as rep-
resented by the size of dominant microstructural sets,
grain shape ratio and their orientation with respect to
the direction of propagation of the induced fracture.
For instance, a fracture propagating at right angle to
the major set of weakness plane yielded the highest
fracture toughness value. Such fractures, in contrast to
the fracture propagating parallel to the dominant weak-
ness planes, are characterized by increasing roughness,
segmentation, and higher deflection. It is known that
quasibrittle materials show extensive microcracking
ahead and around the tip of a main crack. Elastic
interactions of the main crack with microcracks and
among the microcracks are responsible for reduc-
tion of the singular stress field induced by energy
dissipative mechanism and stress distribution at the
micromechanical level (Hori & Nemat-Nasser 1987,
Brencich & Carpinteri, 1998, Shum & Hutchinson
1990, Ducourthial et al. 2000). Consequently at the
macroscopic level such a shielding affects the main
crack and leads to increased toughness. Presence of
microcracks depending on the orientation in the pro-
cess of shielding the main crack may induce additional
loading modes on the latter which are responsible
for the local macrocrack deflections (Hori & Nemat-
Nasser 1987, Ducourthial et al. 2000). This results
in a higher degree of roughness of the main fracture
surface. When the main crack is forced to propagate
normal to the dominant preferred microstructural fab-
rics, instead of propagating parallel to it, it creates an
increased tortuosity of the fracture path, which results
in an increase in the effective fracture energy. Quanti-
tative description of rough surfaces in geomaterials
has proved to be an important challenge so far. A few
attempts have been made in the past to character-
ize the fracture surfaces and to correlate the fracture
roughness with fracture toughness (Mandelbrot 1984,
Brandt & Prokopski 1993, Lange et al. 1993, Issa et al.
1993). These studies show that there exists a good

617
Table 1. Mineral composition of the rocks studied. Table 2. Microstructural features of the rocks studied.

Av. grain % Av. grain % Av. grain % Average grain shape No. Av. µcrack
Size Size Size (a) (b) (a/b) grain φ length
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (-) (-) (cm/cm2 ) (mm)

Barre granite Barre granite

Quartz Feldspar Biotite xy Plane 1.41 1.12 1.26 972 5.20 0.84±0.36
xy Plane 0.93 25% 1.10 75% 0.46 4% xz Plane 1.08 1.00 1.07 1534 4.46 0.68±0.25
xz Plane 0.95 31% 0.81 61% 0.43 6% yz Plane 1.38 1.10 1.25 1138 4.10 1.07±0.54
yz Plane 0.94 31% 0.96 65% 0.40 4%
Stanstead granite
Stanstead granite xy Plane 1.17 1.14 1.03 893 5.20 1.38±0.52
Quartz Feldspar Biotite xz Plane 1.35 1.11 1.21 668 4.80 1.08±0.45
xy Plane 1.25 25% 1.40 65% 0.60 10% yz Plane 1.28 1.13 1.12 771 2.80 0.94±0.41
xz Plane 1.30 23% 1.63 68% 0.62 9%
yz Plane 1.20 26% 1.45 67% 0.60 7% (a) = Ellipsoid’s long axis, (b) = Ellipsoid’s short axis,
φ = microcrack density.

correlation between the fracture roughness expressed

as function of its fractal dimension and fracture tough-
ness. It is found that as fracture surface roughness
increases, fracture toughness increases. This study
aims at a quantitative analysis of the fracture sur-
face roughness measured with a new stereo-topometric
technique (Grasselli et al. 2002a) and its correlation
with fracture toughness obtained under mode I, (ISRM
1995) for two granites showing different degree of
fracture toughness anisotropy.
2 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP AND
PROCEDURE
2.1 Microstructural investigation and sample
selection
To collect information regarding natural in situ orien-
tation of the granitic blocks and internal rock fabric,
thin sections (3.5 cm × 2.2 cm) were prepared normal
to three arbitrarily chosen orthogonal axes along which
P-wave velocities were measured. Intermediate, slow
and fast directions were assigned x, y, and z axes
respectively. Additionally thin sections perpendicular
to the fracture propagation plane were made from the
failed specimens. Optical microstructural analyses of
the two granitic rocks detailed the variation in terms
of mineral size distribution, mineral shape, microc-
rack and their preferred orientation, (Tables 1, 2). In
our analysis one screen pixel represents 1 µm. Thus
the shortest resolvable crack and grain size have a cut-
off limit of approximately 1 µm. The cut off limit for
the crack and grain size analysis was set to 100 µm. In
order to distinguish between the induced cracks form
the pre-existing ones in and around the main crack
(process zone), SEM imaging of the same thin sections
were carried out (×2000 magnification). “Intercept”
and “SPO” (Launeau & Robin 1996) programs were
used to calculate optical microcrack densities and
determine the mineral size distribution and shape ratio.
2.1.1 Barre granite
Barre granite is obtained from the southwest region of
Burlington (Vermont, USA). This granite is an intru-
sive deposit of Devonian age, concordant on a regional
scale but discordant at local contacts. It is fine to
medium grained with the mineral grain size ranging
from 0.25 to 3 mm, with an average quartz grain size
of 0.9 mm, which makes up 25% of this rock. The aver-
age feldspar grain size, the dominant mineral (65%),
for this rock is 0.83 mm (Table 1).
The corresponding average biotite (6%) grain size
in this rock is 0.43 mm. The microcracks are of intra-
granular to intergranular type and are found in both
quartz and feldspar grains, and along cleavage planes
of biotite grains. Table 2, shows the grain size distribu-
tion and relevant grain shape ratio obtained from the
three orthogonal planes in this rock.The preferably ori-
ented microcracks have an average length of 1.07 mm
with maximum length of ∼3.5 mm cutting through
the larger quartz grains observed in the yz plane. As
evident from the 3D block diagram of microcrack ori-
entation in Figure 1, the larger microcracks (2–3 mm
long) are seen to run parallel to Y axis. The mineral
fabric orientation follows the longer microcrack pre-
ferred orientation, direction and reveals a shape ratio
of 1.25 in that plane. The longer microcracks in the xz
plane are aligned sub-parallel to x axis, whereas the
smaller microcracks are found to be nearly parallel to
the z axis. The mineral fabric direction follows a sim-
ilar trend as that of preferred microcrack, and shows
a mineral shape ratio of 1.07 along xz plane. The rose
diagram representing the microcrack orientations and
length along specific direction for each plane is shown
in Figure 1. Microcracks orientation in Barre granite
has been investigated in the past (Sano et al. 1992)
and it is shown that there is a strong concentration
of microcracks within the rift plane (plane of easiest
splitting). xy plane is considered to be parallel to the
rift plane for Barre granite in this study.

618
Figure 1. 3D block diagram showing microcrack orienta-
tions in Barre granite; rose diagrams show alignment of
microcracks and mineral fabric orientation for each plane.
Planes along which roughness were measured are marked
Kyx, Kzx, Kzy.
2.1.2 Stanstead granite
Stanstead granite belongs to Beebe region of eastern
township in Quebec near the border with USA. This
rock is of Devonian age and its color is white, pale,
and grey to a dark color depending on mica content.
It is a fine to coarse-grained rock with the mineral
grain size ranging from 0.25 to 4.5 mm, with an aver-
age quartz grain size of 1.25 mm, which makes up
25% of this rock. The average feldspar grain size, the
dominant mineral (65%), for this rock is 1.4 mm. The
corresponding average biotite (9%) grain size in this
rock is 0.6 mm (Table 1). The microcracks in this rock
are of intragranular to intergranular type and are found
in both the quartz, feldspar grains and along cleavage
planes of biotite grains.
The mineral grain shape has a ratio of 1.03, 1.21
and 1.12 along xy, xz and yz planes respectively
(Table 2). As evident from the 3D block diagram of
microcrack orientation in Figure 2, the larger micro-
cracks (2–3.5 mm) are seen to run nearly parallel to
x axis and the shorter ones (∼1 mm) run nearly par-
allel to y axis on xy plane. This plane exhibits the
highest microcrack density of 5.2 cm/cm2 compare to
the other two planes. The average microcrack length
observed on xy, xz and yz planes are 1.381±0.52,
1.08±0.45 and 0.94±0.41 mm respectively. The
rose diagrams of microcrack for three planes are
shown to be largely unidirectional as shown in
Figure 2.
619
Figure 2. 3D block diagram showing microcracks orienta-
tions in Stanstead granite; rose diagrams show the alignment
of microcracks and mineral fabric orientation for each plane.
Planes along which roughness were measured are marked as
Kyx, Kzx and Kyz.
2.2 Fracture roughness measurement techniques
and procedure
Measurement of facture roughness is a very challeng-
ing problem common to many different disciplines. In
this work a 3D stereo-topometric measurement system
was adopted to digitize the fractured surfaces. Such a
system offers both the advantages of high precision
and good repeatability, as well as being fast and easy
to use (Grasselli & Egger 2000). The system works
on a novel principle compared to one-camera fringe
projection sensors. Various white-light fringe patterns
are projected onto the object surface and recorded
by two digital cameras, which are integrated into the
measurement head, from two different angles. Three-
dimensional coordinates are computed independently
with high accuracy for each of the camera pixels
using triangulation methods and digital image pro-
cessing (fringe projection and image shifting). Consis-
tent exploitation of redundant information minimises
the measurement errors. Due to the high data den-
sity resulting from the optical measurement process,
details of the rough surface can be depicted precisely as
point data. For the set-up chosen for this study we mea-
sured point on a 250 µm xy grid. The accuracy of the
point cloud along the z direction has been computed to
be ±50 µm. Resolution and accuracy of measurement
are comparable to that of accurate contact measuring
machines and single range camera systems.
 For the current research, the fractured surfaces were
reconstructed from the three-dimensional point clouds
with a specially developed triangulation algorithm
(Wirth 2002). This approach results in a discretisa-
tion of the fracture surface into contiguous triangles,
defined by vertex and by the orientation of the vec-
tor normal to the plane of the triangle. Looking at
the reconstructed surface, each triangle orientation is
uniquely identified by its azimuth angle and dip angle.
Azimuth (α) is the angle between the true dip vector
projection on the fracture average plane and the chosen
direction, measured clockwise from the chosen direc-
tion. Dip (θ) is the angle between the fracture plane
and the triangle.
The apparent dip angle (θ ∗ ) describes the apparent Figure 3. Geometry of the CCNBD and related param-
inclination of each triangle with respect to the chosen eters, where: R = Radius of disc; B = Thickness of disc;
direction. It is obtained by projecting the dip angle D = Diameter of disc; RS = Radius of saw; a = Length of
along the vertical plane which contains the chosen crack; a0 = Initial half length of chevron notch; a1 = Final
direction where: half length of chevron notch. After ISRM (1995) and Iqbal
& Mohanty (2006).

The apparent dip angle (θ ∗ ) quantifies “how steep”

each triangle is along a chosen direction and it allows
to identify which are the steepest areas faced towards
that direction.
Based on the apparent dip angle, it is possible to
discriminate the percentage of the surface that dips
∗
more than a chosen threshold value θcr . For each value
∗
of θcr it is possible to calculate the percentage of the
fracture having an apparent dip inclination higher than
∗
the chosen θcr , normalised with respect to the total
area of the fracture. The so calculated percentage area
is termed Aθ∗ . As described in detailed by Grasselli
(2002a, 2006) the relationship between the Aθ∗ and
the corresponding minimum apparent dip angle can Figure 4. Variation of fracture toughness (six different
be described by the following equation: directions) and their standard deviations for Barre (BG) and
Stanstead granite(STG).

2.3 Fracture toughness measurements

where A0 is the percentage of the fracture calculated
∗
for a threshold angle of 0 degrees, θmax is the max-
imum apparent dip angle in the chosen direction,
and C is a “roughness” parameter, calculated using
a best-fit regression function, which characterises the
distribution of the apparent dip angles over the sur-
face (Grasselli et al. 2002a). The parameters A0 , C
∗
and θmax depend on the specified shear direction, as
well as on the three-dimensional surface represen-
tation (i.e. triangulation algorithm and measurement
resolution). In order to visualise the surface anisotropy,
∗
the parameters A0 , C and θmax are calculated along
several possible directions, and the values of ratio
∗
θmax /C, obtained for each of those, were plotted in
polar diagram (Grasselli et al. 2002b).
In the present study we use the cracked chevron
notched Brazilian disc (CCNBD) test method to eval-
uate this anisotropy in Barre and Stanstead granites
(Fig. 3). The Brazilian disc samples were prepared
from three orthogonal planes with the notch orienta-
tion parallel to the main axis in each plane (Figs. 1,
2). The first index in our tests represents the direction
normal to the fracture plane, and the second index indi-
cates the direction of crack propagation. The cracks
were chosen to be parallel to one of the coordinate
axis in this investigation and therefore CCNBD sam-
ples were prepared along six different directions with
respect to grains and microcrack orientation planes.
Figure 4 shows the variation of fracture toughness and
its standard deviations measured along six different
directions for Barre and Stanstead granite.

620
 As described in details in the ISRM standard
method protocol (1995) and by Iqbal & Mohanty
(2006), the fracture toughness KIC can be evaluated as:

where and Pmax is the maximum load at failure, B is

the disc’s thickness, R is the radius of the disc, and
∗
Ymin is a critical dimensionless stress intensity value
for the specimen, which is determined by the speci-
men geometry dimensions α0 , α1 and αB (shown in
Figure 3), and it is defined as:

where µ and Y are constants determined by α0 , αB

only and their values can be found in Table 2 of ISRM
standard method protocol (1995).
Notches were machined within the disc specimens,
according to ISRM standard method protocol (1995).
Using a MTS servo control loading machine and Test-
Star software, displacement, force and time base were
recorded during testing.

3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

3.1 Fracture toughness anisotropy in Barre granite

Barre granite (BG) shows fracture toughness
anisotropy of 1.76 (i.e. ratio of highest to lowest value).
The average fracture toughness for the three fracture
directions (i.e. Kyx, Kxy and Kyz) yields KIC value
of 1.9, 1.73 and 1.7 (MPa m0.5 ) respectively, whereas
the other three fracture directions Kxz, Kzx and Kzy
exhibit average KIC of 1.34, 1.42 and 1.14 (MPa m0.5 )
respectively (Fig. 4). In Figure 1 and 2, only the direc-
tions along which the fracture roughnesses have been
evaluated are shown. Thin sections prepared normal to
the crack propagation direction form the plane charac-
terized with highest and lowest KIC values were carbon
coded and processed for SEM analysis. Microcrack
distribution and its preferred orientation around the
main crack were measured for Barre granite for both
aforementioned directions and are shown in (Figs. 5a,
b). The main maxima of the rose diagram represent-
ing the preferred orientation of induced cracks shows a
single dominating direction parallel to the propagation
direction (Fig 5a). The rose diagram representing the
orientation of induced microcracks shows two maxima
perpendicular to each other reflecting the activation
of pre-existing microcracks and grain boundaries ori-
ented normal to the propagation direction (Fig 5b).
Unlike the fracture pattern observed in the damage
zone for the latter direction, the former direction is
characterized by longer continuous microcracks run-
ning parallel to the same direction as the main crack.
Figure 5. Comparison of microcrack distribution (traced
in white), orientation and main crack path (in black) mor-
phology in Barre granite between a) main crack propagating
parallel to microstructural fabric, b) main crack propagating
perpendicular to microstructural fabric.
The latter is smoother and does not show any frequent
local deflection.
3.2 Fracture toughness anisotropy in Stanstead
granite
Stanstead granite (STG) shows fracture toughness
anisotropy of 1.6. Fracture toughness measured along
Kzx and Kzy show the highest average value of 1.43
and 1.34 (MPa m0.5 ) respectively (Fig. 4). Fracture
toughness determined for Kyx and Kyz directions
show average KIC values to be minimized (i.e. 0.93
and 1.1 MPa m0.5 ) respectively. The fracture tough-
ness registered along Kxz and Kxy directions found
to be 1.22 and 1.0 (MPa m0.5 ) on the average respec-
tively. Similar to the characteristic feature of Barre
granite, fracture damage zone in Stanstead granite has
the highest fracture distribution when the main crack
is forced to propagate normal to the pre-existing pre-
ferred microstructural fabric (Fig 6a). This is about
25% more than what has been measured for the

621
Figure 6. Comparison of microcrack distribution (in white)
orientation and main crack path (in black) morphology in
Stanstead granite between a) main crack propagating perpen-
dicular to microstructural fabric, b) main crack propagating
parallel to microstructural fabric.

direction in which the main crack is propagating par-

allel to the microstructural fabric (Fig 6b). The rose
diagram representing the preferred microcrack orien-
tation in the damage zone of the former direction is
also of bidirectional type, whereas the latter direction
reveals a more unidirectional nature.
Figure 7. Surface reconstruction and polar distribution of
∗
roughness values (θmax /C) for three surfaces created during
cracked chevron notched Brazilian tests on Barre granite
(BG) samples.

specific microstructure and presence of microcracks,

3.3 Fracture roughness
Surfaces of Barre and Stanstead granite fractures,
created during toughness tests along three different
planes, were analyzed with the purpose of estimating
the value and distribution of surface roughness, and of
investigating the relationship between fracture mor-
phology and fracture toughness. In order to visualise
and compare the anisotropy of different fractures, for
∗
each surface the parameters A0 , C and θmax were cal-
culated all around the average-plane of the fracture in
steps of 5◦ , and the values of θmax
∗
/C ratio, obtained for
each direction, were plotted in polar diagrams (Figs. 7,
8). All measured fractures, independent of rock type,
show anisotropy in roughness, with higher values in
the direction perpendicular to fracture propagation
(90–270◦ ). This result suggests that the fracturing
process and its direction of propagation causes an
anisotropy in fracture roughness, leading to the cre-
ation of a preferential direction for shear displace-
ments and fluid flow.
This observation, subject to statistical verification
in other rock types, could be easily used to iden-
tify fracture genesis, to determine the direction along
which the fracture propagated, and finally to bet-
ter constrain back analysis of catastrophic events by
clearer understanding of the stress state at failure.

622
 The comparison among fractures created from the
same sample but along different planes shows that
average roughness value, for both Barre and Stanstead
granites, changes as function of the chosen plane.
When the fracture propagates on plane perpendicular
to the main microcrack orientation (BGyx and STGzx)
the surface presents a higher roughness value with
respect to the one measured on samples where the
fracture propagated parallel to the main microcrack
orientation (BGzy and STGyx).
The difference in grain size between the two gran-
ites is reflected on the magnitude of roughness values.
When comparing Stanstead fractures with those in
Barre granite, all created by forcing the crack to prop-
agate at the same angle with respect to the main
microcrack orientation, we notice that Stanstead frac-
tures are always characterized by higher roughness
than Barre ones. We observed that the grain size has
a larger influence on the resulting surface geometry
when the fracture propagates perpendicular to the main
microcrack orientation. Fractures, that are forced to
propagate perpendicularly to the pre-existent cracks,
mostly follow grain boundaries, therefore, they tend
to generate surfaces whose roughness is directly influ-
enced by the grain size. This explains why roughness
values measured for samples BGyx (Fig. 7) and STGzx
(Fig. 8) result to be higher respect to those along
the other two planes. Comparing the two granites we
observed that the higher grain size for Stansted gran-
ite is also reflected in a higher relative increasing in
roughness among the three tested planes respect to
Barre samples.

4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

In this preliminary study an attempt is made to corre-

late the fracture roughness with the fracture toughness
(mode I) obtained along specific planes in two granitic
rocks that are characterize by different microstruc-
tural properties. Barre granite is finer in grain size
and shows aligned preferred microcrack and mineral
fabric orientations and thus reveals higher average
KIC (i.e. 1.54 MPa m0.5 ) than what is observed in
Stanstead granite (i.e. 1.17 MPa m0.5 ). Barre granite
also shows higher fracture toughness anisotropy (1.7)
than Stanstead (1.6). The latter is coarser and lacks
alignment between the preferred microcracks and min-
eral fabrics within the three orthogonal planes studied.
Both rocks show a correlation between fracture rough-
ness values and their associated fracture toughness
(Fig. 9). The plane showing the highest KIC (i.e.
1.9 MPa m0.5 ) in Barre granite reveals highest average
fracture roughness value of 9.9. Planes showing inter-
mediate (1.41 MPa m0.5 ) and lowest (1.1 MPa m0.5 )
have roughness values of 8.85 and 8.5 respectively.
The plane showing highest KIC (i.e. 1.35 MPa m0.5 )
in Stanstead granite also reveals highest average
Figure 8. Surface reconstruction and polar distribution of
∗
roughness values (θmax /C) for three surfaces created during
cracked chevron notched Brazilian tests on Stanstead granite
(STG) samples.
fracture roughness value of 12.3. Whereas the planes
showing intermediate (1.02 MPa m0.5 ) and lowest
(0.93 MPa m0.5 ) KIC have roughness values of 9.57 and
9.16 respectively.
The fracture roughness values obtained form the
three fracture surfaces in Stanstead granite are higher
than the roughness obtained from two fracture surfaces
in Barre granite. This seems to be related to the larger
microstructural features such as grain size in the for-
mer rock. Whereas, the roughness measured in BGyx
plane proves to be larger than STGyz and STGyx. Such
a phenomenon could be related to the more frequent
out of plane propagation of the main crack as a result
of its interaction with microstructural fabric oriented

623
 13.00
12.00
Roughness Value
11.00
10.00
9.00
8.00
0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
KIC, MPa.m1/2
Figure 9. Variation of fracture toughness with fracture
roughness in Barre and Stanstead granites.
normal to propagation direction in BGyx as evidenced
in (Fig. 4b).
Further confirmation of such a relationship between
fracture toughness and fracture roughness involves
examination of larger number of fracture surfaces
obtained from the specimens tested along the same
direction and constitutes an important part of the ongo-
ing research. Work is also expanding on more quanti-
tative measurement of the damage zone surrounding
the principal crack in the sample and on its contri-
bution in defining the fracture process zone for a
propagating crack.
REFERENCES
Brandt, A.M. & Prokopski, G. 1993. On the fractal dimension
of fracture surfaces of concrete elements. J. Mater. Sci. 28:
4762–4766.
Brencich, A. & Carpinteri, A. 1998. Stress field interaction
and strain energy distribution between a stationary main
crack and its process zone. Eng. Fract. Mech. 59: 797–814.
Ducourthial, E., Bouchaud, E. & Chaboche, J.-L. 2000. Influ-
ence of microcracks on the propagation of macrocracks.
Computational Mat. Sci. 19: 229–234.
Grasselli, G. & Egger, P. 2000. 3D surface characterization
for the prediction of the shear strength of rough joint. In
Eurock 2000, Aachen.
Grasselli, G., Wirth, J. & Egger, P. 2002a. Quantitative three-
BGYX
dimensional description of a rough surface and parameter
BGZX
evolution with shearing. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 39(6):
BGZY
789–800.
STGZX
Grasselli, G., Wirth, J. & Egger, P. 2002b. Functional param-
STGYZ
eters for quantifying the surface anisotropy of rock
STGYX
discontinui-ties. In Eurock2002, Funchal.
Grasselli, G. 2006. Shear strength of rock joints based on
quantified surface description. Rock Mech. Rock Eng.
39(4): 295–314.
Hori, M. & Nemat-Nasser, S. 1987. Interacting micro-cracks
near te tip in the process zone of a macro-crack. J. Mech.
Phys. Solids 35: 601–629.
2
Iqbal, M.J. & Mohanty, B. 2006. Experimental calibration
of stress intensity factors for ISRM suggested cracked
chevron notched Brazilian disc specimen used for deter-
mination of mode-I fracture toughness. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. 43: 1270–1276.
Issa, M.A., Issa, M.A., Islam, M.S. & Chudnovsky, A. 2003.
Fractal dimension – A measure of fracture roughness and
toughness of concrete. Eng. Fract. Mech. 70: 125–137.
ISRM 1995. Suggested method for determining Mode I frac-
ture toughness using cracked chevron notched Brazilian
disc (CCNBD) specimens. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
Geomech. Abstr. 32: 57–64.
Kachanove, M. 1994. Elastic solids with many cracks and
related problems. Advances in Applied Mechanics 30:
259–445.
Lange, D.A., Jennings, H.M. & Shah, S.P. 1993. Relation-
ship between fracture toughness and fracture behavior of
cement paste and mortar. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 3: 589–97.
Launeau, P. & Robin, P-YF. 1996. Fabric analysis using the
Intercept method. Tectonophysics 267(1–4): 91–119.
Mandelbrot, B.B. Passoja, D.E. & Paullay, A.J. 1984. Fractal
character of fracture surfaces on metals. Nature 308: 721–
722.
Nasseri, M.H.B., Mohanty, B. & Young, R.P. 2006. Fracture
toughness measurements and acoustic emission activity
in brittle rocks. Pure Applied Geophys. 163: 917–945.
Nasseri, M.H.B. & Mohanty, B. 2006. Fracture toughness
aniso- tropy in granitic rocks. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.:
In review.
Sano, O., Kudo, Y. & Mizuta, Y. 1992. Experimental deter-
mination of elastic constants of Oshima granite, Barre
granite, and Chelmsford granite. J. Geophys. Res. 97(B3):
3367–3379.
Shum, D.K.M. & Hutchinson, J.W. 1990. On toughening by
microcracks. Mechanics of Materials 9: 83–91.
Wirth, J. 2002. Rapid Modeling. Munich: Hanser.
624
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Effect of confining stress and loading rate on fracture toughness

of rocks

T.Y. Ko & J. Kemeny

Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, The University of Arizona, USA

ABSTRACT: In this research, the effect of confining stress and loading rate on the fracture toughness has been
investigated. The short beam compression test has been used to estimate the fracture toughness for Flagstaff
sandstone. A brief theoretical analysis of the effects of confining stress and loading rate the fracture toughness is
presented. This analysis considers changes to the critical fracture process zone size due to confining stress and
loading rate. It is found that experimental results agree with the fracture mechanics theory. The mode II fracture
toughness is found to increase with increasing confining stress and increasing loading rate.

1 INTRODUCTION usually associated with catastrophic failure of geologic

In linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), the
stress intensity factor K describes the magnitude of
stresses in the crack tip region, the size of the crack
tip plastic zone or fracture process zone and its shape,
and the strain energy for the crack propagation. Since
it is able to correlate the crack propagation and frac-
ture behavior, the stress intensity factor is the most
important parameter in LEFM. Cracks will propagate
when the stress intensity factor reaches or exceeds a
critical stress intensity factor, Kc . The quantity Kc is
termed the fracture toughness and is considered to be a
material property. Fracture toughness is a quantitative
expression of a material resistance to failure when a
crack is present. Some particular applications for the
fracture toughness of rock are given as follows (ISRM
1988):
(i) a parameter for classification of rock materials.
(ii) an index of the fragmentation process
(iii) a material property in the modeling of rock
fragmentation.
According to the loading configurations, there are
three basic fracture modes of crack tip deformation,
i.e. Mode I (or opening mode), Mode II (or in-plane
shearing mode) and Mode III (or out-of-plane shearing
mode). Corresponding to the three cracking modes,
there are three stress intensity factors known as KI , KII
and KIII . Also there are three fracture toughnesses KIC ,
KIIC , and KIIIC corresponding to the three cracking
modes.
Mode II, shear failure is one of the major prob-
lems in rock mechanics and rock engineering since it is
structures. One of difficulties in the shear failure stud-
ies is producing pure shear failure in laboratory tests.
Since most rocks are weaker in tension than compres-
sion, not only shear cracks but also tension cracks are
produced under shear loading. These tension cracks
change the distribution of stresses in the specimen, so
the calculated KIIC may be altered by these tension
cracks.
In this research, short beam compression (SBC)
(Watkins & Liu 1985, Ko et al. 2006) test specimens
have been used to investigate the effect of confin-
ing stress and loading rate on the Mode II fracture
toughness. For a specific slot separation ratio, the SBC
specimen gives almost pure shear failure, so it is suit-
able for determining the Mode II fracture toughness.
In this paper, a theoretical analysis of the effects of
confining stress and loading rate on the fracture tough-
ness is first presented, followed by a comparison with
experimental results.
2 CRACK TIP PROCESS ZONE
2.1 The fracture process zone (FPZ)
in rock
There must be a region near the crack tip where non-
linear material behavior is predominant. This behavior
might be governed by elasto-plastic behavior or micro-
cracking. This region is called the plastic zone in
metals or the fracture process zone (FPZ) in geologi-
cal material such as rock. In rocks, FPZ is due to the
initiation and propagation of the microcracks around

625
 it can be shown that the stress field in any linear elastic
cracked body is given by (Anderson 1995):

Figure 1. Schematic illustration of four development stages

of FPZ in rock. a) initially only a few pre-existing microc-
racks are present. b) on loading the rock at a low level a few
new microcracks are produced. c)with further loading a large The principal stresses in the vicinity of a crack tip
number of new microcracks are formed and the FPZ becomes can be obtained from the stress components given by
fully developed. d) finally the main crack is extended through equation (1) as follows:
the linking the adjacent microcracks.

y σyy

σxy

σxx
r

θ
crack
x

Figure 2. Definition of the coordinate axes ahead of a

crack tip.
2.3 FPZ size and shape

the crack tip. Hoagland et al. (1973) give a schematic
illustration of the four development stages of the FPZ
as shown in Figure 1. However, there are no sound the-
oretical models to describe the shape and size of FPZ
and it is often explained using the approximate model
for the crack tip plastic zone in metals (Whittaker et al.
1992).
Schmidt (1980) proposed using the maximum nor-
mal stress criterion to show the shape and size of the
FPZ. When the local maximum principal stress around
the crack tip reaches the ultimate tensile strength of
the rock, an FPZ occurs. For this case, the maximum
normal stress criterion can be simply stated as:

where σ t is the tensile stress and tensile stresses are

2.2 Stress components near the crack tip taken as positive.
For certain cracked configurations subjected to exter- Combining Equations 3 and 2 and solving for r
nal forces, it is possible to derive closed-form expres- under mode I loading gives:
sions for the stresses in the body, assuming isotropic
linear elastic material behavior. If we define a polar
coordinate axis with the origin at the crack tip (Fig. 2),

626
 2

1.5 r (θ)

)
) 2 Crack
1 KI
1 2 π σt

0.5

0 Crack

-0.5

-1
Figure 4. Normalized FPZ shape for mode II loading. Both
-1.5 the x and y axis are distance normalized by Equation 7.

-2 3 EFFECT OF CONFINING STRESS

-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

Figure 3. Normalized FPZ shape for mode I loading. Both
the x and y axis are distance normalized by Equation 6.
and similarly solving for r under mode II loading gives:
From Equations 4 and 5, it follows that the charac-
teristic FPZ size when θ =0◦ is given by:
Without invoking LEFM, it is reasonable to assume
that fracture toughness increases with increasing
confining stress. This follows since increasing the
confining stress causes the closure of pre-existing
microcracks, and reducing the microcrack density
increases rock strength. As shown in what follows, a
simple analysis based on the LEFM provides an ana-
lytical solution for the effect of confining stress on
fracture toughness.
Schmidt (1980) analyzed the effect of confining
stress on the shape and size of the FPZ. In the case
of mode I loading, adding a uniform confining stress
p to the crack tip principal stresses and it gives:

Substituting Equation 8 into Equation 3 and solving

and
for r(θ) gives the size of the FPZ as follows:

In order to maintain a constant value of rc (θ) at the

The normalized shapes of the FPZ under modes I moment of crack propagation, the ratio of KIC without
and II loading are schematically illustrated in Figures 3 confining stress to σt must be equal to the ratio of KIC
and 4. with confining stress to σt + p (Whittaker et al. 1992).
Figure 3 shows that the shape of the FPZ in mode I Therefore confining stress and fracture toughness
is symmetric about the x-axis. This follows from the should be related as follows:
fact that for mode I the loading and also the stress
distribution is symmetric about the axis of the crack.
In the case of mode II, loading is asymmetrical about
the x-axis, so the shape of the FPZ is asymmetrical as
well.
At the onset of crack propagation, K reaches KC
and r(θ ) attains a critical value, rc (θ ), which is also a where KIC(o) is KIC without confining stress and KIC(p)
material property. is KIC with confining stress.

627
Table 1. The mechanical properties of Flagstaff sandstone Uniform Load Loading
(σc : uniaxial compressive strength, σt : tensile strength, E: P Platen
Young’s modulus, v: Poisson’s ratio, φ: internal friction angle,
c: cohesion).

σc σt
(MPa) (MPa) E (GPa) v φ(◦ ) c (MPa) a
Specimen
W c
116.83 6.38 24.3 0.357 52.04 20.42
Guide
Frame

Similarly for the case of mode II, L

B Hydraulic
Ram
Load Cell
a) b)

Figure 5. Short beam compression test: a) specimen geom-

etry; b) testing apparatus.

4 EFFECT OF LOADING RATE

It has been frequently observed that the strength 10

and deformation properties of rock increase with

increasing loading rate (Hudson & Harrison 1997). 8
Fracture toughnes, KIIC [MPa √m ]

Since fracture toughness is proportional to the

applied strength at failure, one can assume that frac- 6
ture toughness also increases with increasing loading
rate. This phenomenon also can be explained with the
4 KIIC = 1.135+0.8045p, R = 0.99
LEFM concepts.
At a low loading rate, the FPZ develops due to
the subcritical crack growth and critical crack growth 2
under the the applied loading. But at a high loading
rate, the FPZ develops without significant subcritical 0
crack growth. A rock specimen must have a constant 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

critical FPZ size at failure, therefore in the case of

a high loading rate, it needs a higher applied load. Figure 6. The variation of the fracture toughness with
Consequently, a higher value of fracture toughness is respect to the confining stress.
measured.

rate of 0.1 MPa/s. The test specimen and schematic

5 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Flagstaff sandstone was used to measure the frac-
ture toughness. The mechanical properties are given
in Table 1.
illustration of the testing apparatus are illustrated in
Figure 5.
Ko & Kemeny (2006) developed the stress inten-
sity factor for the SBC specimen using finite element
technique and is given as follows:

5.1 Specimen geometry and loading

The test specimen has a length of W = 101.6 mm (4 in),
a width of L = 50.8 mm (2 in) and a thickness of B =
where P is the applied load.
25.4 mm (1 in). Two equal and opposite pre-existing
slots, which have a depth of a=L/2, and slot separa-
tion of c = 20.32 mm (0.8 in), are cut perpendicular
5.2 Influence of confining stress on fracture
at the central part of specimen. An axial compressive
toughness
load was applied on the end surfaces of the speci-
men. For the loading rate test, loading rates ranging The average fracture√ toughness without confining
from 0.01 to 5 MPa/s were used. For the test with √ MPa m with a standard deviation of
stress is 1.135
a confining stress, lateral confinement was applied 0.178 MPa m. The variation of fracture toughness for
to the specimen from 1 to 10 MPa with the loading different confining stresses is presented in Figure 6.

628

Figure 7. The variation of the fracture toughness with
respect to the loading rate.
A total of 25 tests were conducted. An approximate
empirical relationship between fracture toughness and
confining stress can be expressed as:
The experimental results show a similar variation of
fracture toughness increase as that with Equation 11.
5.3 Influence of loading rate on
fracture toughness
The experimental results are presented in Figure 7,
where fracture toughness is plotted as a function of
loading rate using a log-log scale. A total of 26 tests
were conducted, with about 3 tests conducted at each
loading rate. Even though there is a scatter in the
results, there is a definite trend of increasing fracture
toughness with increasing loading rate. The solid line
in Figure 7 shows the best-fit regression line based on
the log fracture toughness versus log loading late data.
This empirical relationship between fracture toughness
and loading rate is given as follows:
The experimental results agree with the theory as
stated earlier.
629
6 CONCLUSIONS
Fracture toughness is a quantitative expression of a
material’s resistance to failure when a crack is present
and it is an important parameter in LEFM. In this
research, the effects of confining stress and loading
rate on the fracture toughness were investigated. The
short beam compression test has been used to estimate
the fracture toughness for Flagstaff sandstone.
A brief theoretical analysis of the effects of confin-
ing stress and loading rate on the fracture toughness
has been presented. It has been found that experimen-
tal results agree with theory. The mode II fracture
toughness has been found to increase with increasing
confining stress and increasing loading rate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work supported by University of Arizona NIOSH
contract R01 OH007739.
REFERENCES
Anderson, T.L. 1995. Fracture Mechanics. CRC Press.
Hoagland, R.G., Hahn, G.T. & Rosenfield, A.R. 1973. Influ-
ence of microstructure on fracture propagation in rock.
Rock Mechanics 5: 77–106.
Hudson, J.A. & Harrison, J.P. 1997. Engineering Rock
Mechanics. Elsevier Science.
ISRM 1988. Suggested methods for determining the frac-
ture toughness of rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. &
Geomech. Abstr. 25(2): 71–96.
Ko, T.Y. & Kemeny, J. 2006. Determination of mode II stress
intensity factor using short beam compression test. In Pro-
ceedings of the 4th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Singapore. CD-Rom.
Ko, T.Y., Kemeny, J. & Lee, J.S. 2006. Mode II subcritical
crack growth parameters for sandstone. In Proceedings
of the 41st U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium, Golden.
CD-Rom
Schmidt, R.A. 1980. A microcrack model and its significance
to hydrulic fracturing and fracture toughness testing. In
Proceedings of the 21st U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium,
pp. 581–590
Watkins, J. & Liu, K.L.W. 1985.A finite element study of the
short beam test specimen under mode II loading. Inter-
national Journal of Cement Composites and Lightweight
Concrete 7(1): 39–47.
Whittaker, B.N., Singh, R.N. & Sun, G.1992. Rock Fracture
Mechanics: Principles, Design and Applications. Elsevier
Publishing Company.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The evolution of fracture toughness and permeability in thermally

cracked Westerly granite from elastic wave velocities

M.H.B. Nasseri & R.P. Young

Lassonde Institute, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A. Schubnel
Laboratoire de Géologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, Paris, France

ABSTRACT: Elastic wave velocities, water permeability k and fracture toughness KIC under mode I were
measured in thermally pre-cracked Westerly granite. A series of chevron cracked notched Brazilian disc and a
series of cylindrical specimens were thermally damaged slowly up to 850◦ C. A dramatic 80% decrease of KIC
was observed with thermal treatment, from 1.4 to 0.2 MPa.m0.5 . Microcrack density increased from ∼0.2 for RT
specimens to ∼10 for specimens heat-treated at 850◦ C. The decrease of 50% in KIC for ρ > 1, 80% for ρ > 5 was
successfully predicted using non-interactive effective medium theory. An exponential decrease of k and increase
of elastic wave velocities with increasing effective stress is observed and hysteresis occurs during effective
stress decrease. Vp measurements are a good geophysical indicator of the damage and hence the deterioration of
KIC and enhancement of permeability with microcracking, and could be used as a non-destructive technique to
monitor and predict the evolution of these parameters in the laboratory and field.

1 INTRODUCTION On the other hand, a large number of studies showed

Mechanical and transport properties of crustal rocks
are profoundly influenced by cracks and pore spaces.
The existence of embedded microcrack fabrics in rocks
significantly influences the fracture toughness (KIC )
(Nasseri et al. 2005, 2006), the elastic wave veloc-
ities and the permeability of rocks (Benson et al.
2006). Need for understanding of a coupled hydro-
thermo-mechanical effect on fracture toughness and
permeability in rocks is increasingly in demand. Seis-
mic and velocity field data and its relation to such
coupled phenomena is important and has a role in
improving oil production, a better understanding of the
stability of underground waste depositories, volcanic
eruptions and earthquake processes (Rutqvis et al.
2005, Engvik et al. 2005).
By performing controlled thermal cracking exper-
iments, we investigate quantitatively the influence of
thermal damage on KIC and permeability. Until now,
few experimental studies have been performed on the
effect of thermal cracking on the KIC and permeability
of granitic rocks together. On one hand, some studies
involved in-situ measurement of KIC at the desired
elevated temperatures (Meredith & Atkinson 1985,
Balme et al. 2004, Funatsu et al. 2004). Others tested
heat-treated specimens after cooling (Atkinson 1984).
that embedded microcrack fabrics in rocks signifi-
cantly influence the elastic properties, (Simmons &
Brace 1965, Kern 1978, 1997) and the permeability.
Recently, (Benson et al. 2006) used inverted elastic
wave velocities inversion and permeability models
of (Gueguen & Dienes 1989) to predict the evolu-
tion of permeability with increasing pressure, from
elastic wave velocity variations. Despite the fact that
fractures generally represent only small amounts of
porosity, the theoretical evolution of elastic properties
with damage can generally be predicted using mod-
els developed in the framework of Effective Medium
Theory (EMT), (O’Connel & Bubiansky 1974, Cheng
& Toksoz 1979, Kachanov 1994, Sayers & Kachanov
1995, Le Ravalec 1996, Mavko et al. 1999). These
models are used in order to predict the material
properties as a function of a single non-dimensional
damage parameter, the crack density and/or the poros-
ity. Although elastic wave velocities and the fracture
toughness are both known to decrease with microc-
racking and permeability to increase with the latter,
few attempts have been made until now to link all
the three properties and compare quantitatively their
coupled evolution. The present study presents: (i) the
experimental evolution of fracture toughness and com-
pressional wave velocities for a series of heat-treated

631
chevron cracked notched Brazilian discs (CCNBD),
(ISRM 1995) ranging up to 850◦ C in Westerly gran-
ite; (ii) the experimental evolution of permeability
and elastic wave velocities as a function of effective
pressure up to 35 MPa of effective stress (5 MPa of
pore pressure) for the treated cylindrical specimens
of Westerly granite; (iii) the evolution of volumetric
microcrack porosity using both cylindrical crack and
elliptical tube models and its comparison with sample
porosity as a function of thermal treatment; (iv) the
crack density determination using both elastic wave
velocity inversion and optical and SEM analysis as
tools; (v) and finally, the theoretical evolution of KIC
as a function of crack density using well-known EMT
such as the non-interacting crack theory (Kachanov
1994).
high pressure (100 MPa) Hoek type triaxial cell was
used to load the samples at various hydrostatic stress
(Pc). A high stress (100 MPa), high precision metering
Quizix pump was used for mainating pore pressure (Pp
varying between 5.5 to 4.5 MPa from top to the bottom
of 78 mm long specimens) during the test. The steady
state flow method (Gueguen & Palciauskas 1994) was
used to measure the permeability of the cylindrical
specimens treated at 450, 650 and 850◦ C whereas
pulse decay method (Brace et al. 1968) was adopted
to measure the permeability of the specimens treated
at RT, and 250◦ C.
2.3 The CCNBD test
The method used to evaluate KIC is best defined in
(ISRM 1995), where:

2 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP AND PROCEDURE

2.1 Sample selection

and
In this study, Westerly granite was selected because it
is widely studied, even textured, isotropic granite. The
physical and mechanical properties of Westerly gran-
ite have already been studied at elevated temperature ∗
Ymin is a critical dimensionless stress intensity value
and pressures (Hadley 1976, Heuze 1983, Baure & for the specimen, which is determined by the specimen
Johnson 1987). The modal analysis gave the follow- geometry dimensions α0 , α1 and αB (defined in Fig. 1).
ing mineralogical composition in volumetric fraction: µ and Y are constants determined by α0 , αB only and
quartz 27%, microcline 36%, plagioclase 30%, phyl- their values can be found in Table 2 of ISRM (1995),
losilicates 6% and others 1%. The mean grain size is Pmax is the maximum load at failure, B is the disc’s
0.75 mm with a total porosity of <1% (Meredith & thickness and R is the radius of the disc.
Atkinson 1985).
2.4 Microstructural analysis methods
2.2 Experimental procedure
Thin sections (3.5 cm × 2.2 cm) perpendicular to the
Thermal cracks were generated in sixteen cracked fracture propagation plane were made from the failed
chevron notched Brazilian disc (CCNBD) (75 mm in CCNBD specimens.
diameter and 30 mm in length) and four cylindrical
samples (38 mm in diameter and 78 mm in length) at
250, 450, 650 and 850◦ C at a rate of heating and
cooling equal to ∼1–2◦ C/min. After cooling, com-
pressional (P) wave velocities were measured at room
temperature, with an interval of 30◦ azimuth circum-
ferentially and along the Z-axis, on each specimen.
Notches were machined within the disc specimens
only afterwards, according to (ISRM 1995). Using
a MTS servo control loading machine and TestStar
software, the displacement, force and time base were
recorded during testing.
Four additional CCNBD and one cylindrical sam-
ple were not subjected to heating and provide a control
(RT specimens). Permeability of the thermally treated
core samples (38 mm in diameter and 78 mm in length) Figure 1. Geometry of the CCNBD and related parameters
at 250, 450, 650 and 850◦ C and that of RT was mea- (after ISRM, 1995), R = Radius of disc; B = Thickness of
sured with an increasing effective stress up to 35 MPa. disc; D = Diameter of disc; RS = Radius of saw; a = Length
A floor sanding loading machine equipped with acous- of crack; a0 = Initial half length of chevron notch; a1 = Final
tic P, S1 and S2 measurement system incorporating a half length of chevron notch.

632
 Microstructural mapping including intragranular 3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND
and grain boundary microcrack mapping and length MICROSTRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
measurements were conducted on digital images
(4.5 × 3.4 mm) taken from the thin sections (×134 3.1 Fracture toughness evolution with
magnification) far away from the test crack propaga- temperature
tion plane. Hadley’s (1976) definition of the crack was
Figure 2a shows the evolution of the relative stress
used whose orientation does not alter more than 20◦ on
intensity factor KI (normalized to room temperature
any significant section of its length. About 88 images
KI ) at the notch tip versus displacement, as a func-
were tiled together to cover the entire thin section of
tion of temperature treatment. KIC corresponds to
interest at each temperature. A recognizable cut off
the value of KI observed at failure. A systematic
limit of 0.05 mm was selected for the crack length
decrease of KIC , is observed with increasing heat treat-
mapping from the optical images. In order to evaluate
ment, up to 850◦ C. The value of KIC for the RT
the width of intragranular and grain boundary micro-
specimens is equal to 1.48 (MPa.m0.5 ) compared to
cracks, SEM of the same thin sections was carried
0.22 (MPa.m0.5 ) for the 850◦ C specimens, an 85%
out. SEM (2K× magnification) was used in this study
decrease. A 60% reduction of the fracture toughness
to measure the width of microcracks as a function of
(from 0.98 to 0.43 MPa.m0.5 ) is observed for the
temperature adopting a cut off limit of >1 µm.
heat-treated specimens ranging from 450 to 650◦ C.
Widths of 50 intragranular and 50 grain boundary
In these experiments, the peak stress becomes ill-
microcracks at each temperature were directly mea-
defined beyond 650◦ C and is characterized with lower
sured. For this analysis no correction was applied
stress drops and increased post failure plasticity. These
to address the crack width measurements as a func-
observations are in close agreement with the previ-
tion of their dip angle with respect to measurement
ous results obtained on Westerly granite. (Meredith &
plane (Homand-Etienne & Houpert 1989). No attempt
Atkinson 1985, Heuze 1983).
has been made to measure the pore spaces which are
usually observed in plagioclase.
“Intercept” program (Launeau & Robin 1996, mod-
ified version) was used to calculate microcrack density
by scanning images along sets of parallel lines, and
counting the number of boundaries intercepted by
these lines. The total number of intercepts is then
converted into an optical crack density, expressed
in (mm/mm2 ) which corresponds to the cumulated
microcrack lengths (aj ) from area (A) using following
equation:

Equation 4 is used to calculate microcrack porosity

(ηc ) based on the assumption that a crack model com-
posed of cylindrical tubes where A is the total area,
aj the length and bj the diameter of the tube.

Equation 5 is used to estimate the microcrack poros-

ity (ηe ) assuming an elliptical crack model in which
the void resembles a long ellipse with long axis aj , and
the small axis bj (Homand-Etienne & Houpert 1989).

Figure 2. a) Evolution of relative stress intensity factor

Microcrack porosities calculated using the afore-
mentioned methods were compared with the sample
porosity (ISRM 1972) measured as a function of
temperature.
KI versus displacement, and as a function of temperature
treatment of the specimens. b) A comparison of the fracture
toughness (KIC ) and the mean P-wave velocity as a function of
temperature treatment. Both KIC and the Vp were normalized
to that of the untreated specimens.

633

Figure 3. The evolution of grain boundary microcracks
(right) and intragranular microcracks (left) as a function of
temperature treatment. The thin section images used to map
the cracks are shown in the middle column. Crack densities
(ρGB and ρIG ) are presented in mm/mm2 .
3.2 Variation of P-wave velocities with
temperature
Figure 2b shows the coupled evolution of KIC and
P-wave velocitiesVp as a function of temperature treat-
ment. Both are normalized to RT specimen values.
There is a clear negative correlation of KIC and Vp
with temperature treatment. However the evolution of
KIC and Vp seem to be well coupled. Thus, Vp appears
to be a good geophysical indicator of the deterioration
of KIC . The maximum P-wave velocity of 4.55 m/s,
measured in RT specimens, decreased to 0.94 km/s in
the 850◦ C. This corresponds to 80% decrease in Vp ,
which can be compared with the 85% decrease in KIC .
The biggest drop in velocity occurred between 450 and
650◦ C, again probably as a result of the α − β quartz
phase transition.
3.3 Optical microcrack density
Figure 3 shows the evolution of both grain bound-
ary (ρGB ) and intergranular microcrack (ρIG ) densities
with temperature up to 850◦ C determined through
optical method. The initial ratio of ρIG /ρGB for RT
specimens being ∼2.85 dropped to a value of ∼1.73
and ∼1.25 for 250 and 450◦ C specimens respectively
as a result of sudden increase in ρGB .The former attains
634
Figure 4. Variation of microcrack porosities and sample
porosity with KIC measured at various temperature in West-
erly Granite IG = Intragranular microcracks, GB = Grain
boundary microcracks, ηM = Mixed microcrack porosity,
ηe = Microcrack porosity based on elliptical crack model,
ηc = microcrack porosity based on cylindrical tube model.
a value of ∼1.54 and ∼0.95 for 650 and 850◦ C spec-
imens respectively reflecting a further increase in ρIG
especially observed in quartz and feldspar minerals at
850◦ C. Similar trend of observation has been reported
by (Fredrich & Wong 1986) on thermal cracking of
Westerly granite.
3.4 Microcrack porosity
Crack porosity was measured from bidimensional
measurements of microcracks length and width, by
simply summing the area of voids per unit surface,
and adopting a cylindrical tube or elliptical “crack
shape model”. Such bidimensional measurements are
only linked to the tridimensional real porosity values
if isotropy is assumed (Eqs. 4 & 5). At lower temper-
atures and up to 450◦ C, the widths measured in intra-
granular and grain boundary cracking remained more
or less constant, ∼0.5–1.5 µm, whereas, at higher tem-
perature, an exponential increase has been observed in
aforementioned microcrack types up to ∼2.5–4.5 µm
for IG and GB microcracks respectively. The cylindri-
cal tube model is preferred to estimate the morphology
of grain boundary or intercrystalline cracks where as
the elliptical crack model is adequate for intragranu-
lar or intracrystalline cracks. Therefore, a mixed total
microcrack porosity (ηM ) where intragranular microc-
rack porosity was calculated assuming the former and
the grain boundary microcrack porosity was calculated
based on the latter. Figure 4 plots the variation of KIC
with all the calculated microcrack porosities including
that of sample porosity as a function of temperature.
3.5 Permeability and velocity with pressure
Permeability of the cylindrical samples was measured
with an increasing effective stress in a Hoek type tri-
axial cell equipped with elastic wave measurement
Figure 5. a) Variation of permeability (K in log values) with
effective stress for thermally treated Westerly granite at var-
ious temperatures; arrow shows the direction of hysteresis
during loading and unloading. b) Variation of measured Vp
with effective stress for similar samples as shown in Figure5a.
system. The steady state flow method was adopted
to measure the permeability of the specimens treated
at 450, 650 and 850◦ C. Whereas the permeability of
the RT and 250◦ C specimens were determined using
pulse decay method. Calibration of the two meth-
ods was possible using the 450◦ C specimen tested at
2.5 MPa of effective stress. An exponential decrease of
k with increasing effective stress (PC –PP ) is observed
and hysteresis occurs during effective stress decrease.
The phenomenon of “crack lips sticking” is thought
to cause irreversible crack closure, and this effect is
more pronounced for the specimens treated at RT to
450◦ C in comparison to the 650 and 850◦ C specimens
(Figs. 5a, b). During loading Vp, Vs1 and Vs2 veloc-
ities increased as a response to crack closure which
caused permeability reduction consequently.
During unloading, the viscoelastic properties of
the microcracks prevailed and complete restoration
of permeability and elastic wave velocities did not
happen (Figs. 5a, b). k value was found to be chang-
ing from 4.13E − 19 to 4.9E − 20 m2 as effective
stresses changed form 2.5 MPa to 35 MPa in RT spec-
imen. Whereas changes in k under similar effective
stresses for 850◦ C specimen was found to vary from
635
Figure 6. a) Variation of measured Vs1 and b) Vs2 as a func-
tion of effective stress in thermally treated Westerly granite at
various temperatures, arrow shows the direction of hysteresis
during loading and unloading.
2.57E − 16 to 5.20E − 18 m2 . The P-wave velocities
changed form 5.6 km/s measured at 2.5 MPa of effec-
tive stress to 5.93 km/s in RT specimen when effective
stress rose up to 35 MPa. Whereas this changes in
the former ranges from 4.3 km/s to 5.2 km/s in 850◦ C
specimen (Fig. 5b). The average S-wave velocities
changed form 1.9 km/s measured at lowest effec-
tive stress of 2.5 MPa to 2.85 km/s when measured
at 35 MPa of effective stress for 850◦ C specimen.
Whereas S-wave velocities changed for RT speci-
men under similar effective stresses from 3 km/s to
3.4 km/s, (Figs. 6a, b).
4 THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
4.1 Determination of microcrack density (ρ)
using elastic wave velocities
A parameter that is widely and effectively used in order
to estimate crack density is the elastic wave velocity.
Assuming that changes in dynamic elastic properties
are correlated to the amount of damage within the
rock, and using well known effective medium theories
(EMT), one can invert the elastic wave velocity field 14
(a)
12
into a non-dimensional crack density, defined as:

Optical Crack Density, mm/mm2

Optical Crack Density, mm/mm^2

Dimensionless Crack Density

12 10
Dimensionless Crack Density
10
8
8
6
6
where ci is the radius of the ith crack and N the 4
total number of cracks embedded in the representative 4

elementary volume V. When neglecting crack interac- 2 2

tions, effective elastic modulii of a cracked solid can be
0 0
calculated exactly and rigorously in a unique manner 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
that depends on the crack orientations and distribu-
KIC,(MPa.m1/2)
tion solely. For a random crack center and orientation (b)
distribution (isotropic), stress interactions are partially 1.0E-02
aspect ratio (inversion)
compensating geometrically and the effective Young’s 850° aspect ratio (IG)
and shear moduli E∗ and G∗ of a dry rock can be 7.5E-03 aspect ratio (GB)
650°

aspect ratio
written as (Schubnel et al. 2006): 250°RT
5.0E-03 450°

2.5E-03

0.0E+00
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
KIC(MPa.m1/2)

where Eo , Go and νo are the Young’s modulus, shear
modulus and Poisson ratio of the uncracked mate-
rial. The compressional P-wave velocity in an isotropic
medium is calculated using:
Figure 7. a) Variation of crack densities determined opti-
cally (in mm/mm2 ) and by P-wave velocity inversion with
the fracture toughness KIC measured at different temperature
treatments. b)Variation of the IG and GB aspect ratio obtained
optically and aspect ratio measures through Vp inversion with
KIC measured for various heat- treated samples.

the total microcrack porosity is also equal to φ = πwc2 ,

where K and G are the bulk and shear modulus respec-
tively, and ρd is the bulk mass density. Using the latter
formula, and equations (7 & 8), Vp measurements in
Figure 2b were inverted for the crack density ρ. The
inversion was performed using a simple least square
technique with initial crack free parameters set as for a
typical granite, i.e. Eo = 75 GPa, νo = 0.15 and a bulk
mass density equal to 2.7.
Figure 7a plots the dimensionless crack density ρ
as a function of fracture toughness. As KIC decreases
remarkably, from 1.4 to 0.2 MPa.m0.5 , ρ increases
drastically from 0.26 to the unusually high value of
∼10. The optically determined crack density ρoptical ,
which is not a dimensionless parameter, is also plotted,
for comparison, on Figure 7a. Although ρoptical and ρ
are correlated and show very similar trend, it is hard
to compare two parameters of different dimensions.
In order to palliate to any misinterpretation this com-
parison could lead us to, microcrack aspect ratios ζ
measured optically were calculated by simply using
ζ = <w>/<2c> where w is the crack width and c
the crack radius. Remembering the fact that for penny
shaped cracks with constant aspect ratio distribution,
the aspect ratio can be expressed as a function of the
porosity and the crack density, i.e. ζ = φ/2πρ. Fig-
ure 7b then plots the variation of microcrack aspect
ratios, measured optically, with that of aspect ratios,
obtained from Vp inversion, as a function of KIC . The
agreement, at high KIC – or low crack density –, is
excellent, thus giving a strong support to both our opti-
cal analysis and our geophysical modeling at lower
temperature treatments. At higher temperatures, the
geophysical inversion yields an almost linear decrease
of aspect ratio with decreasing KIC and the correlation
between the evolution of optically determined crack
aspect ratios and the ones obtained from wave veloc-
ity inversion remains good up to temperature treatment
values of 450◦ C. The correlation is better with GB
crack aspect ratios, illustrating once again the major
role played by GB cracks.
4.2 Theoretical evolution of fracture
toughness with microcrack density
In Linear Fracture Mechanics, the mode I critical stress
intensity factor KIC (or fracture toughness) measures

636
the intrinsic resistance to microcrack propagation in
rocks. It is theoretically proportional to the Griffith
fracture energy so that:
where γ is the specific surface energy of the material,
and E the background matrix Young’s modulus. Here,
all rock specimens were tested at room temperature
under dry conditions and as a first order approxima-
tion, we decide to assume that the specific fracture
energy is an intrinsic property which does not depend
on the amount of pre-existing damage. Obviously, this
can only be valid at a given steady temperature, as for
example, (Darot et al. 1985) that the surface energy
of quartz reached zero during α–β transition at in-situ
temperature. This very simplistic argument assumes
the constancy of γ and overlooks the fact that γ is not
the intrinsic surface energy but the work of fracture
per unit area of crack advance. Typically, γ is much
larger (up to two orders of magnitude) than γintrinsic ,
due to the large amount of work needed in order to
damage the adjacent material, i.e. to create a process
zone. This (very large) discrepancy between the val-
ues of γfracture and γintrinsic is well known in fracture
mechanics (Chelidze et al. 1994). However, this impor-
tant approximation might have been nevertheless valid
in our experiments, as pointed by the correlation that
was experimentally observed between P-wave velocity
and fracture toughness (Fig. 2b):
where Vpo is the P-wave velocity in the uncracked
(or untreated) material. Indeed, reminding that elas-
tic wave velocities also evolve as the square root of
the elastic modulii, it follows that the relative evolu-
tion of fracture toughness can simply be rewritten as:
o
where KIC and Eo are the fracture toughness and
Young’s modulus of the uncracked material respec-
tively. The theoretical evolution of fracture toughness
at high crack density can then be determined (Fig. 8)
using equations (7, 8 and 9). Initial fracture tough-
ness was assumed to be equal to that of the untreated
material, i.e. ∼1.5 MPa.m0.5 . As expected, the model
predicts a dramatic decrease of the fracture toughness
with crack density. The fracture toughness is predicted
to drop by 50% at least for ρ > 1, by 80% for ρ > 5.
But most importantly, the model agrees well with
the crack density and KIC values obtained indepen-
dently from wave velocity inversion and experimental
measurements respectively.
637
Figure 8. Evolution of the fracture toughness KIC with crack
density, as predicted by equations 7 and 9. Crack free frac-
ture toughness KoIC was taken equal to 1.5 (MPa.m0.5 ). Plain
symbols show the tested KIC values as a function of crack
densities obtained by wave velocity inversion.
This can only be explained, if, to a certain extent, the
approximation leading to equation (12) remained valid
during our tests. The fact our KIC tests involved com-
pressive stresses that may suppress crack coalescence
which may not be universal. Unexpectedly, the agree-
ment is better at large crack densities, above 1 or so,
where the model seems to results in good agreement
with our experimental observations.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, a series of 20 heat-treated CCNBD sam-
ples of Westerly granite were tested in order to evaluate
the effect of thermal damage on fracture toughness
(KIC ). And 4 heat treated cylindrical samples were
tested to evaluate the former on permeability up to
35 MPa of effective stress. The decrease in P-wave
velocity matched well with that of fracture toughness
in samples heat-treated up to 850◦ C. Crack densities ρ
obtained from wave velocity inversion showed sim-
ilar trend as that determined optically: ρ increased
from ∼0.2 for RT specimens to ∼10 for specimens
heat-treated at 850◦ C. The decrease of 50% in KIC for
ρ > 1, 80% for ρ > 5 was successfully predicted using
non-interactive effective medium theory, which shows
that, at least during CCNBD testing, a macroscopic
effective medium approach can grasp the reduction
of KIC with crack density and might well explain the
correlation observed experimentally between P-wave
velocity and KIC decreases. Thermal cracking was
found to induce a significant decrease in the mechan-
ical and dynamic elastic properties, and to increase
the permeability of Westerly granite of three orders of
magnitude. Vp measurements are a good geophysical
indicator of the damage and hence the deterioration
of KIC and the enhancement of permeability with
microcracking, and could be used as a non-destructive
technique to monitor the evolution of these parameters
in the laboratory and field. These constitute part of
an ongoing research project trying to link mechanical
properties (fracture toughness, elastic constants) and
physical properties (permeability, elastic wave veloci-
ties) to quantitative microstructural parameters (crack
density, aspect ratio).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors would like to thank Sarah Hutchinson for
preparation of heat-treated specimens and perme-
ability measurements. S. Connelly brought a crucial
technical help to this study. This project was partly
funded via an NSERC discovery grant held by Prof.
R.P. Young.
REFERENCES
Atkinson, B.K. 1984. Subcritical crack growth in geological
materials. J. Geophys. Res. 89: 4077–4114.
Balme, M.R., Roochi, V., Jones, C., Sammonds, P.R.,
Meredith, P.G. & Boon, S. 2004. Fracture toughness
measurements on igneous rocks using a high-pressure,
high-temperature rock mechanics cell. J. Volcan. Geoth.
Res. 132: 159–172.
Baure, S.J. & Johnson, B. 1987. Effects of slow uniform heat-
ing on the Westerly and Charcoal granites. In Proc. 20th
Symp. on Rock Mechanics, Austin. New York: ASCE, pp.
7–18.
Benson, P., Meredith, P. & Schubnel, A. 2006. Examining the
role of void space fabric in permeability evolution with
from statistics and percolation. J. Geophys. Res. (In Press).
Brace, W.F., Walsh, J.B. & Frangos, T. 1968. Permeability of
granite under pressure. J. Geophys. Res. 6: 2225–2236.
Chelidze, T., Reuschle, T. & Gueguen, Y. 1994. A theoreti-
cal investigation of the fracture energy of heterogeneous
brittle materials. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 16: 1857–1868.
Cheng, C.H. & Toksoz, M.N. 1979. Inversion of seismic
velocities for the pore aspect ratio spectrum of a rock.
J. Geophys. Res. 84: 7533–7543.
Darot, M., Guéguen, Y. & Benchemam, Z. 1985. Ductile-
brittle transition investigated by micro-indentation:
Results for quartz and Olivine. Phys. of the Earth and
Plant. Int. 40: 180–186.
Engvik, A.K., Bertram, A., Kalthoff, J.F., Stockhert, B., Aus-
trheim, H. & Elvevold, S. 2005. Magma-driven hydraulic
fracturing and infiltration of into the damaged host rock,
and example from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica.
J. Structural Geol. 27: 839–854.
Fredrich, J.T. & Wong, T-F. 1986. Micromechanics of ther-
mally induced cracking in three crustal rocks. J Geophys.
Res. 91(B12): 12743–12764.
Funatsu, T., Seto M., Shimada, H., Matsui, K. & Kuruppu, M.
2004. Combined effects of increasing temperature and
confining pressure on the fracture toughness of clay
bearing rocks. Int J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41: 927–938.
638
Hadley, K. 1976. Comparison of calculated and observed
crack densities and seismic velocities in Westerly granite.
J. Geophys. Res. 87: 9340–9348.
Heuze, F.E. 1983. High-temperature mechanical, physical
and thermal properties of granitic rocks-A review. Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 28 (1): 3–10.
Homand-Etienne, F. & Houpert, R. 1989.Thermally induced
microcracking in granite: Characterization and analysis.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 26(2):
125–134.
ISRM 1995. Suggested method for determining Mode I frac-
ture toughness using cracked chevron notched Brazilian
disc (CCNBD) specimens. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. &
Geomech. Abstr. 32: 57–64.
ISRM Committee on Laboratory Tests 1972. Suggested
methods for determining water content, porosity, den-
sity, absorption and related properties and swelling and
slake-durability index properties, Document no. s, 36 pp.
Kachanov, M. 1994. Elastic solids with many cracks and
related problems. Adv. Appl. Mech. 30: 259–445.
Kern, H. 1978. The effect of high temperature and high con-
fining pressure on compressional wave velocities in quartz
bearing and quartz free igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Tectonophysics 44: 185–203.
Kern, H., Liu, B. & Popp, T. 1997. Relationship between
anisotropy of P and S wave velocities and anisotropy of
attenuation in serpentinite and amphibolite, J. Geophys.
Res. 102: 3051–3065.
Launeau, P. & Robin, P-YF. 1996. Fabric analysis using the
intercept method. Tectonophysics 267(1–4): 91–119.
Le Ravalec, M. & Guéguen, Y. 1996. High and low fre-
quency elastic moduli for a saturated porous/cracked
rock–Differential self consistent and poroelastic theories.
Geophysics 61: 1080–1094.
Mavko, G., Mukerji, T. & Dvorkin, J. 1999. The Rock Physics
Handbook. Cambridge University Press, 329 pp.
Meredith, P.G. & Atkinson, B.K. 1985. Fracture toughness
and subcritical crack growth during high-temperature ten-
sile deformation of Westerly granite and Black gabbro.
Phys. Earth and Plan. Int. 39: 33–51.
Nasseri, M.H.B., Mohanty, B. & Robin, P-YF. 2005. Charac-
terization of microstructures and fracture toughness in five
granitic rocks. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 42: 450–560.
Nasseri, M.H.B. Mohanty, B. Young, R.P. 2006. Fracture
toughness measurements and acoustic emission activity
in brittle rocks, Pure Applied Geophys. 163: 917–945.
O’Connell, R. & Bubiansky, B. 1974. Seismic velocities in
dry and saturated rocks. J. Geophys. Res. 79: 5412–5426.
Rutqvist, J., Barr, D., Datta, R., Gens, A., Millard, S.,
Olivella, S., Tsang, C-F. & Tsang, Y. 2005. Coupled
thermal-hydrological-mechanical analyses of the Yucca
mountain shaft scale test-comparison of field measure-
ments to predictions of four different numerical models.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 42: 680–697.
Schubnel, A., Benson, P.M., Thompson, B.D., Hazard, J.F.
& Young, R.P. 2006. Quantifying damage, saturation and
anisotropy in cracked rocks by inverting elastic wave
velocities. Pure and Applied Geophys. 163: 947–973.
Simmons, G. & Brace, W.F. 1965. Comparison of static and
dynamic measurements of compressibility of rocks. J.
Geophys. Res. 70: 5649–5656.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Fracture processes of rocks in dynamic tensile-splitting test

S.H. Cho & B. Mohanty

Lassonde Institute and Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Y. Nakamura
Yatsushiro National College of Technology, Japan

Y. Ogata
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan

H. Kitayama & K. Kaneko

Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan

ABSTRACT: In this study, the dynamic loading apparatus, which uses the electric detonator, was applied to
load the rock specimens diametrically. The dynamic tensile-splitting behavior of the sandstone samples was
observed by high-speed video camera and the applied load histories were monitored by an impact load cell.
High-resolution X-ray computed tomography (CT) system, which use micro-focus X-ray beam, has been used to
observe microstructure of rock samples. This study used the cone-beam scan of micro-focus X-ray CT to observe
the 3D fracture pattern of the samples. The dynamic fracture processes of rock in dynamic tensile-splitting test
were analyzed by the numerical simulation method to investigate the influence of the loading condition on the
tensile-splitting fracture. Additionally, this study validated the applicability of the dynamic loading apparatus to
estimate dynamic tensile strength of rocks such as sandstone and tuff.

1 INTRODUCTION as its static one. Nakamura et al. (2000) carried out

Information regarding the dynamic tensile proper-
ties of rock material is of considerable importance in
assessing the stability of rock structure under dynamic
loading. It is also essential to understand how fractures
initiate and propagate under different loading condi-
tions in order to determine rock breakage and frag-
mentation in rock blasting and percussive excavation.
The dynamic behavior of brittle materials, including
rocks and concrete, show complex fracture patterns
and fracture processes when they are subjected to high
strain rate loading. Fractures may occur from pre-
existing flaws or micro-cracks under applied stress
condition (Grady & Kipp 1980). Cho et al. (2003)
showed using experimental and numerical approaches
that the loading rate dependency of dynamic tensile
strength of rock is caused by the inhomogeneity of the
rock. Tedesco et al. (1993) have carried out dynamic
tests of rock using apparatus such as Split Hopkinson
Pressure Bar (SHPB). They however assumed that
dynamic stress field in the investigations is the same
dynamic tensile-splitting tests of mortar and concrete
disc samples using the newly developed apparatus,
which consisted of steel frames, the loading piston
driven by an electric detonator, and electric detona-
tor, and high-speed videography technique to observe
the fracture processes of brittle materials.
The present study adopted the dynamic loading
apparatus developed by Nakamura et al. (2000) as
shown in Figure 1, which uses underwater explosion-
induced loading by the detonation of an electric det-
onator in a water filed chamber, to fracture along the
diametric tuff and sandstone specimens. The dynamic
tensile-splitting behavior of the sandstone samples was
observed by high-speed video camera and the applied
load histories were monitored by an impact load cell.
Micro focused X-ray computed tomography (CT) sys-
tem has been used to observe fracture patterns inside
the tested samples. The dynamic fracture process of
rock under tensile loading were analyzed using the
dynamic fracture process analysis (DFPA) code (Cho
et al. 2003).

639

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the dynamic ten-
sile-splitting test apparatus (after Nakamura et al. 2000).
2 DYNAMIC TENSILE-SPLITTING TEST OF
ROCKS
2.1 Experimental approach
In dynamic tensile-splitting test or the Brazilian test,
as the incident compressive pressure is caused at both
end of the disc specimen, tensile stress fields are pro-
duced in the specimen. It developed an increasing
amount of tension and produced fractures, and then
the ratio of the axial stress and then the ratio of the
axial stresses and perpendicular stress (Tedesco et al.
1993). Gomez et al. (2001) showed that in dynamic
tensile-splitting loading, specimens were in equilib-
rium and the dynamic stress field resembled the static
stress field. This allows the use of the static stress field
relation to calculate the dynamic tensile strength.
In this study, with assumption that dynamic stress
is uniform through the rock samples before fracturing
the sample, the static equation was used to estimate
the dynamic tensile strength Sd of rocks as
where P is the applied load, d is disk diameter and l is
disk thickness.
640
Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the
dynamic apparatus. High-speed videography system
was used to observe the fracture processes in the rock
samples. The frame rate of the video can was vari-
able from 30 to 40,500 frames per second. The system
was capable of recording 49,152 frames of dynamic
events and the motion analysis of the digital images
was available to programmable operations. A quartz
load cell (PCB-200B, PCB Inc.) was placed under
the sample to monitor the load-time history and has
a range of 133.44 kN and sensitivity of 1.79 ton · f /V .
Kimachi sandstone was prepared as 50 mm in diam-
eter and 26 mm thickness. The density, elastic wave
velocity and elastic modulus of the sandstone were
2 g/cm3 , 2710 m/s and 6.5 GPa respectively. Tage tuff
was also prepared in the same geometry. The density,
elastic wave velocity and elastic modulus of the tuff
were 1.76 g/cm3 , 2380 m/s and 4.5 GPa respectively.
Note that the selected rocks belong to medium and
soft rock respectively because of the capacity of the
dynamic loading apparatus.
2.2 Results and discussions
Figure 2 (a) shows images of a sandstone sample pho-
tographed by the high-speed camera showing fracture
process in the specimen under dynamic loading. The
frame 1 means the first frame, after the electric pulse
initiating the firing circuit of the electric detonator
operated the trigger circuit of the high-speed video
camera. Therefore it does not mean the first frame
after explosion because of the time delay in initiat-
ing the main charge of the electric detonator. A crack
appeared along the line joining the upper and lower
loading plates at the frame 9 after ignition of the elec-
tric detonator for No.1 test. The opening displacement
of the crack increased with time. At the frame 13, mul-
tiple cracks were generated near the lower load plate
and these lead to complete collapse of the sample.
Figure 2 (b) shows images of a tuff sample under lower
loading. A crack along axial direction appears around
the center of the sample at the frame 6 and the crack
connects between the upper and lower load plates at
the frame 7.
All cases showed severe fracture near the lower load
plate at a later stage of the failure. It was realized
throughout the high speed videography observations
that a tensile crack appeared around the center of sam-
ples, contribute to the entire failure process in the test
sample.
Figures 3 (a) and (b) show load-time histories mea-
sured by the load cell from the tests corresponding to
Figs 2 (a) and (b). In Fig. 3(b), load started to increase
at 338 µs and reached the peak after 94 µs.
The peak force was estimated as 7.86 kN which
was used to calculate the dynamic tensile strength.
Table 1 lists the results obtained from all the measure-
ments. The loading velocities were estimated from the
Figure 2. Images photographed by high speed video camera
in the dynamic tensile-splitting tests. The frame interval is
74 µs.
position of upper load plates with time. The average
ratio of Sd /Ss (dynamic strength to static strength of
static tensile strength) was 1.79 for sandstone and 1.84
for tuff. These values are close to the values suggested
by previous researchers (e.g. Gomez et al. 2001)
3 MICRO FOCUSED X-RAY CT
OBSERVATIONS OF TESTED SAMPLES
High-resolution X-ray computerized tomography
(CT) system (TOSCANER 30900 µhd, Hokkaido
Univ.) has been used to observe microstructure of
the rock test samples (Cho et al. 2005). The sand-
stone samples were scanned covering entire diameter
of 50 mm and height of 25 mm. Figure 4 shows a
schematic diagram of the micro CT system. X-rays
from microfocus X-ray generator are partially attenu-
ated by a specimen that is made to rotate in equal steps
in a full circle about a single axis close to its center. The
system can achieve 2048×2048 pixel reconstructions
641
Figure 3. Load-time histories measured from the impact
load cell below the samples. Horizontal time scale is
100 µs/div.
and obtain data needed for 3-D image in one scanning
session. The slice thickness was set to be 0.076 mm
for 370 slices. The cone beam can be used to scan the
entire diametric sample.
The specimen table was placed at 400 mm away
from the X-ray tube. The setting condition provided
a magnification of 5.21.
Figure 5 shows 3-dimensinal volume-rendering
image from 370 X-ray attenuation slice scan images
obtained by cone-beam geometry of X-ray tube. The
open arrow shows the direction of load. Figure 6 show
selected cross sectional images from Fig. 5 along the
Z-axis from the bottom. The contrast in the images
shows differences in the density of mineral; that is, the
white portions indicate the places where high density
minerals exist while the black indicates low density
such as air. The images show that there are many
tensile stress-induced cracks in addition to the main
tensile crack joining the loading plates. According to
 Table 1. Experiment results.

No. of sample SS1 SS2 TT1 TT2 TT3

Rock types Sandstone Sandstone Tuff Tuff Tuff

Rise time up to the peak force (µs) 126 150 94 90 92
Peak force (kN) 17.89 15.79 7.86 8.35 8.56
Static tensile strength, Ss (MPa)∗ 4.82 2.29
Dynamic tensile strength, Sd (MPa) 9.11 8.04 4.01 4.25 4.36
Load-plate moving speed (m/s)∗∗ 4.19 4.41 5.90 6.16 5.72
∗
Average value measured by the Brazilian test.
∗∗
Estimated from high speed camera images.

Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the microfocus X-ray

CT system.

Figure 6. Selected cross-sectional images of centre XZ slice

along the Z-axis.

on the CT images is of considerable importance in

estimating dynamic tensile fracture and strength.

4 NUMERICAL STUDY ON DYNAMIC

SPLITTING-TENSILE TESTS OF ROCK

4.1 Numerical method and model description

Figure 5. 3D volume-rendering image of the sandstone
sample (SS1) from 370 X-ray attenuation images.
Cho et al. (2003), inhomogeneity of rock subject to
dynamic tensile loading causes multiple cracks and
results the stain-rate dependency and the scatter of
dynamic tensile strength. It is conceivable that the
information regarding to multiple cracks appearing
The dynamic fracture process analysis (DFPA) code
(Cho et al, 2003) which employs the microscopic
strength inhomogeneity and the fracture process zone
model was used to simulate the dynamic splitting-
tensile test of rock.
Figure 7 shows the analysis model of rocks with
finite element layout divided into triangular ele-
ments. A circular model was loaded by applying
displacement-time curve as shown in Fig. 8. The
parameters were employed in the analysis as given in
Table 2.

642

Figure 7. Analysis model for simulating dynamic split-
ting-tensile tests of rock.
Figure 8. Applied displacement-time curve on the upper
side of the analysis model.
Table 2. Analysis parameters and conditions.
Parameter
P-wave velocity (m/s)
Density (kg/m3 )
Elastic modulus (GPa)
Poisson’s ratio
Mean compressive strength (MPa)
Mean tensile strength (MPa)
Coefficient of uniformity
Fracture energy (Pa·m)
Applied displacement velocity vd (m/s)
Figure 9. Stress ratio variations along the loading axis
with time.
Figure 10. Stress ratio variations with time at the selected
points.
4.2 Analysis of the fracture process
In order to investigate the state of dynamic stress equi-
librium through the sample in the dynamic splitting-
tensile test, the analyses, which do not allow to fracture
in the model, were carried out.The 5 nodes were loaded
by moving the position of the nodes at 5 m/s according
to the curve shown in Fig. 8. Figure 9 show observa-
tion points in the analysis model and the variation of
stress ratio σyy /σxx . At point B, the stress ratio was
close to −30 at 35 µs after starting dynamic loading
and decreased with time. This means that compressive
stress as σ yy was very high or tensile stress as σ xx was
very low at the early stage. At points in the vicinity of
the center, the values of the stress ratios were close to
that obtained from static splitting-tensile analysis.
Figure 10 show the variation of σyy /σxx with time
Value at the observation points B, E and H. Note that the
positive in the figure indicates the state of hydrostatic
3700 stress. Each stress ratio started to vary after arrival
2170 of stress waves from the load points. At point B, the
25.7 nearly hydrostatic stress were generated at early time
0.25 and fluctuated with time. The ratio leave stable after
50.0
85 µs. At the center of the model, point E, the stress
5.0
5 ratio became stable as −3 after 30 µs. This means
300 that it will take 30 µs or more to achieve the dynamic
3,5 and 7 stress equilibrium though the sample during the test of
sandstone.
643

Figure 11. Maximum principal stress distribution and crack
propagation when vd = 5 m/s.
Figure 12. Compressive failure and crack propagation when
vd = 5 m/s.
It should be noted that the dynamic stress field is
similar to the static stress field except for the early
stage of the test, thus in order to estimate the dynamic
tensile strength of sandstone samples it is necessary to
prevent the sample from compressive fracturing before
the stress state reaches dynamic stress equilibrium at
30 µs.
Figures 11 show maximum principal stress distri-
bution and crack propagation when the displacement
velocity vd is 5 m/s. Black portion indicates tensile
stress. At 65 µs, compressive stresses were generated
around the upper and lower ends of the model while
tensile stresses appeared along the load axis.
At 70 µs, the microcracks started to be generated
around the load axis and continued to grow and coa-
lesce with time. After 90 µs, cracks connected between
644
Figure 13. Load-time curves on the loaded boundaries with
vd =3, 5 and 7 m/s.
the upper and lower compression areas. Figure 12
show results representing compressive failure and
crack propagation corresponding to the figures shown
in Fig. 11. The compressive failure started to occur
around the upper boundary at 65 µs and lower bound-
ary at 90 µs. The compressive failure areas connected
to the cracks after 120 µs. The opening cracks were
followed by the fracture process zone which consisted
of microcracks and bridging cracks after 90 µs, and
the upper and lower compressive failure zones were
connected after 120 µs. It is expected that the speci-
men should experience the peak stress or failure stress
between 90 µs and 120 µs.
To investigate the influence of the load rate on
the fracture process of rock in the dynamic splitting-
tensile test, vd was applied as 3, 5 and 7 m/s. Figure 13
show the load-time curves when the displacement
velocity are 3, 5 and 7 m/s. The loads increased with
time and the slope of the load-time decreased after
some time. The value of the load at the time when the
slope change increased with increasing vd . It shows
that the results show the loading rate dependency of
the fracture strength.
Note that at vd = 5 m/s, the load increased with time
and the slope of the load-time decreased after 100 µs.
This time ranged between the times when the opening
cracks connected to compressive failure zones. The
fracture processes regarding generation and interac-
tion of opening cracks and compressive failures play
an important role in the entire failure of specimen in
the dynamic splitting-tensile test.
In conclusion, consider that the experimental results
regarding to sandstone showing the rise time of 126
and 150 µs listed in Table 1 and the numerical results
presenting the minimum requiring time of 30 µs to
achieve dynamic stress equilibrium, the dynamic load-
ing apparatus used in this study is available to estimate
the dynamic tensile-splitting strength of rocks such as
sandstone and tuff.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Experimental and numerical studies were carried out
to investigate the dynamic fracture process of rock in
the dynamic tensile-splitting test.
It was revealed throughout the high speed videog-
raphy observations that the tensile crack appeared
around the center of samples contributes the entire
failure in the dynamic tensile-splitting test. The ratio
Sd /Ss of static tensile strength and dynamic tensile
strength was 1.79 for sandstone and 1.84 for tuff. X-ray
CT images of the tested sandstone sample showed that
there are many tensile stress-induced cracks except for
main tensile crack joining the load plates.The informa-
tion regarding to cracks appearing on the CT images
should be of considerable importance in estimating
dynamic tensile fracture and strength for the further
studies.
The fracture process analyses revealed that it will
take 30 µs or more to achieve the dynamic stress equi-
librium though the sample during the test of sandstone.
It was pointed out that the dynamic stress field is sim-
ilar to static stress field except for the early stage of
the test, and in order to estimate the dynamic tensile
strength of sandstone samples it is necessary to pre-
vent the sample from compressive fracturing before
the stress state reaches dynamic stress equilibrium.
It was discussed that the fracture processes regarding
generation and interaction of opening cracks and com-
pressive failures play an important role in the entire
645
failure of specimen in the dynamic splitting-tensile
test. Finally, the applicability of the dynamic loading
apparatus to estimation of dynamic tensile strength of
rocks such sandstone and tuff was validated.
REFERENCES
Cho, S.H., Ogata, Y. & Kaneko, K. 2003, Strain rate depen-
dency of the dynamic tensile strength of rock. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. 40: 763–777.
Cho, S.H., Kubota, S., Ogata, Y., Yokota, M. & Kaneko,
K. 2005. Microscopic visualization of a granite rock
to dynamic tensile loading by using a micro X-ray CT
system. Sci. Tech. Energetic Materials 66: 334–339.
Grady, D.E. & Kipp, M.E. 1980. Continuum modeling of
explosive fracture in oil shale. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 17: 147–157.
Gomez, J.T., Shukal, A. & Sharma, A. 2001. Static and
dynamic behavior of concrete and granite in tension with
damage. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 36:
37–49.
Nakamura, Y., Kuroda, Y., Matumoto, Y. & Yoshio, K. 2000.
A new high-speed loading apparatus driven by explosive
for dynamic fracture experiments of rock-like materials.
Kayaku 61(6): 273–280.
Ravichandar, K. & Knausss, W.G. 1984. An experimental
investigation into dynamic fracture, Part 1 – Crack initi-
ation and arrest. International Journal of Fracture 25(4):
247–262.
Tedesco, J.W., Ross, C.A. & Kuennen, S.T. 1993. Experi-
mental and numerical analysis of high strain rate splitting
tensile tests. ACI Materials Journal 90(2): 162–168.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Advanced characterization and numerical simulation of indentation

induced damage in hard sandstone

H.J. Jun, N.V. Bangaru & G.I. Block

Corporate Strategic Research, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co., Annandale, New Jersey, USA

V. Gupta
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT: The trend in drilling for oil and gas is hard rock and deeper formations. Rate Of Penetration
(ROP) is the single most important factor impacting drilling costs and performance, as well as the economic
development of certain difficult to reach hydrocarbon resources. A fundamental understanding of the micro-
mechanisms of rock fracture and rock microstructure-fracture relationships is essential in optimizing drilling
parameters for high ROP and drill bit performance. Although indentation damage is fundamental to rock cut-
ting in roller cone and even in drag bit drilling, rock fracture and damage even under simple indention are
poorly understood, especially as they relate to rock microstructure. Advanced analytical electron microscopic
characterization techniques have been utilized to study rock microstructure, damage, and fracture under simple
indention in a hard marine sandstone from the Piceance Basin. Advanced Electron Backscattered Diffraction in a
scanning electron microscope have revealed that many of the sandstone grits are characterized by polycrystalline
structures and that the propagation of indention induced micro-cracks is along various interfaces but not via
trans-granular cleavage. Numerical simulations using a discrete element code are being developed to model rock
damage processes under the complex stress paths developed under the indenter.

1 INTRODUCTION by its microstructural heterogeneity. Although some

Rock fragmentation via indentation of a bit is funda-
mental to most rock drilling processes. Rock cutting
by roller cone cutters and rippers is primarily an
indentation-type process. The movement of a single
cutting tooth can thus be considered as indentation
loading (Nishimatsu 1972, Lindqvist 1982, Cook et al.
1984, Kou 1995, Liu 2003) of the rock. Even though
the principle of rock fragmentation by indentation
loading has been widely used from ancient times, the
details of the rock fragmentation process adjacent to
an indenter remain poorly understood.
The process of fracture propagation is often inti-
mately associated with the development of damage
zones (or process zones) at propagating crack tips
(Atkinson 1987). Rocks are complex solids with sig-
nificant heterogeneity. They comprise of aggregates of
grits of minerals, each of which has a different mor-
phology, size, orientation, and defect structure (includ-
ing grain boundaries, pores, cracks, etc.). Thus, the
nucleation and propagation of cracks under the influ-
ence of applied stresses in rock is strongly influenced
of the existing numerical methods (Lindqvist 1982,
Kou 1995, Liu 2003) for simulating rock fragmen-
tation have attempted to consider this heterogeneity,
continuum-based simulations are unable to account
for the complex rock microstructure. In particular,
the crack path-microstructure relationships and pre-
cise fracture paths are difficult to uncover using these
techniques.
The present study aims to develop a fundamental
understanding of fracture initiation and propagation
under simple indentation loading in the laboratory with
an ultimate goal of identifying rock microstructure-
fracture relationships. Relatively hard marine sand-
stone (UCS ∼100 MPa) from the Piceance basin in
Colorado was used for these studies. Advanced charac-
terization techniques, such as electron back scattered
diffraction (EBSD), have been developed and utilized
to study grain orientations and understand fracture
paths. These experimental studies are being com-
bined with numerical simulations to better understand
the complex stress states from indentation and the
resultant rock damage processes.

647
 In the present study, advanced characterization
and simulation methodologies are brought to bear
to develop a unique understanding of the rock dam-
age process under complex loading typical of most
rock drilling. This understanding can be helpful for
developing step-out drilling technologies and to lower
drilling costs.
2 EXPERIMENTAL
Thorough investigation of Piceance sandstone
microstructure has been carried out using scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), electron back-scattered
diffraction (EBSD), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and
energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). In par-
ticular, grain size, grain shape, and phase distribution
analyses were carried out using SEM and an opti-
cal microscope, while mineral chemical analysis was
performed in SEM with EDS. Samples for SEM
and EBSD were prepared by mechanical grinding
and polishing with diamond (0.25 µm). After cutting,
all the rock samples were vacuum impregnated with
G-1 epoxy resin to ensure that the crack and surface
remained intact during the following metallographic
sample preparation.
Each thin section for EBSD analysis was mechan-
ically polished with diamond followed by additional
polishing with colloidal silica (0.05 µm) for more than
24 hours to remove surface damage. The specimen was
coated with a thin (∼6 nm) carbon layer to reduce beam
damage and charging during electron microscopy. Leo
Gemini SEM equipped with Schottky type field emis-
sion tip and attached with HKL Channel EBSD system
was used for EBSD pattern acquisition and indexing.
Specimens for TEM studies were prepared by mechan-
ically grinding the slices to a thickness of 100 µm,
and 3 mm discs were punched from the ground spec-
imen using slurry disc cutter (Southbay). The discs
were further thinned down by dimpling (Gatan D650)
and ion-milling using a precision ion polisher (Gatan
PIPS).
The single indentation experiments were conducted
using a Rockwell C indentor at 150 kgf load. A 120◦
diamond tool with a slightly rounded point (a Brale
indenter) was used. The indenter was presumed to be
rigid during the contact interaction. The same process
for measuring hardness as described below was also
used for the rock indention studies. A 10 Kg pre-load
was applied to the diamond indenter and the displace-
ment of the indenter was recorded. Then the load was
increased to 150 Kg. The load was then decreased back
down to 10 Kg and the displacement of the diamond
was again recorded. SEM and EBSD studies were car-
ried out on the samples after single indentation. Spec-
imens for SEM and EBSD studies were prepared by
sectioning samples in the center of indentation mark.
648
Figure 1. X-ray diffraction spectrum from Piceance sand-
stone.
In the present study, an interface between two grains
within the same phase is referred to as a “grain bound-
ary” such as the grain boundaries in a polycrystalline
phase. On the other hand, an interface between two
different phases is referred to as an “interphase bound-
ary.” Intergranular cracking or fracture is used in
this study to indicate fractures along grain boundaries
within a phase. Transgranular cracking or fracture is
used to indicate fractures within the grains of a specific
phase.
In the present study “grit” refers to a phase particle
and “cementing phase” refers to the continuous bond-
ing phase between the grits. An “aggregate” comprises
several grits and the associated cementing phase(s).
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 1 shows a typical X-ray diffraction spectrum.
Quartz (SiO2 ) is the major phase and feldspar/ cal-
cite are the principal minor phases in the Piceance
sandstone. Figure 2 reveals microstructure details and
chemistry distributions obtained using SEM and EDS
analyses.
The sandstone is composed of quartz (SiO2 ),
K-feldspar (e.g. KAl Si3 O8 ), Na-feldspar (NaAlSi3 O)
and calcite (CaCO3 with Mg and Fe). The quartz and
feldspar are characterized by relatively coarse grit,
approximately 10∼200 µm across. Other than distinct
grits, the rock is also characterized by “aggregates”
(region d in Fig. 2b) composed of fine grit sedimen-
tary materials with grit sizes finer than 2µ m across
and clay.
The complex chemistry of various constituents in
the rock is illustrated in the compositional maps from
EDS analyses, Figure 3. The intensity of the individ-
ual colors in the maps for Si, Al, Ca, Na, K, Ti and
Fe indicates the amount of that element in that phase.
Apart from the primary phases described above, signif-
icant porosity and small fractions of iron and titanium
oxides could also be identified. The measured porosity
(using image analysis from the back-scattered elec-
tron images) represents about 5% of the total rock
cross-sectional area.

Figure 2. Back-scattered electron micrograph (a, b) and
energy dispersive spectroscopy spectra (c–g) from Piceance
sandstone.
Figure 3. EDS elemental map of the Piceance sandstone.
Examples of the cross-sectional view of the dam-
age zone and fracture features in sandstone under
indention are shown in Figures 4 and 5. Figure 4
shows crushed zone formed directly under the indenter
649
Figure 4. Back-scattered electron micrograph showing the
cross-sectional view of fractured microstructure by indention
in Piceance sandstone.
comprising several individual fragments of rock mate-
rial. The re-constitution and compaction of these
fragmented rock under continued loading is also evi-
dent in this micrograph.The abundance of microcracks
can be seen in this zone. It can also be noted that
long, lateral cracks nucleated from the edge of the
crushed zone propagate into the rock almost parallel
to the rock surface. Formation of these lateral cracks,
precursor to the development of cutting chips, is con-
sidered to be the primary fragmentation mechanism
in rock drilling especially under ambient pressure and
conditions. It is therefore critical to understand the
nucleation and propagation of these lateral cracks in
order to design more efficient drilling processes.
From the back-scattered electron micrograph and
EDS elemental map, as shown in Figures 4 and 5,
the lateral cracks appear to have propagated primarily
along the interphase boundaries (such as the interface
between quartz and cementing phases), which indi-
cates that interphase or intergranular fracture is the
primary fragmentation mechanism. It is interesting,
however, to note indications of what appear to be trans-
granular crack paths in the large quartz and calcite
grits, marked by arrows in Figure 5. This is a surpris-
ing result if confirmed as transgranular cleavage, as
this has not been reported in the literature as a pri-
mary mechanism for quartz fracture under indentation
parameters used in the present study. Advanced char-
acterization was required to validate the exact crack
propagation mechanisms.
Figure 6 presents an example of the results from our
EBSD pattern quality mapping and the corresponding
orientation imaging analyses from a region away from
the indentation damage zone. An EBSD pattern qual-
ity map reveals the ability of a given region to diffract
electrons (Bragg scattering). Thus, a dark feature or
region in the map indicates inability to diffract elec-
trons coherently meaning those regions can either be
grain boundaries, amorphous or highly strained crys-
tallites. Thus, pattern quality maps can provide quick
Figure 5. Back-scattered electron micrograph and EDS
elemental maps showing the microstructure of Piceance
sandstone.
information on the distribution of various crystalline
phases.
However, to understand the presence of high angle
grain boundaries within these phases, one needs
to analyze and map the crystal orientations across
these phases, also known as Orientation Imaging
Microscopy (OIM). An example of combined OIM
and phase analyses is presented in Figure 6b wherein
the indexing of the EBSD pattern was done with three
phases – quartz (shown in red), feldspar (green) and
calcite (blue). High angle boundaries (>10◦ misori-
entation) are marked in black. The EBSD phase map
shows clearly the relative distributions of each phase
and their grit sizes. What is important to note, is that
all three grits (quartz, feldspar, and calcite) exhibit a
polycrystalline structure. It can also be noted that some
of the grits display a multiphase microstructure with
dispersed second phases.
The polycrystalline nature of the mineral grits has
also been confirmed by TEM analyses. Figure 7
shows the bright field TEM micrograph of the
650
Figure 6. (a) EBSD pattern quality map and (b) phase
map showing crack propagation paths in Piceance sandstone.
Grain boundaries with greater than 10◦ misorientation angles
are marked with a black line in the phase map.
Piceance sandstone, revealing polycrystalline struc-
tures in quartz, feldspar, and calcite grits.
These results strongly indicate, albeit indirectly, that
features that previously appeared to be trans-granular
cracking (in Figs. 4 and 5, for example) might instead
be inter-granular fractures along the grain boundaries
within the polycrystalline mineral grits. We are also
currently investigating the crack path vs. crystalline
structure directly at the indention induced lateral crack
to provide direct evidence for inter-granular fracture
path for the lateral cracks.
4 NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
The experimental findings reported above were uti-
lized in a number of indenter simulations using the
discrete element method (DEM), which is ideally
suited for simulating fracture and fragmentation in a
wide range of geological media (see Cundall 2001)
for a review of DEM simulations of granular material

Figure 7. Bright field (BF) TEM micrographs showing the
polycrystalline structure of quartz (a and b) and feldspar
(c) grits.
and rock). Cundall & Hart (1992)11 discuss a number
of numerical techniques that have been developed to
simulate the behavior of geomechanical systems using
DEMs. In particular, Antonellini & Pollard (1995)
simulated the formation of shear bands in sandstone
651
using the DEM, Morgan (1999a,b) applied the DEM
to the mechanics of granular shear zones, and Kun
& Hermann (1996) simulated fragmentation due to
explosions and projectile impacts.
In most cases, an explicit scheme is used to evolve
the equations of motion for the discrete bodies directly;
the bodies may be rigid or deformable, but either
case requires an algorithm for calculating the response
force due to grain contact. Early approaches to DEM
employed rigid disks or spheres with compliant con-
tacts. Cundall (1980), Walton (1980) and Cundall &
Hart (1985) developed two-dimensional DEMs that
employed arbitrary polygons. Cundall (1988) and Hart
et al. (1988) developed fully three-dimensional DEMs
composed of rigid or deformable polyhedral blocks
with compliant contacts. The simulations discussed
here are based on a modified version of the LAMMPS
software developed at Sandia National Laboratories by
Plimpton (1995). As this DEM code is optimized for
parallel computing, we are able to simulate the failure
characteristics of rock samples composed of a large
number of discrete elements (105 –106 particles in 3D)
in conditions similar to those applied experimentally.
The grain-contact algorithms contained in the pub-
lic release version of LAMMPS are based on a history-
dependent Hertzian contact mechanism that ignores
grain cohesion (Silbert et al. 2001). The particles
are also assumed to be rigid so that the compliance
and resulting dissipation of the grain skeleton take
place at particle contacts. Adding additional physics
to model cohesion is fairly straightforward (although
dynamic fracture modeling in rock and other brittle
media often requires special formalisms to capture
rate and scale dependence (Morris et al. 2005, Block
et al. 2006). However, simulating the combined effects
of both brittle and ductile failure with rigid particles
requires a more elaborate set of grain-contact mecha-
nisms. Experimental results in geomechanics (Baud
et al. 2000, Sulem et al. 2006) and finite element
simulations (Liu et al. 2002, Liu 2003) indicate that
the failure envelope of rock is best described using a
double-elliptic strength criterion in stress space, below
which either dilatancy and brittle failure (large dif-
ferential stress, low mean stress) or shear-enhanced
compaction and ductile failure (large differential and
mean stresses) are dominant.
Two additional inter-particle contact mechanisms
have been added to LAMMPS to capture the com-
bined effects of brittle and ductile failure in geologic
media. First, we added a grain-crushing model, which
models the effect of irreversible compaction not due
to grain reorganization. In this case, whenever two
particles are under a compressive load that is greater
than a user-prescribed value, the particle radii are
decreased by an amount dictated by the necessary plas-
tic strain. Second, we added a “parallel bond” model,
which allows for tensile and shear failure between

Figure 8. DEM simulation set-up of the square pyramid
indenter used to damage and fracture a cohesive granular
sample.
grains. This algorithm is similar to that used by PFC3D
(Potyondy et al. 2004) a commercially developed
serial DEM code. The parallel bond assumes that the
grains are cemented together so that shear and ten-
sile forces develop during grain-grain separation (a
moment about the center of the cement bond also
exists). Grains dissipate energy into this contact mech-
anism until either the tensile or shear forces reach a
maximum failure criterion, at which point the cohesive
forces are set to zero.
Stochastic grain properties have also been added
to LAMMPS to allow for poly-dispersity and Weibull
statistics in the tensile and shear cohesive strengths.
Results to be presented at the conference will be
focused on pyramidal and spherical indentation in
granular samples under various confining stresses (see
Figure 8).
5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The present study investigated the mechanism of
rock fragmentation in the Piceance Basin sandstone
under simple indentation loading. Advanced analytical
electron microscopic techniques were utilized for char-
acterization of crack propagation path and the crystal
details of multi-phase grits comprising the sandstone.
Experimental results demonstrated that several of the
grits were polycrystalline and that the propagation
652
of indention induced micro-cracks (lateral cracks) is
along various inter-phase and grain boundaries but
not by trans-granular cleavage. A robust discrete ele-
ment methodology has been developed to simulate
rock damage under indention.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. H. W. Jin for
many helpful discussions and for his help with the
preparation of this manuscript.
REFERENCES
Antonellini, M.A. & Pollard, D.D. 1995. Distinct element
modeling of deformation bands in sandstone, J. Struct.
Geol. 17: 1165–1182.
Atkinson, B.K. 1987. Fracture Mechanics of Rock. San
Diego: Academic Press.
Baud, P., Schubnel, A. & Wong, T.-f. 2000. Dilatancy, com-
paction, and failure mode in Solnhofen limestone. Journal
of Geophysical Research 105(B8): 19,289–19,303.
Block, G.I., Rubin, M.B., Morris, J.P. & Berryman, J.G.
2006. Simulations of dynamic crack propagation in brit-
tle materials using nodal cohesive forces and continuum
damage mechanics in the distinct element code LDEC.
International Journal of Fracture: In Review.
Cook, N.G.W., Hood, M. & Tsai, F. 1984. Observation of
crack growth in hard rock loaded by an indenter. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 21: 97–104.
Cundall, P.A. 1980. UDEC-A generalized distinct element
program for modeling jointed rock. Final Tech. Rep. Eur.
Res. Office (US Army Contract DAJA37-79-C-0548),
NTIS order No. AD-A087 610/2.
Cundall, P.A. & Hart, R.D. 1985. Development of generalized
2D and 3D distinct element programs for modeling jointed
rock. US Army Corps of Engineers, Paper SL-85-1.
Cundall, P.A. 1988. Formulation of a three-dimensional dis-
tinct element model – Part I. A scheme to detect and
represent contacts in a system composed of many polyhe-
dral blocks. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr.
25: 107–116.
Cundall, P.A. & Hart, D.H. 1992. Numerical modeling of
discontinua. Eng. Comput. 9: 101–113.
Cundall, P.A. 2001. A discontinuous future for numerical
modeling in geomechanics? Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng-Geotech.
Eng. 149: 41–47.
Hart, R., Cundall, P.A. & Lemos, J. 1988. Formulation of
a three-dimensional distinct element model – Part II.
Mechanical calculations for motion and interaction of a
system composed of many polyhedral blocks. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 25: 117–125.
Kou, S.Q. 1995. Some basic problems in rock breakage by
blasting and by indentation. Ph. D thesis: 180D, Luleå
University of Technology.
Kun, F. & Herrmann, H.J. 1996.A study of fragmentation pro-
cesses using a discrete element method. Computational
Methods in Applied Mechanical Engineering 138: 3–18.
Lindqvist, P.A. 1982. Rock fragmentation by indentation and
disc cutting. Ph. D thesis: 20 D, University of Luleå.
Liu, H.Y. 2003. Numerical modelling of the rock fracture
process under mechanical loading. Licentiate Thesis: 04
L, Luleå University of Technology.
Liu, H.Y., Kou, S.Q., Lindqvist, P.-A. & Tang, C.A. 2002.
Numerical simulations of the rock fragmentation pro-
cess induced by indenters. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 39: 491–505.
Liu, H.Y. 2003. Numerical modeling of the rock fracture pro-
cess under mechanical loading. Ph.D. Thesis from Depart-
ment of Civil and Mining Engineering, Luleå University
of Technology, Sweden.
Morgan, J.K. 1999a. Numerical simulations of granular shear
zones using the distinct element method 1. Shear zones
kinematics and the micromechanics of localization. J.
Geophys. Res. 104: 2703–2719.
Morgan, J.K. 1999b. Numerical simulations of granular shear
zones using the distinct element method 2. Effects of
particle size distribution and interparticle friction on
mechanical behavior. J. Geophys. Res. 104: 2721–2732.
Morris, J.P., Rubin, M.B., Block, G.I. & Bonner, M.P. 2005.
Simulations of fracture and fragmentation of geologic
653
materials using combined FEM/DEM Analysis. In Pro-
ceedings of Hypervelocity Impact Symposium.
Nishimatsu, Y. 1972. The mechanics of rock cutting. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 9: 261–270.
Plimpton, S.J. 1995. Fast parallel algorithms for short-range
molecular dynamics. J. Comp. Phys. 117: 1–19.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundall, P.A. 2004. A bonded-particle
model for rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences 41: 1329–1364.
Silbert, L.E., Ertaº, D., Grest, G.S., Halsey, T.C., Levine, T.C.
& Plimpton, S.J. 2001. Granular flow down and inclined
plane: Bagnold scaling and rheology. Physical Review E
64, 051302.
Sulem, J. & Ouffroukh, H. 2006. Hydromechanical behavior
of Fountainebleau sandstone. Rock Mechanics and Rock
Engineering 39(3): 185–213.
Walton, O.R. 1980. Particle dynamics modeling of geologi-
cal materials. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
UCRL-52915.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Homogenization of hydromechanical behavior of fractured rocks

L. Jeannin, R. Marmier & J.F. Barthélémy

Institut Français du Petrole (IFP), Rueil-Malmaison Cedex, France

ABSTRACT: A key point to perform realistic geomechanical modeling of fractured reservoirs consists of
building a homogenized poromechanical behavior of the fractured rock. At the scale of the reservoir grid,
the fractured rock appears as a homogeneous medium, whose poromechanical averaged properties have to be
estimated from the geometry and properties of the phases (fracture/matrix). This work deals with the development
of homogenized constitutive poromechanical laws for fractured rocks. We show how to account for a nonlinear
fracture behavior in order to reproduce irreversible opening and sliding or dilatancy in an homogenization process.

1 INTRODUCTION medium and define fractures as three dimensional

The conventional modeling of fractured reservoir con-
cerns the numerical modeling of flows in the reservoir.
The main steps of the fluid flow study are the character-
ization of the fracture networks, the integration of the
data in a realistic geological models and the up-scaling
of the fractured model at the scale of the reservoir
grid. Then the assessment of the main drive mecha-
nisms and the simulation of the reservoir exploitation
are performed to choose the best recovery strategy.
However, changes in stress during the production
may lead fractures to close, open or slide depending on
the fracture orientation, the matrix and fracture behav-
iors (Hermansson & Gudmundsson 1990, Hanks et al.
1990, Teufel 1987). During injection also, pressure
variations induce an increase of the normal effective
stress on the fracture (traction on the fracture plane
increases). In these cases, the key point to perform real-
istic geomechanical modeling of fractured reservoirs
consists of building an homogenized poromechani-
cal behavior of the fractured rock. At the scale of the
reservoir grid, the fractured rock appears as an homo-
geneous medium, whose poromechanical properties
will be estimated from the geometry of the fractures
and phase properties (fracture/matrix).
We have shown in a previous paper (Marmier et al.
2005) how to build an homogenized behavior which
can be used for geomechanical reservoir simulation
in the case of elastic fractures. We generalize this
approach to describe nonlinear mechanical behavior of
the fractures such as stiffness increases during closing
or irreversible sliding.
We recall in the first part how to build an homoge-
nized mechanical behavior of a rock with elastic frac-
tures. We consider the fractured rock as a composite
inclusions of small aspect ratio. Constitutive law of
these inclusions is then deduced from interface law
using a regularization procedure (Nemat-Nasser &
Horri 1993, Andrieux et al. 1986, Barthélémy 2005).
We adapt these results to nonlinear elastic behav-
ior of fractures. Then we show in the next section
how to account for elastoplastic behavior of fractures.
We consider the interface model developed by Plesha
(NGuyen & Selvadurai 1998, Plesha 1987) in order
to reproduce dilatancy and/or degradation asperities
of surfaces of the fracture during sliding. Numerical
experiment shows the interest of this homogenization
approach.
2 ELASTIC BEHAVIOR OF FRACTURES
In this section, we use micromechanics to build esti-
mates of mechanical behavior of fractured rock. We
consider the fractures as three dimensional elastic
inclusions embedded in a matrix rock and build an
homogenized behavior.
2.1 Up-scaling mechanical properties
We assume one family of identical penny-shaped frac-
tures of radius R, thickness 2C and normal direction e3 ,
which are embedded in a matrix rock medium of size
L. We define the aspect ratio of the fractures, X = C/R,
No the number of fractures per m3 , the density param-
eter d = No R3 (Budiansky & O’Connell 1976), and the
volume fraction of the fractures, given as:

655
We suppose that the condition for the existence and rel- where:
evance of a representative elementary volume (abbre-
viated r.e.v.) is fulfilled (L >> R). The r.e.v. denoted
by  is composed by m and f the parts of  occu-
pied by the matrix and the fractures. Its boundary is with
denoted by ∂.
The behavior of the matrix rock is assumed to be
isotropic and elastic.

2.2 Fractures fictitious three dimensional

behavior
Contracting the fracture three dimensional behavior
In order to represent the fractures as ellipsoidal inclu- law with e3 and identifying with the interface behavior,
sions, we first build a fictitious three-dimensional it becomes:
elastic isotropic constitutive law from an elastic two-
dimensional interface law defined in experimental
works.
We consider the following elastic interface model:

The fracture tensor may be written as:

where kt and kn are the normal and tangential stiff-

nesses of the fracture. τ is the shear on the fracture
plane, tn the normal stress along e3 , the normal veloc-
ity jump [u̇3 ], [u˙ t ] the tangential velocity jump vector. 2.3 Homogenized behavior
We denote by β̇ the average opening rate of the fracture,
To estimate the macroscopic incremental constitutive
γ˙ the average sliding rate vector. law, we impose a displacement rate u̇(x) = Ė.x on ∂
To define a three-dimensional constitutive law, we (Ė is a constant strain rate tensor). The macroscopic
impose a kinematical compatibility condition between stress increment is defined by:
both models (Barthélémy 2005, Marmier et al. 2006):

The homogenized stiffness tensor of the dry rock is

with Vf = 43 πR3 X and Sf = 4πR2 . defined by the following relationship:
<v>i defines the average operator of a variable v
on the phase i and <> the average on . Noting:

The local strain rate linearly depends on Ė. This

property defines the strain concentration tensor:
we obtain the incremental identity:

=
where A is the strain concentration tensor.
s ˙
The definition of the macroscopic stress field 
where ⊗ denotes the symmetrized tensorial product.
In addition, a stress compatibility condition is leads also to:
imposed:

Considering that the fracture behaves as an elastic =

Af is estimated using the Mori-Tanaka approx.,
isotropic elastic medium, we have:
which accounts for interaction between fractures; the
homogenization scheme considers each fracture as an
ellipsoidal inclusion embedded in an elastic infinite

656
isotropic matrix subjected to an effective strain rate Ė0 . This constitutive law is valid for [u3 ] ≤ 0 and can be
Using Eshelby’s result, we have in incremental form: extended for[u3 ] ≥ 0 by kn = kn0 .
Supposing that the stress is uniform in the frac-
ture and that the displacement discontinuity can be
estimated by an average value, we obtain:
=
S is the Eshelby’s tensor (Eshelby 1957) depending
on the aspect ratio, the orientation of the fracture and
Poisson’s ratio of the matrix medium.
The Mori-Tanaka method relates Ė0 to Ė using the where:
consistency rule:

We obtain (Barthélémy 2005):

We then define the following incremental behavior:

=
where we have defined T as:

= The strain concentration equation becomes in an

The non-zero terms of T are:
incremental form:

=t
where the non-zeros terms T of are:

E and ν represent respectively Young’s modulus and

Poisson’s ratio of the matrix medium. This result gen-
eralizes the approach of Deudé et al. (2002), for open
fractures and perfectly closed fractures.
– (kn , kt ) = (0, 0) represents the behavior of perfectly
open fractures.
– (kn , kt ) = (∞, ∞) represents the behavior of per- The macroscopic tangent behavior reduces to:
fectly adherent fractures.
– (kn , kt ) = (∞, 0) represents the behavior of per-
fectly closed fractures.
This approach is identical to the noninteracting
crack approach (Kachanov 1994) for open fractures. The strain concentration rule and the macroscopic
tangent behavior can be integrated in time. The incre-
mental tangent approach integrated in time leads to
2.4 Elastic nonlinear behavior of fractures the same approach as in the linear case in which kn has
=
We consider in this paragraph fractures with a non- been replaced by kn (β) in tensor T .
linear elastic behavior. We suppose that the normal
stiffness becomes infinite when the fracture is closing.
3 EXTENSION TO POROPLASTIC BEHAVIOR

The proposed method can be extended to irreversible

nonlinear interface behavior in order to reproduce

657
effects such as irreversible sliding or opening, dila-
tancy and asperity degradation. The irreversibility of
the fracture interface behavior may be defined by a
plastic yield criterion:
and a plastic potential
can be measured at the core scale) or experimental cor-
relations can be used if no experiments are available
(NGuyen & Selvadurai 1998).
To describe the softening behavior observed dur-
ing shearing, Plesha proposed a simple tribological
model for asperity degradation. The asperity angle α
is assumed to decrease as an exponential function of
the plastic work produced by the shear stress.

τ and tn are the tangential and normal stresses on the Wp is the plastic work produced by the shear stress
fracture plane. defined by:

3.1 Plesha’s model

To describe an irreversible behavior of the fracture,
we use elastoplastic Plesha’s model (Plesha 1987,
NGuyen & Selvadurai 1998) which accounts for a
degradation of the interface properties during sliding.
To define the plastic yield, Plesha refers to a model
consisting of a joint with regular saw tooth asperity
surface (Patton 1966). Denoting α the angle between
the asperity and the fracture plane, the yield criterion
of the saw-tooth fracture model can be written in terms
of τ and tn :
and c represents a degradation coefficient.
3.2 Homogenization process
We defined in the last section two dimensional plas-
tic yield criterion and plastic potential. We suppose
in this paragraph that c is equal to zero (no degra-
dation). Following Barthélémy (2005), we define a
three-dimensional plastic yield criterion and a three
dimensional plastic potential as follow:

with

We denote:

The plastic potential G is defined by:

with ε̇ p is the plastic strain rate and ε̇e the elastic

strain rate.
with Using the definition of the plastic flow rule, the
following identity is obtained:

Plastic deformation occurs when the stress field on

the interface satisfies F = 0. While F is negative, the
behavior of the joint is elastic. It is then characterized with τ r = er ⊗ e3 + e3 ⊗ er and er = ττ
by a normal stiffness kn and a tangential stiffness kt .
The plastic flow G is non-associated and the gradient Defining the pre-stress rate:
of the plastic potential G gives the direction of the
plastic strain rate.
Plesha’s model does not take into account the com-
plexity of the fracture surface, where asperities at
the strain concentration rule of the last paragraph
different scales are present. However, most of the
becomes for plastic deformation:
parameters of the model can be estimated by exper-
iments (the friction angle φ, the equivalent asperity
angle α, the normal stiffness and the tangent stiffness

658
with η̇ = η̇p + η̇e and from the plastic flow rule, it becomes:
Combining the strain concentration rule and the
plastic flow rule, incremental macroscopic constitutive
law and incremental localization rule is obtained.
In the case of adherent plastic fractures (kt and kn
Thus we obtain the following incremental evolution in
infinite), the tangent macroscopic behavior takes the
the case of adherent plastic fractures:
following form:

with

and

3.4 Poroplastic behaviors

The results of the last sections can be generalized
to poroplastic fractures supposing that the Terzaghi’s
principle is valid. Then the plastic yield surface and
plastic potential are:
To study the structure of the obtained macroscopic
constitutive law, we impose a constant shear load rate
 = 31 (e1 ⊗ e3 + e3 ⊗ e1 )
We obtain:

while the poroelastic behavior of the matrix writes:

During the plastic phase, the dilatancy of the frac-
ture produces at the macroscopic scale a dilation
of the medium in a direction normal to the fracture.
If the fracture is nondilatant (Q’= 0), the dilatancy at
the macroscopic scale remains equal to zero.
3.3 Homogenization of elastoplastic fractures with
softening behavior due to asperity degradation
When the fracture is sheared, asperities of the joint are
damaged. The consequence of such a degradation is a
softening behavior, which is described by a decrease of
the asperity angle. The consistency condition dF = 0
during plastic flow becomes:
Moreover, we have:
3.5 Numerical test
This test concerns the evaluation of the mechani-
cal aperture during an injection phase. Macroscopic
stress is supposed constant. The vertical initial stress
is 3.107 Pa, the minimum and maximum horizontal
stresses are equal to 8.175 106 Pa. Young’s modulus of
the matrix is 1. 1010 Pa, Poisson’s ratio is 0.2. We con-
sider a single family of fractures of density parameter
d = 1, R = 1 with an angle of 36◦ to the vertical axis.The
fractures are supposed adherent in the elastic regime;
the plastic regime is described by Plesha’s model with
φ = 20◦ , α = 10◦ and c = 0.5 10−4 m.N−1 . The incre-
mental poroplastic behavior has been integrated using
an explicit scheme. The macroscopic stress is constant
and pressure is increased; after a pressure increase of
50 bars, plasticity criterion is reached.
The figure shows the influence of the softening due
to asperity degradation on the aperture of the frac-
tures. The fractures open and the value of their aperture
tends towards a limit of 0.13 10−3 m due to the asperity
degradation.

659

Figure 1. Evolution of the aperture versus pressure during
an injection test (dotted line with degradation – dashed line
without degradation).
4 CONCLUSION
We build in this paper an homogenized constitu-
tive law for rocks with elastoplastic fractures. This
approach allows to account for dilatancy during sliding
or degradation asperities at a macroscopic scale.
The homogenization process is based on a three
dimensional fictitious representation of the fracture
in order to apply an homogenization scheme. The
constitutive law of the inclusions is deduced from
interface law and a regularization process. Then a
Mori-Tanaka homogenization scheme allows to esti-
mate the homogenized poromechanical behavior of
the fractured medium. An estimate of the variation of
opening of the fracture is also obtained; this can be
used to estimate the variations of permeability of the
fractured medium.
The implementation of elastoplastic homogenized
constitutive laws in a mechanical simulator is under
progress.
REFERENCES
Andrieux, S., Bamberger, Y. Marigo, J.J. 1986. Un modèle
de matériau fissuré pour les roches et les bétons. J. Méca.
Théor. Appl. 5(3): 471–513.
660
Barthélémy, J.F. 2005. Approche micromécanique de la rup-
ture et de la fissuration dans les géomatériaux. Thèse de
l’École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.
Budiansky, B. & O’Connell, R.J. 1976. Elastic moduli of
cracked solid. Int. J. Solids Structures 22: 81–97.
Cacas, M.C., Daniel, J.M. & Letouzey, J. 2001. Nested
geological modeling of naturally fractured reservoirs.
Petroleum Geoscience 7: 43–52.
Deudé, V., Dormieux, L., Kondo, D. & Pensée, V. 2002. Pro-
priétés élastiques non linéaires d’un milieu mésofissuré.
C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Série IIb. 330 : 587–592.
Eshelby, J.B. 1957. The determination of the elastic field of
an ellipsoidal inclusion and related problems. Proc. Roy.
Soc. London A241: 235–251.
Hanks, C.L., Lorenz, J., Teufel, L. & Krumhardt, A.P. 1997.
Lithologic and structural controls on natural fracture
distribution and behavior within the Lisburne Group,
Northeastern Brook Range and North Slope Subsurface,
Alaska. AAPG Bulletin 10: 1700–1720.
Hermansson, L. & Gudmundsson, J.S. 1990. Influence of
production on chalk failure in the Valhall field. SPE Paper
20952.
Kachanov, M. 1994. Elastic Solids with many cracks and
related problems. Advances in Applied Mechanics 30:
259–445.
Marmier, R., Jeannin, L. & Barthélémy, J.F. 2007. Homog-
enized constitutive law for rocks with elastoplastic frac-
tures. International Journal of Numerical and Analytical
Methods in Geomechanics, In Press.
Marmier, R., Jeannin, L. & Barthélémy, J.-F. 2006. Hydrome-
chanical simulation of fractured reservoirs. In Golden
Rocks, 41st U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium, Golden, CO.
Nemat-Nasser, S. & Hori, M. 1993. Micromechanics: Overall
Properties of Heterogeneous Materials. North-Holland.
NGuyen, T.S. & Selvadurai, A.P.S. 1998. A model for coupled
mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of a rock joint. Inter-
national Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods
in Geomechanics 22: 29–48.
Patton, F.D. 1966. Multiple modes of shear failure in rock. In
Proc. 1st Congress of Int. Society of Rock Mech„ Lisbon,
vol. 1, pp. 509–513.
Teufel, L.W. 1987. Permeability changes during shear defor-
mation of fractures rock. In Proceedings of the 28th US
Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Tuson.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Computerized Tomographic (CT) study of brittle material with internal flaw

under hydraulic pressure and triaxial compression

W. Zhu
Geotechnical & Structural Engineering Research Centre, Shandong University, Ji’nan, China &
Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

Y.S.H. Guo & S.C. Li

Geotechnical & Structural Engineering Research Centre, Shandong University, Ji’nan, China

S.B. Li & N. Lee

Terracon Geotechnique Ltd, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

H. Jian
Shanghai Geotechnical Investigations & Design Institute, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: In numerous studies, an internal flaw has been investigated with a ‘through’ model (2-D). How-
ever, crack growth induced from a flaw tip within a rock mass is three-dimensional. And some flaws may often
be filled with water. Thus, the real fracture of the flaw is not fully reflected in the previous results. In this study, a
series of computerized tomographic (CT) real-time testing with rocklike specimens were conducted with triaxial
loading equipment containing a CT machine. The internal flaw in some specimens was injected with water under
controlled pressure by a special piston. The entire process of crack propagation inside the specimen was recorded
by the scanning images. It is shown that the peak fracture stress of the internal flaw under triaxial compression
is much higher than that of uniaxial compression. The relation of damage variation versus confining pressure is
also established. The threshold value of damage evolution is provided.

1 INTRODUCTION of primary flaw and flaw water in rock mass. In many

A number of different scales (micro, meso and macro
scale) of defects (flaws) exist in fractured rock masses.
Under compressive stress, the initiation, propagation
and interaction of micro to macro flaws will weaken
the stiffness and strength of the rock mass. The fail-
ure of brittle materials, such as rocks and concrete,
results generally from crack initiation and propagation.
Horri & Nemat-Nasser (1985), Reyes et al. (1991) and
Dyskin et al. (1994) conducted a series of tests on the
propagation of inclined flaws in brittle materials sub-
ject to uniaxial and triaxial compression; Zhao et al.
(1993) conducted studies using the SEM method to
determine coring effects and the propagation of micro-
flaws in rocks; Yang (1998), Ge et al. (2000) Jian et al.
(2004) and Chen et al. (2005) used a scanning electron-
microscope and computerized tomograph (CT) unit to
conduct experimental investigations on the distribu-
tion of mesoscopic damages and the damage evolution
process of rocks under compression.
The majority of engineering disasters concerning
geo-technical projects closely relate to the propagation
previous studies, the flaw was investigated with a
through flaw model (2-D model). But, in fact, the crack
growth induced from the flaw tips inside of the rock
mass is under three-dimensional (3-D) conditions, and
some of them are often filled by pressurized water.
Thus, the real fracture process of the internal flaw
within the rock mass is not fully reflected in the pre-
vious research results. And no reports have yet been
published on the study of crack propagation in water-
bearing jointed rocks under triaxial compression. In
this paper, the progress by a real-time CT test on the
initiation and growth of a 3-D internal flaw is emphati-
cally conducted and analyzed. A damage evolution law
of specimens with an internal flaw with pressurized
water under triaxial compression is also represented.
2 TRIAXIAL COMPRESSIVE CT TEST
2.1 Testing process and interpretation of data
A new type of rocklike material was made with
four mixed components (Water: Sand: cement: water

661
 Table 1. Variations of D value of hydrous flaw subject to
triaxial compressive stress.

Axial stress Strain Global Damage

σ1 (MPa) ε × 10−2 MEzN D × 10−2

11.13 0.55 1906.1 1.23

13.49 0.63 1904.5 1.62
16.58 0.75 1892.7 4.44
19.96 0.91 1880.9 7.26
20.44 0.95 1880.6 7.34
22.68 1.07 1879.5 7.60

Figure 1. CT diagram of loading section of specimen 8.

repellent = 1: 4: 5: 0.2 by weight). The physical and

mechanical properties of the rocklike material are:
gravity of the material γ is 2.24 kN/m3 ; Young’s mod-
ulus E is 6.86 GPa; uniaxial compressive strength σc is
14.72 MPa; cohesion c is 1.75 MPa; and friction angle
φ is 51.5◦ . The diameter of the cylindrical specimen
is 5 cm with the height of 10 cm. The test material is
isotropic and homogeneous.
A circle of mica was used to create an internal cir-
cle flaw within the specimens. Its size has a diameter
of 10 mm and a thickness (t) of 0.5 mm. The inclined
angle of the flaw was fixed at 30◦ against the direction
of axial loading. The path of injected water was cre-
ated by a steel drill (diameter of 2 mm). The confining
pressure was controlled at the 2 MPa pressure level.
A new type of special triaxial loading equipment with
a real-time CT machine was used to scan the entire pro-
cess of crack initiation and propagation in this study.
Before CT scanning, axial and confining loading were
exerted to a certain stress level on the specimen within
the triaxial loading chamber. Then, fresh water was
injected into a drill hole in the middle of the speci-
men top; and the water pressure value around the flaw
was controlled at a constant value of 2 MPa. When the
testing began, the axial pressure value was increased
gradually to induce micro-failure. At the same time CT
scanning was carried out to capture the images of frac-
ture process around the internal flaw in six different
sections for the whole loading process.
Specimen 8 will be used as an example due to the
limited paper space. Six layers around the internal area
were scanned by the real-time CT machine; each layer
thickness is 3 mm; the spacing of scanning layer is 5
or 10 mm. The distribution of the scanning layers is
shown in Figure 1. Table 1 gives the axial stress value,
strain value ε and the mean CT number ME according
to the different axial pressure levels.
Figure 2 shows the map of the representative ten-
dency of the change in the CT numbers of each
Figure 2. Map of the CT numbers of the fourth.
scanning layer. Owing to the differences of the initial
damage and the grain distribution between scanning
layers, the internal damage of the jointed rock mass
developed in the following three ways:
(a) Closing-up → initiation of new damage → secon-
dary closing-up → crack development,
(b) Closing-up → initiation and propagation of micro
flaw, and
(c) Initiation of damage → closing-up → crack prop-
agation.
Although the experimental results seem to show that
the CT growth process of the internal flaw with pres-
surized water are similar to that of the dry flaw, the
CT scanning images also show that the 3-D propaga-
tion model of a hydrous jointed rock mass is different
from that of a dry rock mass. The final failure of the
specimens presents only one clear major crack and one
cracking branch, the phenomenon of many small and
fine cracks does not occur. The 3-D re-establishment
of CT images also shows that the final failure con-
figurations are basically two sections of a vertical
flaw being completely parallel to the major principal
stress. The action of water pressures also speeds up the
evolutionary process of early damaged flaws.
Figure 3 shows the variation of CT numbers of the
fourth layer during loading action. For the analysis of
the complete loading process, the failure process of
the specimen could be divided into four stages:
(1) The stage of damage adjustment, as the axial strain
is increased to the 0.56 × 10−2 level from the
beginning of applying pressures to Point a,

662

Figure 3. Relationship between damage value and strain.
(2) The stable development stage of damage, in which
there are no great changes of damage areas. This
step shows the process from Point a to Point b in
Figure 3,
(3) The stage of damage development at an approxi-
mately uniform velocity from Point b to Point d, in
this stage, the damage evolution becomes unsta-
ble. The process of specimen deformation would
turn from elastic-plastic damage into plastic dam-
age, and
(4) The stage of abrupt damage development in which
the macro crack appeared gradually if the confin-
ing pressure is increased beyond Point d.
2.2 Effects of confining pressures
The following conclusions are drawn from the compar-
ison between uniaxial and triaxial compressive testing
results:
Owing to the application of confining pressures,
the specimen’s final failure loading goes up from
11.13 MPa to 22.68 MPa, having an increased percent-
age of 118.2%; the corresponding axial pressure at
which the global CT number of the specimen reaches
the peak value climbs from 4.49 MPa to 11.13 MPa,
increasing by a factor of 147.8%.
In the uniaxial compression test, the stress cor-
responding to the peak CT number, i.e., the thresh-
old damage value is 45% of the maximum failure
stress; whereas for triaxial compression, this thresh-
old value is 48.5% of the maximum failure stress
if a confining pressure of 6 MPa is applied. This
shows that the confining pressures can hinder damage
development.
Furthermore, under the action of different confin-
ing pressures the flaw will propagate along different
directions. For example, at lower confining pressures,
further cracking appears at the prepared flaw tip with a
developing angle of 25◦ (included angle between sec-
ondary crack and longitudinal axis), but at a higher
663
confining pressure , the prepared flaw propagates
easier along the direction parallel to the axial pres-
sure direction. This is consistent with Mohr-Coulomb
Theory.
2.3 Effects of internal hydraulic pressures
With simultaneous experimental tests, it may be shown
that the fundamental effects on the failure are induced
by the existence of hydraulic pressures within the sat-
urated fractures in the specimens.
CT scanning was carried out in the full process of
compression flaw tests on rock specimens with a sat-
urated flaw and the stress-strain curve was then drawn
according to the axial pressure and measured displace-
ment. The testing results have shown that hydraulic
pressures have a remarkable effect on the specimen’s
failure process. The stress-strain curve obtained from
hydraulic pressure tests is greater than that from tests
with no hydraulic pressure exerted, having a peak
strength lower than the latter’s. The lateral tension
of the water makes the damage process speed up; as
a result, a major crack is produced more easily in
the specimen by arriving at the limit strength more
quickly.
The failure of the specimen subject to hydraulic
pressures differs from that subject to no hydraulic
pressures. The final failure patterns of a specimen are
shown in Figure 4 under two different testing condi-
tions. In the case of no hydraulic pressures, the spec-
imen’s failure is of a brittle flaw showing irregular
cracks on the scanning profile; the crack locations dif-
fer from layer to layer. Many disorderly crack branches
are produced in every part separated by the major
crack. However, if hydraulic pressures are exerted
within the internal flaw, a U-shaped major crack is
produced first and then extended forward to one side,
with some clearly regular crack branches. The flaw
images of every scanning layer of the whole specimen
are roughly the same, so the configuration of a 3-D
crack can be, from the angle of 2-D analysis, reducible
to one straight crack.
In the triaxial compression test, if no hydraulic
pressures are exerted, the stress at which the CT num-
ber reaches its peak is 50% of the maximum failure
stress; whereas if hydraulic pressures are exerted, the
corresponding stress is only 45% of the maximum fail-
ure stress. The hydraulic pressure does speed up the
damage development and a high hydraulic pressure is
helpful to the initial development of the damage in the
fractured rock mass.
3 DAMAGE EVOLUTION THRESHOLD
By using Specimen 8 as an example, whose value of
peak strength appears at an axial pressure of 11.3 MPa,

Figure 4. Scanning images after specimen failure.
we know that although the variation in the CT num-
ber is different from layer to layer, it has no effect on
the global failure law due to the triaxial compression
cracking. After the 11.13 MPa pressure is reached, the
global CT number decreases continuously, and it can
be defined as the threshold value of damages. This
threshold value marks the initiation of the weakening
effect in the micro sense and the initial change in inter-
nal structure of the rock mass with a flaw. Its value
is about 50% of the peak strength. Compared with
the threshold value presented by previous researchers
according to their tests on dry intact specimens (being
60% of the peak value), our threshold value is reduced
by 10%. It can be shown that the rock mass contain-
ing salinated flaws generally has a damage threshold
value lower than that of the intact rock mass. How-
ever, the threshold value of damage initiation will be
enhanced to a certain degree if confining pressures are
also exerted.
664
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this present paper, real time CT scanning tests have
been conducted to observe the complete failure pro-
cess of specimens containing a single hydraulic flaw
under triaxial compression. The complete process of
specimen closing-up, initiation of new damage areas,
and crack propagation of a jointed rock mass are
observed with brittle-like materials under compressive
conditions, a series of clear CT images were recorded
in each damage evolution stage. Based on the experi-
mental results, it is concluded that if there is a confin-
ing pressure, the peak failure load increases obviously
over twice as high. When the CT number of the whole
specimen reaches its peak, the corresponding axial
stress is increased by a factor of 150%.
Preliminary studies are performed on the effects of
interstitial water on the failure process of rock-like
specimens containing a flaw. Two concepts of damage
evolution rate and damage threshold value are pro-
posed. It has been shown that the effects of the inner
hydraulic pressure or interstitial water pressure can not
be ignored during the damage evolution of the jointed
rock mass.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research is supported by The National Nature Sci-
ence Foundation of China to W.S. Zhu (40212120,
90510019 and 50579033), and The National Basic
Research Program (973 Program) of China to W.S.
Zhu and S.C. Li (2002CB412705).
REFERENCES
Chen, Y.S., Li, N., Han, X., Pu, Y.B. & Liao, Q.R.
2005. Research on crack developing process in non-
interpenetrated crack media by using CT. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 24: 2665–2670.
Dyskin, A.V., Jewell, R. & Joer, H. 1994. Experiments on 3-D
crack growth in uniaxial compression. Int. J. Fract. 65(3):
1021–1037.
Ge, X.R. 2000. Real-time test on meso-damage propagation
of rock. Science in China (Series E) 30: 104–111.
Horri, H. & Nemat-Nasser, S. 1985. Elastic fields of inter-
acting inhomogeneities. Int. J. Solids Stru. 21: 731–745.
Jian, H. & Zhu, W. 2004. Real-time CT test of hydraulic
fracture process for jointed rockmass. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 23: 3584–3590.
Reyes, O. & Einstein, H.H. 1991. Failure mechanics of frac-
tured rock-fracture coalescence model. In Proc., 7th Int.
Cong. on Rock Mechanics. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema, vol.
1, pp. 243–249.
Yang, G.S. 1998. Rockmass Damage & Detection. Xi’an
Shanxi Science Press, pp. 58–114.
Zhao, Y. & Huang, J. 1993. Real-time observations of the
microfracturing processing in rock mining during a com-
pression test. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 30: 643–652.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Closure of hydraulic fractures visualized by X-ray CT technique

in sand

Y. Dong & C.J. de Pater

Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT: Closure of hydraulic fractures yields the in-situ stresses, net pressure and fracture geometry.
A series of laboratory model experiments using sand samples is conducted with the aid of X-ray CT technique.
The observation and analysis of CT images provide the visualized closure characteristics of hydraulic fractures
in sand. Furthermore, the image-determined closure pressure is compared with the pressure inferred by the
conventional tools of pressure diagnostics.

1 INTRODUCTION The objective of this paper is to present the clo-

Observation of the closure of hydraulic fractures yields
the in-situ stresses, net pressure and fracture width and
length. Closure pressure is defined as the fluid pressure
at which an existing fracture globally closes. Usually,
in practice, the closure pressure is determined by the
analysis of the pressure decline curve because direct
measurement of fracture width is impossible and the
pressure record provides the only way to infer fracture
dimensions. Pressure diagnostics is based on the com-
bination of mass balance and linear elastic theory and
thus applicable to competent rocks. It however may not
provide a reliable reference for soft rock due to the sig-
nificant plastic deformation as Dam et al. (1998, 2000)
indicated that the soft and low permeable rock (soft
plaster in his experiments) closed at a pressure lower
than the minimum stress in the formation. For a reliable
pressure interpretation, therefore, we need to investi-
gate how the closure deviates from the values inferred
by the conventional tools of pressure diagnostics.
A series of laboratory model experiments has been
conducted using sand samples, which are chosen as
extreme cases of the soft rocks with highly plas-
tic, permeable properties and without cohesion. In
the laboratory, the technique of X-ray CT scanning
provides a non-destructive real-time measurement of
fracture initiation, propagation and closure during
injection experiments. CT images show the visual-
ized fracture geometry and hence provide directly the
closure behavior. Consequently, we can gain exten-
sive information from analysis of CT images, which is
independent of the pressure decline data. By this way
we could have a cross reference of the X-ray technique
and the conventional pressure analysis.
sure characteristics in sand, the closure pressure that
is determined based on the analysis of CT images,
and the deviations of closure pressure determined with
the conventional pressure diagnostics from the directly
observed mechanical closure.
2 EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Apparatus
Figure 1 shows the schematic of the pressure vessel,
the so-called CT cell, which was originally developed
by Cook et al. (1993) for borehole collapse tests. The
cell is made of X-ray transparent aluminum alloy and
able to hold a confining pressure until 20 MPa. It has
a proper dimension to be fit for the CT scanner within
which there is a cylindrical sand sample with the diam-
eter of 152 mm and height 217 mm. We have achieved
the best results by placing the injection pipe in the
sample during the preparation and retracting it prior
to the injection. This technique provides an open-hole
interval in the sample that has a diameter of 10 mm
and length 100 mm, so successfully overcomes the
problems caused by the cased hole; it also mechan-
ically creates a double-wing notch along the borehole
to better define the fracture plane.
The pressure control system enables to control the
axial, radial and pore pressures. The sample is in a
stress-boundary condition and free to move in both
axial and radial directions during the experiment.
There are two pumps serving for the injection, an ISCO
pump and an intensifier. The ISCO pump, usually used
for multiple injection operation, provides an accurate

665
25 cc/min maximum injection rate and about 100 cc
injection volume; while the intensifier, used for a sin-
gle injection operation, is capable of a higher injection
rate and larger injection volume.
The CT scanner used is a so-called third genera-
tion SOMATON Plus4 Volume Zoom scanner from
Siemens.
2.2 Materials
The sand has a uniform grain size of 90 µm. For
fundamental elastic and plastic properties at different
confining pressures, see Table 1 in Appendix A.
We select borate cross-linked gel (BXLG) as the
fracturing material because it is a very stable fluid.
The rheology is described by: n =0.6 and K  =7.5
10−3 Pa s. The cross-linked gel is able to build a filter
cake to prevent leak-off during injection. Fine quartz
particles with grain size of 15 µm are added into the
gel as an additive. The concentration is 4.8 g/l. The
quartz can block the pores of the sand formation and
thus improve the wall-building capacity in such a high
permeability material because, at high confining pres-
sure, the pure cross-linked gel leaks off completely,
hampering fracture initiation (De Pater & Dong 2007).
2.3 Overview of experiments
The sand sample is prepared with 100% water sat-
uration. It normally has a porosity of 36∼41% and
permeability 1∼2 Darcy. Injections are conducted at
confining pressures of 7, 14 and 20 MPa, respectively.
The axial stress is always 2 MPa larger than the con-
fining pressure to keep the fracture plane along the
borehole. For detail information of the tests, seeTable 2
in Appendix B. A steady stress state is first applied in
the sample and then the cross-linked gel is injected
into the open-hole section at a constant injection rate.
The injection is performed in either single or multiple
injection cycles. In experiments with multiple injec-
tions, we usually inject about 100 cc in each cycle.
The injection is followed by a shut-in period. The next
injection cycle starts after the system has become sta-
ble. The fracture is kept shorter than half of the sample
radius to mitigate boundary effects.
The X-ray CT scanner keeps scanning in the lon-
gitudinal direction of the sample so a series of cross
sections provides the real-time measurement of frac-
ture growth. In the images, the spatial resolution is
about 0.5 mm in the plane of the image. The slice thick-
ness is 5 mm. It is possible, however, to detect cracks
with apertures smaller than the spatial resolution
(Watson & Mudra 1991, Cook et al. 1993).
2.4 Utilization of CT images
The direct result from scanning is the so-called CT
Value of every pixel on the CT images, which reflects
666
Figure 1. Schematic of CT cell. The open-hole interval is
in the center of the sample.
250
55
200 50
45
150
Y [mm]
40
100
35
30
50
25
0
0 50 100 150 200
X [mm]
Figure 2. A typical CT image of a slice through the CT cell
with a water-saturated sample inside. The sample porosity is
shown in grey scale from 20% until 60%. The circular layers
are inwards pressure vessel, hydraulic oil, PVC shell, rubber
jacket, sand core and an open-hole interval at the center of the
sample. This image is acquired just prior to the injection in
the experiment CTC08 with a confining pressure of 7 MPa.
Both open-hole and double-wing notches are stable.
the intensity attenuation of X-ray passing through
materials. The petrophysic parameter e.g. porosity is
more straightforward than the X-ray attenuation to
show the material characteristics. A relation, therefore,
is necessary by which we could convert CT Value into
the value of porosity. The attenuation of a mixture con-
sisting of several compounds can be calculated (for this
experiment with a three-phase system) by:
where µmixture = the linear attenuation coefficient
of sample [1/cm], µfluid = attenuation coefficient of
fluid [1/cm], µSiO2 = attenuation coefficient of quartz
[1/cm], and n = porosity [−], which is based on
the assumption of 100% fluid saturation. The fluid
includes cross-linked gel and water. The gel and water
have virtually the same attenuation (also based on the 25 70

evidence of calibration tests) as the gel is mostly water. 60

Injection rate [cc/min]

20
Furthermore, the attenuation of compound, such as the

Pressure [MPa]
50
quartz, is a function in principal of electron density, 15 40
effective atomic number and the energy of the X-rays.
30
With the provided attenuation coefficient of each com- 10

pound and the observed CT Value, Equation 1 provides 20

5
the relation between the CT Value and the porosity of 10
sample. It is, however, difficult to apply this analytical 0 0
method to the cases in reality because the derivation 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

of compound attenuation is based on a narrow well- Time [s]

collimated, monochromatic X-ray beam whereas the
Injection pressure Confining pressure Injection rate
scanner actually ejects a polychromatic beam. Cali-
bration experiments are needed in order to link the
Figure 3. Pressure logs and injection rate in test CTC08 with
observed CT Value with the sample porosity. The sam-
a confining pressure of 7 MPa.
ple is scanned at different porosities in practice. The
porosity is a known parameter because we measure the
axial and radial deformation when loading the sam-
ple to a pre-described stress state. Consequently the
CT Value shows an experimental linear relationship
with the porosity as predicted by the analytical method.
The relation for the current CT cell is then proposed:
porosity%[−] = −0.1209×ImageValue [−]+279.59. 16
14
Pressure [MPa]

As an example, Figure 2 presents a typical image of a 12

complete cross section of the set-up with a sand sam-
ple inside. The image is showed in terms of porosity
that is converted from the observed CT Value by the
proposed relation.
In addition, the inspection on the images shows that
there is a clear interface between the sand formation
and the gel. The image value is more or less constant
in the formation while it drops significantly over the
interface as going into the fracture. It thus becomes
possible to have an accurate quantitative analysis of
the fracture geometry, such as width and length.
2.5 Experimental results
We show test CTC08 as an example of a typical frac-
turing test. There are multiple injections in this test at a
confining pressure of 7 MPa, as shown in Figure 3. For
all three injection cycles the injection rate is constant
25 cc/min. Appendix C shows the images of fracture
evolution in a whole injection cycle including pumping
and shut-in period.
Figure 4 shows the pressure decline during the shut-
in period in the third injection cycle of CTC08. The
injection pressure is plotted versus the shut-in time
(defined as the time since the moment of termination
of pumping). A series of CT images is also linked to
the shut-in time by which we could observe the vari-
ation of fracture geometry. The first image indicates
that the fracture has been well developed during pump-
ing. The fracture propagates at an angle of about 45◦
with the notch. Besides, it develops two branches in
the left wing and a major dominant fracture on the
right. Following the moment of shut-in, we see the
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Shut-in time [s]
Injection pressure Confining pressure
Figure 4. Pressure decline along with the CT images show-
ing the closure during the shut-in period in the third injection
cycle of test CTC08 with a confining pressure of 7 MPa.
Images are acquired at the location that is close to the injection
port of the open-hole interval.
fracture becomes shorter. At the same time, it can be
seen that the fracture becomes much narrower.The sec-
ond image clearly shows that the fracture stays open
when the fluid pressure has declined to the confin-
ing pressure. At the third image, the fracture already
recesses towards the borehole. Fracture closes partly
while there is still a small part that remains open. Most
of the fracture has closed mechanically at the end of
shut-in period, shown in the fourth image, and the sys-
tem has been stable. We see in other tests part of the
fracture close to the borehole is always open even in a
very long shut-in period.
The clear X-ray attenuation contrast between the
formation and fracture facilitates the quantitative inter-
pretation of the images. We could choose a threshold in
terms of CT Value, below which the pixel is regarded
as fracture pixel. It is then possible to count how
many pixels belong to the fracture. Since the physical

667
dimension of the pixel is known, we could compute 3000 200
180
the fracture volume, area (single wall area of the frac- 2500 160
ture), length and width. The length is defined as the

Volume [cub.mm]
140

Area [sq.mm]
2000
continuous part of the fracture. Any disconnected part 120
near the tip is not taken into account in the quantitative 1500 100
analysis for the fracture geometry. The fracture is nar- 80
1000 60
rower at the tip while relatively wider in the vicinity of
40
the borehole, so the width is taken as the average size 500
20
over the fracture length. The quantitative analysis of 0 0
the fracture is shown in Figure 5. We provide geome- 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

try parameters with averaged results, which cover the Shut-in time [s]

whole open-hole interval. It can be seen that there is

Volume Area
clear decline for all geometry parameters at the first
three ‘grids’ on the plot, which are corresponding to 40 1.0
the first three CT images in Figure 4. While, there is 0.9
35
not much difference among the last three ‘grids’. The 0.8
30
last ‘grid’ is corresponding to the fourth CT image in 0.7

Width [mm]
Length [mm]
25
Figure 4. Consequently, the closure pressure is taken as 0.6
20 0.5
the fluid pressure at the forth ‘grid’, which has a value
15 0.4
of 3.5 MPa, half of the confining pressure 7 MPa. For 0.3
10
the observed closure pressure in other experiments, 0.2
see Figure 8. 5 0.1

Along with the visible inspection of other experi- 0

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
0.0

ments, generally speaking, for the closure pattern in
the sand, the fracture becomes narrower and shorter
immediately after the termination of pumping, a radial
recession is observed in terms of the decrease of
both fracture height and length, and the fracture
closes mechanically far below the confining pressure.
Besides, we see generally that there are disconnected
strands left behind the fracture tip during recession.
This could probably be explained by local heterogene-
ity in the sample. It usually happens at the early stage of
closure, so this complex pattern does not influence the
determination of the magnitude of the closure pres-
sure. Some small residual fractures adjacent to the
notch keep open even in a long term. Perhaps, this
is caused by the decay of fracture compliance with the
fracture recession.
In addition, on the plot of the observed width in
Figure 5, we also provide a calculated width using the
linear elastic theory. The fracture is treated as an elastic
crack with a radial geometry. The magnitude of elastic
width is calculated by:
where w = the average width [m], R = radius [m],
Pf = fluid pressure [Pa], σmin = the minimum stress
[Pa], and E  = plane strain modulus [Pa], E  = E/(1 −
ν2 ). The unloading elastic modulus is used because
the sand near the fracture experiences unloading. The
elastic crack shows a dramatically lower value of width
compared with the observed width in this highly plas-
tic sample. These observations agree with the previous
work that fractures are wider in plastic rock.
Shut-in time [s]
Length Width Width(elastic)
Figure 5. Quantitative analysis of the fracture geometry
during the shut-in period of the third injection cycle of test
CTC08 with a confining pressure of 7 MPa.
3 PRESSURE DIAGNOSTICS
We also present the closure pressure determined with
elastic theory and two different conventional tools of
pressure diagnostics, G-function plot and square-root
plot. The pressure decline record is usually the only
measurement in practice from which one infers the
fluid leak-off coefficient and the closure pressure.
3.1 Linear elastic theory
In linear elastic theory, the fracture is a discontinu-
ity in a linear elastic body, so the crack keeps open
only when the internal pressure in the crack is larger
than the minimum stress according to the Equation 2,
i.e. the closure pressure is taken the same as the min-
imum stress. In this case, therefore, they equal to the
confining pressure, 7, 14 and 20 MPa, respectively.
3.2 G-function plot
The G-function was introduced by Nolte (1979, 1986)
for the pressure diagnostics during fracture closure.
The model principally assumes a linear elastic mate-
rial and constant fluid property, so there is a constant

668
fracture area during closure and the only variable of 16
geometry is the width. Based on this assumption, 14
the fluid pressure is linked with width by the con- 12

Pressure [MPa]
cept of fracture compliance. The mass balance further 10
relates the pressure to the fluid-loss behavior through 8
the variation of fracture volume. In the mathemati- 6
cal description of the relationship, there are two major 4
parameters, the fluid leak-off coefficient and a spe- 2
cialized function, G-function, that is a time function
0
in terms of the dimensionless shut-in time. 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
The general expression for G-function is based on G-function
the assumption of a monotonically increasing frac-
ture area that is defined by a power law expression Injection pressure Confining pressure Gdp/dG

with an area exponent α. The value of α falls into a

certain range with bounding values corresponding to Figure 6. Pressure diagnostics with G-function plot in the
low and high fluid efficiencies. As shown in Table 2 third injection cycle of test CTC08 with confining pressure
of 7 MPa.
in Appendix B, the sand sample has a low fluid effi-
ciency (defined as the ratio of fracture volume at the 16
moment of shut-in to the total volume of fracturing 14
fluid pumped into the formation during pumping) due 12
Pressure [MPa]

to high permeability although the cross-linked gel is a 10

kind of wall-building material. It is therefore reason-
able to choose the lower bound of α. Due to the pressure
difference between the gel pressure and the pore pres-
sure in the formation, a filtrate is created during the
pumping and closing period and flows through the pre-
existing filter cake into the formation. The filtrate is
actually water so it has Newtonian fluid properties,
which result in a value of 0.5 for the lower bound of
α. The fracture thus increases during pumping propor-
tionally to the square root of time. For the calculation
of G-function, see Appendix D.
Castillo (1987) linearly plotted the pressure decline
data versus the G-function with a negative slope. When
the pressure decline is displayed on a G-function plot,
the leak-off coefficient is then estimated by the value
of slope and the closure pressure is inferred where the
slope changes.
Figure 6 shows the pressure diagnostics with a
G-function plot in the third injection cycle of test
CTC08 with a confining pressure of 7 MPa. The pres-
sure derivative is also plotted as a reference. The
pressure decline curve deviates from the linear slope
at the pressure of 7.1 MPa. It is also observed that the
point at which the derivative deviates from its linear
slope does not exactly match the break-point of the
pressure curve.
3.3 Square-root plot
In the square-root plot, the pressure decline data are
plotted as a function of square-root of shut-in time.
Similarly to the rule in the G-function plot, the closure
pressure is taken where the slope changes. Figure 7
shows the data of the same injection cycle. It yields a
closure pressure of 6.7 MPa, which is somewhat lower
than the closure from the G-function plot.
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Square-root of shut-in time
Injection pressure Confining pressure tdp/dt
Figure 7. Pressure diagnostics with square-root plot in the
third injection cycle of test CTC08 with confining pressure
of 7 MPa.
3.4 Comparison
In the example of the third injection cycle in exper-
iment CTC08, the closure pressure is 7 MPa deter-
mined with elastic theory, 7.1 MPa with the G-function
plot, 6.7 MPa with the square-root plot, and 3.5 MPa
with the CT image analysis. We see that the CT image
analysis shows a much lower closure. For the closure
pressure in other experiments, see Figure 8.
It is observed that the G-function in most cases
yields a closure close to the confining stress. The
square-root plot shows a lower closure compared
with the results inferred from G-function plot. Nev-
ertheless, CT images show a fracture clearly open
at confining pressure and also below the confining
pressure. The image-determined closure pressure is
much lower than that from either G-function plot or
square-root plot.
By averaging the closure pressure provided by CT
images, the value for confining pressure 7, 14 and
20 MPa is 3.1, 3.7 and 4.7 MPa, respectively; it cor-
responds to a normalized closure pressure (defined as
the ratio of closure pressure to the confining pressure)
0.44, 0.26 and 0.24, respectively.

669
 (a) Confining pressure of 7 MPa width is not a unique parameter for closure determi-
10
9
nation. More parameters e.g. fracture length, area and
Closure pressure [MPa]

8 volume are required for the consideration. The closure

7
Confining pressure
pressure is then defined as the fluid pressure at which
6
G-function the fracture becomes relatively stable (although there
5
4 Square-root is still a slight change of geometry in the long term).
3 CT image The idea of the closure pressure being the same as the
2 confining stress does not apply to a sand sample. We
1
0
can expect that the standard assumptions for analyzing
0 1 2 3 4 5 pressure decline do not apply in soft, permeable rock
Tests # [-] (Dam et al. 1997). The CT-scanning technique facili-
tates an independent determination of the real closure
(b) Confining pressure of 14 MPa
18 pressure; it still remains uncertain in practice due to the
16 lack of reliable independent measurement methods.
Closure pressure [MPa]

14 The fluid leak-off behavior is one of the most impor-

12 Confining pressure tant parameters in such permeable rocks. A full model
10 G-function
8
of fracture closure should reconcile the observed width
Square-root
6 CT image
with the fluid efficiency. The possible reason leading
4 to the discrepancy could be that the fracture reces-
2 sion brings down the whole efficiency and that the
0
0 2 4 6 8
one dimensional linear leak-off (i.e. leak-off velocity
Tests # [-] perpendicular to the fracture plane) may be violated
due to high permeability of soft rock. The high leak-
(c) Confining pressure of 20 MPa off at the fracture tip could also be the cause of the
25
recession.
Closure pressure [MPa]

20 Conventional pressure diagnostics always provides

15
10
5
0
0 2 4 6
Tests # [-]
Figure 8. The magnitudes of closure pressure determined
with different methods and at different confining pressures.
The fact that the square-root plot provides a
lower closure pressure, agrees with the experience
(Economides & Nolte 2000), which indicates that the
square-root plot may provide a better indication of
closure for fluids that do not have effective fluid-
loss control from wall-building behavior, whereas the
G-function plot may provide a better indication for
fluids with wall-building behavior.
4 DISCUSSION
We have seen a totally different closure characteris-
tic in this highly plastic, permeable material. It does
not close like fractures in tight, competent rocks as a
whole and at a certain fluid pressure; we observe sig-
nificant fracture recession. It is also not unusual that
we see a small residual fracture open in the vicinity of
borehole. In competent rock, the determination of clo-
sure is exclusively linked with fracture width; while,
in soft rock, due to the irregular fracture geometry, the
Confining pressure
a much higher closure pressure. The model is built up
G-function on the assumption of linear elastic behavior, constant
Square-root leak-off area and fracture compliance during closure,
CT image fluid property independent of the pressure, etc. How-
ever, in sand, the recession immediately follows the
termination of pumping, and then the pressure diag-
8 nostics should take this into account. As yet, it is
unclear what causes the break of slope of the pressure
decline at the nominal confining stress.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The X-ray CT technique provides a direct observa-
tion of the fracture evolution, which yields the closure
behavior, including fracture recession.
The deviation from elastic behavior is a larger
width and a closure pressure lower than the confin-
ing stress. The closure pressure is also lower than the
values inferred by conventional pressure diagnostics,
the G-function and square-root plot.
Over the range of effective stress from 7 MPa to
20 MPa, the normalized closure pressure changes from
0.44 to 0.24.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank Jan Etienne for expert assistance with
the experiments. The work is supported by the
Delfrac Consortium consisting of seven oil and ser-
vice companies. The CT scanner is supported by the
Dutch Technology Foundation (STW).

670
REFERENCES fluid. SPE 105620, SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology
Conference, College Station, Texas.
Castillo, J.L. 1987. Modified fracture pressure decline anal- Watson, A.T. & Mudra, J. 1991. Characterization of Devonian
ysis including pressure-dependent Leakoff. SPE 16417, shales with X-ray computed tomography. In 5th Ann. Tech.
SPE/DOE Low Permeability Reservoirs Symp., Denver. Conf. Soc. Core Analysis, Paper no. SCA-9122.
Cook, J.M., Goldsmith, G., Geehan, T.M., Audibert, A.M.,
Bieber, M.T. & Lecourtier, J. 1993. Mud/shale interac-
tion: model wellbore studies using X-ray tomography. APPENDIX A
SPE/IADC 25729, SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, Ams-
terdam.
Dam, D.B. van, Pater, C.J. de & Romijn, R. 1997. Experi- Table 1. Properties of sand determined in triaxial
mental study of the impact of plastic rock deformation on experiments.
hydraulic fracture geometry. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
34(3–4): Paper No. 318. σc = 5 MPa σc = 20 MPa
Dam, D.B. van, Pater, C.J. de, & Romijn, R. 1998. Analysis
of hydraulic fracture closure in laboratory experiments. E* [GPa] 1.7 E* [GPa] 3.2
SPE/ISRM 47380, SPE/ISRM Eurock ’98, Trondheim. ν* [-] 0.23 ν* [-] 0.25
Dam, D.B. van, Papanastasiou, P. & Pater, C.J. de. 2000. Porosity Dilation angle Porosity Dilation angle
Impact of rock plasticity on hydraulic fracture propa- % [-] [degree] % [-] [degree]
gation and closure. SPE 63172, SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, Dallas. 38.9 9.4 37.9 −22.3
Economides, M.J. & Nolte, K.G. 2000. Reservoir Stimula- 40.5 1.5 38.8 −27.9
tion, 3rd edition. New York: Wiley, 750 pp. 42.2 −0.7 40.7 −30.9
Nolte, K.G. 1979. Determination of fracture parameters Porosity Friction angle Porosity Friction angle
from fracturing pressure decline. SPE 8341, SPE Annual % [-] [degree] % [-] [degree]
Technical Conference and Exhibition, Las Vegas.
Nolte, K.G. 1986. Determination of proppant and fluid sched- 38.9 38.8 37.9 30.1
ules from fracturing pressure decline. SPE 13278, SPE 40.5 38.0 38.8 28.5
Production Engineering 1 (3): 255–265. 42.2 37.0 40.7 27.9
Pater, C.J. de & Dong, Y. 2007. Experimental study of
hydraulic fracturing in sand as a function of stress and * Elastic moduli from triaxial tests are unloading parameters.
We average the results for the elastic modulus, since that is
almost independent of porosity.
APPENDIX B

Table 2. Overview of experiments.

Injection Confining Injection

Test# cycle#* pressure Porosity Permeability rate Efficiency
[-] [-] [MPa] % [-] [Darcy] [cc/min] % [-]

1 1 CTC08c 7 39.3 1.7 25 1.0

2 2 CTC08d 2.6
3 3 CTC08e 6.2
4 CTC14c 7 39.7 1.7 28 2.0
1 1 CTC09c 14 40.7 1.9 25 –
2 2 CTC09d –
3 3 CTC09e –
4 4 CTC09f –
5 5 CTC09g –
6 CTC17c 14 37.0 1.3 37 1.6
7 CTC18c 14 36.6 1.2 28 2.4
1 1 CTC12c 20 38.7 1.6 25 –
2 2 CTC12d 1.6
3 3 CTC12e 2.7
4 4 CTC12f 4.6
5 5 CTC12g –
6 CTC16e 20 36.7 1.2 27 1.6

* If the ‘injection cycle#’ is ordered by the sequence number, it means that this is an experiment with
multiple injection cycles, e.g. there are three injection cycles in test CTC08; otherwise, this is a single
injection experiment, e.g. experiment CTC14.

671
APPENDIX C The upper bound of area exponent α is 1, cor-
responding for a high fluid efficiency, then as the
following:

where tD = dimensionless shut-in time, which is

calculated by:

where t = time, tP = pumping time, and  = shut-

Figure 9. Evolution of fracture geometry in the second
injection cycle of test CTC08 with a confining pressure of
7 MPa. The number at the lower left corner of each image is
the time in seconds since the start of pumping. The injection
stops at the 193rd second. Images are acquired at the location
that is close to the injection port of the open-hole interval.
in time.
Finally, other intermediate values of g(tD ) and
go at any other value of area exponent α can
be obtained through simple interpolation between
bounding values.

NOMENCLATURE
APPENDIX D
Units: SI (m = meter, s = second, Pa = Pascal)
The calculation for G-function (Nolte 1979): Dimensions: m = mass, L = length, t = time
Variable description Units Dimensions

E : Young’s modulus [Pa] (m/Lt2 )

where g(t D ) = the dimensionless fluid-loss volume G : shear modulus [Pa] (m/Lt2 )
function and go = the value of g(t D ) at the moment ν : Poisson ratio [-] (-)
of shut-in. n : porosity [-] (-)
For a wall-building fluid with a Newtonian filtrate, φ : friction angle [-] (-)
the value of area exponent α is in the range of 0.5 and ψ : dilation angle [-] (-)
1. The lower bound of area exponent α is 0.5, corre- q : injection rate [cc/min] (L3 /t)
sponding for a low fluid efficiency, then the calculation σc : confining stress [Pa] (m/Lt2 )
is as the following: k : permeability Darcy (L2 )
η : fluid efficiency [-] (-)

672
In Situ Stress & Stress Measurement
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Is there a relation between the in situ principal stress magnitudes in

rock masses?

J.P. Harrison
Imperial College London, UK

J.A. Hudson
Rock Engineering Consultants, UK

J.N. Carter
Imperial College London, UK

ABSTRACT: When stress measurements are made in rock masses, there is an implicit assumption that the
magnitudes of the three principal stresses (σ1 , σ2 and σ3 , known in this paper as a ‘triple’) are independent.
However, there is evidence from stress measurements made in different parts of the world that there seem to
be relations between the principal stresses; in particular, σ1 /σ2 ≈ 1.5, σ2 /σ3 ≈ 1.5 and σ1 /σ3 ≈ 2.3. In order to
explore these potential relations, we present Australian, Chilean, Finnish and UK stress data in the form of
principal stress component versus the first stress invariant, and then we evaluate the mean ratios σ1 /σ3 and
σ2 /σ3 . In order to assess whether the ratios represent a mechanical phenomenon or a mathematical artifact
of the ordered triples, we generate sets of ordered random numbers and determine the ratios associated with
these. This leads to the conclusion that the observed relations between the principal stresses could not be fully
explained through the ordered triple hypothesis. This means that the observed ratios must arise as a function of
some controlling mechanism, probably the constraint induced by rock failure. Accordingly, we found that those
simulated principal stress triples satisfying a Mohr-Coulomb type relation between σ1 and σ3 did, in fact, follow
similar trends to the stress ratios observed in situ. Thus, we conclude that this is entirely consistent with the
hypothesis that the Earth’s crust is in a state of limiting equilibrium and we consider some of the ramifications
for stress measurement campaigns.

1 INTRODUCTION indeed follow ratios of this kind. Following this, we

The three principal values of a stress tensor are the-
oretically independent, and so, in general, there is
no reason to expect any particular relation between
them. However, the analyses of some sets of in situ
principal stress magnitudes suggest the existence of
specific ratios. For example, the ratios σ1 /σ3 = 2.3 and
σ2 /σ3 = 1.5 have been experienced (Fig. 1). Given that
such relations exist, what is the reason for them? Does
it mean that the principal stress magnitude ratios are
those which would be expected simply from the pro-
cess of ordering the three principal stresses obtained
from stress measurement and taking the ratios, i.e. as a
mathematical artifact of ordering the three numbers, or
are they linked by a mechanical process, for example
through a failure criterion?
In this paper, we briefly review existing stress mea-
surement data from four countries in the context of
principal stress ratios, and confirm that the data do
explore the possibility that the ratios are simply a
consequence of ordering the values, and we include
simulation results to demonstrate how the ratios can
arise.
We then consider the implications of a failure cri-
terion constraining the stress ratios. In particular, we
explore the possibility that random triples satisfying a
Mohr-Coulomb type relation between σ1 and σ3 might
follow similar trends to the stress ratios observed in
situ and as presented in the early part of the paper.
2 STRESS MEASUREMENTS FROM
AUSTRALIA, CHILE, FINLAND AND
THE U.K.
2.1 Australian data
Figure 1 illustrates the combined data from the Yil-
garn Craton and Eastern Australia presented by Lee

675
 Principal Stress Magnitude (MPa) 100
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 σ1

principal stress magnitude (MPa)

0 σ2
80 σ3

50 60
Sum of Principal Stress Magnitudes (MPa)

40
100

20

150
0
0 50 100 150 200
magnitude of 1st stress invariant (MPa)

200 Figure 2. 156 in situ stress campaign results from El

Teniente mine, Chile.

250 σ1/σ2≈1.5
σ2/σ3≈1.5 120
σ1/σ3≈2.3
Magnitude of stress component (MPa)

y = 0.52x
300 100 R2 = 0.9605

Figure 1. Australian in situ stress data (from Lee et al. 2006).

80
y = 0.3049x
et al. (2006). Note that the principal stress magnitudes 60 R2 = 0.9426
have been plotted against I1 , the first stress invariant:
σ1 + σ2 + σ3 . The result of this type of plot is that less 40
scatter is obtained when each principal stress is plotted
in relation to the mean stress magnitude at the mea-
surement site, rather than the customary depth below 20 y = 0.1752x
surface plot. This is because the σ1 + σ2 + σ3 value is R2 = 0.8746
proportional to the ‘mean pressure’, and hence reduces 0
the scatter associated with individual stress values not 0 50 100 150 200
being directly proportional to the depth at the stress Magnitude of 1st stress invariant (MPa)
measurement site.
Lee et al. identified that the data demonstrate Figure 3. In situ stress data from W. Finland (from Posiva
distinct trends, in particular, the ratios σ1 /σ2 ≈ 1.5, 2006).
σ2 /σ3 ≈ 1.5, and σ1 / σ3 ≈ 2.3. Taken together, we con-
tend that these observations (i.e. reduced scatter and
distinct trends) imply that there is some form of con- continent and different tectonic conditions, are
trol on the principal stress magnitudes at any given remarkably similar to the Australian results shown
point within the Earth’s crust. above, thus indicating a prima facie case that there
is some control on the relative magnitudes of the
2.2 Chilean data principal stresses.
The data in Figure 2, which represent the results of an
extensive and ongoing stress measurement campaign
2.3 Finnish data
at El Teniente Mine in Chile, are presented with refer-
ence to the same axes used in Figure 1, i.e. principal Figure 3 shows a similar plot for data obtained
stress magnitudes versus the magnitude of the first in Finland. Here, the stress ratios are σ1 /σ2 ≈ 1.7,
stress invariant. σ2 /σ3 ≈ 1.7, and σ1 /σ3 ≈ 3.0. We now find results that
The mean principal stress ratios associated with the are similar for the lower two ratios, but the ratio of
data shown in Figure 2 are σ1 /σ2 ≈ 1.6, σ2 /σ3 ≈ 1.6, σ1 /σ3 is significantly higher than for the two cases
and σ1 /σ3 ≈ 2.6. These ratios, taken from a different already presented.

676
 80
Magnitude of stress component (MPa)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 40
Magnitude of 1st stress invariant (MPa)
Figure 4. In situ stress data from U.K. (from Cooling et al.,
1988).
2.4 U.K. data
Finally, Figure 4 shows data from 17 U.K. stress
determinations in a range of rock types and geolog-
ical environments. These data display principal stress
ratios of σ1 /σ2 ≈ 1.6, σ2 /σ3 ≈ 1.4, and σ1 /σ3 ≈ 2.4.
So, these data, having similar ratios to those for the
Australian and Chilean data, but being from a different
continent, reinforce the idea that some form of control
is being applied to the ratios of the principal stress
magnitudes.
2.5 Summary of the principal stress mean ratios for
the four cases presented
The results presented above for the four countries are
collated in tabular form in Table 1. With the exception
of the Finnish data, the results are sufficiently close to
stimulate further study.
Note that in Table 1 these three ratios are not
independent, because any two ratios are sufficient to
allow calculation of the third. However, all ratios vary
between the four data sets, and because these data
have been obtained in very different geological set-
tings, the question one then asks is, “Is there a relation
between the in situ principal stress magnitudes in rock
masses?”. However, because the principal stress mag-
nitudes are, by definition, an ordered triple of values,
an initial question must be, “Are the principal stress
magnitude ratios simply a consequence of the ordering
of three numerical values?”, i.e. are the stress magni-
tudes actually ‘arbitrary values’, and the stress ratios
simply a mathematical artifact of σ1 > σ2 > σ3 ?
So, firstly we examine the possibility that the
ratios are generated purely through the ordering of the
principal stresses.
Table 1. Summary of principal stress mean ratios.
σ1
σ1 /σ2 σ2 /σ3 σ1 /σ3
Australia 1.5 1.5 2.3
Chile 1.6 1.6 2.6
Finland 1.7 1.7 3.0
σ2 U.K. 1.6 1.4 2.4
σ3
3 GENERATION AND INTERPRETATION OF
ORDERED TRIPLES REPRESENTING THE
PRINCIPAL STRESSES
3.1 Generation of unbiased triples
80 120 160 An approach to generating ordered triples of random
values is to follow the algorithmic steps of:
1 Generate n random variables between 0 and 1:
σ1 (:) = rand(0, 1, n)
2 Generate n random variables each lying between 0
and the corresponding value of σ1 :
σ2 (:) = rand(0, σ1 (:), n)
3 Generate n random variables each lying between 0
and the corresponding value of σ2 :
σ3 (:) = rand(0, σ2 (:), n)
Results from this process for n = 500 are shown in
Figures 5 and 6, with the former plot being comparable
to Figures 1 to 4, and the latter being a plot of the cumu-
lative distributions of the simulated principal stress
values. Although the data in Figure 5 appear directly
similar to the earlier stress data, the distributions of
Figure 6 show that, although the major principal stress
values are unbiased (because the distribution is linear),
the process of generating random values that are less
than the values of σ1 has caused a bias (indicated by
the curvature of the distributions).
Hence, a technique is required to generate unbiased
ordered triples. Although a simple approach would be
to generate three random values in the range 0 to 1
and then sort these into ascending order, in fact this
produces biased data — because they would then lie
within a cube rather than a sphere. Thus, the technique
we have selected is to generate a 3-D vector in the
first octant of the sphere, obtain the Cartesian compo-
nents of this, and order these components, as shown in
Figure 7.
Our first test is to constrain the magnitude of the
generating vector to a constant value, in order to
allow us to test for any bias. Following this approach,
Figures 8 and 9 show the generated ordered values and
their cumulative distributions, respectively.
It is immediately clear that the distribution of triples
represented in Figure 8 is not comparable to the ear-
lier plots of the stress magnitude data versus their 1st
stress invariant. The reason for this is that the data
used to construct Figure 8 are subject to the geometric
677
 1 positive octant z
σ1 random
of unit sphere vector
σ2
s
principal stress magnitude

0.8 σ3

0.6

0.4

0.2
sz

sy sx
0 x y
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
magnitude of 1st stress invariant
Figure 7. Vectorial generation of random values represent-
Figure 5. Synthetic ordered principal stress magnitude ing principal stress components.
triples generated as random values.

1 1
σ1 σ1
σ2 σ2
principal stress magnitude

0.8 σ3 0.8 σ3
proportion less than

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
stress magnitude magnitude of 1st stress invariant

Figure 6. Cumulative distributions of the principal stresses Figure 8. Synthetic ordered principal stress magnitude
given in Figure 5. triples generated vectorially.

constraint that the generating vector has constant mag-

nitude. Thus, for a vector of unit magnitude, the lower
limit of the 1st stress√invariant is unity, whereas the
upper limit is 3 × (1/ 3) = 1.732, for the case when:
Note also that in this case the maximum value of σ1
is unity.
Notwithstanding the distribution of points in Fig-
ure 8, the cumulative distributions of the values show
no bias, as shown in Figure 9. Thus, we conclude that
the vectorial approach does indeed generate unbiased
values, and that releasing the constraint of constant
radius will permit generation of unbiased ordered
triples.
3.2 Random triples as principal stress magnitudes
Figure 10 shows the generated triples in a form
analogous to Figures 1 to 4, and Figure 11 gives the cor-
responding cumulative distributions — demonstrating
the unbiased nature of the generation.
We are now in a position to determine the ratios
of the generated unbiased principal stress magnitudes.
These are σ1 /σ2 ≈ 1.8, σ2 /σ3 ≈ 1.8, and σ1 /σ3 ≈ 3.9,
which should be compared with in situ stress mea-
surement results shown in Table 1. The first two ratios
are broadly comparable with those obtained from field
data, and suggest that the dominant part of the first
two ratios is due to randomness. However, the gener-
ated third ratio of 3.9 is significantly higher than the
observed values of 2.3, 2.4, 2.6 and 3.3, indicating that
another factor is operating.

678
 1 1
σx σx
σy σy
0.8 σz 0.8 σz
proportion less than

proportion less than

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
stress magnitude stress magnitude

Figure 9. Cumulative distributions of the ordered triples Figure 11. Cumulative distributions of the ordered triples
given in Figure 8. given in Figure 10.

1
σ1
σ2
principal stress magnitude

0.8 σ3

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
magnitude of 1st stress invariant

Figure 10. Synthetic ordered principal stress magnitude

Figure 12. Synthetic ordered principal stress magnitude
triples generated as random magnitude vectorial components.
triples constrained by the Coulomb criterion with φ = 60◦ .

4 APPLICATION OF THE MOHR-COULOMB its geological formation and/or later paleostress. We

CRITERION TO ORDERED TRIPLES
In reality, the ratio σ1 /σ3 is constrained by the finite
strength of the intact rock. If the ratio of in situ stress
magnitudes approaches that representing the strength
of the intact rock, then failure will occur and a fracture
will develop. If we then consider that such fractures
have frictional strength only, and that this is given by
the Coulomb criterion, then the observed ratio will be
constrained to
Note that the same criterion will apply if the rock
mass contains pre-existing fractures generated during
can now use this to examine the envelope constraining
the principal stress ratios that would develop given
this criterion and for particular values of the frictional
angle.
Figures 12 and 13 show the results for 10000 data
of using a Coulomb criterion with friction angles of
60◦ and 5◦ , respectively. These two Figures show that
the gradients of the trend lines change with friction
angle, and that the number of values that are not
affected by the constraint diminishes as the friction
angle reduces. Although the frictional strength crite-
rion is only applied to the major and minor principal
stresses, for those pairs that contravene the criterion
it is the complete data triple that is excluded from the
calculations. Thus, and despite the intermediate prin-
cipal stress not explicitly entering into the constraining

679
 1 4.0
σ1 3.8 σ1/σ3
σ2 3.6 σ2/σ3
principal stress magnitude

0.8 σ3 3.4 σ1/σ2

3.2
3.0

stress ratio
0.6 2.8
2.6
2.4
0.4 2.2
2.0
1.8
0.2 1.6
1.4
1.2
0 1.0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
magnitude of 1st stress invariant friction angle (deg)

Figure 13. Synthetic ordered principal stress magnitude Figure 15. Principal stress ratios σ1 /σ2 , σ2 /σ3 , and σ1 /σ3 as
triples constrained by the Coulomb criterion with φ = 5◦ . a function of limiting friction angle.

values are also directly in line with the predicted value

1 given in Figure 14 of slightly less than 1/3.
σ1/I1
σ2/I1
Figure 15 suggests that it is possible to predict the
0.8 σ3/I1 stress ratios on the basis of the friction angle or, con-
versely, determine an ‘indicative friction angle’ if the
stress ratios are known. Such an angle is an interpre-
stress ratio

0.6 tative device, as the actual friction angle only refers

0.4
0.2
0 1 there is a general tendency for the three separate
0 10 20 30 40
friction angle (deg)
Figure 14. Ratios between principal stress components and
1st stress invariant as a function of limiting friction angle.
criterion, all three principal stress/first invariant ratios
are nevertheless affected.
Performing this analysis for a range of friction
angles allows the results to be plotted in terms of stress
ratio versus friction angle. This is shown in Figures 14
and 15: the first of these shows the ratios of the indi-
vidual stress components to the first stress invariant,
and the second the stress ratios σ1 /σ2 , σ2 /σ3 , and σ1 /σ3 .
When the friction angle is zero in Figure 14, there
is a hydrostatic state of stress and hence all the
stress ratios of σi /(σ1 + σ2 + σ3 ) equal 1/3. An inter-
esting aspect shown in Figure 14 is that the ratio of
σ2 /(σ1 + σ2 + σ3 ) is relatively insensitive to the fric-
tion angle. This ratio can be calculated for the in situ
data shown in Table 1 and, when this is done, values
of 0.32, 0.31, 0.30 and 0.30 are obtained for Australia,
Chile, Finland and the U.K. respectively. Not only are
these consistent within a few percent of each other, the
to those data representing a state of limiting equilib-
rium. So, using the results in Table 1, the values of the
indicative friction angle corresponding to the observed
stress ratios in the four different countries are as shown
in Figures 16 to 19. It can be concluded from these
Figures that:
50 60 70
ratios (and particularly for the ratios σ1 /σ2 and
σ1 /σ3 ) in each case to indicate a similar indicative
friction angle; and
2 the indicative friction angles are different for the
different locations (e.g. about 39◦ for Australia, 46◦
for Chile, 58◦ for Finland and 45◦ for the U.K.).
The ratios for Finland are an interesting case
because, at first sight, they appear to be anoma-
lous with stress ratios of σ1 /σ2 ≈ 1.7, σ2 /σ3 ≈ 1.7, and
σ1 /σ3 ≈ 3.0, i.e. the latter being apparently abnormally
high. However, as can be seen in Figure 18, the combi-
nation of the high and low gradients of the stress ratios
versus friction angle curves means that these data are
entirely compatible with one another and the predicted
curves.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Given that there is strong evidence of a relation
between the magnitudes of measured in situ principal
stresses, in this paper we have explored two possible
reasons for the phenomenon: the relation could occur

680
 4.0 4.0
3.8 3.8
3.6 3.6
3.4 3.4
3.2 3.2
3.0 3.0
2.8 2.8

stress ratio
stress ratio

2.6 2.6
2.4 2.4
2.2 2.2
2.0 2.0
1.8 1.8
1.6 1.6
1.4 1.4
1.2 1.2
1.0 1.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
friction angle (degrees) friction angle (degrees)

Figure 16. Friction angle indicated by the principal stress Figure 18. Friction angle indicated by the principal stress
ratios observed in Australia. ratios observed in Finland.

4.0
4.0
3.8
3.8
3.6
3.6
3.4
3.4
3.2
3.2
3.0
3.0
2.8
stress ratio

2.8
stress ratio

2.6
2.6
2.4
2.4
2.2
2.2
2.0
2.0
1.8
1.8
1.6
1.6
1.4
1.4
1.2
1.2
1.0
1.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
friction angle (degrees) friction angle (degrees)

Figure 17. Friction angle indicated by the principal stress Figure 19. Friction angle indicated by the principal stress
ratios observed in Chile. ratios observed in U.K.

does provide a complete and convincing explanation

simply as a result of the fact that, by definition, the
as follows.
three principal stresses form a numerically ordered set
of values; or the relation occurs for a mechanical rea-
son, i.e. that the magnitudes of the principal stresses
are constrained by a failure criterion.
The conclusion in Section 3 relating to whether the
ordering of the principal stress values could account
for the observed stress ratios is that, although this could
account to some extent for the existence of the ratios,
it is not a complete explanation. However, the applica-
tion of the Coulomb criterion described in Section 4
1 Figure 14 indicates that the ratio σ2 /(σ1 + σ2 + σ3 )
is relatively insensitive to the friction angle and has
a value of about or just below 1/3. When this ratio
was calculated for the four sets of data from the
four countries, the values of 0.32, 0.31, 0.30 and
0.30 were obtained. This indicates that, on average,
σ2 has an unbiased value between σ1 and σ3 .
2 The curves in Figure 14 also suggest that the
observed ratios of in situ principal stress values may

681
 be a function of the friction angle; they converge to
unity as this angle reduces to zero.
3 The ratios of σ1 /σ2 and σ1 /σ3 indicate the same
friction angle for the separate data from the four
countries, as shown in Figures 16–19.Also, the high
value of the σ1 /σ3 ratio of 3.0 for Finland is com-
pletely explained through the slopes of the σ1 /σ2
and σ1 /σ3 curves versus friction angle, as illustrated
in Figure 18.
4 Thus, we believe that a mechanical explanation,
implying that the Earth’s crust is in a state of lim-
iting equilibrium, is compatible with the observed
ratios between the measured in situ principal stress
values. The existence of the ratios and the explana-
tion provided herein has helpful ramifications for
stress measurement campaigns.
5 A general conclusion from the analysis presented
here, and one that confirms many a rock stress
practitioner’s view, is that determination of the in
situ stress state can only be made from statistically
representative data. Stress measurements are noto-
riously variable and it is only when there are enough
data to ensure that the stress ratios are statistically
valid can the analysis described in this paper be
usefully applied. This is evident both from the data
presented in Figures 1–4 and in the simulations in
the later Figures.
6 Also, measuring the in situ rock stress is not an
easy task and quality control is now recognized to
be one of the most important aspects of the asso-
ciated work (Christiansson & Hudson 2003). An
immediate check on whether a set of principal stress
magnitudes is in line with the principles outlined
here is that the ratio σ2 /(σ1 + σ2 + σ3 ) should have
a value of about or just below 1/3 – as is the case for
682
all the sets of data reported here and as explained
via Figure 14.
7 Moreover, it would also be worth checking in any
stress measurement campaign whether the results
obtained are compatible with the stress framework
described in this paper. If they are, this gives added
confidence in the results. If they are not, explo-
rations of the reasons why will provide an enhanced
explanation of the reported stress state and the
consequential implications for the use of the results.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Max Lee of AMC for providing
Figure 1, Eduardo Rojas from El Teniente Division
CODELCO for the Chilean stress data, and Matti
Hakala of KMS Hakala Oy, Finland for supplying the
Finnish stress data in a useable form.
REFERENCES
Christiansson R. & Hudson J.A. 2003. ISRM Suggested
Methods for rock stress estimation. Part 4: Quality con-
trol of rock stress estimation. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
40(7–8): 1021–1025.
Cooling C.M., Hudson J.A. & Tunbridge L.W. 1988. In Situ
Rock Stresses and Their Measurement in the U.K.-Part II.
Site Experiments and Stress Field Interpretation. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 25(6): 371–382.
Lee M.F., Mollison L.J., Mikula P. & Pascoe M. 2006. In
Situ stress measurements in Western Australia’s Yilgarn
Craton. In Lu et al. (eds.), In situ Rock Stress, Proc. Int.
Symp. Trondheim, Norway. London: Taylor and Francis.
Posiva Oy 2006. Site Report 2006 (in press).
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

In-situ stress estimation using crack closure energy in crystalline rock

S.S. Lim & C.D. Martin

Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

R. Christiansson
Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, Stockholm, Sweden

ABSTRACT: Under high horizontal in-situ stress conditions traditional stress measurement method such as
hydraulic fracturing and overcoring often do not give reliable values for the horizontal in-situ stress magnitudes.
Under such conditions additional information is required to constrain the in-situ stress magnitudes. In this study,
a correlation between the magnitude of crack closure energy and the maximum in-situ stress magnitude was
established at a site where the stress magnitudes were known with accuracy to depth of 900 m. The crack closure
energy was measured on standard uniaxial tests. The correlation was used to estimate the possible range of the
maximum horizontal stress at depths between 400 and 700 m at a site in central Sweden. The predicted maximum
in-situ stress was in agreement with estimates made using over-core measurements at shallower depths.

1 INTRODUCTION depth the confidence in the in-situ stress magnitudes

The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste management Co.
(SKB) is currently conducting extensive site inves-
tigations at Forsmark, Sweden, one of the candidate
sites for construction of a nuclear waste repository.
One of the parameters required for the design of
the underground openings associated with the nuclear
waste repository is the in-situ stress magnitudes and
orientations. The repository is currently planned for
a depth between 400 and 700 m and hence the
in-situ stress magnitudes are required at these depths.
Extensive stress measurements were conducted in the
1970’s and 1980’s in the Forsmark area to a maxi-
mum depth of 500 m for the construction of the nuclear
Power Plants and the final repository for reactor waste,
SFR. The SFR Facility includes a series of under-
ground caverns and a 70 meter high underground silo
that was constructed in the mid 1980s. This construc-
tion experience and the previous stress measurements
indicated that the horizontal stress magnitudes at the
Forsmark site were greater than the weight of the over-
burden which is common in the Scandanivain Shield
at shallow depths.
The current stress measurement campaign began in
2003 and consisted of hydraulic fracturing in boreholes
to depth of 1000 m and overcoring using the Borre
Probe (Sjöberg & Klasson 2003) to the target depth of
a repository for spent fuel (500 m). Those campaigns
have established the stress magnitudes and orienta-
tion to a depth of approximately 400 m. Below this
is significantly reduced.
It is well known that extracting core samples at
depth can lead to a significant increase in crack poros-
ity (Chernis 1984, Martin & Stimpson 1994). This
crack porosity can occur from two sources: (1) new
stress-induced microcracks associated with the coring
process, and (2) naturally closed pores that open when
the in-situ stress magnitudes are released. In all cases
the increase in crack porosity will lead to an increase in
nonlinear stress-strain behaviour in unconfined com-
pression tests. Martin & Stimpson (1994) established
that the amount of nonlinearity in the stress-strain
curve was a function of the maximum principal stress.
In this paper a relationship between the crack closure
energy measured in uniaxial compression tests and
the in-situ stress magnitudes is established for Lac du
Bonnet granite. This relationship is then applied to
the Forsmark site in Sweden to predict the maximum
horizontal stress at depths between 400 and 700 m.
The results from this methodology are compared to
the results from hydraulic fracturing and overcoring.
2 CRACK CLOSURE ENERGY
In the stress-strain curve during the compression load-
ing of the rock specimen, the specimen behaviour
can be divided into four sections (Fig. 1), O-A:
Non-linear microcrack and pore closure, A-B: Lin-
ear elastic behaviour, B-C: Stable fracture initiation

683
Figure 1. Illustration of the axial stress-strain response of a
uniaxial compression test for a sample of hard rock containing
open pores. The Crack Closure Energy is highlighted.

and propagation, C-D: Unstable fracture propagation

and strain hardening. In the stage O-A, the nonlinear
behaviour is a function of the pore space in the sam-
ple. If there was no porosity the stress- strain response
would only be a function of the solid particles and
their contact stiffness. In hard rocks this contact stiff-
ness is essentially the same as the stiffness of the intact
particles and hence the stress-strain response is linear.
As the porosity increases, the stress-strain response is
composed of two parts: (1) the stress-strain response
of the volume of rock containing the pore and (2) the
stress-strain response of solid rock volume. It is intui-
tive that as the volume of the porosity increases so
should the nonlinearity of the stress-strain response.
The nonlinearity of the stress-strain response in
compression is controlled not only by the volume of
pores but also the shape of the pores (Fig. 2). In hard
rocks natural pores tend to have polygonal shapes and
these pores in Lac du Bonnet granite create a porosity
of 0.04% for samples from the depth of 809 m (Chernis
1984). Stress-induced microcracks tend to have long-
parallel walls and in Lac du Bonnet granite can create Figure 2. Pore structure in Lac du Bonnet granite, from
an increase in porosity of 0.28%. Figure 2, suggests Chernis, 1984. The top photo is a natural pore while the
that the amount of nonlinearity should be dominated bottom photo is a stress induced microcrack.
by the stress-induced microcracks because of their
shape. However, if there are no stress-induced microc-
racks the nonlinearity will be controlled by the natural point when stress-induced microcracking occurs. It is
porosity which in natural granites is very low (<0.1%, likely that the pore volume from this process would
Schild et al. 2001). be so large that it would quickly mask the nonlinear-
When samples are cored at various depths the stress ity associated with the natural pore response. Hence
redistribution that occurs around the coring bit cre- when a sample is tested in the laboratory and nonlinear
ates a complex stress path that may or may not exceed stress-strain response is recorded, it is difficult to deter-
the threshold for inducing new microcracks. Nonethe- mine if the nonlinear response is due to natural pores
less, any closed natural pores will be unloaded and this or stress-induced microcracks. However, what can be
stress release will increase the pore volume. The larger determined is the stress magnitude required to close
the amount of stress release the greater the potential these pores. Based on this pore closure point, the crack
for an increase in pore volume. There is a triggering closure energy can be defined.

684
 The potential strain energy stored in the material
in case of principal stresses and strains is defined as
(Saada 1974):

where, Ut is the total strain energy, Q and q are the gen-

eralized forces and displacements respectively. Based
on Figure 1, this equation can be rewritten as:

where, Wt,A is the total potential strain energy stored

in the rock specimen at the point A, σ is the applied
stress and ε is the generated strain associated with the
stress. And for the elastic behavior section:

For the nonlinear stress-strain behavior in Figure 1,

the associated energy can be divided into two parts:
(1) elastic portion (EAF) called elastic strain potential
energy and (2) anelastic portion (OAE). In Figure 1, the
linear portion A-B can be extended to the axial strain
axis, and the area OAE defined as the Crack Closure
Energy, Wcc . The Crack Closure Energy at point A can
be calculated by subtracting the elastic potential strain
energy from the total strain energy:

The unit of the Crack Closure Energy is the same as

that of stress. Figures 3a–c show the examples of the
stress-strain curve and the magnitude of Crack Closure
Energy for the rock core samples of Lac du Bon-
net granite taken from ground surface, 240-m Level
and 420-m Level of AECL’s Underground Research
Laboratory respectively. The increasing trend of the
Crack Closure Energy is observed with increasing
depth.

3 INFLUENCING FACTORS FOR THE

MEASUREMENT OF CRACK CLOSURE
ENERGY

To use the crack closure energy parameter for the

evaluation of the in-situ stress magnitude, the param-
eter should be independent of different test conditions
such as testing machine, loading rate, measuring
equipment, sample condition and the measuring equip-
ment, sample condition and the scale of the sample. If
the test result can be affected by those conditions, a
standard measuring procedure would also need to be
developed. Four influence factors: (1) effect of sample
condition, (2) effect of loading rate, (3) effect of mea-
suring equipment and (4) effect of scale, were inves- Figure 3. Compression of the magnitude of Crack Clos-
tigated. The results from the loading rate and scale ure Energy for three rock core specimens from different
effects are described below. The effects of the remain- depth (ground surface (a), 240-m Level (b) & 420-m Level
ing influence factors are still under investigation. (c), URL, Canada.

685
Figure 4. The magnitude of Crack Closure Energy as a
function of loading rate.
3.1 The influence of loading rate
Hoek & Brown (1980) and more recently Jackson
(1991) concluded that the uniaxial compressive
strength of the intact rock cores increases with increas-
ing loading rate. To determine if there is an influence
of the loading rate on the crack closure energy, the
magnitude of crack closure energy was measured and
analyzed for four different loading rates using 24 rock
core samples of Lac du Bonnet granite. These sam-
ples were the same samples used by Jackson (1991)
to examine the effect of loading rate on the uniaxial
compressive strength. Figure 4 shows the influence
of loading rate on the magnitude of crack closure
energy. The axial strain increased as the loading rate
increases from 0.00075 MPa/sec to 0.075 MPa/sec and
little change occurred when the loading rate is higher
than 0.075 MPa/sec. It can be concluded that the mag-
nitude of crack closure energy can be influenced by
the loading rate. But if the uniaxial compressive tests
are carried out using the ISRM suggested loading
rate of 0.5∼1.0 MPa/sec, (Brown 1981), the influ-
ence of loading rate on the crack closure energy is
negligible.
3.2 The effect of sample scale
Hoek & Brown (1980) also insisted that the uniaxial
compressive strength of rock cylinders decreases
with increasing specimen size. Jackson (1990) also
observed a similar trend for samples that varied from
33 mm to 294 mm diameter. A total 55 uniaxial com-
pressive test data were analyzed by Jackson and these
samples were re-analyzed to determine the effect of
scale on the crack closure energy. Figure 5 shows
the magnitude of crack closure energy with increas-
ing specimen diameter. From Figure 5, there appears
to be an effect of scale on the crack closure energy
that is removed beyond a diameter of approximately
686
Figure 5. Scale effect of the magnitude of Crack Closure
Energy.
96 mm-diameters. There also appears to be little effect
of scale for diameters between 33 mm and 63 mm.
Thus, from this study crack closure energy induced
damage is considered to be relatively consistent if the
specimen size is between 33 mm and 63 mm and if the
specimen size is greater than 100 mm diameter.
3.3 Summary
Based on these studies it appear that providing the
samples are tested at a loading rate between 0.5
and 1 MPa/sec and the diameters of the samples are
between 33 mm and 63 mm, the magnitude of the crack
closure energy should be relatively consistent.
All of the specimens used for measuring the crack
closure energy to evaluate the in-situ stress magnitudes
in the following section, had the range of diameters of
45 mm to 63 mm, hence it is unlikely that the results
would be significantly affected by scale or loading rate
effects. In addition all the samples were tested using
the Suggested Methods of the ISRM (Brown 1981,
Fairhurst & Hudson 1999).
4 IN-SITU STRESS AND CRACK CLOSURE
ENERGY
4.1 Lac du Bonnet Granite
The in-situ stress at AECL’s Underground Research
Laboratory (URL) was initially characterized using
traditional triaxial overcoring, hydraulic fracturing and
back analysis of convergence measurements (Martin
1990). Large scale in-situ experiment was later used
to confirm and refine the variability in the in-situ
stress magnitudes to a depth of 420 m (Martin et al.
1997). More recently Thompson & Chandler (2004)
reported the stress magnitudes at the URL to a depth
of approximately 1000 m.

Figure 6. Crack Closure Energy versus depth for Lac du
Bonnet granite.
Figure 7. Crack Closure Energy as a function of maximum
in-situ horizontal stress for Lac du Bonnet granite.
A series of uniaxial compression tests of Lac du
Bonnet granite were analyzed to determine the crack
closure energy. These samples are selected from dif-
ferent depths at the URL in the vicinity of the stress
measurements. A total of 34 samples were analyzed.
The crack closure energy as a function of depth is given
in Figure 6. The mean value as well as the standard
deviation is shown in Figure 6.The correlation between
the maximum in-situ stress and crack closure energy
is given in Figure 7. The variability in the maximum
in-situ stress was determined using the approach given
by Walker et al. (1990).
The solid line in Figure 7 represents the best fit
for the relationship between the crack closure energy
when the maximum stress magnitudes are less than
25 MPa. Figure 7 also shows the projected crack clos-
ure energy when the stress magnitude is 60 MPa. It
is clear from Figure 7, that the measured crack clos-
ure energy for a maximum in-situ stress of 60 MPa
exceeds the predicted crack closure energy. Martin &
Christiansson (1991) showed that when the maximum
687
Table 1. Comparison of laboratory geotechnical properties
of Lac du Bonnet Granite and Forsmark Granite.
γ σc σt E
Rock type (kg/cm3 ) (MPa) (MPa) (GPa) ν
Lac du Bonnet 2.64 210 9.3 69 0.26
Granite
Forsmark 2.75 225 13 76 0.24
Granite
stress magnitudes approached 25 to 30 MPa, stress-
induced microcracks were readily observed in over-
core samples. Hence it appears that beyond 30 MPa
the potential for stress-induced microcracks increases
significantly. Everitt (2001) also noted that the stress-
induced microcracks in cores obtained from the 420
Level of the URL (maximum horizontal stress 60 MPa)
contained a significant number of stress induced
microcracks. Hence it appears that below 30 MPa
there is a linear relationship between in-situ stress
and crack closure energy and that this relationship
does not hold when the maximum stress magnitude
reaches 60 MPa. It can not be determined from Fig-
ure 7 the stress magnitude at which the linear crack
closure energy versus stress magnitude does not apply.
What is clear from Figure 7 is that once the stress
magnitudes are sufficient to induce a large volume
of stress-induced microcracks, it clearly exceeds the
response established for the low stress magnitudes.
4.2 Forsmark granite
SKB has conducted an extensive site investigation at
the Forsmark site located approximately 130 km North
of Stockholm. The site investigation used 76-mm-
diameter drill bits with triple tube for core samples.
The nominal core has a diameter of 51 mm and the
maximum drilled depth is 1000 m.
The Forsmark granite is similar in age to the Lac du
Bonnet granite and the average uniaxial compressive
strength is also similar. The average values of mechan-
ical properties for Lac du Bonnet granite and Forsmark
granite were compared in Table 1.
Twenty four specimens of 51 mm diameter from two
boreholes, KFM04A and KFM05A, were analyzed for
crack closure energy. Figure 8 shows the magnitude of
crack closure energy with increasing depth for Fors-
mark site. From Figures 6 & 8 it is observed that
the magnitude of crack closure energy for Forsmark
granite was much smaller than that of Lac du Bonnet
granite. This implies that the granite in Forsmark is
stiffer and thus stores less potential strain energy than
that of Lac du Bonnet granite.
Figure 8 shows that the linear relationship between
crack closure energy and depth is maintained to the
Figure 8. Crack Closure Energy versus depth for Forsmark,
Sweden. The error bars refer to the standard deviation from
the mean.
Figure 9. Geology model for the Forsmark site. The granite
is removed from the centre of the block model. Surrounding
rocks are gneiss and mafic rocks.
depth of 700 m at Forsmark. The solid line shows the
best fit and the error bars indicate the standard devi-
ation. From the core observations it was found that the
visible microcracks did not occur in the samples until
depths are greater than 850 m. Thus, it is possible that
the linear relationship between crack closure energy
and maximum in-situ stress magnitude observed at the
URL could be applied to the Forsmark site to a depth
of 850 m.
5 FORSMARK IN-SITU STRESS ESTIMATION
The geology of the Forsmark site is given in the Site
Descriptive model in SKB 2005 and simplified in Fig-
ure 9. The granite is located in the nose of a fold and
bounded on the north and south by major subverti-
cal deformation zones. At Forsmark two major frac-
ture domains have been identified. Fracture domain
FFM02 can be classed as a blocky rock that extends
to a depth of approximately 300 m. Below this depth
the open fracture frequency decreases and rock mass
688
Figure 10. The relationship between Crack Closure Energy
and maximum in-situ stress for Forsmark site.
quality improves. This domain FFM01 is consider-
ed similar to the rock mass conditions at the URL.
To estimate the increase in in-situ stress magnitudes
with depth at the Forsmark site using the crack closure
energy measurement method, the state of stress must
be known at one location. The stress magnitudes at
Fosmark have been measured in 76-mm-diamter bore-
holes drilled from the ground surface using hydraulic
fracturing and overcore methods. The overcore method
was successful in fracture domain FFM02, but below a
depth of 300 m, ring disking was commonly observed
and hydraulic fracturing only provided the weight of
the overburden. Eight successful in-situ stress overcore
measurements obtained from three different depths
were used to establish the correlation between in-situ
stress magnitude and crack closure energy. Figure 10
shows the mean, the maximum and the minimum val-
ues of the maximum in-situ stress calculated based on
confidence stress measurement (Walker et al. 1990)
and the magnitude of average crack closure energy
was measured at the same depth.
From the relationship between crack closure energy
versus depth in Figure 8 and the maximum in-situ
stress versus the magnitude of crack closure energy
in Figure 10, the maximum in-situ stress was esti-
mated for the potential repository depth between 400
and 700 m. Figure 11 shows the estimated maximum
in-situ stress to the depth of 850 m where it is expected
that microcracking will reduce the confidence in the
predicted magnitude.
6 CONCLUSION
When both horizontal stress magnitudes exceed the
weight of the overburden, e.g., in a geological thrust
environment, traditional stress measurement tech-
niques such as hydraulic fracturing and overcoring
often do not provide reliable stress magnitudes at

Figure 11. Estimation of maximum horizontal in-situ stress
magnitude at Forsmark using Crack Closure Energy method.
depth. For such situations additional information
from indirect measurements and observations may be
needed to constrain the stress magnitudes. In this study,
the crack closure energy has been introduced as an
indirect measurement linking energy to stress magni-
tudes. The methodology uses the crack closure energy
obtained from standard uniaxial compressive strength
tests correlated with stress magnitudes. Once the cor-
relation is established a linear projection can be carried
out for those depths where stress magnitudes cannot be
obtained using the traditional methods. The method-
ology breaks down when the stress magnitudes are
so large that stress-induced microcracks significantly
influences the crack-closure energy. The methodology
was used to predict the maximum stress magnitudes at
the Forsmark site at depths between 400 and 700 m and
appears to provide reasonable results. Work is ongoing
to evaluate this methodology.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been financially supported by the
Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste management Co.
(SKB) and Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral
Resources (KIGAM).
689
REFERENCES
Brown, E.T. 1981. Rock characterization testing and moni-
toring, ISRM suggested methods. International Society
for Rock Mechanics-the Commission on Testing Methods,
Pergamon.
Chernis, P.J. 1984. Comparison of the pore-microcrack struc-
ture of shallow and deep samples of the Lac du Bonnet
granite. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Technical
Record TR-223.
Everitt, R.A. 2001. The influence of rock fabric on excav-
ation damage in the Lac du Bonnet Granete. Ph.D. Thesis.
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Fairhurst, C.E. & Hudson, J.A. 1999. Draft ISRM suggested
method for the complete stress-strain curve for intact rock
in uniaxial compression. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 36:
279–289.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavation in
Rock. London: Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Jackson, R. 1990. Scale effects testing on rock samples
from Lac du Bonnet. Manitoba. Division Report MRL
90-075(TR), CANMET, Energy, Mines and Resources
Canada.
Jackson, R. 1991. The effect of loading rate on the uni-
axial mechanical properties of Lac du Bonnet granite.
Manitoba, Division Report MRL 90-058(TR), CANMET,
Energy, Mines and Resources Canada.
Martin, C.D. 1990. Characterizing in situ stress domains at
the AECL Underground Research Laboratory. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 27: 631–646.
Martin, C.D. & Christiansson, R. 1990. Overcoring in highly
stressed granite – The influence of microcracking. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 28: 53–70.
Martin, C.D. & Stimpson, B. 1994. The effect of sample
disturbance on laboratory properties of Lac du Bonnet
granite. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 31: 692–702.
Martin, C.D., Read, R.S. & Martino, J.B. 1997. Observations
of brittle failure around a circular test tunnel. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. 34: 1065–1073.
Saada, A.S. 1974. Elasticity: Theory and Applications. Perg-
amon Press, Inc.
Schild, M., Siegesmund, S., Vollbrecht, A. & Mazurek, M.
2001. Characterization of granite matrix porosity and
pore-space geometry by in situ and laboratory methods.
Geophys. J. Int. 146: 111–125.
Sjöberg, J. & Klasson, H. 2003. Stress measurements in deep
boreholes using the Borre (SSPB) probe. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. 40: 1205–1224.
SKB 2005. Preliminary site investigation. Forsmark area. ver-
sion 1.2. Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB. SKB R-05-18.
Thompson, P.M. & Chandler, N.A. 2004. In situ rock stress
determinations in deep boreholes at the Underground
Research Laboratory. Int. J of Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41:
1305–1316.
Walker, J.R., Martin, C.D. & Dzik, E.J. 1990. Confidence
intervals for in situ stress measurement. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 27(2): 139–141.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A novel method for in situ stress measurement – concept, theory and

numerical simulation

J.P. Loui
Central Mining Research Institute (CMRI), Dhanbad, India

C-H. Ryu & D-W. Ryu

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Yusung Gu, Daejeon, South Korea

ABSTRACT: A new method is suggested herein to measure the virgin earth stresses by means of a borehole.
This novel concept is basically a combination of borehole stress relieving and borehole fracturing techniques. The
destressing of the borehole is achieved by means of inducing thermal tensile stresses at the borehole periphery
by using a cryogenic fluid such as Liquid Nitrogen (LN2 ). The borehole wall eventually develops fractures when
the induced thermal stresses exceed the existing compressive stresses at the borehole periphery in addition to
the tensile strength of the rock. The above concept is theoretically analyzed for its potential applicability to
interpret insitu stress levels from the tensile fracture stresses and the corresponding borehole wall temperatures.
Coupled thermo-mechanical numerical simulations are also conducted using FLAC3D, with thermal option,
to check the validity of the proposed technique. From the preliminary theoretical and numerical analysis, the
method suggested for the measurement of insitu stresses appears to be capable of accurate estimation of the
virgin stresses by monitoring tensile crack formation at a borehole wall and recording the wall temperatures at
the time of crack initiation.

1 INTRODUCTION
Knowledge of virgin earth stresses is now-a-days con-
sidered to be an essential pre-requisite for construction
of important underground and open-pit excavations
such as mines, tunnels, caverns etc. Orientation and
magnitude of earth stresses are vital input parameters
in numerical modelling studies for stability analysis
and design and are also important in studying tectonic
stresses for the prediction of earth quakes and seismic
events.
In situ stress measurement techniques currently
in use include borehole fracturing methods such
as hydro-fracturing (Fairhurst 1964), sleeve fractur-
ing (Stephanson 1983) and borehole jacks (Mayer
et al. 1951); stress relieving techniques such as over-
coring (Leeman & Hayes 1966, Merrill 1967) and
borehole slotting (Bock & Foruria 1983); borehole
breakout measurements (Zoback et al. 1986); indirect
methods such as acoustic emission measurements
(Kaiser 1950), etc. Some of the above techniques such
as the hydro-fracturing and over-coring have gained
popularity and have undergone various technological
advancements in the recent decades.
Hydro-fracturing technique is the most widely
used and perhaps the only successful method so
far for the measurement of insitu stresses at greater
depths. However, certain rock types are not found
to be amenable to hydraulic fracturing tests. More-
over, applying hydraulic pressure using packers some-
times results in borehole collapse and jamming of
the packers, which further becomes a tedious pro-
cess to retrieve the unit from a greater depth. By
hydro-fracturing only the two principal stresses exist-
ing in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the borehole
can be determined. Further, the accuracy of estima-
tion of the major principal stress using the reopening
stress (Pr ) and the pore pressure variation in the
cracks have been questioned by researchers (Ito et al.
2001).
The over-coring technique, on the other hand, can
provide all the six stresses existing in the three-
dimensions. However, this technique involves high
degree of sophistication because it is based on
strain measurements, requiring high-precision double
core drilling. Over-coring measurements are usually
done from underground due to its limitation in the
borehole depth.
The new method suggested herein attempts to over-
come some of the above disadvantages in the existing
techniques.

691
2 THE CONCEPT to the borehole axis is given by the following
equations.
This novel concept is basically a combination of
borehole stress relieving and borehole fracturing tech-
niques.The compressively stressed borehole periphery
is relieved by inducing thermal tensile stresses using
a cryogenic fluid such as Liquid Nitrogen (LN2 ). The
borehole wall eventually develops fractures when the
induced thermal stresses exceed the existing compres-
sive stresses at the borehole periphery in addition to
the tensile strength of the rock.
It is well known that the tangential stress at the
periphery of a borehole will be different at various
angles through out the circumference when the insitu where a is the radius of the borehole, σ1 and σ2 are
stresses are anisotropic (Jaegar & Cook 1976), with a the major and minor principal stresses, respectively
minimum along the major principal stress direction at infinity in a plane perpendicular to the borehole
and a maximum along the minor. On the contrary, axis and angle θ is measured anti-clockwise from
the induced thermal tangential stresses at the borehole the direction of σ1 . The above equations consider a
wall, which are of tensile nature, will be uniform in all plane strain scenario. Analysed in three dimensions,
the directions. With the progress of cooling time, the the above equations will have relevance if the circu-
borehole wall temperature reduces and the magnitude lar opening is oriented in one of the principal stress
of the thermal tangential stress increases. The fracture directions (say, σ3 ).
formation is expected to initiate at the borehole wall The tangential stress σθ at the borehole wall at θ = 0
along the major principal stress direction, where the (along σ1 ) and at θ = 90 (along σ2 ) are given by,
compressive tangential stresses will be the minimum
prior to the cooling. With further cooling, more cracks
may be generated in other directions as well. It is
expected that with the knowledge of crack initiations
in a few directions and the respective wall tempera- and
tures of their occurrence, the pre-existing stresses can
be evaluated.
The application of low temperature can be done
by inflating a flexible jacket inside the borehole
with Liquid Nitrogen (LN2 ). The jacket, when pres- respectively, and σr = 0 and τrθ = 0 at the borehole
surized moderately, makes a firm contact with the wall (r = a). The compressive principal stresses are
borehole wall and conducts heat through it. This pres- taken as positive values. In most of the cases, the
sure will not be significant enough for altering the tangential stresses are compressive in nature. There-
rock stresses, but ensures a tight contact with the fore, de-stressing of the borehole periphery requires
borehole wall. the induction of tensile stresses in the form of thermal
The development of cracks at the borehole wall stresses by lowering the temperature. Thermal stresses
can be monitored at the interface between the jacket do not induce shear stresses in the medium (Bruno &
and the borehole wall using electric conductivity or Jerome 1985), which simplifies the analysis.
resistively method, or by acoustic emission method.
Thermocouples shall also be placed at the interface 3.1 Triple fracture analysis
to monitor the wall temperature during the measure-
ments. The crack monitoring system should be able The thermal tangential stresses at the borehole wall
to locate the tensile fracture with an accuracy of less can be given by the equation (Bruno & Jerome 1985),
than 1 mm.

3 THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

Stresses around a borehole has been studied in the
past by various researchers, and are now available
in standard text books, such as Jaegar & Cook
(1976). The tangential, radial and shear stresses around
the borehole wall in a homogenous medium with
anisotropic virgin stresses in a plane perpendicular
where E is theYoung’s modulus, ν is the Poisson’s ratio,
α is the coefficient of linear thermal expansion, t is
the change in temperature from the ambient tempera-
ture ta , t is the current borehole wall temperature and
C = Eα/(1 − ν) is the bi-axial thermo-elastic constant
of the rock.

692

Figure 1. Local coordinate system and the thermal cracking
angles.
When the borehole is aligned along one of the prin-
cipal stress direction, viz. σ3 , as shown in Figure 1,
a crack forms in the borehole wall in a plane passing
through the major principal stress direction (θ = 0) and
the borehole axis, when
where σt is the tensile strength of the rock and t1 is the
temperature of crack formation.
Further cooling of the borehole wall can result in
extension of the above crack as well as secondary
cracking at various angles with the major principal
stress direction (Fig. 1), a crack would initiate in a
direction perpendicular to the first crack, in the minor
principal stress direction, when
where t2 is the borehole wall temperature during crack
initiation along the minor principal stress direction.
Fractures perpendicular to the borehole axis are also
expected as shown in Figure 1, when
where t3 is the temperature of crack formation per-
pendicular to the borehole axis and σ3 is the third
principal stress, which is acting in the direction of the
borehole axis.
By solving equations (7–9), the principal stresses
can be determined as,
and
The above principal stresses can be determined if the
material properties, E, ν, α and σt are known. These
693
rock properties must be evaluated by testing the core
samples obtained from the test location while core-
drilling.
3.1.1 Second-cycle cooling
A crack reopening test by second-cycle cooling can
eliminate the tensile strength σt from the equations
(10–12). When σt = 0, these equations reduce to:
and
where t1r , t2r and t3r are the corresponding wall
temperatures during crack reopening.
The thermo-elastic constant C should be evaluated
in the laboratory.
3.1.2 Vertical borehole scenario
From the worldwide stress measurement data (Brown
& Hoek 1978, Amadei & Stephanson 1997), it can be
said that σv = γH , where γ is the unit weight and H
is the depth. Hence, for a vertical borehole, it may be
assumed that the borehole axis is parallel to σ3 , which
can be treated as a known factor. From equation (9),
the thermo-elastic constant can be determined as
Substituting equation (13) into equations (7) and (8)
gives,
and
respectively. From equations (14) and (15), the prin-
cipal stresses in the horizontal directions, SH (σ1 ) and
Sh (σ2 ) can be evaluated as
and
Therefore, in case of first-cycle cooling test in a ver-
tical borehole, only the tensile strength needs to be
determined in the laboratory.
 As mentioned earlier, if a crack reopening test is
conducted for a vertical borehole, the constant, σt
becomes zero in equations (16) and (17), which com-
pletely eliminates the need for laboratory tests. For
second-cycle cooling tests, equations (16) and (17)
reduces to
and
3.2 Multiple fracturing
Often, it may not be possible to obtain a crack in the
direction of minor principal stress due to the high tan-
gential compressive stresses existing at the borehole
periphery. Though the initial cracking is expected in
the direction of σ1 , there will be subsequent cracking
at various angles. If the stress levels at which these
secondary crack initiations can be determined, more
equations can be generated, which will help in accurate
determination of the insitu stress values.
Figure 1 shows the local coordinate system with
respect to the borehole axis and the crack orientations.
The angle θ in Figure 1 is the angle subsequent radial
cracks make with the initial radial fracture; the x axis
is oriented in the initial crack angle direction.
The general equation for tangential stress at the
borehole periphery is given as,
which contains 3 unknowns and the thermo-elastic
constant C.
Observation of more cracking sequence can enable
the user to obtain a best-fit solution to the unknowns.
If the principal stresses in the plane perpendicular
to the borehole axis, viz. σ1 and σ2 are not widely
different, it is expected that the radial cracks occur
within a brief span of time and temperature difference.
Again, a multiple crack reopening test will eliminate
the σt factor from equation (20). This will enable
the user to determine the principal stresses with the
knowledge of C.
σ3 is however independent of σ1 and σ2 , and needs
to be obtained using equation (12), when a fracture is
observed along a plane perpendicular to the borehole
axis as shown in Figure 1. The parameter C can also be
obtained without a laboratory test in case of a vertical
borehole as explained earlier.
It may so happen that the cracks in planes per-
pendicular to the borehole axis initiate at some angle
with respect to the major horizontal stress direction;
the cracks may further propagate angularly to make
694
a complete circular crack along the borehole periph-
ery. In such case, the average temperature needs to be
evaluated by a simple average of the temperature of
crack initiation and crack completion.
4 NUMERICAL MODELLING
Numerical modelling studies are conducted using
FLAC3D with thermal option (FLAC3D manual 1997)
to check the validity of the proposed technique. The
crack development is modelled by making the elem-
ents as null zones when the tensile stresses exceed the
tensile strength of the rock.Though several other meth-
ods were also suggested by various researchers in the
past for the modelling of generation and propagation
of cracks in brittle materials, this method is simple
and easy to use. This technique has also been used in
the past with the finite element method for predicting
the fragment formation while blasting (Saharan 2004).
When the direction of generation and propagation of
cracks is not known prior to the modelling, this is a
very effective method for crack simulation, provided
the mesh is fine enough. Larger element size near the
borehole wall can cause greater error in the numerical
calculations.
A plane strain condition is created using a single
strip model of a borehole of diameter 74 mm (corres-
ponding to NX size). Only a quarter of the borehole and
the surrounding rock is created by using planes of sym-
metry passing through the borehole axis and along x
and y axes. The borehole is oriented in the z axis direc-
tion to simulate the condition of a vertical borehole.
The major horizontal insitu stress (SH ) is considered
parallel to the x axis and the minor horizontal insitu
stress (Sh ) parallel to the y axis.
At the inside of the borehole, a jacket (low stiff-
ness material) is modelled, which would hold the
cryogenic fluid (LN2 ) at a temperature of −196◦ C.
Transient calculations are performed while heat con-
ducts through the jacket to the borehole wall and into
the rock. Coupled thermal and mechanical stepping is
performed until the tensile stresses in the rock (bore-
hole wall) exceed the tensile strength of the rock. A
FISH program, written using the in-built program-
ming environment of FLAC3D software, checks the
stress level of each element in the mesh during every
calculation cycle.
When the tensile stress exceeds the tensile strength
limit of an element, it is changed to a “null element”,
indicating a tensile failure. This may result in consid-
erable imbalance in the forces. To stabilize the model,
the thermal transient analysis is stopped and the model
is brought to mechanical equilibrium by perform-
ing only the mechanical iterations. Coupled thermal-
mechanical cycles are resumed thereafter. This process
is continued until fractures develop through out the
periphery of the borehole wall. The temperature of the
borehole wall at the time of the first appearance of
fracture (usually along the SH direction) is taken as t1
and the appearance of subsequent fractures at angles,
θ2 , θ3 , θ4 with the SH direction is taken as t2 , t3 , t4 ,
respectively.
The example performed here has the following input
data.
Thermal and mechanical properties for the sur-
rounding rock
Coefficeint of thermal expansion α = 6.64e−6 /◦ C
Thermal conductivity k = 2.63 W/m/◦ C
Specific heat at constant pressure Cp = 710 J/kg/◦ C
Density = 2500 kg/m3
Tensile strength σt = 5 MPa
Young’s modulus E = 20 GPa
Poisson’s ratio ν = 0.25
Thermal and mechanical properties for the jacket
α = 2.0e−7 /◦ C
k = 3.0 W/m/◦ C
Cp = 500 J/kg/◦ C
Density = 1000 kg/m3
E = 0.02 GPa
ν = 0.25
Initial stresses
σxx = 10 MPa
σyy = 7 MPa
σzz = 20 MPa

4.1 Initial cooling cycle

Figure 2 shows the various stages of the thermo-
mechanical modelling of the borehole cooling and
fracturing. The sequence of failure during the initial
cooling cycle can be visualized from Figure 2a–d. As
expected, the cracks initiate at the borehole periphery
and in a direction of x axis, which is the major hori-
zontal stress (SH ) direction. Subsequently, second and
third cracks initiate at 9.5◦ and 17.5◦ respectively with
the SH direction. This can be seen from Figure 2b. All
this above fractures can be treated as vertical fractures
parallel to the borehole axis. In general, it is seen from
the numerical modelling that the cracks initiate at inter-
vals of 7∼10◦ . As new cracks are generated, it is also
observed that the earlier cracks extend to a depth of 2
to 3 elements (Fig. 2c,d). Seven cracks are observed at
angles 0, 9.5, 17.5, 25.5, 32.5, 41.5 and 53.5◦ . During
the numerical modelling analysis, the wall temperature
was also monitored in tandem with the fracture moni-
toring. The above seven crack initiations are found at
wall temperatures −56.85, −66.12, −73.6, −85.16,
−89.76, −102.9 and −113.6◦ C, respectively. Figure 2
also shows the history of wall temperature (◦ C) in the
ordinate versus the cooling time (s) in the abscissa.
In this particular study, the out-off-plane stress σz Figure 2. Sequence of thermal cracking during first cooling
is 20 MPa, which is less than the tangential stress cycle.

695
 25
Tangential stress (MPa)
20
15
10 Pre-existing compressive tangential
stresses
5 Numerical estimate of tensile thermal
stress minus tensile strength
0 it is stabilized. This will allow the earlier cracks to
0 30 60
Angle from the direction of SH (deg)
Figure 3. Theoretical and numerical estimates of tangential
stresses for first-cycle cooling.
along the y axis (23 MPa), therefore the crack per-
pendicular to the SH direction could not be studied, as
horizontal cracking perpendicular to the borehole axis
initiated prior to the fracture along y axis. It requires a
more elaborate three-dimensional modelling to study
fracturing in the three directions.
4.1.1 Analysis
To check the validity of the numerical modelling study
and to explore its potential for resolving the virgin
stresses, the theoretical stress values at the borehole
periphery are compared with the numerical estimates
of thermal stresses during the cracking process at
various angles.
Figure 3 shows the theoretical tangential stresses
existing through out the borehole periphery at vari-
ous angles with the x axis. These theoretical values
are calculated using equation (1) for a=r. The numer-
ical estimates for the seven crack angles are calculated
from the wall temperature at the time of crack initia-
tion using equation (6) and plotted in Figure 3 after
subtracting the tensile strength factor. From Figure 3
the numerically estimated tensile thermal stress value
(minus σt ) required for fracturing at θ=0, i.e. for the
first crack, matches well with the theoretical tangen-
tial stress value. However, for the subsequent cracks,
the numerical estimates are found over predicting the
existing stress levels. This discrepancy is caused due
to the stress release near the earlier cracks, which
significantly affects the stress concentration needed
for the subsequent crack initiations. Therefore, with
the first cycle of cooling, only one equation, viz.
equation (7) can be obtained accurately, which is
not enough for evaluation of the principal stresses.
Since the stress release has a stress nullifying effect
for compressive as well as tensile stress concentra-
tions, it is speculated that when the tensile strength
of the rock is lower compared to the ambient stress
levels, this discrepancy may reduce. This motivated the
authors to carry out a second-cycle, crack reopening
simulation.
4.2 Crack reopening test
To simulate the second cycle of cooling and crack
reopening, it is necessary to thaw the borehole and
bring it back to its original temperature state. This can
be practically done by withdrawing the cryogenic fluid
from the jacket and blowing the borehole periphery
with ambient temperature air for a few minutes and at
the same time monitoring the wall temperature, until
90 close and the compressive stresses to act across them.
Further re-cooling of the borehole generates tensile
stresses, which will cause the earlier cracks to reopen
at earlier angles at specific wall temperatures. Since
the cracks are tension free surfaces, the tensile strength
factor automatically disappear from the stress equa-
tion (equation (20)). This enables the solution of the
remaining two unknown principal stresses using any
two equations.
The crack reopening, second-cycle cooling test is
simulated using the following procedure.
1 Mapping of the cracks caused by the first-cycle
cooling test.
2 Changing the crack elements back to “elastic” and
flagging them as “no-tension” material.
3 Stabilizing the temperature back to the ambient
and thus nullifying all the thermal stresses in the
medium.
4 Re-application of −196◦ C at the jacket periphery
and start of the second-cycle cooling.
5 Monitoring the wall temperature as well as crack
reopening using the programming environment in-
built in FLAC3D software (FISH ).
Since the crack elements are declared “no-tension”
materials, the failure is expected to initiate for those
elements as the pre-existing compressive stresses are
nullified by the tensile thermal stresses. The sequence
of crack reopening during the second cycle of cooling
is given in Figure 4. The first sign of crack reopen-
ing can be seen in Figure 4 a along the x axis. The
wall temperature of reopening is −30.5◦ C, which is
lower compared to the first-cycle cooling test. Subse-
quent failure and crack extension can be seen at the
angles, 9.5, 17.5, 25.5, 32.5, 41.5 and 53.5◦ , as shown
in Figure 4a-d. The wall temperatures during the crack
reopening along the above angles are observed from
the history plots as −32.97, −37.6, −41.1, −50.1,
−62.17 and −75.3◦ C, respectively.
The numerical estimates of thermal stresses at crack
reopening are plotted in Figure 5 along with the pre-
existing theoretical tangential stresses. One point to be
noted is that for crack reopening, the tensile strength
is taken as zero. From Figure 5 it can be seen that the
numerical estimates are very close to the theoretical
values.
The crack reopening temperatures at any two angles
can be used to resolve the two principal stresses,
696
 25

Tangential stress (MPa)

20

15

10 Pre-existing compressive tangential

stresses

5 Numerical estimate of tensile thermal

stress

0
0 30 60 90
Angle from the direction of SH (deg)

Figure 5. Theoretical and numerical estimates of tangential

stresses for second-cycle cooling.

SH and Sh . However, the solution gives the princi-

pal stresses in terms of the thermo-elastic constant
C. As stated earlier, for a vertical borehole, C can
be estimated as C=γH /(ta − t3r ), where t3r is the
wall temperature of reopening of a horizontal crack
perpendicular to the borehole axis. But for all other
conditions, it has to be estimated in the laboratory. In
a two-dimensional analysis, the crack generation per-
pendicular to the borehole axis cannot be studied; this
requires a three-dimensional analysis.
If we know the value of C, which is equal to
0.1771 MPa/◦ C in this particular case, the principal
stresses can be estimated by multi-linear regression.
Best fit solutions are obtained by least square
analysis for the principal stresses by considering the
above 7 crack angles, which gives σ 1 =10.16 MPa and
σ 2 =7.08 MPa, with R2 =0.99. These values are very
close (within 1.6%) to the applied stress values of σxx
and σyy in the numerical model.

5 CONCLUSIONS

From the preliminary theoretical and numerical analy-

Figure 4. Sequence of thermal cracking during second
cooling cycle.
sis, the method suggested for the measurement of
insitu stresses appears to be capable of accurate estima-
tion of the virgin stresses by monitoring tensile crack
formation at borehole wall and the wall temperature at
the time of crack initiation. The time taken for cool-
ing the borehole periphery for the test will only be a
few minutes. The method can be applied to boreholes
of any directions. Moreover, all three principal stresses
can be obtained by monitoring crack formation at vari-
ous angles along the borehole axis as well as across
the borehole axis. It may also be applicable for greater
depths.
However, it may be said that the above method is
still in a conceptual stage and requires further studies
to validate it. More importantly, the practical methods
and devices for borehole cooling and crack moni-
toring need to be designed. Further, laboratory-scale
tests should be conducted. Since the accuracy of stress

697
determination depends largely on the precision of
monitoring of the crack initiation and wall tempera-
ture, several testing trials may be necessary to arrive
at an accurate technique. An experimental procedure
is also needed for the laboratory determination of C.
Prior to the laboratory trials, further three-
dimensional numerical analyses may also be required
to study the thermal fracturing under various stress
magnitudes and orientations with respect to the bore-
hole axis.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Korea Institute of
Geoscience and Mineral Resources for supporting this
research work under the Basic Research Project funded
by the Ministry of Science and Technology, South
Korea.
REFERENCES
Amadei, B. & Stephansson, O. 1997. Rock Stress and its
Measurement. London: Chapman and Hall.
Bock, H. & Foruria V. 1983 A recoverable borehole slot-
ting instrument for in situ stress measurements in rock. In
Proc. Int. Symp. on Field measurements in Geomechanics,
Zurich. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 15–29.
Brown, E.T. & Hoek, E. 1978.Trends in relationships between
measured in situ stresses and depth. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. & Geomech. Abst. 15: 211–215.
Bruno, A.B. & Jerome H.W. 1985. Theory of Thermal
Stresses. New York: Dover Publications.
698
Fairhurst, C. 1964. Measurement of in situ rock stresses with
particular references to hydraulic fracturing. Rock Mech.
Eng. Geol. 2: 129–147.
FLAC3D manual Ver 2.0, ITASCA Consulting Group Inc.
Minnesota, USA.
Ito, T., Sato, A. & Hayashi, K. 2001. Laboratory and field
verification of a new approach to stress measurements
using a dilatometer tool. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 38:
1173–1184.
Jaeger, J.C. & Cook, N.G.W. 1976. Fundamentals of Rock
Mechanics, 2nd Edition. London: Chapman and Hall.
Kaiser, J. 1950. An investigation into the occurrence of noises
in tensile tests or a study of acoustic phenomena in tensile
tests. Doctoral Thesis, Tech. Hosch, Munich.
Leeman, E.R. & Hayes, D.J. 1966. A technique for deter-
mining the complete state of stress in rock using a single
borehole. In Proc. 1st Cong. Int. Soc. Rock Mech. (ISRM),
Lisbon, vol. 2, pp. 17–24.
Mayer, A., Habib P. & Marchand R. 1951. Underground rock
pressure testing. In Proc. Int. Conf. Rock Pressure and
Support in the workings, Liege, pp. 217–221.
Merrill, R.H. 1967. Three component borehole deformation
gage for determining the stress in rock. US Bureau of
Mines Report of Investigation RI 7015.
Stephansson, O. 1983. Rock stress measurement by sleeve
fracturing. In Proc. 5th Cong. Int. Soc. Rock Mech.
(ISRM), Melbourne. Rotterdam: Balkema, vol. 1, pp.
29–137.
Saharan, M.R. 2004. Dynamic modelling of rock fracturing
by destress blasting. Ph.D. Thesis, University of McGill,
Canada.
Zoback, M.D. 1985. Well bore breakouts and insitu stress. J.
Geophys. Res. 90: 5523–5530.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Interpretation of stressmeter data in variable temperature conditions

T. Smith
Cameco Corporation, Saskatchewan, Canada

D. Milne & Z. Szczepanik

University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Canada

ABSTRACT: Field investigations into the effects of artificial ground freezing at depth were conducted at the
McArthur River Operation, a high grade, underground uranium mine. Vibrating wire stressmeters were installed
to monitor the change in stress perpendicular to a freeze wall as the freeze front advanced toward it. Consideration
of the varying temperature conditions is recommended in the analysis to ensure accuracy of the data. Although the
manufacturer provides a temperature correction, it did not agree with our laboratory testing. Also, the correction
considers properties of the cell, it does not account for the interaction between the cell and the borehole walls,
nor was it found to be accurate under the conditions specified by the manufacturer. The theoretical background
for interpreting instrument data, and results from lab testing are presented. Observations and results from the
field installation of the instrument are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION
The vibrating wire stressmeter is a useful tool for mea-
suring changes in stress in the field. Advantages of the
instrument include its rugged construction as well as
the vibrating wire readout. The unit is not sensitive
to lead wire conditions that may influence electrical
resistance. Disadvantages of the instrument include
the need for a smooth walled diamond drill hole, as
well as the requirement for a good mechanical contact
between the rock and the cell.
While conducting research on artificial ground
freezing at the McArthur River Operation, it was
necessary to install the stressmeter cells where tem-
peratures would decrease by up to 20◦ C. Changes in
temperature will induce contraction or expansion of
all materials, including both the stress cell and the
rock, which may respond at different rates. Although
the manufacturer provides a temperature correction
in the manual, it applies to an unstressed cell and
does not account for the interaction between the cell
and the borehole walls. This investigation consisted of
two parts: verifying the manufacturer’s correction, and
determining the correction to account for the differ-
ent rates of contraction of the stress cell and borehole
walls.
The instrument used for the field installation, and
corresponding lab testing, was Model 4300-1NX-
H manufactured by Geokon, suitable for an NX
size borehole (76 mm diameter) in hard rock. The
ROCK
STRESS
CELL
APPLIED
STRESS
Figure 1. Simplified cross-section of stress cell.
vibrating wire stressmeter consists of a stainless steel,
cylindrical, thick-walled shell with a separate loading
wedge to mechanically anchor the instrument in the
hole. A vibrating wire element is located within the
shell, perpendicular to the loading direction (Fig. 1).
A change in load changes the tensile strain of the
vibrating wire, altering the vibration frequency of the
element upon excitation. The square of the frequency
varies proportionally to the change in diameter of the
instrument.
The instrument range allows measurement of stress
changes up to between 30 and 100 MPa, depending on
the modulus of the rock, and at temperatures ranging
from −20◦ C to +80◦ C. Due to the short-term duration

699
of the research, rock temperatures were not antici-
pated to exceed this range. A thermistor is included
in the instrument so that accurate readings of temper-
ature can be obtained. Resolution is between 0.035 and
0.140 MPa, with an accuracy of 20%.
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Interpretation of data requires consideration of two
potential sources of error: the error inherent to the cell
(internal error), and the error resulting from the dif-
ferent rate of contraction of the cell relative to the
borehole wall (external error). The actual change in
stress for the instrument is then:
where σT = change in stress corrected for internal
error (MPa); and σC = stress correction for external
error (MPa).
2.1 Internal cell error
The internal cell error results from the different rates
of contraction for the internal components of the
instrument. Since the desire is to only measure exter-
nal changes in stress, a correction must be applied.
According to the manufacturer (Geokon 2003), the
correction is applied to the cell used in this study is:
where R1 = final stressmeter reading (Frequency2 );
R0 = initial stressmeter reading (Frequency2 ); T1 =
final temperature reading (◦ C); T0 = initial tem-
perature reading (◦ C); G = gage sensitivity factor
(MPa × Frequency−2 ). The gage sensitivity factor, G,
is determined from the rock modulus and manufac-
turer’s charts.
To verify the manufacturer’s correction, an instru-
ment was placed in a temperature-controlled room in
the rock mechanics laboratory at the University of
Saskatchewan. The instrument was set up in a free field
with no restraints or load applied, where σT = 0. Tem-
perature and stressmeter readings were then recorded
and are displayed graphically in Figure 2.
Clearly, the manufacturer’s correction is not appli-
cable. The actual calculation to be applied to the raw
data is:
2.2 External cell error
In order to calculate the external error, thermoelastic
theory must be used. The cell can be approximated
700
2480
Frequency Squared, R
2460
2440
2420
2400 y = 0.30x + 2376.36
2380
2360
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Change in Temperature, T (deg C)
Laboratory
Manufacturer
Regression (Laboratory)
Figure 2. Graph of the internal temperature correction for
vibrating wire stressmeter.
as a hollow cylinder, and the displacements on the
outer surface of the hollow cylinder calculated as per
Fridman (1965):
where u(b) = radial displacement at b(m); a = inner
radius of cylinder (m); b = outer radius of cylin-
der (m); r = radial distance to a specified point (m);
T = change in temperature as a function of r (◦ C);
and αc = coefficient of thermal expansion for cylinder.
Solving the equation, assuming that the temperature
is constant within the immediate area surrounding the
instrument, results in:
Following a similar derivation, and considering the
borehole can be approximated as a hollow cylinder
with an outer diameter of infinity, the net radial dis-
placement of the borehole at its inner diameter, a, is
given by:
The net radial displacement, ur , of the cell from the
borehole wall, and where b = a at T0 is given by:
The apparent stress measured by the stressmeter is
synonymous with the change in stress that induces con-
vergence of a borehole; therefore, Kirsch’s equations
(1898) can be used to determine the external stress cor-
rection, σC . It is assumed that σy and σx are parallel to
the maximum and minimum in-situ stresses.
and,
where Ur = radial convergence at r (m); a = inner
radius of hole (m); r = radial distance to point r = a
(since we are considering the borehole wall only);
σy = stress in loading direction (MPa); σx = stress per-
pendicular to σy (MPa); k = ratio of σx over σy; υ = 90◦
(since we are considering σy only); ν = Poisson’s ratio;
and G = shear modulus (MPa), or G = E/2(1 + ν).
The stress measured by the instrument is a result of
convergence of the borehole wall relative to the instru-
ment. Ur can be substituted by ur to determine the
apparent stress change measured by the instrument.
The stress correction becomes:
For the case where the stress is hydrostatic, k = 1,
the stress correction is:
It is interesting to note that the adjustment is not
dependent on borehole size.
3 DETERMINATION OF COEFFICIENT OF
THERMAL EXPANSION
3.1 General
The coefficient of thermal expansion is defined as
strain per change in temperature. More specifically, in
the radial direction, it is the radial strain per change in
temperature. It can be proven that the radial coefficient
of thermal expansion is the same as the circumferential
coefficient of thermal expansion.
3.2 Stress cell
Lab testing was performed to determine the coefficient
of thermal expansion for the vibrating wire stressme-
ter. Four strain gages were bonded circumferentially
to the exterior of the instrument, as well as one tem-
perature gage. Both the temperature and strain gages
were connected to a datalogger to obtain a continuous
record of the data. The average coefficient of thermal
expansion for the cell was of 8.4 × 10−6◦ C−1 .
701
1 15
-1
10
-3
Temp. (deg C)
Stress (MPa)
5
-5
-7 0
-9
-5
-11
-10
-13
-15 -15
19-Jul
11-Oct
01-Feb
01-Mar
29-Mar
13-Sep
26-Apr
21-Jun
24-May
16-Aug
Adjusted Stress Raw Data Temperature
Figure 3. Graph of Stressmeter #03-6 results.
3.3 Rock
The coefficient of thermal expansion for the rock was
required as well. Axial strain gauges, lateral strain
gauges, and thermistors were bonded to each sample.
To simulate in-situ conditions, the samples were then
allowed to reach a saturated state. Once saturated, the
samples were connected to a datalogger and placed in a
freezer.The samples were neither restrained nor sealed,
simulating an open drainage condition, which would
be the case for a borehole. Strain and temperature data
were collected during the cooling of the samples from
18◦ C to –6.9◦ C. Sample contraction during cooling
remained approximately linear for the data obtained
between +10◦ C and −6◦ C. These data were used to
estimate the coefficient of thermal expansion (αr ). The
average coefficient of thermal expansion for the rock
was 5.5 × 10−6◦ C−1 . Since the coefficient is lower for
the rock than the stress cell, cooling of the rock mass
would result in an apparent decrease in the applied
stress. The elastic constants, Poisson’s ratio (ν) and
Young’s modulus (E), were also calculated from the
data.
4 FIELD INSTALLATION
Two instruments were installed in the field accord-
ing to manufacturer’s recommendations. Prior to
installation, the borehole was cored with a diamond
drill, cleaned, and inspected with a borehole camera
(SeeSnake by Ridgid Kollman). The camera assisted
in selecting a location that had a smooth and clean
borehole surface, where no jointing or shears were
present, and where the borehole walls were competent.
The borehole camera was also used after installation to
confirm the orientation of the instrument and to ensure
that it was anchored and seated properly.
The vibrating wire instrument #03-6 ceased
responding at approximately the same time that
the temperature was approaching the freezing mark
(Fig. 3). Resistance checks were performed on all
 1 15.0
-1
-3
Stress (MPa)
-5
-7
-9
-11
-13
-15
01-Feb
01-Mar
29-Mar
26-Apr
24-May
Adjusted Stress
Figure 4. Graph of Stressmeter #03-7 results.
cables, and no damage to the cables was observed. The
authors speculate that there may have been moisture
within the instrument. Upon freezing, the response of
the vibrating wire may have been dampened. Just prior
to losing the response from the instrument, a sudden
decline in stress was measured. This unusual response
was also observed at approximately the freezing point
for instrument #03-7 (Fig. 4). The stress change mea-
sured by instrument #03-7 declined to the point where
it exceeded the pre-tensioning value, indicating that
the wedge had been loosened from its position.
A borehole camera was used to inspect the borehole.
It was impossible to obtain a visual observation of the
instrument itself due to a significant amount of ice
present in the hole, which prevented the borehole cam-
era from penetrating to the depth of the instrument. It
is presumed that ice may have forced the wedge out of
position, so the cell was no longer reacting to changes
in the rock mass. This does not, however, explain the
lack of cell response.
5 LAB TESTING
5.1 General
Due to the failure of the stress cell to measure changes
in stress below the freezing mark, it was decided to
reproduce similar conditions in the lab to verify the
performance of the instrument. This additional test-
ing also provided a useful opportunity to verify the
correction applied to the stress meter in controlled con-
ditions. A sample block of rock was used to simulate
conditions in the field and determine the validity of
the corrections applied to the field data.
5.2 Validation of model
A block of fine-grained mafic rock was used to simu-
late conditions in the field. The properties of the rock
were measured and a stress cell was installed in the
2.0
10.0 0.0
Temp. (deg C)
5.0 -2.0
Change in Stress (MPa)
0.0 -4.0
-5.0
-6.0
-10.0
-8.0
-15.0
19-Jul -10.0
11-Oct
13-Sep
21-Jun
16-Aug -12.0
-14.0
Raw Data Temperature
-45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0
Change in Temperature (deg C)
Internal correction only (manufacturer)
Internal correction only (lab)
Internal & external correction (lab)
Figure 5. Corrected vibrating wire stressmeter data for an
unloaded sample undergoing temperature change.
rock block. Testing was conducted to determine if a
valid approach was used for correcting the McArthur
River stress cell field data.
The block was cored, and the core retained for
testing of thermal and mechanical properties. Strain
gauges were applied to the prepared core sample and a
modulus of 50.6 GPa and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.32 were
measured. The coefficient of thermal expansion for the
rock was 4.58 × 10−6◦ C−1 , and the value for the cell
was previously determined to be 8.40 × 10−6◦ C−1 .
The cell was installed in the borehole drilled in
the block. The entire assembly was placed in a tem-
perature controlled room and the vibrating wire was
read as temperature decreased. Since no loads were
applied to the sample, the correction of the instru-
ment data should result in a constant value of 0 MPa
for the change in stress measured by the stress meter.
Figure 5 illustrates the data corrected for both internal
and external error based on the lab work performed.
Also shown are the data corrected for internal error
only, using both the manufacturer’s correction and the
lab correction.
The combination of internal and external correc-
tion results in the most accurate interpretation of the
instrument data, in spite of the small number of tests
conducted to determine the coefficients of thermal
expansion for the cell and the rock. Additional testing
on the cell and rock samples would allow a statis-
tically significant error to be incorporated into the
interpretation of the stress data.
5.3 Performance of instrument in lab
The stress cells in the field stopped providing data
when the temperature of the cells approximately
702
reached the freezing point. It was postulated that water
was infiltrating the cell interior, freezing and dampen-
ing the vibrating wire. In the lab a cell was installed
in a block of rock. The cored hole in the block of rock
was filled with water, immersing the cell. The assem-
bly was placed in a freezer to simulate field conditions.
It was not possible to duplicate the failure observed in
the field and these tests are being repeated.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Vibrating wire stress cells were used to monitor stress
changes induced by the creation of a freeze wall
at Cameco’s McArthur River Operation. The stress
cells were exposed to changes in temperature, and
ceased to function when the temperature approached
the freezing point of water.
The manufacturer’s correction for temperature
change was tested in the lab and was not accurate.
A new correction was proposed for the vibrating wire
stressmeter; however, different rates of thermal con-
traction between the stress cell and the rock mass may
continue to provide false indications of a change in
stress. A theoretical correction was developed from
thermoelastic theory to correct for this external error.
The proposed internal and external corrections were
successfully validated in the lab. Lab tests were con-
ducted to duplicate the failure of the instruments in the
field; these tests were not successful.
703
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Cameco Corporation for allow-
ing the field research to be conducted at the McArthur
River Operation, and for all other assistance which
ensured the completion of this research. Apprecia-
tion is also given to Boart Longyear, which supplied
the diamond drill bit for coring the block of rock in
the lab.
REFERENCES
Fridman, Y.B. 1965. Strength and Deformation in Nonuni-
form Temperature Fields. New York: Consultants Bureau.
Geokon. 2003. Instruction Manual Vibrating Wire Stress-
meter 4300 series (EX, BX, NX). Lebanon: Geokon
Inc.
Johns, D.J. 1965. Thermal Stress Analysis. Oxford: Pergamon
Press Ltd.
Kirsch, G. 1898. Die Theorie der Elastizität und die
Bedürfnisse der Festigkeitslehre. Zeitshrift des Vereines
deutscher Ingenieure 42: 797–807.
Smith, T.L.M. 2006. Influence Of Artificial Ground Freezing
On The Deformation Of A Deep Excavation In Hard Rock.
M.Sc. thesis. Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The contemporary stress field of the offshore Carnarvon Basin, North

West Shelf, Western Australia

M.C. Neubauer, R.R. Hillis & R.C. King

Australian School of Petroleum, University of Adelaide, Australia

S.D. Reynolds
Australian School of Petroleum, now at Schlumberger, Abu Dhabi

ABSTRACT: Knowledge of the contemporary stress field is vital to the petroleum industry for assessing trap
integrity and establishing drilling directions and mud weights to optimise wellbore stability. High quality image
log data from 63 petroleum wells in the Carnarvon Basin were analysed for borehole breakouts and drilling-
induced tensile fractures to ascertain the orientation of the contemporary horizontal stresses. Orientations were
consistent across the basin, with a regional mean maximum horizontal stress orientation of approximately
105◦ N. Over 80% of the mean borehole breakout and/or drilling-induced tensile fracture orientations of each
well, showed mean stress orientations within 15◦ of the 105◦ N mean orientation. Stress orientations were also
consistent in the vicinity of faults, contrary to previous interpretations from caliper logs, where faults in the
area locally perturb the stress field. A preliminary investigation into the magnitude of the contemporary stress
field of the region suggests the Carnarvon Basin is in a strike-slip faulting environment, implying that the most
stable drilling direction is horizontal. The majority of faults in the Carnarvon Basin are steeply dipping and strike
north-south and northeast-southwest. These fault orientations are not at risk of reactivation in the regional stress
field. Results from this study are included in the Australian Stress Map database, which is becoming increasingly
recognised for its vital importance to petroleum professionals as a source of contemporary stress information
throughout the Australian continent.

1 INTRODUCTION

The key driver of this study was to investigate the

occurrence of anomalous northeast-southwest maxi-
mum horizontal stress (SH ) orientations derived from
caliper logs .(Mildren 1997) in the otherwise consis-
tently oriented east-west regional stress field. Mildren
(1997) proposed that the anomalous orientations were
directly related to stress perturbations around faults
on the basin margins. The extent to which faults per-
turb the stress field is particularly significant to the
pre-drill prediction of stress orientations.
Mildren (1997) identified 625 borehole breakout
(BO) zones from four-arm caliper logs in 42 wells,
yielding a regional mean SH orientation of 090◦ N-
100◦ N. However, the stress orientation inferred from
some wells deviated from the regional mean, in par-
ticular a northeast-southwest SH trend was observed Figure 1. Mean SH orientation inferred from caliper logs
in the vicinity of northeast-southwest striking faults by Mildren (1997) within the Carnarvon Basin, North West
identified in the Goodwyn, Wandoo and South Shelf. The inset shows the location of the Carnarvon Basin
Chevril fields (Mildren 1997; Fig. 1). Mildren (1997) within Australia.

705
Figure 2. Mean SH orientation inferred within each of the Figure 3. Azimuth of BO and DITFs with respect to the
16 stress provinces identified in Australia and New Guinea circumferential stress around the wellbore (Gough & Bell
(Hillis & Reynolds 2003). 1981).

proposed that the relatively structureless depocentres

of the Barrow and Dampier Sub-basins show con-
sistently oriented east-west SH orientations, whereas
the more structurally complex flanks of the basin
show northeast-southwest SH orientations. Stress indi-
cators in the depocentres were, however, of higher
quality than those from the basin flanks and Mildren
(1997) recommended further investigation into the
postulated second-order, fault-controlled, northeast-
southwest-oriented SH .
Hillis & Reynolds (2003) compiled stress data from
the Australian Stress Map database and identified 16
stress provinces throughout Australia and New Guinea
(Fig. 2). Each stress province could be ranked accord-
ing to the consistency of the stress orientations within Figure 4. Two sections of an Electrical Micro-Imager image
the province, by assessing the standard deviations of log from Little Sandy-1 showing (a) BO and (b) DITFs.
the means of stress indicators from each well within the
province. The standard deviation of reliable (A-C qual-
ity) SH orientations in the Carnarvon Basin was 35◦ , wellbore. The circumferential stress around the well-
and hence the Carnarvon Basin ranked 15th out of bore is maximised at the azimuth of the minimum
the 16 provinces for consistency, suggesting variable horizontal stress (Sh ) and minimised at the azimuth
stress orientations. of SH (Gough & Bell 1981). These stress concentra-
This study utilised high resolution image logs to tions may result in wellbore failure in the form of BOs
determine SH orientations in the region. In particu- and drilling-induced tensile fractures (DITFs) if the
lar, the proposed stress rotations around basin margin rock strength is overcome (Fig. 3) (Zoback & Zoback
faults (Mildren 1996) were investigated. A preliminary 1980).
investigation of stress magnitudes was also under- A BO is formed when the circumferential stress
taken, in order that generalised, regional predictions around the wellbore exceeds the compressive strength
could be made with respect to wellbore stability and of the rock. Borehole breakouts form due to the inter-
the propensity for fault reactivation. section of drilling-induced shear fractures (Zoback
et al. 1985, Gough & Bell 1981) resulting in the
spalling of fragments of the wellbore wall and the asso-
2 STRESS ORIENTATION
ciated invasion of conductive drilling mud (Fig. 4a).
Borehole breakouts are identified on electrical image
2.1 Stress indicators
logs as dark, electrically-conductive, poorly-resolved
The removal of rock due to the drilling of a well- zones, generally occurring on opposing (180◦ apart)
bore, results in the concentration of stress around that sides of the wellbore wall in the orientation of Sh .

706
 Drilling-induced tensile fractures form where the
circumferential stress around the wellbore is less
than the tensile strength of the rock. Drilling-induced
tensile fractures are vertical to sub-vertical conduc-
tive fractures which are generally well-defined and
relatively narrow.
Drilling-induced tensile fractures form on opposing
(180◦ apart) sides of the wellbore wall in the orienta-
tion of SH orthogonal to BO (Fig. 4b) (Zoback et al.
1985).
2.2 Caliper logs vs Image logs
The four-arm dipmeter tool, from which caliper log
data is derived, measures the cross-sectional shape of
the borehole and hence can detect if the borehole is
ovalised, which is then generally interpreted as a stress-
induced BO (Plumb & Hickman 1985). The caliper
log cannot detect DITFs or incipient BOs (areas where
shear fractures have developed in the wellbore wall, but
pieces of the wellbore wall have not yet spalled off to
produce an ovalised cross-section). Intersecting open
natural fractures, or the interaction of natural fractures
and DITFs can also ovalise the wellbore, and hence
may be incorrectly interpreted as stress-induced BO
on the caliper log. This can produce an error of up to
90◦ (in the case of intersecting DITFs) from the true
contemporary stress orientation.
Image logs are high resolution pseudo-images of the
formations at the wellbore wall based on electrical or
acoustic responses. Stress indicators such as BOs and
DITFs are clearly distinguished (if present). Therefore,
this study, which used high resolution image logs has
yielded more reliable SH orientations across the region
than Mildren (1997) could obtain from caliper logs.
2.3 Results
Image log data from 63 petroleum wells in the Carnar-
von Basin were analysed for BOs and DITFs to
ascertain the orientation of the horizontal contem-
porary stresses. A total of 552 BOs and 420 DITFs
were identified, and a regional mean SH orientation
of 105◦ N (un-weighted) was inferred, with a standard
deviation of 14◦ (Figs. 5a-b).
The SH orientations given by the mean orienta-
tion of BOs and DITFs in each well were assigned
a ‘quality’ (according to the World Stress Map rank-
ing system outlined by Sperner et al. 2003), reflecting
their reliability as a stress orientation indicator for
that well. The system ranks the inferred mean SH
orientation from A, being the highest quality, to E,
being the lowest. The mean stress orientations from
each well inferred from the new image log data are
mapped on Figure 6, and on Figure 7 with Mildren’s
(1997) older caliper log-based stress orientations.
There is a strongly-developed, first-order, regional,
707
Figure 5. (a) Depth versus azimuth of all interpreted BOs
(grey) and DITFs (black) in the Carnarvon Basin and (b) the
derived SH orientation.
approximately east-west SH orientation in the Carnar-
von Basin.
A total of 52 reliable (A-C quality) stress indica-
tors were identified in the Carnarvon Basin. The mean
of these mean values is 105◦ N with a standard devi-
ation of 14◦ . Therefore, the Carnarvon Basin would
rank equal 4th (with the Cooper and Perth Basins)
out of the 16 stress provinces identified by Hillis &
Reynolds (2003) using these new results, instead of
15th (Fig. 2). Anomalous northeast-southwest SH ori-
entations previously interpreted by Mildren (1997) as
illustrated on Figures 1 and 7 are not observed in the
image log-based analysis. Hence, these anomalous ori-
entations are an artefact of the poor quality results from
the caliper log data. Therefore there is little evidence of
fault-controlled stress perturbations in the Carnarvon
Basin.
Only one area of anomalous orientations has been
observed from image log data (Fig. 7 outlined area).
This area is adjacent to the Rosemary Fault System
which is one of the main fault zones of the basin.
Two wells in this area, Jaubert-1 (080◦ N) and Tusk-1
(061◦ N), show SH orientations that are sub-parallel to
the strike of the faults in the Rosemary Fault System.
However, orientations observed in Wandoo North-1
(142◦ N) are approximately perpendicular to the strike
of the faults, and other wells within the area show
SH orientations that are parallel to the regional stress
orientation, and hence, are unperturbed by this fault
system.
3 STRESS MAGNITUDES
3.1 Vertical stress
The vertical or overburden stress (Sv ) at a specified
depth is defined as the pressure exerted by the weight
of the overlying rocks (and the weight of the water
if offshore, as is the case in the Carnarvon Basin)
(Engelder 1993). The vertical stress can be calculated
Figure 6. Carnarvon Basin stress map showing SH orientations from new image log-based analysis.

Figure 7. Carnarvon Basin stress map showing results from new image log-based analysis (black) and previous caliper
log-based analysis (grey) interpreted by Mildren (1997). Dashed box outlines area of anomalous stress orientations.

708
by integrating the density log with respect to depth.
The density log is generally not run from the seabed,
therefore checkshot sonic surveys and sonic velocity-
density relations were used to calculate the average
density from the seabed to the top of the density log.
Checkshot surveys were not available for all wells
containing density logs in this study. A total of 287
checkshot surveys were compiled from across the
Carnarvon Basin and used to identify common trends
in checkshot data within defined regions to overcome
this problem.
A velocity/depth relation was derived for each
region and was used to estimate the sonic velocity to
the top of the density logs in that region. The Gardner
(1974) sonic velocity to density transform was used
in this study to convert the checkshot sonic velocities,
predicted by the appropriate relations, to an average
density down to the top of the density log. Unreliable
data (generally where wellbore quality was poor) were
removed prior to integrating the density log.
Vertical stress was calculated in 37 wells through-
out the Carnarvon Basin. Vertical stress varies with
depth significantly over the Carnarvon Basin, so the
commonly assumed value of 1 psi/ft (22.6 MPa/km)
should not be used here. The vertical stress to 1 km
depth ranges from 18.6–21.35 MPa and to 2 km depth
from 40.9–45.6 MPa (Fig. 8).
A relationship between Sv and depth was defined
for the region and is expressed as: Figure 8. Vertical stress profiles calculated from 37 wells
in the Carnarvon Basin.

fitted to the closure pressures to estimate Sh in the

where depth is in metres and Sv is in MPa. However, region. This line is also a reasonable lower bound to
there is a significant variation of Sv throughout the the LOPs, which are often taken as an estimate of Sh in
basin as discussed. the absence of closure pressures (Bell 1990, Breckels
& Eekelen 1981).

3.2 Minimum horizontal stress 3.3 Maximum horizontal stress

The magnitude of the minimum horizontal stress (Sh ) The frictional limit technique was employed to con-
was calculated from leak-off test (LOT) and extended strain the upper limit of SH (Jaeger & Cook 1969).
leak-off test (XLOT) data. A fracture initiated at Assuming stresses are at frictional limits:
leak-off pressure (LOP) in a LOT, opens against the
minimum stress of the perturbed stress field around
the borehole, when the tensile strength of the rock is
overcome. The LOP is often used as an estimate of where
the magnitude of Sh , however Sh tends to be overes-
timated using this method due to the component of
rock strength involved (Bell 1996). Extended leak-off
tests, measure both opening and closure pressures (Pc )
of the induced fracture over a number of cycles. It is
assumed that the fracture closes in the far field, when and S1 and S3 are the maximum and minimum princi-
the fluid pressure within the fracture equals Sh . There- pal stresses respectively, Pp is pore pressure and µ is
fore, the Pc is a more reliable measure of Sh than the the coefficient of friction. Hydrostatic pore pressure
LOP, especially when multiple cycles provide several was assumed. Given that Sh < Sv in the Carnarvon
consistent closure pressures. Basin, Sh is S3 . Assuming µ = 0.6 (Byerlee 1978)
Leak-off pressures and closure pressures are plot- and hydrostatic Pp , the frictional limit bound to S1 ,
ted against depth on Figure 9. A line of ‘best-fit’ was is 26.5 MPa/km. This is considerably greater than Sv .

709
 Figure 10. Schematic depicting the strike-slip faulting style.

Figure 9. Plot of stress magnitudes versus depth in the Figure 11. (a) Polar plot of BO propensity. A vertical well
Carnarvon Basin. The dashed line represents the commonly will plot in the centre, and a horizontal well deviated north,
used 1 psi/ft gradient. will plot at 0◦ . (b) Polar plot of DITF propensity. In both plots
the central region shows wells at high risk of BO and DITFs.
Table 1. Summary of the contemporary stress field in the Wells at relatively low risk are on the circumference of the
Carnarvon Basin. polar plot. The darkest areas on the circumference of the polar
plot show well deviations with the lowest risk of failure (plot
Gradient Orientation originally in colour).
Stress (MPa/km)

Sv Eqn (1) vertical (by defn) 4 IMPLICATIONS

Sh 15.2 015◦ N
SH 26.5 105◦ N
(upper bound)
Hence, if S1 is at or near frictional limits, SH is
S1 and the associated faulting regime is strike-slip
(SH > Sv > Sh ) (Fig. 9).
3.4 Fault regime
The generalised regional contemporary stress field of
the Carnarvon Basin is summarized in Table 1. The ori-
entation of SH is consistent across the area as discussed
above.
The stress magnitude data is limited and magnitudes
may vary across the basin. The stress magnitude data
suggests that if stresses in the region are at or near fric-
tional limits, Sv is the intermediate principal stress (S2 )
and the associated fault regime is strike-slip (Fig. 10).
4.1 Wellbore stability
Generalised wellbore stability in the Carnarvon Basin
was predicted using the regional stress field. The max-
imum differential stress in a strike-slip fault regime is
that between the two horizontal stresses (Sh and SH ).
A vertical well in a strike-slip fault regime is subject to
the highest differential stress, and experiences the most
compressive and most tensile stresses around the well-
bore. Hence, vertical wells have the greatest propensity
for stress-induced wellbore failure, operational and
other factors being the same (Figs. 11a-b).
4.2 Fault reactivation
Reactivation of fault-bounding traps post-charge can
potentially lead to seal breach .(Shuster et al., 1988),
if the faults are optimally oriented for reactivation in
the surrounding stress field. Hence, investigating the

710

Figure 12. Stereonet showing the risk of fault reactivation in
the stress field of the Carnarvon Basin. Dark areas depict
orientations at relatively high risk, and lighter areas depict ori-
entation at relatively low risk. A horizontal plane will plot in
the centre and a vertical plane striking east-west will plot at
0◦ and 180◦ .
likelihood of fault reactivation is an important aspect
of assessing seal integrity. The regional stress regime
of the Carnarvon Basin is suggested to be strike-slip
with SH oriented 105◦ N. Faults optimally oriented for
reactivation dip sub-vertically and strike 075◦ N and
135◦ N (Fig. 12).
Faults in the Carnarvon Basin predominantly strike
north-south and northeast-southwest (Figs. 1, 6–7),
therefore the majority of faults in the area are not
optimally oriented for reactivation. A small number
of sub-vertical east-west faults are evident in the
Exmouth Sub-basin and these are at relatively higher
risk of reactivation.
5 SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS
Image logs from 63 wells in the Carnarvon Basin were
interpreted for BOs and DITFs as indicators of the SH
orientation of the region. A total of 52 reliable (A-
C quality) indicators of the mean stress orientation
in each well were identified. Results show consistent
first-order regional stress orientations with a mean
SH orientation of 105◦ N and a standard deviation of
14◦ . Stress orientations were also consistently oriented
east-west in the vicinity of faults, which were previ-
ously postulated to perturb the stress field (Mildren
1997). However, three wells showed stress orienta-
tions that did indicate a clear deviation from the
regional mean in the area adjacent to the Rosemary
fault system.
A preliminary investigation of the magnitudes of
the contemporary stresses in the Carnarvon Basin
711
estimated the stress magnitudes to be approximately
15.2 MPa/km (Sh ), 20.6 MPa/km (Sv to 1 km) and
26.5 MPa/km (SH ). Therefore, the fault regime of the
Carnarvon Basin is strike-slip (Sh < Sv < SH ), imply-
ing that, operational and other factors (e.g. hole clean-
ing) being the same, vertical wells in the Carnarvon
Basin are the least mechanically stable. Steeply dip-
ping faults striking 075◦ N or 135◦ N are at greatest risk
of reactivation, and potentially associated seal breach,
in the region. Faults in the Carnarvon Basin predomi-
nantly trend northeast-southwest and north-south and
hence are not optimally oriented for reactivation and
seal breach.
REFERENCES
Bell, J.S. 1990. Investigating stress regimes in sedimentary
basins using information from oil industry wireline logs
and drilling records. In Hurst et al. (eds.), Geological
Applications of Wireline Logs, Geological Society Special
Publication 48: 305–325.
Breckels, B.M. & Eekelen, H.A.M.V. 1981. Relationship
between horizontal stress and depth in sedimentary
basins.Society Petroleum Engineers 10336.
Byerlee, J. 1978. Friction of rocks. Pure Applied Geophysics
116: 615–626.
Engelder, T. 1993. Stress Regimes in the Lithosphere. Prince-
ton: Princeton University Press.
Gardner, G.H.F., Gardner, L.W. & Gregory, A.R. 1974. For-
mation velocity and density: the diagnostic basics fro
stratigraphic traps. Geophysics 39: 770–780.
Gough, D.I. & Bell, J.S. 1981. Stress orientations from oil-
well fractures in Alberta and Texas. Canadian Journal of
Earth Sciences 18(3): 638–645.
Hillis, R.R. & Reynolds, S.D 2003. In situ stress field
of Australia. Geological Society of Australia Special
Publication 22: 43–52.
Jaeger, J.C. & Cook, N.G.W. 1969. Fundamentals of Rock
Mechanics. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Mildren, S.D. 1997. The contemporary stress field of
Australia’s North West Shelf and collision-related tecton-
ism. Adelaide: University of Adelaide.
Sperner, B., Muller, B., Heidbach, O., Delvaux, D., Reinecker,
J. & Fuchs, K. 2003. Tectonic stress in the Earth’s crust:
advances in the World Stress Map project. Geological
Society of London Special Publications 212: 101–116.
Zoback, M.L. & Zoback, M.D. 1980. State of stress in the con-
terminous United States. Journal of Geophysical Research
85(B11): 6113–6156.
Zoback, M.D., Moos, D., Mastin, L. & Anderson, R.N.
1985. Well bore breakouts and in situ stress. Journal of
Geophysical Research 90(B7): 5523–5530.
Plumb, R.A. & Hickman, S.H. 1985. Stress-induced borehole
elongation: A comparison between the four-arm dipmeter
and the borehole televiewer in the Auburn Geothermal
well. Journal of Geophysical Research 90: 5513–5522.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Measurement of the regional and local stress field along a 10 km strike of

the Zuleika Shear Zone in the Kundana gold mining province of Western
Australia

C.R. Windsor & E. Villaescusa

CRC Mining/ Western Australian School of Mines, Australia

T. Funatsu
Yamaguchi University, Japan

R. Lachenicht
Barrick Gold Corporation, Kundana, Australia

ABSTRACT: The in situ stress field has been measured, using two separate stress tensor measurement tech-
niques, at six mine sites located in the Kundana mining region along a 10 km strike of the Zuleika Shear
Zone. The Zuleika Shear Zone is an extensive regional shear in the Archean Yilgarn Craton of Western
Australia. The stresses measured by the two techniques are compared and then considered in the context of
a larger database of stress measurement results taken from within the Yilgarn Craton. The results allow com-
parison between stresses accommodated by the craton en masse and by its extensive crustal scale faults and
shears.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY

Two separate three dimensional stress tensor measure-
ment techniques have been used to measure the in situ
stress at six mine sites located in the Kundana mining
region of Western Australia (WA); namely:
• The CSIRO Hollow Inclusion Cell (CSIRO HI),
described by Worotnicki & Walton (1976), in con-
junction with the overcoring technique.
• The WASM Acoustic Emission technique (WASM
AE), the first form of which was described by
Villaescusa et al. (2002).
Nine stress measurements have been conducted at
Barkers Mine and Strzelecki Mine using the CSIRO
HI Cell in conjunction with the overcoring tech-
nique. These measurements have been taken from
available mine drives. Twelve stress measurements
have been conducted for six mine sites including
Barkers Mine (M1), Strzelecki Mine (M2), Raleigh
Mine (M3), Rubicon Mine (M4) and Hornet Mine
(M5) using the WASM AE technique. These mea-
surements are taken from oriented core sampled
from deep surface boreholes. The stress measure-
ment depths range from ca. 120 m to 650 m below
surface.
2.1 Continental and regional scale structure
The Kundana mining province is located along the
Zuleika Shear Zone (ZSZ) which lies within the
Norseman-Wiluna Belt, in the Kalgoorlie Terrane
of granites and greenstones of the Archean, Yilgarn
Craton of Western Australia (WA) (Fig. 1).
The continental and regional scale structure that
results from the chronology of craton formation and
subsequent deformation events is provided by summa-
rizing the work of previous researchers:
• ZSZ lies within a sub-parallel braid of crustal scale
faults and shear zones striking ca. NNW. Myers
(1993) has discussed the formation of the West
Australian Craton, its sub-parallel NNW trending
terranes, faults and shears.
• Weinberg et al. (2003) have scrutinized reported
regional deformation phases of the Norseman –
Wiluna Belt of the Yilgarn Craton and from find-
ings of +60 authors describe 6 deformation events
over the period ca. 2700 Ma to 2630 Ma. The first
four events involved alternate extension and short-
ening (D1e – extension, D1 – shortening, D2e –
extension and D2 – shortening). The D2 shortening

713

Figure 1. The position of the Kundana mining region along
the Zuleika Shear Zone, within the Norseman–Wiluna belt
of the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia (modified after
drawings by Moore et al. 2000 and Slade 2004).
event occurred after ca. 2650 Ma and was associated
with regional folding (fold axes oriented NNW –
SSE), also discussed by Swager & Nelson (1997).
The D3 event is associated with ductile strike–slip
shearing (oriented NNW), also discussed by Swa-
ger (1997) and Bateman et al. (2001). Finally, the
D4 event is associated with brittle strike-slip fault-
ing (oriented NNE), also discussed by Mueller et al.
(1988) and Bateman et al. (2001). The NNW – SSE
fold axes, NNW strike-slip shear zones and NNE
strike-slip faults are shown in Figure 2.
• ZSZ length is ca. 200 km, extending from near the
Mt Pleasant Dome to the NW of Kundana to near
Norseman in the SE (Swager et al. 1995). It has
also been suggested that the Ballard Fault (another
major feature to the NE), is a continuation of ZSZ.
The resulting ZSZ – Ballard Faulttrace is shown
approximately in Figure 1.
• ZSZ at Kundana is oriented NNW, sub-parallel to
the adjacent folding axis with an anticline to the NE
and a syncline to the SW (Fig. 2).
• ZSZ at Kundana is slightly convex and sub-parallel
to adjacent, equally significant, large scale faults
and shear zones. For example, the Kunanalling
Shear Zone (shown in Fig. 2 to the SE of ZSZ,
merges with the Ida Fault which extends across
the craton. and forms the Eastern boundary of the
Kalgoorlie Terrane.
714
Figure 2. A map of regional structure comprising 0.5 degree
of longitude and latitude around the Kundana region (rectan-
gle), (modified after Hunter 1993, GSWA 25863A, 1:100
000 map). Note the Ida fault (shear zone) to the SE, the adja-
cent fold axes parallel to ZSZ and the regional N, NNE, NE
trending faults.
• ZSZ to the north of Kundana penetrates to a flat
basement detachment structure at about 6 km depth
as shown in a portion of the 1991 Eastern Goldfields
deep seismic transect given by Golby et al. (1997).
• ZSZ at Kundana is intersected by a sequence of the
regional D4 phase NNE and N faults. These faults
are steeply dipping and have dislocated the stratig-
raphy producing significant dextral lateral offsets
between the blocks along ZSZ as shown in Figure 3.
• ZSZ at Kundana and the location of mines given in
Figure 3 graphically show the structural control on
ore deposits that are a characteristic of the Yilgarn
Craton.
2.2 Local mine scale structure
Here, consideration is restricted to local mine scale
faults and joint sets mapped at Barkers Mine (M1)
and at Strzelecki Mine (M2). Another publication
will explore the relationships between stress, local
structure, strength and seismicity based on seismic
monitoring and numerical modeling work previously
conducted by Slade (2004).
At M1, 6 main faults (Mine Grid: 90/000, 40/295,
80/290, 70/280, 70/285, 75/280) and 6 main joint sets
plus bedding (Mine Grid 86/135) have been defined.
At M2, the main vein lies at (Mine Grid 60/100) and 11
sub-parallel faults (ranging from Mine Grid 90/125 to
90/145) and 10 main joints sets have been defined. The
measured stresses are resolved onto these faults and
 Principal Stress (MPa)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
0
S1 - CSIRO HI
S2 - CSIRO HI
100 S3 - CSIRO HI
S1 - WASM AE
S2 - WASM AE
S3 - WASM AE
200

300

Depth (m)
400

500

600

Figure 3. Mines and regional structure along the ZSZ in

the Kundana region. The orientations of these sub-vertical
dipping structures are shown later in Figure 9. (Constructed
on a redrawn geological map provided by Slade 2004).
joint sets later to indicate the shear stress conditions
currently accommodated within the mines on these
local structures.
700
Figure 4. Principal normal stress–depth relations measured
by CSIRO HI and WASM AE along the ZSZ in the Kundana
region. Note the major principal stresses for the anomalously
high measurements at ca. 350 m depth are not shown here but
are in the order of 90 to 100 MPa.

3 STRESS MEASUREMENT RESULTS
3.1 Local mine scale comparison
Many local scale comparisons of the measured stresses
are possible but of limited value here without full dis-
cussion of the local seismicity monitored by the mine
wide data acquisition systems and the discontinuity
strengths. Here, discussion is restricted to the prin-
cipal stress–depth relations measured by CSIRO HI
and WASM AE along the ZSZ in the Kundana region
(Fig. 4).
The first point to note is that three CSIRO HI mea-
surements from a mine drill drive (at 352 m depth
from M2) indicated very high stresses, possibly due
to mining perturbations and, have been treated as
local anomalies by other workers. The major princi-
pal normal stresses from these three measurements
(92.4 MPa, 109.5 MPa and 101 MPa) are truncated by
the horizontal graph scale in Figure 4 but are valuable
in showing that high stresses can exist within the area.
This has been noted elsewhere in the Yilgarn Craton
(eg. Lee et al. 2006). If these anomalies are ignored
then the principal stress–depth relations in Figure 4
are reasonably uniform with depth. Fitted trend lines
indicate a regression coefficient (r2 ) in the order of
+0.9 with only marginal improvement from a linear
to a polynomial fit.
3.2 Regional scale comparison
The maximum shear stress–depth relations from the
stress measurements in the Norseman–Wiluna Belt of
the Yilgarn Craton obtained by both CSIRO HI and
WASM AE are show in Figure 5.
Also shown on Figure 5 are the linear trend lines for
the CSIRO HI, for all measurements and for WASM
AE with regression coefficients of r2 at 0.34, 0.49 and
0.7 respectively. Even though there is a visible sug-
gestion of curvature with depth there is only marginal
improvement for higher order polynomial regression
shown here for WASM AE alone. Note, that CSIRO HI
outliers from one mine (100’s of km from Kundana)
and known to be affected by gross local geometry have
been removed. At this stage the shear stress–depth
relation is not specified.

715
 Maximum Shear Stress (MPa) Map (Brown & Windsor 1991, Windsor 1993, Wind-
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 sor 1995) but was not shown in the Figure 7 format.
0
Instead, it was inverted on a distorted vertical scale
100
Yilgarn (CSIRO HI) with apparent linear relations σ1 = 3/2 σm , σ2 = σm and
σ3 = 2/3 σm , where σm is the mean, principal normal
Yilgarn (WASM AE)
200 stress. That original format camouflaged the true rela-
Kundana tions and has been reproduced by others. In fact, the
300 true relationships are non-linear, confirmed here by
Figure 7.
400
Non-linearity should be expected if the relation-
500
ships of the ratio of average horizontal stress to vertical
stress (K) with depth given by Brown and Hoek 1978
600 and the ratio of the subsidiary normal stresses in the
horizontal plane (k) with depth given by Brown &
Depth (m)

700 Windsor (1991) are considered.

Clearly, the scalar proportions of the principal nor-
800
mal stresses must be asymptotic to the intermediate
900
principal normal stress with the deviations (σ1 –σ2 ),
(σ1 –σ3 ) and (σ2 –σ3 ), (representing twice the princi-
1000 pal shear stresses) controlling the proportional rate at
which shear stress conditions can be accommodated
1100 by the ‘rock’, faults and shear zones in the craton.
1200 CSIRO HI

1300 4 STRESS CONDITIONS RESOLVED ONTO

ALL
1400
WASM AE
1500
Figure 5. Maximum shear stress–depth relations for stress
measurements conducted in the Yilgarn Craton by both
CSIRO HI and WASM AE in relation to measurements
conducted in the Kundana region.
The maximum shear stress – and associated nor-
mal stress scalar relations for the craton and the ZSZ
obtained by both CSIRO HI and WASM AE are
shown in Figure 6. Note, the similar trend lines for
all measurements in the Yilgarn Craton with r2 in the
order of 0.7 for CSIRO HI and 0.85 for WASM AE
with marginal improvement from linear to polynomial
regression but insufficient data to properly separate
the two.
Of interest is that, all measurements (except one
CSIRO HI outlier) along the ZSZ at Kundana lie on
or beneath the mean maximum shear stress – normal
stress condition accommodated by the craton. The
shear stress – normal stress relation for the craton is
not specified here.
The proportional scalar relationships of the three
principal normal stresses are shown in Figure 7 for the
Yilgarn Craton and for ZSZ at Kundana measured by
both CSIRO HI and WASM AE.
These relationships (and a suite of others in terms of
stress invariants) was discovered by Windsor in 1989
during preparation of the CSIRO Australian Stress
STRUCTURES AT DIFFERENT SCALES
The normal stress–shear stress conditions accommo-
dated on the ZSZ, on regional faults (F1 to F9), on
mine scale faults and the local joint sets at mines
M1 and M2 are shown in Figure 8. Also shown for
comparison is Byerlee’s law for maximum friction
at normal stress conditions below 200 MPa given by
τ = 0.85σn where, τ = shear stress and σn = normal
stress (Byerlee 1978).
This graph indicates that different bounding
envelopes could be fitted to produce different cohesion
– friction relations for the different categories (scales)
of structure.
It is interesting to note that an envelope could be fit-
ted to bound the normal stress – shear stress conditions
accommodated by the larger structures and this might
indicate what stress conditions may be accommodated
by the ‘rock’ on the larger scale.
5 PRINCIPAL STRESS ORIENTATIONS
An Equal Angle Hemispherical Projection (EAHP)
showing the major principal stress orientations mea-
sured by CSIRO HI and WASM AE together with the
great circle arcs representing the NNW ductile strike-
slip ZSZ and the NNE brittle, strike-slip faults (F1 to
F9) is given in Figure 9. Note that the mean major prin-
cipal normal stress direction from these measurements
is sub-parallel to the continental velocity vector of the
Australian Plate.

716
 35

Yilgarn (CSIRO HI)

30
Yilgarn (WASM AE)

Kundana
25
Maximum Shear Stress (MPa)

20

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
No rmal Stress (MPa)

Figure 6. The conditions of maximum shear stress and associated normal stress accommodated by the ‘rock’ of the Yilgarn
Craton measured by both CSIRO HI and WASM AE. Note that this is a scalar comparison over 1000’s of square kilometers.

120
σ1 - Yilgarn (CSIRO HI)
σ1 = 3/2 σm
110 σ2 - Yilgarn (CSIRO HI)
σ1 Polynomial
σ3 - Yilgarn (CSIRO HI)
100 σ1 - Yilgarn (WASM AE)
σ2 - Yilgarn (WASM AE)
90
σ2 Polynomial
σ3 - Yilgarn (WASM AE)
σ2 = σm
Principal Normal Stress (MPa)

σ1 - ZSZ
80
σ2 - ZSZ
70
σ3 - ZSZ

σ3 Polynomial
60 σ3 = 2/3 σm

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120

Mean Principal Normal Stress (MPa)

Figure 7. Proportional scalar relationships between the principal normal stresses measured in the Yilgarn Craton by CSIRO
HI and WASM AE compared to the relationships measured along the ZSZ in the Kundana region.

717
 30

Zulieka Shear Zone (ZSZ)

Regional Faults (F1 - F9)

25
Mine Scale Faults (@ M1 & M2)

Mine Scale Joint Sets (@ M1 & M2)

20 Byerlee, 1978
Shear Stress (MPa)

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Normal Stress (MPa)

Figure 8. Normal stress–shear stress conditions accommodated on the ZSZ, regional faults (F1 to F9), mine scales faults and
joint sets at mines M1 and M2 compared to Byerlee’s linear friction law for low normal stress (ie. <200 MPa) conditions.

6 CONCLUSIONS

In this brief discussion we have shown the results

obtained by two distinctly different techniques of stress
tensor measurement, namely, CSIRO HI and WASM
AE. These measurements have been compared in terms
of stresses accommodated in the Norseman–Wiluna
Belt of the Yilgarn Craton, along the ZSZ in the Kun-
dana region and in terms of the shear stress conditions
accommodated by structure on the regional and local
scales. In both instances the measurement techniques
sample a significantly smaller volume of ‘rock’ than
that over which these comparisons have been made.
In this work, limited graphs were used to suggest
the role of shear stress and shear strength on different
scales. A future publication will examine this concept
when applied to multiple shear zones and faults within
the Yilgarn Craton and their relations will be com-
pared with other cratons and crustal scale faults in
other tectonic plates in Earth’s Crust.

Figure 9. EAHP showing the major principal normal stress

(σ1 ) orientations measured by CSIRO HI (white filled cir-
cles) and WASM AE (black filled circles) together with the
great circle arcs representing the sub-vertical NNW ductile
strike-slip ZSZ and the sub-vertical NNE brittle, strike-slip
faults (F1 to F9).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the management
of Barrick Gold Corporation, Kundana and previous
mine owners, Placer Dome Inc. Kundana for enabling

718
the work to be conducted and for permission to publish
this work. We would also like to thank previous staff at
Placer Dome Inc, Kundana, in particular, John Slade
and Dale Luke, who assisted in site selection for the
measurement of stresses and provided much expertise
and local information. We also thank the staff at CRC
Mining/WASM/Curtin University who assisted in the
stress measurement work, in particular, Jianping. Li,
Luis Machuca and Lance Fraser.
REFERENCES
Bateman, R.J., Hageman, S.G., McCuaig, T.C., Swager, C.P.,
2001. Protracted gold mineralization throughout Archean
orogenesis in the Kalgoorlie camp, Yilgarn Craton, WA:
structural, mineralogical, and geochemical evolution. In
Hagemann et al. (eds.), World-Class Gold Camps and
Deposits in the Eastern Yilgarn Craton, WA, with Special
Emphasis on the Eastern Goldfields Province. Western
Australia Geological Survey, Record 2001/17, pp. 63–98.
Brown, E.T. & Hoek, E. 1978.Trends in relationships between
measured in situ stresses and depth. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci & Geomech. Abstr. 15(4): 211–215.
Brown, E.T. & Windsor, C.R. 1990. Near surface in situ
stresses in Australia and their influence on underground
construction. Keynote lecture, Proc. 7th Aust. Tunneling
Conf, Sydney. Canberra: IE Aust., Nat. Conf. Pub. No.
90/8, pp. 18–48.
Byerlee, J.D. 1978. Friction of rocks. Pure Appl. Geophys.
116: 615–626.
Goleby, B.R., Drummond, B.J., Owen, A., Yeates, A.N.,
Jackson, J., Swager, C. & Upton, P. 1997. Structurally con-
trolled mineralization inAustralia – How seismic profiling
helps find minerals: Recent case histories. In Gubins (ed.),
Proc.4th Decennial Int. Conf. on Mineral Exploration –
Exploration 97, pp. 409–420.
Hunter, W.M. 1993. Geology of the granite – greenstone ter-
rane of the Kalgoorlie and Yilmia 1:100 000 sheets, West-
ern Australia. Geological Survey of Western Australia
Report 35.
Lee, M.F., Mollison, L.J., Mikula, P. & Pascoe, M. 2006.
In situ stress measurements in Western Australia’s Yil-
garn Craton. In Proc. Int. Conf. on In Situ Rock Stress,
Trondheim, Norway. London:Taylor & Francis, pp. 35–42.
Moore, A.G., Cas, R.A.F., Beresford, S.W. & Stone, M.
2000. Geology of an Archean metakomatiite succession,
Tramways, Kambalda Ni Province, Western Australia:
719
Assessing the extent to which volcanic facies architecture
and flow emplacement mechanisms can be reconstructed.
Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 47: 659–673.
Mueller, A.G., Harris, L.B. & Lungan, A. 1988. Structural
control of greenstone-hosted gold mineralization by tran-
scurrent shearing: a new interpretation of the Kalgoorlie
Mining District, Western Australia. Ore. Geol. Rev. 3:
359–387.
Myers, J. S. 1993. Precambrian history of the West Australian
Craton and adjacent orogens. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.
21:453–485.
Slade, J.V. 2004. Seismic characteristics of faults at the Kun-
dana Gold Mine, Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia.
M.Eng.Sci. Thesis, Western Australian School of Mines,
Kalgoorlie.
Swager, C.P., Griffin, T.J., Witt, W.K., Wyche, S.,
Ahmat, A.L., Hunter, W.M. & McGoldrick, P.J. 1995.
Geology of the Archean Kalgoorlie Terrane — an explana-
tory note. Perth: Western Australia Geological Survey,
Report 48, 26 pp.
Swager, C.P. & Nelson, D.R. 1997. Extensional emplacement
of a high-grade granite gneiss complex into low-grade
greenstones, Eastern Goldfields, Yilgarn Craton, Western
Australia. Precambrian Res. 83: 203–219.
Swager, C.P. 1997. Tectono-stratigraphy of late Archean
greenstone terranes in the southern Eastern Goldfields,
Western Australia. Precambrian Res. 83: 11–42.
Villaescusa, E., Seto, M. & Baird, G. 2002. Stress measure-
ments from oriented core. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Science & Geomech. Abstracts.
39: 603–615.
Weinberg, R.F., Groves, D.I., Hodkiewicz, P. & van der Borgh,
P. 2002. Hydrothermal Systems, Giant Ore Deposits, Yil-
garn Atlas Volume III UWA Gold, Module, Part 1, AMIRA
Project P511.
Weinberg, R.F., Moresi, L. & van der Borgh, P. 2003. Tim-
ing of deformation in the Norseman-Wiluna Belt, Yilgarn
Craton, Western Australia. Precambrian Research 120:
219–239.
Windsor, C.R. 1993. Stress. Chap. 6, Vol. 1. AMIRA Project
354. CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining, Rock
Mechanics Centre, Nedlands, WA.
Windsor, C.R. 1995. Rock Characterisation Course. Rock
Technology Pty Ltd. Subiaco, WA. Australia. 278 pp.
Worotnicki, G. & Walton, R.J. 1976. Triaxial “Hollow Inclu-
sion” gauges for determination of rock stresses in situ. In
Proc. ISRM Symp. on Investigation of Stresses in Rock –
Advances in Stress Measurement, Aust. Nat. Conf. Pub.
No. 76/4, pp. 1–8.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The measurement and interpretation of in-situ stress using an overcoring

technique from surface

I. Gray & L. See

Sigra Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Australia

ABSTRACT: In-situ rock stress measurement by overcoring from the surface, using a specialised equipment
commonly referred to as an IST (In-situ Stress Testing) tool, provides a means of stress measurement technique on
virgin or exploration grounds. Stress measurement depths of up to 750 meters from surface have been achieved,
where the rock strata may have differing stiffness. A simplified tectonic strain model which examines the nature
of loading within such rock strata is described in this paper. Stress interpretation using the in-situ measurement
technique and tectonic strain analytical model provides a means to derive principal effective stress magnitude
and direction for underground mine planning and roof control.

1 INTRODUCTION The method has until recently been restricted to

This paper describes the operation of the Sigra in-situ
stress measurement tool and the concept of tectonic
strain used to examine the distribution of strain, and
as a consequence stress, through layered strata. This
method provides a consistent basis for examining
the rock stress behaviour through rocks of varying
stiffness.
The results of stress measurement at three sites with
widely varying characteristics are presented. These
are located at Northern and Central Bowen Basin of
Queensland, and Hunter Valley of New South Wales,
Australia.
2 TYPES OF STRESS MEASUREMENTS
2.1 Overcoring
Stress measurements by overcoring have been under-
taken for many decades (Leeman 1969, Hooker et al.
1974). It involves creating a borehole, placing some
device that measures strains or dimensions in the hole,
and then drilling over the top of that hole to relieve the
stress and thus cause a dimension change. This dimen-
sion change is measured and so is the rock modulus and
Poisson’s Ratio. By the use of mathematical formulae
it is possible to calculate the magnitude and directions
of the stresses existing in the rock.
The system is very reliable but it is based on the
strain characteristics of the rock being reasonably
linear.
measurements in short boreholes that are preferably
dry. The reasons for this are the need of using adhe-
sives to glue strain gauges to the borehole wall and
getting data from these strain gauges.
Several overcore devices exist that use the gluing
technique. The most well known of these are the Lee-
man Cell developed within the CSIR in South Africa
(Leeman 1969) and the CSIRO hollow inclusion cell
developed in Australia (Hillis et al. 1999). These
devices were designed to measure a three dimensional
stress field.
The United States Bureau of Mines developed a
recoverable overcore cell known as the USBM bore-
hole deformation cell that measured six radial defor-
mations of a borehole which practically convert to
three diameter measurements (Hooker et al. 1974).
This cell could only be used to establish the stress field
perpendicular to the borehole.
All these devices relied upon a cable to measure the
change in strain with the overcore process.
2.2 Hydrofracture
The hydrofracture method of stress measurement
involves straddling a section of a borehole with packers
and pumping a fluid into the borehole with sufficient
pressure to fracture the rock. This is intended to occur
in the axis of the borehole. Pressure is permitted to
drop off and a crack closure pressure detected. The
crack opening pressure is also measured by raising the
fluid pressure again until the flow increases indicating
crack opening.

721
 The values of stress may be theoretically derived
from these pressures and the direction determined by
the measurement of crack orientation (Enever 1984).
The problem with the technique is that the method
relies upon scalar measurements to derive a stress ten-
sor. In the authors experience the determination of the
actual stress values is significantly less certain than
those derived from overcoring. The uncertainty with
hydrofracture interpretation is experience is mirrored
by others (Evans & Engelder 1989).

2.3 In-situ stress measurement

The stress measurement technique is designed to
provide the best possible combination of desirable fea-
tures. In essence the tool is similar to the United States
Bureau of Mines borehole deformation cell in that it
is used to measure the change in diameter of a pilot
hole. The advantages of the tool are that it is smaller,
measures six diameters of the pilot hole and is cable-
less. This means that the use of tool is not restricted
by depth. The overcore system is set up to be used as
part of a Longyear HQ wireline coring system.

3 IN-SITU STRESS MEASUREMENT

TECHNIQUE

3.1 Operation from surface Figure 1. In-situ stress testing (IST) operation.

The In-situ StressTesting (IST) tool and accompanying
equipment is compact and permits ease of deployment.
Measurements can be made in short times.
Stress testing at 350 meters typically delays the
drilling operation by 90 to 120 minutes while stress
measurements at 90 meters depth can be undertaken
in 60 minutes. The tool has been used to 750 meters
depth when three measurements were conducted in a
12 hour day.
The tool is protected from loss by the ability of the
coring method to recover it.
The process is outlined in Figure 1. It involves
pulling the core, then in place of the inner barrel a
stump grinding bit is run and used to remove any
upstanding core stump. This is withdrawn and a pilot
hole drill is used to create a hole 500 millimeters long
and 25.5 millimeters in diameter. The pilot hole drill
is withdrawn on wireline and the tool lowered into
the hole where it locks into place. The rods are pulled
back so that the on board orientation tools can detect
the location of the tool free from magnetic interfer-
ence. The core barrel is then pumped into the rods and
overcoring commences.
During the overcoring operations a record of diam-
eter change is obtained and stored electronically in
the tool. Once overcoring has been completed the core
containing the tool is pulled and the diameter mea-
surements and those taken from the accelerometers
and magnetometers are downloaded. The core is then
sent away for testing to obtain Young’s Modulus and
Poisson’s Ratio and the results are used with the defor-
mation information to arrive at the biaxial stress field
perpendicular to the borehole. As the orientation of the
tool downhole is recorded, the direction of the principal
stresses can be derived.
The tool has in general performed extremely well,
giving a success rate of approximately 70% of some
600 measurements, to a high level of confidence.
Those instances where the tool has not returned a good
stress measurement result have generally been due to
fractures in the core or by excessive rod slap and hence
vibration during overcoring.
3.2 In-situ stress measurement results
The IST tool records a continuous trace of six diam-
eter changes, using compressible pins. Invalid traces
of diameter change can be detected. Using solution
permutation from at least three diameter changes, the
diameter measurements of the six diameter changes
may be interpreted in 42 different ways. Thus many
cross checks may be applied to the value of stress cal-
culated and a level of error, or certainty, derived from
the measurements.
The results obtained from overcoring are shown in
Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2 shows the entire overcore
trace from when the battery pack is connected and the
microprocessor wakes up, to when it is recovered from

722
Figure 2. Entire IST overcore section traces.
Figure 3. IST overcore in deformation traces.
the core. Also obvious in Figure 2 is the general pin
compression as the tool locks into the pilot hole and
the core breakage in the latter part of the coring shown
by a very noisy trace. This does not in fact matter as the
actual overcore over the pin area is complete. Figure 3
is an enlarged view of a section of Figure 2 which
shows in detail the diameter changes while the core
bit is passing over the pins.
Deformations can be picked from the traces shown
in Figure 3 – line A is the point just before overcoring
reaches the pins; and the other lines are points picked
conscientiously to represent when overcore past the
pins. The pick points values are used to determine
the amount of each pin deflection and analyzed using
a least squares fit method to solve for the unknown
biaxial stress field with a known vertical stress due to
overburden weight. Figure 4 shows the best fit of the
theory to the experimental deformations.
4 INTERPRETATION OF STRESS
MEASUREMENTS
4.1 Model for stress interpretation
The stress measurements gained from the use of
the IST frequently indicated wide variations even in
723
Figure 4. Best fit curve of pin deformations.
adjacent readings in the same borehole. However the
diameter changes measured in the pilot hole during
overcoring were not significantly different. The rea-
son for the difference in stress level was the varying
stiffness of the strata. This is quite logical as stiffer
rocks can be expected to carry more load when sub-
ject to similar horizontal strain as compared to softer
materials.
A simple model was therefore derived to examine
the strains and stresses in near horizontally layered
strata. The model has the following assumptions:
i) the vertical stress is due to self weight,
ii) the horizontal stress is made up of two
components:
a) the effect of self weight acting on a laterally
confined segment of strata, and
b) tectonic strain.
In this context the tectonic strain is that required
to load the strata sufficiently to create the stress dif-
ference between that measured and that due to self
weight.
This model may be thought of as self weight creating
a horizontal stress. Added to this the ground has been
strained by tectonic events and as a consequence of
this stresses have been generated. Tectonic events may
create positive or negative tectonic strains.
The use of the term tectonic strain should not
be solely identified with tectonic plate movements.
Whilst tectonic plate movements do contribute to
tectonic strain so to do anticlines, synclines and mon-
oclines. An anticline may be thought of as an upward
warping of the crust leading to increased stresses at
the base and decreased stress near the surface. Faults
are a failures of the rock mass brought about by stress
combinations.
 The model is simplistic as rock is not elastic; how-
ever the model of a tectonic strain has proven extremely
useful to conduct stress analysis.
4.2 Derivation of tectonic strain
The relationships between the mean effective stress
(σm ), the deviatoric stress (σd ), the major (σ1 ) and
minor (σ2 ) principal effective stresses, are given
below:
The vertical stress (σν ) in sedimentary rocks is due
to self-weight and can be calculated on the basis of
0.025 MPa/m depth. In the case of this testing proce-
dure, the effect of the water column in the borehole,
0.010 MPa/m depth, must be subtracted from this fig-
ure. Assuming the rock is laterally constrained, such
that there is no allowable strain in the horizontal
plane, the horizontal effective stress due to self-weight
(σh/sw ) can be calculated using the following equation
(Terzaghi & Richart 1952):
where ν is Poisson’s ratio.
This is a simplified elastic model which does not
account for creep processes. The other component
of horizontal stress present is the horizontal tectonic
stress (σtec ), which is generated by tectonic move-
ment. This is due to tectonic plate loading as well
as local structural conditions. The major and minor
components of principal tectonic stress referred to the
horizontal plane, σtec/1 and σtec/2 , are calculated as:
It is desirable regionally to consider the strain
caused by tectonic movements rather than focusing
on stress fields. Stresses vary with the modulus of the
rock. The stiffer the rock, the more stress it carries for a
given strain. Using the values of tectonic stress calcu-
lated from Equations 4 & 5, the components of tectonic
strain can be calculated as follows for a horizontally
isotropic material:
724
4.3 Mean direction and tectonic strain
To examine the average tectonic strain for a group of
stress measurements the procedure is to rotate the prin-
cipal strains into direct N–S & E–W strain and shear
strain components and to find the mean of these. The
principal tectonic strains and their direction may be
calculated from these three mean strains. If tectonic
strains are relatively uniform between adjacent stress
measurements they may be used to calculate stresses in
rock of varying stiffness and Poisson’s ratio. The pro-
cess is the reverse of that used to derive the tectonic
strain.
4.4 Effective stress due to tectonic strain
The effective stresses due to tectonic strain may be
calculated using the following equations:
The horizontal stress due to overburden is calcu-
lated according to Equation 3. The principal effective
stresses may be calculated by adding the horizontal
stress due to self-weight to equations 8 and 9.
Where averaging of tectonic strains is undertaken
it is achieved by breaking the strains into North, East
and shear components, adding these arithmetically and
averaging the results.
5 OBSERVATIONS OF STRESS AND
TECTONIC STRAIN
5.1 Examples of stress interpretation
The In-situ Stress Testing (IST) has been used through-
out the eastern side of Australia, in Western Australia,
South Africa and the United States.
Three example sites (Mines A, B and C) are chosen
to illustrate the results, all of these on eastern side of
Australia. Mine A and Mine B are in the Northern and
Central Bowen Basin, Queensland, respectively. Mine
C is in Hunter Valley, New South Wales. The location
of these sites is shown approximately in Figure 5.
These were coal mines and in-situ stress tests were
conducted on the strata roof and floor of the coal
seam. The sites are chosen as examples because they
have quite widely different characteristics of stress and
tectonic strain.
5.2 Mine A, Northern Bowen Basin (Queensland)
Table 1 shows the results of IST testing in two holes
conducted at Mine A. Here information is presented
from boreholes 1, 2, 3 and 4. This covers a wide range
of depths from 139 to 372 m and rock moduli ranging
from 3.4 to 29.5 GPa.
Borehole 1 had one stress test done above the seam
and one below the seam in widely differing materials.
Borehole 2 had two tests above the seam and one below.
Borehole 3 had one stress test each in the roof and floor
of seam. Borehole 4 had three stress tests in the roof
and one in the floor of the seam.
Borehole 2 is notable for the way in which the angle
of the direction of principal stress changes through the
strata from 14 to 60 degrees from magnetic north in
17 m. The tectonic strains above the seam are approx-
imately the same and very high but the strain environ-
ment obviously changes quite significantly below the
seam, both in magnitude and direction. Unfortunately
the precise nature of the geological factors leading to
these abrupt changes are not precisely known however
it is reasonable to assume that some local faulting has
occurred which has transferred load from the roof to
the floor.
Borehole 1 shows little angular variation between
the readings above and below the seam. However the
stresses are quite different due to the greatly differing
moduli of the rock.
The uppermost test of Borehole 4 was in very stiff
rock with a modulus of 29.5 GPa and while the other
three tests were in rock of approximately 10 GPa. All
measurements showed a nearly uniform stress direc-
tion and very similar tectonic strains indicating that
the strata is behaving as a uniform block. Similar com-
ments apply to the results from Borehole 3 which was
located within a kilometer of Borehole 4 but has a
clear 15 degree rotation of the stress direction from
the former hole.

5.3 Mine B, Central Bowen Basin

Figure 5. Location of example mine sites.
(Queensland)
Results of four boreholes in this mine are presented
in Table 2. The modulus of the rock lies in the range
9.3 to 17 GPa. In the case of each borehole two stress
measurements are taken in the roof of the coal seam
and one in the floor. The tectonic strains are even with
the exception of the floor measurement in Borehole
1. Notable too is the wide variation in the direction
of principal stress. This varies from 21 degrees from
magnetic north in Borehole 1 to −22 degrees in Bore-
hole 3. The reason for this variation in direction of the
principal stress is faulting. Borehole 3 and Borehole 4
have very low minor principal tectonic strains and are
adjacent to normal fault groups.

Table 1. Stress analysis of mine A, Northern Bowen Basin, Queensland.

Angle of Maximum Minimum

principal Young’s effective effective Maximum Minimum
Depth Roof/Floor stress modulus Poisson’s stress stress tectonic tectonic
Borehole (m) of seam (deg)∗ (GPa) ratio (MPa) (MPa) strain strain

1 138.87 Roof 8.57 16.59 0.20 5.03 3.03 0.24E−3 0.97E−4

1 155.41 Floor 4.51 3.43 0.21 2.79 2.67 0.51E−3 0.46E−3
Mean 7.65 0.37E−3 0.297E−3
2 265.11 Roof 13.60 6.34 0.26 8.21 4.79 0.94E−3 0.26E−3
2 271.87 Roof 43.50 5.37 0.28 9.54 5.20 0.13E−2 0.26E−3
Mean 31.94 0.11E−2 0.31E−3
2 282.58 Floor 60.00 6.96 0.30 3.04 1.50 0.19E−3 0.98E−4
3 366.32 Roof 3.00 9.34 0.26 9.26 7.10 0.64E−3 0.35E−3
3 372.32 Floor 5.88 9.65 0.30 9.12 6.86 0.56E−3 0.25E−3
Mean 4.48 0.60E−3 0.30E−3
4 324.32 Roof 13.38 29.48 0.28 17.82 9.54 0.47E−3 0.11E−3
4 336.31 Roof 17.51 10.00 0.25 8.71 5.01 0.62E−3 0.16E−3
4 338.27 Roof 19.32 10.67 0.24 9.00 5.40 0.61E−3 0.19E−3
4 354.32 Floor 19.09 10.24 0.22 8.51 6.33 0.58E−3 0.32E−3
Mean 17.30 0.57E−3 0.19E−3
∗
Degrees from Magnetic North.

725
Table 2. Stress analysis of mine B, Central Bowen Basin, Queensland.

Angle of Maximum Minimum

principal Young’s effective effective Maximum Minimum
Depth Roof/Floor stress modulus Poisson’s stress stress tectonic tectonic
Borehole (m) of seam (deg)∗ (GPa) ratio (MPa) (MPa) strain strain

1 335.7 Roof 22.60 9.81 0.317 8.22 5.82 4.84E−4 1.61E−4

1 338.8 Roof 18.50 9.26 0.216 8.60 4.92 6.91E−4 2.06E−4
1 341.8 Floor 23.51 13.23 0.076 12.57 9.87 8.59E−4 6.39E−4
Mean 20.88 6.78E−4 3.36E−4
2 270.0 Roof 4.51 12.51 0.285 10.15 6.77 5.61E−4 2.12E−4
2 272.9 Floor 9.38 11.66 0.300 8.14 5.84 4.43E−4 1.87E−4
2 273.6 Floor 7.13 10.18 0.094 7.91 4.75 4.09E−4 2.29E−4
Mean 6.7 4.71E−4 2.10E−4
3 236.8 Roof −26.20 17.04 0.083 10.76 4.26 5.95E−4 1.83E−4
3 239.8 Roof −18.60 15.62 0.135 10.91 2.90 6.40E−4 5.57E−5
3 242.8 Floor −23.14 14.12 0.180 6.66 2.69 3.92E−4 5.91E−5
Mean −22.09 5.41E−4 1.01E−4
4 236.7 Roof −1.32 11.77 0.231 5.93 3.14 3.73E−4 8.24E−5
4 237.4 Roof 5.43 14.42 0.163 7.70 3.19 4.59E−4 9.56E−5
4 239.7 Floor 5.93 12.2 0.160 5.95 3.63 3.93E−4 1.72E−4
Mean 3.32 4.07E−4 1.18E−4
∗
Degrees from Magnetic North.

Table 3. Stress analysis of mine C, Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

Angle of Maximum Minimum

principal Young’s effective effective Maximum Minimum
Depth stress modulus Poisson’s stress stress tectonic tectonic
Borehole (m) (deg)∗ (GPa) ratio (MPa) (MPa) strain strain

1 216.53 106.71 5.2 0.39 3.11 2.01 2.04E−4 −9.03E−5

1 222.51 78.08 11.78 0.32 8.23 6.25 4.38E−4 2.16E−4
1 258.59 37.46 9.4 0.28 7.81 2.49 6.41E−4 −8.33E−5
1 272.57 74.79 12.07 0.13 6.24 3.68 4.33E−4 1.94E−4
1 275.56 57.86 8.27 0.36 4.75 2.79 2.73E−4 −4.93E−5
1 284.73 76.91 2.5 0.42 2.71 2.07 1.87E−5 −3.45E−4
1 288.55 71.46 3.1 0.56 3.19 2.55 −2.13E−4 −5.36E−4
1 297.48 85.52 4.67 0.41 3.99 3.65 1.428E−4 3.95E−5
1 309.48 85.55 12.6 0.12 5.12 2.62 3.37E−4 1.15E−4
1 324.38 73.51 25.23 0.25 15.53 6.99 4.98E−4 7.50E−5
1 325.33 87.44 17.21 0.23 9.85 4.79 4.43E−4 8.15E−5
1 331.30 80.22 21.22 0.33 11.14 3.92 3.87E−4 −6.58E−5
1 344.17 75.81 13.11 0.22 6.96 3.88 3.80E−4 9.25E−5
Mean 72.77 2.75E−4 3.94E−6
∗
Degrees from Magnetic North.

5.4 Mine C, Hunter Valley (New South Wales)

Thirteen stress measurements were made through a
sequence of coal measure rocks at this mine site.
Drilling conditions were difficult due to the very high
clay levels in the rocks which slowed progress sig-
nificantly. The high clay levels also seem to have led
to values of high Poisson’s ratio in some of the rocks
which seem to have affected the estimation of tectonic
strain. This is due to an apparently high component of
lateral stress which is due to overburden weight. The
results are presented in Table 3.
As can be seen from Table 3 the direction of prin-
cipal strain is very consistent (with the exception of
three cases) lying in the range of 71 to 85 degrees
from magnetic north. The major tectonic strains are
also reasonably consistent with the exception of those
cases where the Poisson’s ratio of the rock is unusually
high. The major principal tectonic strain is generally

726
low and the minor principal tectonic strain is very low
ranging from slightly negative (extension) to slightly
positive (compression). This is consistent with other
measurements made in the vicinity.
6 APPLICATION OF THE TECTONIC
STRAIN MODEL
The tectonic strain model is a good basis for exam-
ining the nature of loading within strata of differing
stiffness. In a large number of cases the simple model
will work very well. In other areas the tectonic strain
model does not provide a model of even strain; how-
ever it does remove from analysis the effects of varying
rock stiffness and allows one to focus on the rea-
sons for varying tectonic strains. These may be quite
local and due to a small fault leading to slippage
between layers of strata or they may be quite large as
in the case of an unconformity between sedimentary
layers.
It is extremely useful to derive, for an area such
as a mine, a relation between tectonic strain, location
and depth. This can be achieved through a series of
IST measurements. It is then possible to interpolate
stresses within this area, provided the rock modulus
and Poisson’s ratio are known. By calculating the self
weight, imposed stress and the tectonic stress from the
tectonic strain, the total stress state of the rock can be
derived.
An application of this is typically where it is nec-
essary to know the stresses in mine rocks for support
design. Here the important number is the ratio of rock
strength to stress. The higher the stress and the weaker
the rock, the more likely there would be roof failure
or floor heave problems. If the ratio of major principal
stress to uniaxial compressive strength exceeds 0.25 it
would appear that stresses become important and roof
control becomes an issue.
727
7 CONCLUSIONS
The Sigra in-situ stress measurement tool’s operation
is presented in this paper with the results of mea-
surements conducted in coal mine sites at Queensland
and New South Wales, Australia. Stress interpretation
using tectonic strain is discussed. The results of test-
ing at Mine A in Northern Bowen Basin (Queensland)
show the area to be in a high strain environment with
some major variations in tectonic strain through the
strata surrounding the coal seam. The measurements
made at Mine B, Central Bowen Basin (Queensland)
show even tectonic strains of moderate magnitude but
a variation in direction of principal strains which are
consistent with the presence of normal faulting in the
area. The results from Mine C, Hunter Valley of New
South Wales, show the lowest tectonic strains with the
minor strain value being virtually zero.
REFERENCES
Enever, J.R. & Wooltorton, B.A. 1984. Demonstration
of hydraulic fracturing stress measurement techniques.
CSIRO Australia, Div. of Geomechanics, Syndal, Lecture
Series 59: 1–57.
Evans, K. & Engleder, K. 1989. Some problems in estimating
horizontal stress magnitudes in “Thrust Regimes”. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 26(6): 647–660.
Hillis, R.R., Enever, J.R. & Reynolds, S.D. 1999. In situ stress
field of eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Earth
Sciences 46(5): 813.
Hooker, V.E. & Bickel, D.L. 1974. Overcoring equipment
and techniques used in rock stress determination. USBR
IC-8618.
Leeman, E.R. 1969.The ‘Doorstopper’and triaxial rock stress
measuring instruments developed by CSIR. Journal of the
South African Institution of Mining and Metallurgy 69:
305–339.
Terzaghi, K. & Richart, F.E. 1952. Stresses in rock about
cavities. Geotechnique 3: 57–90.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Evaluation of initial rock stress state by hydraulic fracturing test in

Korea: Overall characteristics and a case study

S.H. Bae, J.M. Kim & J.S. Kim

Geogeny Consultants Group Inc., Seoul, Korea

E.S. Park
Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources, Daejeon, Korea

S.W. Jeon
School of Civil, Urban & Geosystem Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

ABSTRACT: We performed more than 700 hydraulic fracturing stress measurements in 140 test boreholes in
various parts of Korea during the past 7 years. In this paper, the overall characteristics of the initial rock stress state
in Korea are studied. For depths less than 310 m, the stress ratio (K) had a tendency to decrease and stabilize with
depth. However, for some areas, excessive horizontal stresses with stress ratios greater than 3.0 were observed. A
highly predominant orientation of the maximum horizontal stress component was not apparent but azimuths in
the range of 70◦ to 90◦ (N70◦ E-EW) were superior in frequency. The results from the investigation of excessive
horizontal stresses showed that there existed several regions where the localized excessive horizontal stress was
large enough to potentially induce brittle failures around openings at depths of less than 300 m depth. Finally,
results from a case study are briefly introduced in this paper.

1 INTRODUCTION properties, tectonic movement and so forth (Amadei

Rock stress measurement and its estimation has been
regarded as one of the major branches of study in the
geo-science fields including rock mechanics, struc-
tural geology, civil engineering, mining engineering,
etc. Especially for civil and mining engineering prob-
lems, the initial rock stress state is one of the key
factors required to evaluate the stability and failure
around an excavated underground opening, and its
importance increases as constructions go deeper and
the scale of rock structures become larger. The over-
stressed condition may induce progressive and brittle
failures such as spalling, slabbing and rock bursting.
The stress induced failure around an opening does not
directly mean the overall collapse of the rock structure
but it may bring a temporary stoppage of excavation
work and/or re-designing of the supporting system.
In the long run, the stress induced problem can act
as a serious obstacle to ensure the stability and the
economical efficiency of underground construction
procedures, especially for civil engineering sites.
The existing state of initial rock stresses is formed
by the combination of several factors such as topog-
raphy effect, geological structure, formation rock
& Stephansson 1997). Based on mathematical and
mechanical approaches, a number of research stud-
ies have been performed to estimate and characterize
the distributions of in-situ rock stresses. These results
have provided us with a general knowledge of the rock
stress component in the near surface of the Earth’s
crust. But it is very hard or nearly impossible to predict
the true local state of rock stress in a specific region.
This means that in-situ stress measurements provide
a unique means to obtain reliable and detailed infor-
mation on initial rock stress, especially for civil and
mining engineering related problems.
In many countries, significant research on
in-situ rock stress has been carried out through
in-situ/laboratory tests and data analyses. From these,
many empirical and theoretical formulations have been
proposed to estimate the initial rock stress compo-
nents. However, in Korea, few studies on rock stress
have been carried out and those that have do not pro-
vide any detailed or systematic information on the rock
stress in Korea.
Since the early 90’s, the social need for construc-
tion of underground rock structures has been largely
increased to overcome the limit of land use and to

729
escalate the efficiency of land development in Korea. 2 FIELD TEST & DATA ANALYSIS
And lately, as the axis of land development has been
turned East-West, where high and rugged mountains 2.1 Measuring system
are encountered aligned North–South, the need for
The field hydraulic testing system consisted of a con-
underground rock structures at great depth has rapidly
trol unit for data acquisition and system control, pump
increased. For some of these underground construction
for pressurization of the test interval, high pressure
sites, stress induced failures have occurred during the
lines for fluid flow, downhole measuring unit for mon-
excavation process, causing serious problems during
itoring of interval pressure changes, straddle packers
the construction process (Fig. 1).
for isolation of test interval and power equipment.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to obtain reliable
Such systems are commonly divided into four types:
engineering information for the optimum design and
drill-rod (pipe) type, drill-rod (pipe) & hose type, wire-
construction of underground rock structures through
line & hose type and multi-hose type, according to the
intensive and systematic investigation on initial rock
means used to transport the downhole tools and the
stress state and the characteristics of stress induced
type of pressure lines. Among the above mentioned
brittle failure around an excavated opening.
four types, the wireline & hose type has been widely
Herein, the characteristics of the initial rock stress
used for its convenience and efficiency in the field.
state in Korea are briefly introduced. In addition to
All data sets used herein were acquired by a engine
the already existing database of initial rock stresses
driven-hydraulically powered wireline-type hydrofrac
and rock strengths, regions where excessive hori-
system, which was deemed suitable for the Korean
zontal stresses have been encountered were mapped
topographical conditions. For this measuring system,
for potential stress induced brittle failure indicators
dual triplex water pumps with 6 pistons were used and
around the excavated opening. Finally, a case study is
flow rates maintained and controlled by the engine
described, based on hydraulic fracturing data obtained
rpm. From this, it is possible to acquire very accurate
for the Chuncheon-Yanggu mountain region, in the
pressure record with low fluctuation. Figure 2 shows
East-North part of the Kyeonggi Massif.
a schematic diagram of the field measuring system.

computer
tri-pod

water tank hydraulic pump

100 300

0 0
100
100

300
300

& control unit

300 100 300 100
Kgf/cm2 Kgf/cm2
200 200
0

300 100
300 100
Kgf/cm2
Kgf/cm2

200

200

300 100
Kgf/cm2

200

300 100
Kgf/cm2

200

300 100
Kgf/cm2

200

wireline data relay

winch winch

SH Sh high pressure
hose unit

SH
Sh
downhole unit

(b) Layout of field measuring system

frac sonde
(pressure transducer)
interval pot
rock catcher

4 conductor cable
cable & hose upper straddle lower straddle
adaptor packer packer

(b) Downhole unit configuration

Figure 1. Stress induced brittle failures around underground Figure 2. Schematic diagram of hydraulically powered field
openings in Korea. measuring system.

730
2.2 Summary of field test 2.3 Determination of key parameters
The Korean Peninsula is located in the north east part of Two kinds of parameters are required to estimate the
the Asian continent at a latitude of 33◦ 05 40 ∼43◦ 00 magnitudes and orientations of the in-situ rock stress.
39 N and longitude of 124◦ 16 00 ∼131◦ 52 22 E, and The first parameter type is a set of pressure val-
mostly belongs to the eastern part of the Sino-Korean ues to calculate the magnitude of horizontal stress
Paraplatform. There exists many kinds of rocks in
Korea, from the Precambrian era to the Cenozoic. The
geological age of the Korean Peninsula becomes older
from south to north. About 70% of the Korean territory
consists of mountainous terrain, with an altitude less
than 500 m on average. Geological and topographical
features of the northern part of the Chugaryeong rift
valley are remarkably different from those of the south-
ern part (Won et al. 1989). More than 50% of South
Korea (roughly below the latitude of 38◦ ) consists of
granite, orthogneiss, and paragneiss. South Korea is
commonly divided into five main tectonic provinces:
Kyeonggi Massif, Okcheon Folded Belt, Yeongnam
Massif, Kyungsang Basin, and Yeonil Basin.
Almost all in-situ stress measurements were com-
pleted through hydraulic fracturing tests during the
detailed site investigation stage for the optimum design
of a number of underground rock structures. In total,
710 in-situ tests were conducted at depths from 15 m
to 310 m through 140 vertical boreholes in 45 test
regions (Fig. 3). Roughly 80% of the field works were
conducted in the mountainous region.

Figure 4. Examples of determination of Ps by three meth-

Figure 3. Location map of in-situ hydraulic fracturing stress ods: (a) Exponential pressure–decay method, (b) Bi-linear
measurements in Korea (each circle includes 2∼9 boreholes). pressure decay rate method, and (c) P – Q.

731
components and in-situ tensile strength of the rock 3 INITIAL ROCK STRESS STATE
mass. These are the fracture breakdown pressure (Pb ),
shut-in pressure (Ps ), and fracture reopening pres- 3.1 Horizontal stress components
sure (Pr ). To avoid the subjectivity of the graphical
As previously mentioned, 710 tests were conducted
method and to improve the reliability of the deter-
in 140 boreholes located in 45 test regions. Among
mined pressure parameters, the computer program
them, 200 abnormal field records affected by the open-
“Geostress” was used (e.g. Figs. 4 and 5). Geostress
ing of existing discontinuities such as joints and dike
was developed based on the non-linear regression anal-
structures were not used in the stress calculation pro-
ysis (NLRA) proposed by Lee & Haimson (1989).
cedure. The maximum horizontal stresses (SH ) range
The second parameter type involves fracture trac-
from 0.9 MPa to 21.13 MPa and the minimum hori-
ing data related to the maximum horizontal stress at
zontal stresses (Sh ) from 0.55 MPa to 11.51 MPa at
the testing point, which can be obtained from frac-
less than 310 m depth. The depth interval having the
ture tracing techniques such as oriented impression
maximum deviation of stress magnitude is between
packers, acoustic televiewer scanning, optical bore-
95 m and 110 m where the magnitude SH ranges from
hole imaging, etc. All of the fracture tracing work
1.94 MPa to 10.50 MPa and the ratio of the maximum
was performed using an acoustic televiewer scanner
to minimum value of SH is about 5.4. The magnitude
and optical borehole imager to improve the accu-
of Sh ranges from 1.20 MPa to 8.05 MPa and the ratio
racy of determining the hydraulically induced fracture
of the maximum to minimum value of Sh is about 6.7.
orientations.
Figure 6 represents the distribution of the principal
horizontal stress components with depth, and Eq. (1)
and (2) are the linear regression equations for the

Figure 5. Examples of determination of Pr by two meth-

ods: (a) P – V bilinear method, (b) Graphical superposition
method. Figure 6. Variation of horizontal stress components.

732
maximum and minimum horizontal stresses with the maximum horizontal stress coincides with the
depth, respectively. (z being depth in metres from above mentioned geographical or geological situation.
surface): However, as shown in Figure 9, it was revealed that
anisotropy exists between the regional stress fields
where different orientations of the maximum hor-
izontal stress were measured and are attributed to
local geological influences, the existence of large-
scale discontinuities, and the history of local tectonic
activities.
In many cases, rock stress orientation data may give
us more determinative information needed to investi- 3.2 Stress ratio (K)
gate the influence of geology or lithology on the exist-
ing initial stress state of a study area. Figure 7 shows In general, the stress ratio (K) can indicate the charac-
the plotting and frequency histogram for azimuths of teristics of the horizontal stress state with depth rather
the maximum horizontal stress orientations. The aver- than the magnitude of stress component itself. In this
age orientation of all SH data was approximately 79◦
from north (N79◦ E). As shown in Figure 8, a highly
predominant orientation of SH does not appear but
instead azimuths in the range from 70◦ to 90◦ are
seen most frequently (Bae 2005). Figure 9 demon-
strates the distribution of the average orientations of SH
for the individual test regions. It has been known that
the current geographical features of the Korean terri-
tory, especially the major mountain systems, had been
formed during the Cretaceous to Paleogene. There-
fore, it is an accepted view that the major mountain
systems arranged in the NE-SW and N-S direction
are the cumulative products of large tectonic move-
ments in the NW-SE and E-W direction during those
geologic eras. Based on this geographical situation
it has been assumed that the current orientations of
the maximum horizontal stress in Korea are predom-
inantly NW-SE to E-W. The average orientation of
Figure 8. Histogram of average azimuth of SH .

Figure 7. Distribution of SH orientations. Figure 9. Distribution map of the average azimuth of SH in

the test regions (each region includes 2∼9 test boreholes).

733

Figure 10. Variation of stress ratio (K) with depth.
study, the vertical stress component was taken as the
overburden weight.
Figure 10 shows the distribution of the average
stress ratio (Kavg ) and the maximum stress ratio (KH )
with depth, ranging from 15 m to 310 m. Kavg ranges
from 0.52 to 4.91 and KH from 0.83 to 5.63. Equa-
tions (3) and (4) represent the upper and lower bound-
ary of the distribution of Kavg and KH as a function of
depth (z) (Bae et al. 2005).
For depths less than 310 m, the horizontal stress
ratio (K) has a tendency to decrease and stabilize with
734
Figure 11. Distribution of the horizontal stress components
with depth (Chuncheon-Yanggu, Kangwon-do).
depth. However, for some areas, excessive horizon-
tal stresses with a stress ratio greater than 3.0 were
observed.
4 CASE STUDY RESULTS
The case study area is situated in the Chuncheon-
Yanggu mountain region, in the East-North part of the
Kyeonggi Massif. The main purpose of the case study
was two-fold, involving two sites (marked as grey cir-
cles in Fig. 3). The first objective was to investigate
the characteristics of the regional stress fields for the
targeted regions. And the second was to evaluate the
potential possibility of stress induced brittle failures
during future excavation work. The typical rocks in the
study areas are Precambrian gneiss and schist, which
form the host rock, with Jurassic intrusive granites. In

Figure 12. Distribution of stress ratio (K) with depth
(Chuncheon-Yanggu, Kangwon-do).
total, 49 field stress measurements in 9 vertical bore-
holes were conducted at depths ranging from 20 m to
290 m.
The study results revealed that the different ini-
tial rock stresses had developed with the forma-
tion/intrusion of the rock. Notably, the excessive hori-
zontal stress state with stress ratio (K) close to 3.0 was
observed at depths of 200 m and deeper in the intrusive
granite body of the study. Figures 11 and 12 show the
distributions of the horizontal stress components and
the stress ratio (K) with depth, respectively.
It has been known that the stress-induced brittle fail-
ure around an excavated opening is initiated when the
ratio of the maximum far-field stress to the uncon-
fined compressive strength is over 0.15 (Martin et al.
1999, Hoek et al. 1995). Using this criterion, we eval-
uated the possibility of stress induced brittle failures.
735
Figure 13. Possibility of the stress induced brittle failure
around the future openings in the study area.
The result showed that there exist several points where
the localized excessive horizontal stresses are large
enough to potentially induce brittle failure around
future openings greater than 100 m deep within the
intrusive granite body of the study area (Fig. 13).
5 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Based on the in-situ hydraulic fracturing data set,
the characteristics of the initial rock stress state in
Korea was introduced. For depths less than 310 m, the
stress ratio (K) had a tendency to decrease and stabi-
lize with depth. However, for some regions, excessive
horizontal stresses with stress ratios greater than 5.0
were observed. The average orientation of all SH data
was approximately 79◦ from north (N79◦ E). A highly
predominant orientation for SH was not obvious but
azimuths ranging from 70◦ to 90◦ were greatest in
frequency.
 The case study results showed that there exists the
potential for stress induced brittle failures for future
excavations greater than 100 m in depth within the
intrusive granite body of the study area.
It was concluded that more field measurements at
depth are needed to improve the understanding of the
current initial rock stress state in Korea.
REFERENCES
Amadei, B. & Stepansson, O. 1997. Rock Stress and its
Measurement. Chapman & Hall.
Bae, S.H. 2005. Characteristics of initial rock stress state in
Korean tectonic provinces by hydraulic fracturing stress
measurement. Doctorial Thesis: 84–128, Seoul National
University.
Bae, S.H. & Jeon, S.W. 2005. Characteristics of the horizontal
stress and the possibility of stress induced brittle failure
736
in Chuncheon-Yanggu mountainous region by the in-situ
stress measurement. J. KSRM, Tunnel and Underground
Space 15(2): 157–167.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavation in
Rock. London: Institute of Mining & Metallurgy.
Hoek, E., Kaiser, P.K. & Bawden, W.F. 1995. Support of
Underground Excavation in Rock. Rotterdam: A.A.
Balkema.
Lee, M.Y. & Haimson, B.C. 1989. Statistical evaluation of
hydraulic fracturing stress measurement parameters. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 26(6): 447–456.
Lee, M.Y. 1991. Advances in instrument, data analysis,
and calculation in hydraulic fracturing, Doctorial Thesis,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Martin, C.D., Kaiser, P.K. & McCreath, D.R. 1999. Hoek-
Brown parameters for predicting the depth of brittle failure
around tunnels. Can. Geotech. J. 36(1): 135–151.
Won, J.K., Lee, H.Y., Jee, J.M., Park, Y.A., Kim, J.H. &
Kim, H.S. 1989. The Principles of Geology. Woosung-
moonwhasa.
Laboratory Testing & Coupled Behaviour
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Determination of aperture distribution and DNAPL migration in a

rough-walled rock fracture

W.M.S.B. Weerakone & R.C.K. Wong

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: The X-ray computed tomography (CT) technique was used to characterize a variable aper-
ture sandstone rock fracture. The introduced relative fracture aperture measurement method from demountable
mechanical strain gauge (DEMEC) eliminated some of the drawbacks in previously proposed calibration tech-
niques. Moreover, instead of one calibration curve, different calibration curves were developed for each position
of the fracture. It increased the accuracy and reduced the effects of beam hardening in aperture calculation. An
experimental setup was fabricated to conduct single phase flow tests in fractured rock sample and the hydraulic
aperture of the fracture was estimated. The measured hydraulic aperture was compared with the calculated aver-
age aperture from the CT data. The DNAPL invasion of the variable aperture sandstone fracture was numerically
simulated under varying capillary pressures, assuming small sub regions of the fracture as parallel plates. The
capillary pressure curve and the phase distribution were derived from the numerical results.

1 INTRODUCTION relationship, for flow and transport of DNAPL in a

The analysis of multiphase flow process in rough
walled rock fractures is essential to understand various
phenomena in different fields such as hydrogeology,
petroleum engineering and geomechanical engineer-
ing. The migration of Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liq-
uids (DNAPL), a critical ground water contaminant in
many industrialized cities, in fractured aquifers is the
main concern of this study. The migration and distribu-
tion of DNAPL is highly dependent on the geological
medium and the subsurface environment. Hence, a cor-
rect estimation of DNAPL migration and distribution
is essential to design an efficient remediation scheme.
DNAPL migration in fractured bedrock aquifer is
rather different from their migration behavior in sand
or granular aquifers. The fracture aperture, the pattern
of fracture connections, DNAPL pool height and the
physical properties of DNAPL determine the migra-
tion and distribution process (Pankow & Cherry 1995).
DNAPLs enter into a fracture once it overcomes its
entry pressure and then the migration is controlled
by the capillary forces between water and DNAPL.
Hence, capillary pressure saturation relationship is an
essential parameter to analyze and model the DNAPL
migration process (Kueper & McWhorter 1991). In
addition, the phase distribution in a rough fracture is
governed by its aperture distribution. This study was
devoted to estimate these key parameters, the fracture
aperture distribution and capillary pressure saturation
single rough walled sandstone rock fracture.
Most of the early flow tests in real rough-walled
rock fractures do not provide a technique to deter-
mine the fracture aperture distribution and the phase
occupancy (Reitsma & Kueper 1994, Persoff & Pruess
1995). After the advent of CT imaging technique;
it was identified as a powerful non-destructive tech-
nique, which could be used to detect the above data
quantitatively (John et al. 1993, Keller 1997). Hughes
(1996) described the design and construction details
of an experimental apparatus, which was utilized to
monitor the air-water flow tests in a rock fracture
by CT scan technique. German et al. (1999) used an
experimental setup similar to that proposed by Hughes
(1996), to conduct water-air imbibition and oil-water
drainage in a variable aperture fracture, and they moni-
tored fracture-matrix interaction with the help of a CT
scanner. Walters (1995) used the CT scanning tech-
nique to determine the fracture aperture distribution of
an oil sand fracture. In several other studies fracture
characterization was carried out using a calibration
curve and it was developed by considering the behav-
ior of CT numbers at the fracture region (John et al.
1993, Muralidharan et al. 2004, Bertels et al. 2001).
First, John et al. (1993) developed a calibration curve
with known fracture apertures and it was used to mea-
sure the unknown apertures of real fractures, which
consisted of smaller apertures than the voxel size of
the CT image. Bertels et al. (2001) applied the same

739
technique along with corrections for beam hardening,
a common systematic error in CT images. Moreover,
they extended their experiments to develop capillary
pressure curves and relative permeability curves for a
rough fracture. In this study the concept of calibration
technique was used to determine the fracture aper-
ture distribution. The shortcomings of the methods
in previous studies were eliminated by the proposed
modifications to the technique. In addition, an exper-
imental setup was fabricated for the permeability test
and the hydraulic aperture was estimated from the
cubic law. The measured hydraulic aperture from the
flow test was compared with the calculated average
aperture from the CT scanning technique to ensure
their validity.
The DNAPL flow process was numerically sim-
ulated for the developed aperture distribution. The
numerical simulation results were used to con-
struct a capillary pressure saturation relationship and
phase distribution under different capillary pressure
conditions.
2 DETERMINATION OF FRACTURE
APERTURES USING X-RAY CT SCANNING
2.1 Calibration technique
A CT image of a fractured rock sample produces high
CT numbers for the regions of the rock matrix and
low CT numbers for the locations of the fracture. How-
ever, CT numbers do not suddenly drop from high
value to low values at the fracture; they gradually drop
from rock CT number to a minimum value correspond-
ing to the fracture and then gradually increase back to
the rock CT numbers. The partial volume effect and
the dispersion of X-ray attenuation are the reasons for
this behavior (John et al. 1993). Even if the fracture is
smaller than a voxel size, CT number drop could be
observed in few adjacent voxels and hence calculation
of fracture aperture is not straight forward. Therefore,
the CT numbers were integrated across the trough to
establish its relationship with the fracture aperture.The
difference between the minimum rock CT number and
the CT number of each voxel in the “trough” was cal-
culated and all the positive differences were summed
up to estimate the integrated CT number (Keller 1997).
For the calibration, a constant aperture fracture was
prepared using two halves of a cored rock sample
and the two adjoining surfaces of the two halves were
polished to minimize the surface roughness. Then, a
metal feeler gauge of known thickness was inserted in
between the two rock halves to make an aperture equal
to the gauge thickness. After scanning the sample,
the integrated CT number for the fracture was calcu-
lated. The same procedure was repeated with different
size feeler gauges and the corresponding integrated
CT numbers were evaluated. A linear relationship was
740
observed between the two variables, the integrated CT
number and the fracture aperture (John et al. 1993,
Keller 1997, Muralidharan et al. 2004, Bertels et al.
2001). This linear relationship was used as a calibra-
tion curve to calculate the unknown fracture apertures
from the CT data.
However, fabrication of perfectly flat, smooth sur-
faces from most rock materials is a rather difficult
task. In addition, the aperture size can deviate from
the size of feeler gauges. These drawbacks were elim-
inated in the current study by using a demountable
mechanical strain gauge (DEMEC), which measures
the relative movement of the two rock halves with-
out depending on the feeler gauge size or the fracture
surface smoothness.
In all previous studies (John et al. 1993, Keller 1997,
Muralidharan et al. 2004, Bertels et al. 2001) only one
calibration curve was used to transfer integrated CT
numbers into fracture apertures. However, applicabil-
ity of one calibration curve for all positions across the
sample is doubtful due to the common artifacts of CT
images such as beam hardening. In this study differ-
ent calibration curves were used for different radial
positions to over come this drawback.
2.2 The new approach for determination of the
calibration curve
The main improvement in the proposed calibration
technique was the physical measurements of relative
fracture apertures with a DEMEC strain gauge. The
DEMEC strain gauge consists of a standard dial gauge
attached to an invar bar. Small pre-drilled stainless
steel discs (DEMEC points) were attached to the two
end surfaces of the two halves of the rock sample with
an adhesive. Initially and after inserting spacers, the
conical locating points of the invar bar were inserted
into the holes of the discs and corresponding dial-
gauge readings were observed. Later, the increments of
dial-gauge readings with respect to initial value were
converted to millimeters to determine the relative dis-
placement. The 50 mm DEMEC strain gauge used in
this study measured the relative movement of the rock
haves with an accuracy of 0.001 mm.
The size of the samples used in this study was
142 mm in diameter, and hence 142 mm sandstone
samples were used for the calibration. First, the sam-
ple was cut along its axis and the two halves were
polished to make a smooth walled uniform fracture.
The DEMEC points were then fixed to the two sides
of the sample. The two rock halves were first fixed
without any spacers in between and the initial separa-
tions of the DEMEC points were measured with the
DEMEC strain gauge. Then the sample was scanned
at the middle. The same procedure was repeated after
setting different size spaces in between the two halves
of the sample.
 0.25
Relative aperture/ (mm)
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0 50
Distance accros the sample/ (mm)
Estimted relative aperture at scanned location
Relative aperture at side 1
Relative aperture at side 2
Figure 1. Relative differences of DEMEC point measure-
ments for 0.178 mm spacer.
The DEMEC reading differences at the two sides
were interpolated to find the relative aperture at the
scanned location. Such interpolation is reasonable
since rock samples behave as rigid bodies. Figure 1
shows the measured relative apertures on both faces
and the interpolated relative separation at the scanned
location for a 0.178 mm spacer.
As illustrates in Figure 1, the relative apertures over
the fracture is not constant. However, both sides of the
sample show a similar incremental trend of relative
apertures across the sample, which can be explained
as due to the movement of rigid rock halves.
In this calibration process, seven different thickness
spacers were used to create seven different fractures. In
each fracture integrated CT numbers were calculated
for all voxel positions across the sample. There are 284
voxels across a sample and hence, 284 integrated CT
numbers were calculated for each CT image.
The determined integrated CT numbers were plot-
ted against the estimated relative fracture apertures
for each voxel position across the fracture. Figure 2
illustrates one such plot which corresponds to a voxel
which is 15.5 mm away from the left edge of the frac-
ture. The seven data points in the graph are from seven
fractures created with different thickness spacers and
they all belong to same voxel position in each fracture.
The data showed a good linear relationship and the cor-
responding linear relationships were determined for all
284 voxel positions.
The best fit linear relationship of the data in Fig-
ure 2 shows a non-zero intercept. If the real fracture
apertures were plotted against the integrated CT num-
bers and if it is assumed that the linear relationship
1
Relative Fracture Aperture / (mm)
0.75
0.5
0.25
100 150
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Integrated CT number
Upper and Lower error bound
Best fit linear relationship
Figure 2. Relative aperture versus integrated CT number
graph for a voxel 15.5 mm away from the left edge of the
sample.
exists for all fracture aperture rangers, the linear rela-
tionships should pass through the origin. The relative
fracture aperture verses integrated CT number plots
possess non-zero intercept due to non-zero initial frac-
ture aperture (the aperture between two rock halves
when there were no spacers in between them). If the ini-
tial fracture apertures; a constant for a particular voxel
position, were added to all relative fracture apertures,
the best fit line of the relative aperture versus inte-
grated CT number plot will shift and pass through the
origin while keeping its original gradient. Therefore,
the calibration curve for a particular voxel position is
the zero intercept linear relationship with a gradient
equivalent to the gradient of the best fit line of relative
fracture aperture versus integrated CT number graph
at the same voxel position. Equation 1 shows the form
of the calibration equation which can be used to cal-
culate an unknown aperture of a fracture with the help
of its integrated CT value at a particular voxel position
of the sample.
where, b = Fracture Aperture (in mm); m = Gradient
of the relative fracture aperture versus integrated CT
number graph; ICT = Integrated CT number.
The linear relationships between relative fracture
aperture and integrated CT number were determined
for all 284 voxel positions across the fracture and their
gradients were recorded. All best fit linear relation-
ships possessed over 0.9 correlation coefficients (R2
values). The standard deviation of trend removed data
741
 Gradients of the best fit linear relationships
1800
0.0003

1750

CT Number
0.0002

0.0001 1700

0 1650
0 50 100 150 0 50 100 150
Distance accros the sample/ (mm) Distance accros the sample/ (mm)

Figure 3. The variation of gradients of relative aperture Figure 4. Averaged rock CT numbers for five positions
versus integrated CT number plots across the sample. across the sample and the best fit parabolic function

is considered as the possible error of the aperture cal-

After completing the scanning process, the inte-
culation. In Figure 2, the two lines at both sides of the
grated CT numbers were calculated for all voxel
best fit line shows the possible range of error for that
positions across the fracture in each CT image. In the
particular voxel position. Although, different regres-
calculation of integrated CT numbers, the rock CT
sion lines posses different error ranges, the minimum
number was not considered as a constant for all voxel
and maximum error ranges for all linear relation-
positions across the fracture. A parabolic function was
ships were ±0.009 mm and ±0.047 mm respectively.
fitted for the rock CT number variation to account for
In other words the error of the all calculated apertures
beam hardening, and then the rock CT number at dif-
was less than ±0.047 mm. The gradients of the regres-
ferent positions were calculated using it (Bertels et al.
sion lines for 284 voxel positions show a systematic
2001). Further, this method eliminates difficulties that
variation across the fracture (Fig. 3). This systematic
arise in the determination of rock CT number due to
variation could be due to the artifacts of the CT image.
the heterogeneous regions of the rock. In this study,
Further, the variation of gradient across the sample
five CT images from the each side of the sample and
confirms that it is unfair to use one calibration curve
five CT images from the middle of the sample were
for all voxel positions of the fracture.
selected to construct the parabolic function for the vari-
ation of rock CT number across the sample. In each
2.3 Estimation of fracture apertures of a variable
section, five positions across the fracture (selected five
aperture sandstone fracture
positions were same for all 15 sections) was selected
For this study, a variable aperture single fracture was to find the rock CT number. At each position mini-
induced in a sandstone sample of 142 mm in diameter mum rock CT number was determined discarding the
and 280 mm in length using a uniaxial compression CT numbers contributing to the fracture and the CT
device. An epoxy shell was cast around the fractured numbers belonging to the heterogeneous regions of the
sample to keep the two rock halves together. The frac- rock sample. The rock CT numbers estimated from all
tured sample with epoxy shell was used in the aperture 15 sections were averaged to determine the rock CT
measurement exercise and flow tests. The sample was values at each position across the sample. Figure 4
scanned perpendicular to its axis, in 3 mm intervals, illustrates the averaged rock CT numbers and the best
to construct a two dimensional aperture map. A high fit parabolic function. The rock CT numbers for differ-
energy X-ray beam was required to obtain less noise ent positions across the fracture were estimated from
CT data for the relatively large sample used in this the derived parabolic function. Once the rock CT num-
study, and hence 120 kV voltage, 80 mA current and bers were determined, the integrated CT numbers were
3 mm beam thickens were used in the CT scanning. calculated by summing up the differences between the
In addition 15 multiple scans were carried out at each rock CT number and the CT numbers contributed for
location and then they were averaged to obtain the the “trough” created in CT number distribution due to
final image for each section. Multiple scans further the fracture (Keller 1997).
reduced the noise of the CT data. A third generation, Zero integrated CT numbers were observed for most
“General Electrical” medical CT scanner was used for of the edge voxels as large fracture apertures along
all scanning work. the two long edges of the sample were filled with

742
Figure 5. (a) Two dimensional aperture map in gray scale,
(b) The contour plot of the aperture distribution.
cement mortar. During the fracturing process the load
was applied along the two long sides of the frac-
ture and hence comparatively large apertures were
created along these two edges. These large apertures
were filled with cement mortar to avoid high perme-
able paths, which may lead to misleading results in
flow tests. After estimating the integrated CT numbers
for all voxel positions they were transformed to frac-
ture aperture values using a corresponding integrated
CT number and fracture aperture relationship. The
estimated aperture values for all cross sections were
combined to develop a two dimensional aperture map.
2.4 Results of aperture calculation
Figure 5 shows the developed two dimensional aper-
ture map. Each element of the fracture is 0.5 mm wide
and 3 mm long and each element was considered as
constant aperture fracture with parallel surfaces.
The aperture map shows two regions with large frac-
ture apertures (up to 3.5 mm). These large apertures are
due to loss of some rock particles during the fracturing
process. However, these regions with large apertures
do not affect the flow properties of the fracture as they
are only isolated regions. Except these two regions,
all most all other fracture apertures were smaller than
1 mm.
Figures 6a and b depict the frequency histograms of
fracture aperture values and log values of fracture aper-
tures respectively. The both histograms illustrate the
lognormal nature of aperture distribution and it is sim-
ilar to the results of previous studies (Walters 1995).
743
Figure 6. (a) Frequency histogram for the fracture aperture
values (b) Frequency histogram for log values of the fracture
apertures.
The overall average of fracture aperture is 0.338 mm
and its standard deviation is 0.378 mm.
3 SINGLE PHASE FLOW TEST
3.1 Fracture aperture estimation from
permeability test.
A single phase flow test was designed to measure the
permeability of the rock fracture. The objective of the
flow test was to estimate the hydraulic aperture of the
sandstone fracture and compare it with the average
aperture calculated from the CT technique. The frac-
tured sandstone sample which was cast with an epoxy
shell was used in this experiment. The epoxy shell cre-
ated no flow boundaries along the two long sides of the
fracture. Two end caps were fixed to the two ends of the
sample to inject fluids from the inlet side and collect
them from the outlet side. Saturation of the sample was
the first step of the experiment. Vacuum pressure was
applied from the inlet and outlet sides to evacuate air
from the fracture, the end caps and the pore spaces in
the rock matrix. After applying vacuum for few days,
several pore volumes of brine (2% NaCl) were flown
through the sample to make the sample saturated. Fig-
ure 7 shows the schematic diagram of the flow test
setup.

Figure 7. Schematic diagram of the flow test setup.
In this experiment different pressure heads were
applied at inlet side and the outlet was kept open to
atmospheric pressure. For each pressure difference, the
flow rate through the fracture was measured. For one
pressure head, flow rate was measured at five different
trials and the average of five measurements were used
as the flow rate for that particular pressure head. At
the beginning of the test and each time after changing
the pressure head, brine was flown through the sample
for some time to achieve a steady flow. If two conse-
quent flow rate measurements, which were measured
at a considerable time interval (about 10 minutes),
were equal or the difference is negligible, the flow was
assumed as steady.
The results of the flow test were used to calculate
the hydraulic aperture by the cubic law. The cubic law
for flow in a fracture is expressed as;
where, Q = flow rate, W = width of the fracture, b =
fracture aperture, µ = viscosity of the fluid, dp/dx =
pressure gradient of the fluid along the fracture.
The cubic law does not completely interpret the
flow in rough walled fractures. In addition, the variable
aperture fractures do not satisfy some of the assump-
tions made in the derivation of the cubic law (Walters
1995). Yet, in several studies the cubic law has been
used to analyze the flow in the rough walled fractures
(Walter 1995, Pan 1999, Reitsma & Kuper 1994). The
applicability of the cubic law to the rough walled frac-
tures was discussed by Pan (1999) and Walters (1995)
in detail.
3.2 Results of the single phase flow test
Figure 8 shows the measured averaged flow rates at
each pressure head. The best fit line of the pressure
744
600
Head difference/ (Water mm)
500
400
300
200
100
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Flow rate/ (ml/s)
Figure 8. The measured flow rates for corresponding pres-
sure heads.
head versus flow rate graph shows a good correla-
tion coefficient (R2 = 0.995). Since other information
about the fracture and the fluid, such as fracture length
and width, fluid viscosity and density, were known;
hydraulic aperture can be calculated using the cubic
law and the gradient of the head difference versus flow
rate graph.
The calculated hydraulic aperture is 0.289 mm. This
aperture is smaller than the average aperture calcu-
lated from the CT scanning method (0.338 mm). A
high average aperture was expected from the CT scan-
ning technique due to the two high aperture regions at
the middle of the sample. However, these high aperture
regions did not affect the flow test as they did not cre-
ate any high permeable flow paths. Therefore, results
from both the methods can be concluded as reasonable.
To avoid the above mentioned incomparable sit-
uation the average aperture from CT technique was
calculated for the first half of the fracture (to avoid the
high aperture region). The result is 0.282 mm and it is
more comparable to the measured hydraulic aperture.
4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
4.1 Numerical simulation of DNAPL
migration in a rough walled fracture
A numerical simulation was carried out to identify
the DNAPL flow pattern in the measured fracture
aperture distribution. Moreover, the primary drainage
capillary pressure curve was developed based on the
numerical simulation results. In this numerical sim-
ulation, trichloroethylene (TCE) was considered as
the DNAPL which flows in the water saturated frac-
ture. The interfacial tension between TCE and water
is 34.5 mN/m (Kamon et al., 2003). In this simulation
it was assumed that the TCE is immiscible with water
and the contact angle between wetting phase meniscus
and fracture wall is zero. In addition, fracture elements
were considered as smooth parallel plate fractures
(small scale surface roughness effects were neglected)
and effects of surface adsorptive forces were not taken
into account.
At the beginning of the simulation, the fracture was
considered as fully saturated with water. The left side
of the fracture was connected to a TCE container and
right side of the fracture was connected to a water con-
tainer. Before the start of the flow process the pressure
of TCE at the fracture inlet and the pressure of water
in the fracture were kept equal. In other words at the
beginning, the capillary pressure, the pressure differ-
ence between the wetting phase and the non wetting
phase, of the above immiscible two phase system was
zero. In this exercise the capillary pressure of the sys-
tem was gradually increased by decreasing the wetting
phase pressure and the DNAPL invasion of the frac-
ture was monitored. The capillary pressure required
for a non wetting phase to invade a parallel plate frac-
ture element was given by Young-Laplace equation
(Kueper & McWhorter 1991),
where, Pc = Capillary pressure, σ = Interfacial ten-
sion, θ = contact angle, b = fracture aperture.
In this simulation, since the contact angle was
assumed as zero, the capillary pressure required for
DNAPL to invade a fracture element of aperture bij is
given by Pij =2σ/bij . When a capillary pressure Pc was
applied to the system, a fracture element with aperture
bij will occupy by TCE if Pc is greater thanPij . Other-
wise water will remain in the fracture element. This
is the first criterion to satisfy for DNAPL invasion
and it was defined as “capillary allowability criterion”
(Pruess & Tsang 1990). The second requirement to ful-
fill is pore accessibility or a continuous flow path from
the DNAPL pool. In summary, if any local fracture ele-
ment satisfied the “allowability” criterion and if it has
a continuous DNAPL flow path from the DNAPL pool,
the fracture element would be invaded by DNAPL.
The simulation process used in this study can be
described in following steps:
1) A capillary pressure was applied to the system.
2) The minimum fracture aperture which satisfied
the “allowability” criterion was calculated. All the
fracture elements with apertures larger than the
calculated aperture can be invade by TCE.
3) The satisfaction of the “accessibility” criterion (a
continuous flow path from the TCE pool) was
checked for those elements which satisfied the
“allowabilty” criterion.
4) The fracture elements which satisfied the both cri-
teria will be invaded by TCE. Water will remain in
the other elements.
745
60
Capillary pressure (Water mm)
40
20
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Saturation (%)
Figure 9. The derived capillary pressure saturation relation-
ship from the numerical simulation results.
5) The wetting phase saturation was calculated from
the fractional fracture volume which is occupied by
wetting phase.
6) The same procedure was continued with different
capillary pressure values.
4.2 Results of the numerical simulation
Numerical simulation was started with a zero capil-
lary pressure and increased by intervals of 5 mm water
pressure. Saturation values were obtained for each cap-
illary pressure condition and the capillary pressure
saturation curve was developed from the results. Fig-
ure 9 shows the developed capillary pressure saturation
curve based on the simulation results. Until capillary
pressure reached 30 mm of water pressure, only a very
small amount of pore volume was invaded by TCE. The
breakthrough was taken place at a capillary pressure
of 30 mm of water pressure. At this capillary pressure
condition more than half of the fracture volume was
invaded by TCE. After that within few more incre-
ments of capillary pressure, the system reached to the
irreducible water saturation. According to the simu-
lation results this fracture shows a 40% irreducible
water saturation at the end of the primary drainage.
Figures 10a and b show the phase distribution in the
fracture just before the break through and just after the
break through respectively.
5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This study presented a calibration technique to deter-
mine the micro scale fracture apertures from the CT
data. The use of DEMEC strain gauges provided a
physical measurement for the relative fracture aper-
tures. It avoided the dependence of surface smoothness

Figure 10. (a)TheTCE and water distribution just before the
break through; at capillary pressure of 27.5 mm of water pres-
sure. (b) The TCE and water distribution just after the break
through; at capillary pressure of 30 mm of water pressure.
and spacer thickness in calibration process. The use of
different calibration equations for different positions
across the sample increases the accuracy and reduces
the uncertainty in aperture calculation. The estimation
of the rock CT number which was necessary for inte-
grated CT number calculation was carried out by using
a best fit parabolic function. This method avoided
the difficulties encounter during rock CT number
calculations due to beam hardening affects and het-
erogeneous rock regions. The result of the proposed
aperture estimation technique was compared with the
traditional hydraulic aperture measurement method.
The experimentally measured hydraulic aperture was
comparable with the estimated average aperture from
the CT technique.
The numerical simulation of the DNAPL migration
is used to estimate the phase distribution with increas-
ing capillary pressure and to derive a capillary pressure
saturation relationship. The developed capillary pres-
sure curve revealed important flow parameters such
as break through capillary pressure and irreducible
water saturation for the fractured medium. However,
an experimentally developed capillary pressure sat-
uration curve is required to validate the developed
numerical results. This study is continuing to con-
struct an experimental setup to measure the capillary
pressure saturation relationship.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Financial assistance for this work was provided by
Environment Canada, Dept. of Civil Engineering
746
(Univ. of Calgary) and NSERC Canada. The authors
are grateful to Dr. Kantzas, Director, Tomographic
Imaging and Porous Media Laboratory for providing
X-ray CT scanning facility. This work forms part of
a study coordinated by Dr. Mehrotra of Univ. of Cal-
gary. We thank committee members Drs.Achari, Maini
and Bentley for their valuable input. The technical
assistances provided by Mr. Terry Quinn and Mr. Don
McCullough are highly appreciated.
REFERENCES
Bertels, S.P., DiCarlo, D.A. & Blunt, M.J. 2001. Measure-
ment of aperture distribution, capillary pressure, relative
permeability, and in-situ saturation in a rock fracture
using computed tomography scanning. Water Resour. Res.
37(3): 649–662.
German, E.R., Akin, S. & Castanier, L. 1999. Multiphase-
flow properties of fractured porous media. SPE 54591,
SPE Western Regional Meeting, Anchorage, Alaska.
Hughes, R.G., Brigham, W.E. & Castanier, L.M. 1996. CT
imaging of two phase flow in fractured porous media. In
Proceedings of 21st Workshop on Geotechnical Reservoir
Engineering, Stanford, California.
Johns, R.A., Steude, J.S., Castanier, L.M. & Roberts, P.V.
1993. Nondestructive measurements of fracture aper-
ture in crystalline rock cores using X ray computed
tomography. Journal of Geophysical Research 98(B2):
1889–1900.
Kamon, M., Endo, K. & Katsumi, T. 2003. Measuring the
k-s-p relations on DNAPLs migration. Eng. Geol. 70:
351–363.
Keller, A.A. 1997. High resolution CAT imaging of fractures
in consolidated materials. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
34(3–4): 358-371.
Kueper, B.H. & McWhorter, D.B. 1991. The behavior of
Dense, Non-aqueous phase liquids in fractured clay and
rock. Groundwater 29(5): 716–728.
Muralidharan, V., Hakravarthy, D., Putra, E. & Schechter, D.S.
2004. Investigating fracture aperture distribution under
various stress conditions using X-ray CT scanner. SPE
2004–230, 5th Canadian Int. Petroleum Conf., Calgary.
Pan, X. 1999. Immiscible two-phase flow in a fracture. PhD
thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.
Pankow, J.F. & Cherry, J.A. 1996. Dense Chlorinated Sol-
vents. Waterloo Press.
Persoff, P. & Pruess. K. 1995. Two phase flow visualization
and relative permeability measurement in natural rough
walled rock fractures. Water Resour. Res. 31(5): 1175–
1186.
Pruess, K. & Tsang, Y.W. 1990. On two-phase relative per-
meability and capillary pressure of rough-walled rock
fracture. Water Resources Research 26(9): 1915–1926.
Reitsma, S. & Kueper. B.H. 1994. Laboratory measure-
ment of capillary pressure-saturation relationship in a rock
fracture. Water Resour. Res. 30(4): 865–878.
Walters, D.A. 1995. The hydraulic and mechanical character-
ization of an oil sand fracture. MSc thesis, University of
Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A laboratory study of grout flow and settlement in open fractures

B. Shen & H. Guo

CSIRO Exploration and Mining, Kenmore, Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT: Overburden grout injection is a cost-effective technology used to control coal mine subsidence
by injecting fine waste material (e.g. flyash) into the overburden during longwall mining. The injected material
fills the bed separation gaps formed above the mining horizon and reduces the propagation of the overburden
movement to the surface. A systematic laboratory study was carried out to investigate the flow properties of
flyash grouts and their injectability into open fractures. To facilitate this study, a laboratory injection rig was
designed and constructed. A series of laboratory injection tests were conducted to investigate the mechanism of
grout flow and solid settlement in open fractures, and the effects of grout solid content and fracture aperture on
injection process. The results of the tests are discussed in this paper. A key finding from the laboratory studies
was that the flyash grout always flows in channels, breaking through the previously settled solid ashes.

1 INTRODUCTION The tests demonstrated the flow process of flyash grout

Overburden grout injection is a cost-effective technol-
ogy used to control coal mine subsidence by injecting
fine waste material (e.g. flyash) into the overburden
during longwall mining. The injected material fills the
bed separation gaps formed above the mining hori-
zon and reduces the propagation of the overburden
movement to the surface (Guo et al. 2007).
Grout made of flyash and water is typically used
for the overburden grout injection mainly due to its
low cost and availability, particularly where coal firing
power stations exist. Flyash is very fine material and
can easily penetrate into narrow fractures in the over-
burden. However, flyash particles can settle quickly in
the grout, which may lead to blockage of the injection
system and limit the distance of filling in a narrow
fracture.
Many researchers have in the past carried out stud-
ies on using flyash for geotechnical grouting (e.g.
Anon 1997, Nichols & Goodings 2000), mine backfills
(Gray et al. 1997), and coal seam fire control (Colaizzi
2004). However, flyash grout flow in confined rock
fractures during longwall mining is not well under-
stood. Rapid solid settlement of the flyash-based grout
material made its flow behaviour different from that
of other conventional grout for civil engineering (e.g.
cement). Existing fluid mechanics theories on viscous
flow are inadequate to describe the complex behaviour
of flyash grout in rock fractures.
Laboratory simulation is an effective way to study
the complex flow behaviour of flyash grout. Zhao et al.
(1997) conducted laboratory physical model tests on
flyash injection in the overburden of a longwall panel.
and solid settlement in the fractured zone above an
advancing longwall panel. Such tests are considered
to be extremely valuable for understanding the injec-
tion process and hence helping the design of field
operations.
As part of a research project sponsored by the Aus-
tralia Coal Association Research Program (ACARP),
a systematic laboratory study was carried out to inves-
tigate the flow properties of flyash grouts and their
injectability into open fractures. The tests were aimed
to investigate the following aspects:
• Mechanism of grout flow and solid settlement in
open fractures;
• Effect of grout solid content on injection process;
• Effect of fracture aperture on flow characteristics.
This paper describes the test design, instrumenta-
tion, and test results.
2 MEASUREMENTS OF BASIC FLUID
PROPERTIES OF FLASH GROUT
Flyash-based grout has been successfully used in most
of the Chinese subsidence control injection. The grout
is mostly made of flyash and water, sometimes with
locally available clay. The advantage of the flyash
based grout is its fineness in particle size (equivalent
to cement) which makes it easy to penetrate into nar-
row fractures. Flyash is a waste from power stations,
and it often requires a large ash dam for deposition,
which not only becomes an environmental “eye-sore”
but also add costs to the power station. Hence utilising

747
the flyash for subsidence control is an optimal option 1.5

to solve both the waste management issue and subsi- 1.45

1.4
dence issue. Where the mine site is close to a power y = 0.0055x + 1
1.35

Density (ton/m^3)
station, using flyash as the injection material is the 1.3
prime option. 1.25
The flyash tested in this study was provided by the 1.2
Wallerawang Power Station at New South Wales, Aus- 1.15
tralia. The power station is close to Baal Bone Colliery 1.1
Density ton/m^3
1.05
where a field trial of the overburden injection tech- Linear (Densityton/m^3)
1
nology was conducted within the project (Guo et al. 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
2007). Solid concentration (%)

2.1 Moisture content Figure 1. Measured density of flyash grout with different
solid concentration by weight.
Typical moisture content of the conditioned flyash
for dry disposal at Wallerawang Power Station is 12– Wallerawong flyash
15%. The moisture content of the flyash received was 100

measured to be about 8%. 90

80

Accumulated percentage
70
2.2 Density 60

The solid ash as received is condensable and its density 50

is highly dependent on the degree of compaction. For
this reason, no solid density (wet or dry) was measured.
Density measurement was only conducted for grout
when the ash was mixed with water.
Figure 1 shows the measured densities of grout with
different ash contents by weight. Note that the solid
concentration used in this study is calculated using
the solid ash in its in-situ condition as received. No
correction on moisture has been made. This treatment
is more convenient for the actual injection operation
since the in-situ ash rather than dry ash will be used.
The estimated particle density of the flyash is about
1.8 t/m3 .
2.3 Particle size
The particle size of Wallerawang flyash was mea-
sured using laser diffraction technique (Low Angle
Laser Light Scattering, or LALLS). The measured size
distribution is shown in Figure 2.
The particle sizes at 10%, 50% and 90% particle
passes are: D10 = 7 µm; D50 = 32 µm; D90 = 140 µm.
Flyash particles are all less than 400 µm.
2.4 Flyash settlement
Solid particles in the flyash/water mix settle quickly
after mixing. A simple settlement test was carried out.
The flyash grout was mixed well and left in a glass
undisturbed. After 15 minutes, separation between fly-
ash and water was clearly seen in the top part of the
glass. After 1 hour, the settlement was nearly com-
pleted. The flyash at the bottom of the glass felt like
a solid block. Rapid flyash settlement increases the
difficulties of material handling and grout injection
as it may cause blockage of the injection system and
underground flow channels.
40
30
20
10
0
1 10 100 1000
Particle size (micrometer)
Figure 2. Particle size distribution of Wallerawang flyash.
2.5 Viscosity
Viscosity of the flyash grout mix was measured using
a Haake VT550 viscometer. A profiled MV2P sen-
sor/cup system was used to minimise any possible
slippage on the cup wall. The viscosity measurements
were conducted in a shear rate range of 0–100 s−1 .
Flyash grout mix with 9 different solid concentrations
from 30% to 70% was measured. The measurement
was conducted at room temperature (about 25◦ C).
The “thick” grout with solid concentration ≥55%
showed a typical Bingham flow curve, whereas the
“thin” grout with solid concentration <50% generally
exhibited a Newtonian flow curve. Table 1 summa-
rizes the interpreted results from the measurement
data of the 9 grout mixes. For “thin” grout (<50%
solid), only Newtonian flow is considered. For “thick”
grout (≥55% solid), both Newtonian flow and Bing-
ham flow are considered and an apparent Newtonian
viscosity at the shear rate of 50 s−1 (η50 ) is also given
for comparison of all grout mixes.
Figure 3 shows the relationship between the solid
concentration and the apparent Newtonian viscosity
(η50 at a shear rate of 50 s−1 ). For grout mix with <50%
ash, the viscosity is relatively low and it varies linearly
with the solid concentration. This grout mix is con-
sidered as “slurry”. For grout mix with >50% ash,
the viscosity increases exponentially with the solid

748
Table 1. Measured viscosity of flyash grouts.

Bingham flow

Yield Apparent Newtonian

Solid stress Viscosity Viscosity η50
concentration (Pa) (Pa sec) (γ = 50 s−1 ) (Pa sec)

0.3 0 0.0052 0.0052

0.35 0 0.0056 0.0056
0.4 0 0.0067 0.0067
0.45 0 0.0073 0.0073
0.5 0 0.008 0.008
0.55 0.3 0.008 0.0136
0.6 0.59 0.0139 0.0257
0.65 1.1 0.0271 0.0492
0.7 3.9 0.117 0.195

Figure 4. Injection test rig.

• kinematic similarity: the flow velocity needs to be

Figure 3. Viscosity of flyash grout vs. solid content.
concentration. This grout is considered as “paste”. Fig-
ure 3 also gives two different equations best-fitting the
measurement results for the “slurry” grout and “paste”
grout, respectively.
3 INJECTION RIG DESIGN
The laboratory injection system was intended to sim-
ulate the field injection conditions at a trial site. The
estimated field trial parameters are listed below:
• injection radius R = 50 m;
• injection depth H = 100 m;
• injection rate Q = 100 m3 /hour;
• maximum fracture opening D = 1.0 m;
• injection pressure P < 10 MPa;
• injection borehole diameter = 200 mm.
Based on similarity theory, laboratory model tests
need to follow three similarity principles between the
laboratory model and the prototype trial:
• geometric similarity: the model geometry needs to
be proportional to the prototype;
proportional;
• dynamic similarity: the force/pressure needs to be
proportional.
Geometric similarity follows by using a scale fac-
tor of 1:100 in the physical model. If the same fluid
as in the prototype is used, however, it is impossible to
meet all the theoretical requirements for flow velocity
because the fluid flow and solid settlement require dif-
ferent velocities. For the convenience of testing, and
considering that the sedimentation is more important
in this study than flow, we choose the velocity scale as
1:1. The model pressure scale is 1:100. Accordingly,
the laboratory model is specified below:
• injection radius r = 0.5 m;
• injection depth h = 1.0 m;
• injection volume q = 10 litre/hour (range: 0–20
litre/hour);
• maximum fracture opening d = 10 mm (range: 0–
20 mm);
• injection pressure p < 0.2 MPa (30 psi);
• injection borehole diameter = 4 mm (to allow for
flyash particle size of 1 mm).
Based on the above specification, a test rig was
designed and constructed, see Figure 4.
The rig is composed of two plates. The top plate
is rigid and transparent (plexiglass) to observe the

749
flow process. The bottom plate is a flexible steel
sheet which can deform under differential pressure
between the injecting grout and the oil in the under-
lying oil chamber. It is used to simulate the rock
beam deformation in the longwall overburden. The
two plates have adjustable initial gap (0–20 mm). The
bottom plate can deform under hydraulic pressure up
to 20 mm downward. The outer fracture boundaries
contain fine holes so that water can leak out during
injection.
The fluid pressure in the injection tube and in vari-
ous locations of the fracture surface is monitored using
pressure transducers. The displacement of the bottom
steel plate is monitored using LVDTs. The injection
control and data acquisition are automated.
4 INJECTION TEST RESULTS
A series of 8 injection tests were conducted. The solid
concentration, initial fracture aperture, deformability
of the steel plate and injection rate are four variables
being investigated during the tests.
4.1 Grout flow process in an open fracture
Figure 5 shows the process of the grout flow in an open
fracture used in a test with 50% solid grout and 2 mm
fracture gap. The injection rate is 10 l/hr. The entire
injection can be divided into several stages as marked
in Figure 5:
Stage (1): Beginning of the injection. Grout spreads
evenly from the injection hole.
Stage (2): Water started to separate from the ash at
the flow edge. The remaining grout became “thicker”
due to increased ash concentration and ash settlement.
Stage (3): Freshly injected grout broke through the
resistance of “thickened” grout around the injection
hole and flowed in channels to the edge, forming a
“mushroom” type of flow pattern.
Stages (4)–(9): Flyash settlement repeatedly
blocked the flow temporarily. Each time when this
occurred, the newly injected grout quickly created new
flow channels through the settled flyash and flowed
through these channels to the edge of the fluid. This
process was repeated many times until the fracture was
filled with grout.
During the injection, water separated from the grout
at the early stage and reached the boundary of the injec-
tion rig. It then leaked off through the small holes at the
boundary. This enables the injection continued until
the open fracture was filled with solid ash.
The injection pressure in this test is shown in
Figure 6. At the start of the injection, the fluid pres-
sure measured at the bottom of the injection tube is
nearly zero, while the pressure at the outlet of the
pump (top of the tube) is negative. The negative pres-
sure is caused by a combined effect of the hydraulic
750
head between the top of the tube and the horizon of the
open fracture, and frictional pressure loss in the tube.
The negative pressure means that the fluid is sucked
into the fracture without the need of any pumping
pressure.
Blockage occurred in the injection tube at the 14th
minute of the injection. The injection was then stopped
and the blocked tube was cleaned. To continue the
injection, water had to be used to create an initial flow
channel in the fracture before the flyash mix could be
injected again at the 27th minute. At the 34th minute
the fracture was apparently filled with fluid. Contin-
uous injection drove the water in the fracture leaked
out at the rig boundary. Meanwhile the injection pres-
sure increased rapidly.At the 50th minute, the injection
pressure reached a maximum and the flow rate started
to reduce until flow completely stopped at the 60th
minutes.
The flow process and pressure response in this test
is fairly representative of other test cases with initially
open fractures. The key findings for grout injection
into open fractures are:
• flyash settled rapidly inside the fracture in an early
stage of the injection;
• repeated channelling occurred during injection;
• negative pressure existed on the top of hole when
the fracture remained open and unfilled;
• high injection pressure was only needed when the
fracture was filled and water is “squeezed” out of
the fracture.
4.2 Effect of grout ash content
Solid settlement of flyash grout was clearly observed
during the injection tests in open fractures. Water sep-
arated from the grout in the early stage of the injection
due to ash settlement.
The initial solid content in the grout mix was found
to have major effect on the timing of the water/ash
separation. For grout with 40%, 50% and 60% solid,
the time for water/ash separation was observed to be:
60% ash: 80 seconds
50% ash: 55 seconds
40% ash: 20 seconds
The thinner the grout, the quicker the water sepa-
rated out from the grout.
Grout solid content was also found to have major
effect on the injection pressure. Figure 7 shows the
injection pressure variation at the bottom of the injec-
tion hole for the three grouts mixes (40%, 50% and
60%).
In all three cases, the pumping pressure was nega-
tive until the grout reached the edge of the fracture. At
this stage, the water separated from the grout escaped
through the leaking mechanism at the boundaries.
The injection duration before pressure built up was
Figure 5. Process of grout flow in open fracture (grout solid concentration = 50%, fracture aperture = 2 mm, injection
rate = 10 litre/hour).

751
 Figure 8. Pump pressure measured during two tests using
Figure 6. Pressure measured at the top and bottom of the different injection rate (injection rate = 10 l/hr; 20 l/hr).
injection tube in a typical test.

Table 2. Estimated and measured pump pressure for differ-

ent injection rates.

Frictional Estimated Measured

Injection pressure Hydrostatic pump pump
rate loss pressure pressure pressure

10 l/hr 3.5 kPa 12.6 kPa −9.1 kPa −10.4 kPa

(0.5 psi) (1.8 psi) (−1.3 psi) (−1.5 psi)
20 l/hr 7.1 kPa 12.6 kPa −5.6 kPa −6.9 kPa
(1.0 psi) (1.8 psi) (−0.8 psi) (−1.0 psi)

Figure 7. Pumping pressure variation for three grout mixes

with different ash contents. The pressure spikes indicate
temporary blockage in the injection system. Major pressure
increase occurred only after the fracture was filled with ash.
longer for thinner grout at the same injection rate
(10 litres/hour), apparently proportional to the total
solid injected into the fracture.
Thicker grout was found to cause more frequent
blockage of the injection system than thinner grout.
For instance, the 60% grout had 3 blockages (see Fig. 7
as spikes in pumping pressure), the 50% grout had one
blockage whereas the 40% grout did not have blockage
during the entire injection process. The blockages all
occurred in the injection tube, most likely initiated
at the bottom intersection between the tube and the
fracture.
The effect of the ash content in grout on the injection
process into an open fracture can be summarised as:
4.3 Effect of injection rate
Two different tests were conducted using an injec-
tion rate of 10 litre/hour and 20 litre/hour respec-
tively, while other parameters were all the same.
A comparison of the pump pressure during the two
tests is shown in Figure 8.
Before the fracture was filled up with ash grout, the
pump pressure was negative in both tests. The aver-
age pump pressure (excluding the spike caused by
blockage) was −1.0 psi for an injection rate of 20 l/hr
and −1.5 psi for a rate of 10 l/hr. The difference was
likely due to the frictional loss in the injection tube,
which is proportional to the injection rate. Assum-
ing the grout flow is laminar flow, the friction loss in
a circular tube (r = 2 mm and length = 1.0 m) can be
estimated using the following equation (Smits 2000):

• the ash content had insignificant effect on pump- where

ing pressure as long as the fracture remains open Q = flowrate, m3 /s,
and the aperture had not yet been filled up with r = tube radius, m,
grout; p = pressure drop, Pa,
• thicker grout was found to cause more frequent µ = dynamic viscosity, Pa s,
blockages of the injection system, in particular, in L = tube length, m.
the injection borehole.

752
 For the 50% solid grout (µ = 0.008 Pa s), the esti-
mated pressure loss in the tube is listed in Table 2.
Also listed in the table are the estimated pump pres-
sures and measured pump pressures. The estimated
pump pressure includes the hydrostatic pressure from
the hydraulic head of 1 m in the tube. Estimated pump
pressures are close to the measured pressures.
The higher injection rate resulted in the steeper
pressure built-up curve and short injection time as
expected, see Figure 8.
In summary, injection rate has only a minor effect
on pump pressure when the fracture remained open.
Higher injection rate is desirable to fill up the fracture
volume more quickly.
4.4 Implications to actual operational design
The laboratory injection test results have the follow-
ing key implications to the design of the actual field
injection operation:
• Grout in rock fractures will spread unevenly through
channels. Plans of the arrangement of injection
boreholes needs to account for the uneven ash
settling and channelled grout flow.
• Only low or no pumping pressure is required for
injection when the rock fractures are open. The
pumping pressure increases significantly once the
fracture is closed. In field operation, the timing
of injection is critical and rapid injection should
be conducted when fractures remain open after
longwall mining.
• Ash content below 50% in grout has an insignif-
icant effect on the pumping pressure requirement
during normal injection. It is desirable to use thicker
grout (e.g. 50%) to increase the injection efficiency
because only the solid ash will remain after dewa-
tering. However, if the ash content is greater than
50%, the viscosity will increase sharply.
•
There are other factors that need to be considered
in selecting ash contents, such as pipeline friction
loss, material handling, pumping.
•
Blockage of the injection borehole is a potential
issue for flyash grout. Thicker grout tends to cause
more blockages. Using large boreholes (diameter
>150 mm) could reduce the blockage.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The key conclusions from the laboratory tests of flyash
grouts are summarised below:
• The flyash received from Wallerawang Power Sta-
tion has an average particle size of 32µm and maxi-
mum particle size of 400µm. It settles rapidly when
mixed with water. Solid settlement is noticeable
after several minutes and will be fully developed
within one hour.
753
• The viscosity of the flyash/water grout increases
with ash content. The “thin” grout with ash content
less than 50% has relatively low viscosity which
varies linearly with the ash content. Viscosity
increases exponentially when the ash content is
greater than 55%.
• Grout flow in open fractures occurs predominantly
in dynamic channels through the settled flyash.
• Negative pressure exists on the top of injection hole
when the fracture remains open and unfilled. High
pump pressure is only required when the fracture is
closed or filled.
• The ash content has little effect on pumping pressure
as long as the fracture remains open and the aperture
has not yet been filled with grout;
• Thicker grout was found to cause more frequent
blockages of the injection system, in particular, in
the injection borehole.
• Injection rate has only a small effect on pump pres-
sure when the fracture remains open. High injection
rate is desirable to fill the fracture volume quickly.
It is recognized that the laboratory tests may not
be able to fully simulate the complex nature of an
actual field injection. For instance, the field fractures
are likely to be rough and not flat. Water leak-off
may occur at many locations of the fracture planes.
Hence it is necessary that actual field trials com-
bined with advanced observation and monitoring tech-
niques should be conducted in order to gain better
understandings of the grouting mechanism in actual
applications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is sponsored by Australian Coal Asso-
ciation Research Programme (ACARP) and CSIRO
Exploration and Mining. It also received in-kind sup-
port from Delta Electricity Wallerawang Station. We
acknowledge the contributions in various forms by
the following individuals: Peter Reed, Peter Siers,
Peter Cork, Xingsheng Li, Greg Harbers, Mikael
Cunnington.
REFERENCES
Anon 1997. Grouting: Compaction, remediation and test-
ing. In Proceedings of the 1st National Conference of the
ASCE Geo-Institute, Logan, Utah. Geotechnical Special
Publication, ASCE 66: 1–337.
Colaizzi, G.J. 2004. Prevention, control and/or extinguish-
ment of coal seam fires using cellular grout. International
Journal of Coal Geology 59(1-2): 75–81.
Gray, D.D., Reddy, T.P., Black, D.C. & Ziemkiewicz, P.F.
1997. Filling abandoned mines with fluidized bed com-
bustion ash grout. In Proceedings, Symposium on Design
and Application of Controlled Low-Strength Materials
 (Flowable Fill), St. Louis. ASTM Special Technical Pub-
lication 1331: 180–193.
Guo, H., Shen, B. & Chen., S., 2007. Investigation of over-
burden movement and a grout injection trial for mine
subsidence control. In Eberhardt et al. (eds.), Proceed-
ing of 1st Canada-U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Vancouver.
Nichols, S.C. & Goodings, D.J. 2000. Effects of grout
composition, depth and injection rate on compaction
grouting. In Advances in Grouting and Ground
754
Modification: GeoDenver 2000 Conference, Denver.
Geotechnical Special Publication, ASCE 104: 16–31.
Smits, A.J. 2000. A Physical Introduction to Fluid Mechanics.
Princeton University.
Zhao, D., Su, Z. Sui, H., Liu, W. & Fan, X. 1997. The lab-
oratory simulation research of slowing down the surface
subsidence by separated strata grout. Journal of China
Coal Society 22(5): 571–575.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Investigations on the swelling behavior of pure anhydrites

F. Rauh & K. Thuro

Engineering Geology, Technische Universität München, Germany

ABSTRACT: The swelling ability of anhydrite can be a major problem during tunnel construction. It’s a fact
that under humid atmospheric conditions every natural anhydrite (CaSO4 ) sooner or later dissolves, or alters to
gypsum (CaSO4 *2H2 O), which coincides with a calculated volume increase of 61%. The swelling capability
depends greatly on the type of anhydrite itself. In order to explain and verify the differences in the swelling
behaviour of pure anhydrite rocks, different anhydrite samples were investigated. The results show that the
“maturity” of the anhydrite rock provides the decisive difference. The maturity is herein reflected in a larger
former rock cover which led to high temperature and stress conditions. That again produces a massive rock with
large crystal grains and a relatively low specific surface area. The result is a material with a low reactive surface
area and thus more or less inert (“sluggish”) to swelling.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. Examples of anhydrite swelling in tunneling.

1.1 Problems with anhydrite swelling in tunneling Swelling

Geol. strain [mm]/pressure
Many tunnel projects of the past had to deal with Tunnel formation [MPa]
the swelling capability of anhydrite. The prediction
of the anhydrite swelling potential was thereby often Schanz1 Gypsum Keuper 1500/6–9 (calculated)
difficult. In hindsight we now know that some anhy- Wagenburg2 Gypsum Keuper 340/3.4 (measured)
drites showed less swelling as expected (Table 1). Then Achberg3 Haselgebirge no swelling measured so far
again some anhydrites showed strong swelling pres- Tauern4 “Schieferhülle” no swelling measured so far
sure and swelling strain that resulted in floor heave
1
and in damaging of the invert (Table 1). The anhy- Erichsen & Kurz 1996, 2 Paul & Wichter 1996, 3 Laabmayer
drite bearing rocks encountered in tunnel projects are et al. 1996, 4 Spaun, pers. comm.
usually investigated more or less intensive on anhy-
drite swelling. However to date comparisons between
anhydrites from different formations have rarely been
conducted. The question arose whether and why pure
anhydrites differ in their swelling capacity and how
these differences could be investigated. An additional
aim of this study is to develop tools for a faster and
more reliable prediction of the swelling behavior of
pure anhydrites.

1.2 Principles of anhydrite swelling

In contact with water every anhydrite dissolves or
alters to gypsum. The basic principle of this chemi-
cal transition is shown in Figure 1. The 60.8% volume
increase from anhydrite to gypsum can be calculated
from the solids. It is irreversible under atmospheric
conditions. Looking closer, this equation is quite sim-
plified since the reaction involves a solution and a Figure 1. Chemical and physical basics of the anhydrite-
crystallization process. Therefore we have to deal with gypsum conversion (M = molar mass, ρ = density, V =
two processes. volume) (modified after Amstad & Kovari 2001).

755
 The first step is the solution of anhydrite; the sec-
ond step is the crystallization of gypsum (Fig. 1). Both
steps are triggered through the different saturation con-
centrations of anhydrite and gypsum. Their value is
dependent on temperature, pressure and the occur-
rence of foreign ions. Constant and ideal conditions
apply only to a closed system in the lab where no cal-
cium or sulfate ions are lost, the temperature is more or
less constant and the perfect amount of water is always
available. In contrast in nature there is always an open
system with varying temperatures and ions.
2 TESTED MATERIAL
The investigations focused on anhydrite bearing for-
mations in Germany and in the Alps. Because of the
instability of anhydrite under humid conditions, it is
not easy to get fresh samples from the earth’s surface.
It was possible to collect underground samples near
Stuttgart, in the Inn and the Salzach valley. In the
following the rocks are described in detail.
2.1 Gypsum Keuper
The lower parts of the middle Keuper (middle triassic)
in south Germany and north Switzerland are called
Gypsum Keuper. This formation is composed mostly
of gypsum, anhydrite, clay, silt, marl and carbonate
layers. The sedimentation of the 100 m to 150 m thick
geological unit took place around 230 ma to 225 ma
before today. The sediments were deposited in large
alluvium planes with hypersaline lakes. Occasional
marine ingressions flooded the area (Bachmann &
Brunner 1998). The sample material was taken from
an exploration drilling core near Stuttgart in Baden-
Wuerttemberg. It is part of the 30 m to 60 m thick
middle gypsum horizon. Since the samples were taken
at a depth of around 50 m, the material is fresh and
unaltered.
The rock consists of a dark gray and fine grained
anhydrite which is interlayered with black claystone.
The layers are between 0.2 cm and 3 cm thick. The
aim of the study was to compare different pure anhy-
drite rocks. Therefore the anhydrite layers had to be
excluded from the surrounding claystones by means
of a hammer and a stone saw.
2.2 Reichenhall Formation
The Reichenhall Formation is part of the alpine trias-
sic in the northern calcareous alps. It has been dated
at 245 ma to 240 ma which is equivalent to the anisian
stage. The marine deposits were formed on the conti-
nental shelf of the thetys ocean. The formation is very
heterogeneous and consists mostly of dolomitic lime-
stones, sandstones and rauhwacks. Nevertheless the
756
warm climatic conditions lead to periodical evapora-
tion of the seawater which resulted in the deposition
of gypsum and anhydrite. The thickness of this geo-
logical unit varies between zero and a maximum
of around 480 m in the eastern Karwendel moun-
tains (Schenk 1967). The formation frequently shows
tectonic disturbances.
The material from the triassic Reichenhall Forma-
tion was collected at a tunnel construction site in the
Inn valley. The more or less pure anhydrite appears in
massive breccias and laminated variations. It is dark
gray and medium grained.
2.3 Haselgebirge
The alpine Haselgebirge formation is a saliniferous
formation at the base of the northern calcareous alps. It
was formed around 260 ma to 250 ma ago in the upper
permian and lower skythian stage. The sediments were
deposited under calm sabkha conditions on the shelf
of the thetys ocean.
Today the alpine Haselgebirge appears as a big
chaotic breccia. This deformation is due to the
alpine orogenesis. The plastically deforming evapo-
rates where transported to the north and act as sliding
planes. In the course of this movement the original
sedimentary structures were highly disturbed.
The sample material was collected at a quarry near
Golling in Austria. The massive anhydrite is bluish-
gray and coarse grained. A very good description of
this anhydrite is given by Wiesheu (1997). He found
that the Haselgebirge anhydrite is slightly metamor-
phic due to the high former stress and temperature
conditions which occurred during the alpine orogeny.
2.4 Different history of the samples
As indicated earlier, the samples originate from differ-
ent regions and geological units. Using published data
it was possible to estimate the former rock cover of
each formation. The differences between the anhydrite
samples concerning the former rock cover is shown in
Figure 2. The youngest anhydrite tested in this research
is from the Gypsum Keuper and has undergone a max-
imum overburden of around 1000 m in its geological
history (Geyer & Gwinner 1968).The Reichenhall For-
mation on the other hand had a former rock cover of
approximately 5000 m (Gwinner 1971) and the rocks
of the Haselgebirge had even been buried into depths
of about 10,000 m (Wiesheu 1997) (Fig. 2).
The varying former rock cover lead to different
temperature and stress conditions in the rock. Under
normal conditions the temperature increases around
33◦ C and the pressure around 25 MPa every 1000 m of
rock cover.Ascending temperature and pressure condi-
tions result in recrystallisation of the anhydrite which
generally leads to coarser crystal grains.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram illustrating the gypsum-
anhydrite-gypsum cycle (according to Murray 1964). The
varying maximum former rock covers of the investigated
anhydrites can be seen.

3 MINERALOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

3.1 X-ray diffraction

X-ray diffraction analysis was used to determine the
qualitative mineralogical composition of the sam-
ples. In this method the diffraction of monochromatic
X-rays on the surface of a crystal lattice produces
varying reflection intensities (X-ray reflexes) at vary-
ing angles. These reflexes are measured and typical
reflexes can be determined for each mineral, depend-
ing on the dimension of the spacing from the lattice
planes (d-value). The identification of the mineral
associations contained in the samples occurred by the
means of the d-values and the characteristic lines of
the diffraction (reflex) via an identification program. Figure 3. Thin section images of Gypsum Keuper (GK),
All three anhydrite samples show similar peaks for Reichenhall Formation (RF) and Haselgebirge (HG) anhy-
anhydrite. They do not differ in their mineralogical drite samples, which show the typical increase in grain sizes
character concerning X-ray diffraction from top to bottom. Crossed nicols, width of each picture
circa 0.65 mm (modified after Rauh et al. 2006).

3.2 Thin section

The thin section analysis confirmed the macro-
scopic observations. The size of the anhydrite crystals
increases with the former rock cover (Fig. 3). This sim-
plified coherence is not always admissible but it seems
valid in general, as it can also be seen at Reimann
(1991) who gives a large overview of anhydrite
deposits around the world. In Figure 3 a thin section of
a relatively fine grained anhydrite from the Gypsum
Keuper (GK) is shown. In contrast to that the grains
get larger and larger in the samples of the Reichenhall
Formation (RF) and the Haselgebirge (HG).
3.3 Scanning electron microscope (SEM)
The scanning electron microscope was used to exam-
ine the micro-structure of the samples. Special
attention was paid to the texture and the surface for-
mation. In general the Gypsum Keuper sample is more
porous. These pores are crystal lattice failures and are
possible water channels and weak points concerning
the crystal stability. In contrast to that, the sample from
the Haselgebirge appears compact and impervious.
With the following SEM images (Fig. 4) it is possible
to visualize the differences in the specific surface area.
All three photos have the same enlargement of × 2000
and a picture width of around 56 µm each. From top
to bottom the crystals shown increase in size and, even
more important, they are better crystallized. Because
of the good cleavage of the anhydrite the described
body structure doesn’t change even if the material is
grinded.

757

Figure 4. SEM images of Gypsum Keuper (GK), Reichen-
hall Formation (RF) and Haselgebirge (HG) anhydrite sam-
ple. Typical decreasing in surface area and -roughness from
top to bottom. Each picture width approximately 56 µm
(modified after Rauh et al. 2006).
3.4 Specific surface area
The air permeability method after Blaine was used
to make a statement for the specific surface (quan-
tity based surface) of the different anhydrite samples
(DIN EN 196-6 1990). The samples had to be all pre-
pared in the same way before measuring the specific
surface. In the test, air is sucked through the anhy-
drite sample, thereby recording the time that a certain
amount of air needs to pass the sample. Using the mea-
sured time and some instrument constants the specific
surface (Blaine-Value) can be calculated (Table 2).
4 THE POWDER SWELLING TEST
4.1 Principles
The swelling capacity was determined with the powder
swelling test (PST) according to Thuro (1993), where
758
Table 2. Results of the Blaine-Value test.
Blaine-value Surface area
Sample [–] [–]
Gypsum Keuper 5680 large
Reichenhall Form. 3340 medium
Haselgebirge 2240 small
Figure 5. Drawing showing the test setup (“oedometer-
cell”) for the PST. 1 = water tray, 2 = water, 3 = swelling
cell, 4 = drainage hole, 5 = lower porous plate, 6 = sample,
7 = upper porous plate, 8 = cap, 9 = dial gauge (after
Thuro 1993).
the swelling displacement of a powdered sample is
measured.The separated anhydrite samples were dried,
fractured and grinded to a homogeneous powder with
a defined grain size between fine sand and clay. Then
the material was inserted in a testing cell (Fig. 5). It
is necessary to produce a constant density of around
1.5 g/cm3 . The height of the inserted material is around
2.0 cm. The axial surcharge was minimised and con-
sisted of the upper porous plate and the cap (together
72 g which is equivalent to a pressure of 0.18 kN/m2 ).
Distilled water was added to start the swelling. A man-
ual dial gauge measuring the vertical displacement is
read off once a day.
The advantages of this method are obvious. It is
possible to test almost every material and even only
small layers of the sample. Another advantage is the
ideal comparison of different samples because of the
perfect identical preparation (Table 3).
Additionally the test is less time consuming and first
results are available after a short period of time, e.g.
days or weeks (Table 3).
Nevertheless we should not forget to address the
disadvantages. First of all it is not possible to gain any
information about the swelling pressure of anhydrite
directly from the results of the powder swelling test.
Table 3. Comparison of different swelling tests concern-
ing the most important swelling dependencies of anhydrite
samples (Rauh & Thuro 2006).

Attribute of Powder swelling Other swelling

anhydrite test tests

Content in sample 100% varying

Grain size identical varying
Distribution (in sample) identical varying
Water content 0% varying
Time for swelling fast slow

Table 4. Correlation between surface area, grain size and

subsequently grain shape. The calculated results are referred
to 1 g anhydrite with a specific density of ρ = 2.94 g/cm3
(modified after Voll 1992).

Grain shape Sphere Cube

Diameter (d) or surface area surface area
edge length (l) [mm] (6/(d * ρ)) [cm2 ] (6/(l * ρ)) [cm2 ] Figure 6. Swelling strain of pure Haselgebirge anhydrite
that was crushed to different grain sizes. The swelling strain
0.063 323.939 323.939 increases with decreasing grain size.
0.2 102.041 102.041
0.63 32.394 32.394
2.0 10.204 10.204 was crushed and sieved to obtain the grain sizes
4.0 5.102 5.102 needed. 100 g of each grain size was mixed up with
6.3 3.239 3.239 50 g quartz powder. This procedure minimizes the cav-
erns in the coarse samples. Then the material was
placed in the swelling cell and the swelling process
was started with distilled water. The swelling strain of
the different grain sizes after 1.5 years can be seen in
Secondly we only determine the swelling strain of a
Figure 6. The swelling strain increases noticeable with
disturbed sample.
decreasing grain size.
It has to be pointed out that the second disadvan-
tages is not essential, since in our opinion it is more
or less impossible to collect an undisturbed and natu-
ral sample and fit it into the oedometer cell. There is 4.3 Results of the swelling test
always some tension release, additional cracking and The results of the powder swelling tests on different
change in water content. anhydrites are shown in Figure 7. The swelling dis-
placement has finished or has gone below the accuracy
of measurement after approximately one and a half
4.2 Different grain sizes years.The absolute identically prepared and assembled
The swelling capacity depends very much on the grain anhydrite samples have very different swelling capac-
size of the anhydrite. This dependency can be visual- ities. The swelling strain decreases from the Gypsum
ized by calculating the surface areas of different grain Keuper and the Reichenhall Formation to the Hasel-
sizes (Table 4). The calculation for each grain size is gebirge. This corresponds very well with the former
normalized to 1 g anhydrite with a specific density of rock cover which increases vice versa.
2.94 g/cm3 . The surface area of 1 g anhydrite increases
linear with decreasing grain size. To simplify the cal-
culation, only cube and sphere shapes were used. This 5 GYPSIFICATON RATE AFTER PST
assumption is eligible, since anhydrite – also called
“cube spar” – normally has cubic crystals (Fig. 8). The anhydrite and gypsum content of the samples
Interestingly the surface areas of cubes and spheres before and after the PST have been investigated. On
are identical (Table 4). the one hand the contents were determined by x-ray
The swelling behavior of anhydrite with different diffraction. The narrow tolerances could be achieved
grain sizes was investigated with a modified powder by using the Rietveld analysis program BGMN© . On
swelling test. Therefore pure Haselgebirge anhydrite the other hand the relative gypsum contents could be

759
Figure 7. Diagram showing decreasing swelling strain in the
PST against increasing former rock cover. The bars represent
the gypsum content before and after the powder swelling tests.
Table 5. Anhydrite content of the samples before and after
the powder swelling test (analyzed with x-ray diffraction and
dehydration tests according to Henke & Hiller 1983).
anhydrite content before PST after PST
in volume-% absolute/relative abs./rel.
Gypsum Keuper 81 ± 3/95 ± 1 1 ± 1/1 ± 1
Reichenhall Form. 81 ± 2/99 ± 1 16 ± 2/19 ± 1
Haselgebirge 96 ± 2/99 ± 1 40 ± 2/39 ± 1
ascertained by a dehydration test after Henke & Hiller
(1983). The results can be seen in Figure 7 and Table 5.
Before the PST the samples consisted of anhydrite and
more or less no gypsum. After the PST the anhydrite
content in the samples varies from 1% to around 40%.
These results are quite surprising since the
anhydrite-gypsum conversion and therefore the
swelling strain in the PST has stopped and/or under-
gone the accuracy of measurement. In other words
there is still anhydrite left that does not change to
gypsum.
The reason for this behavior can be found in the
crystal grain sizes and therefore in the grade of transec-
tion of the different samples (Fig. 8). In the beginning
the alteration process can only take place at the contact
area between water and anhydrite or – in other words –
at the outside of crystals or at grain boundaries.
Mature anhydrites with large crystals possess a
small specific surface area (Tab. 2). Additionally the
transection grade is low and the water can not eas-
ily enter into the sample. This leads to a small rim
of gypsum around each large anhydrite crystal, which
secludes the core from further contact to water and
760
Figure 8. Alteration of anhydrite with different crystal grain
sizes. The differences in the surface areas in the samples lead
to varying gypsification rates.
simultaneously prevents further alteration to gypsum
(Fig. 8).
6 CONCLUSIONS
The results show that pure anhydrites differ in their
swelling capacity even if they were grinded to the same
grain size. The key to that behavior seems to be the
discrepancy in the geological history of the materials.
The decisive difference is the “maturity” of the anhy-
drite rock. Herein the maturity is reflected in a larger
former rock cover which led to high temperature and
stress conditions. That again produces a massive rock
with large crystal grains and a relatively low specific
surface area. The result is an anhydrite rock with a low
reactive surface area and thus more or less inert (or
“sluggish”) to swelling.
REFERENCES
Amstad, C. & Kovári, K. 2001. Untertagbau in quellfähigem
Fels. Forschungsbericht 482, Vereinigung Schweiz-
erischer Straßenfachleute, Zurich, 226 pp.
Bachmann, G.H. & Brunner, H. 1998. Nordwürttemberg –
Stuttgart, Heilbronn und weitere Umgebung. Sammlung
geologischer Führer 90. Stuttgart: Bornträger, 403 pp.
DIN EN 196-6. 1990. Prüfverfahren für Zement, Bestim-
mung der Mahlfeinheit, Deutsches Institut für Normung
e. V. Berlin: Beuth, 9 pp.
Erichsen, C. & Kurz, G. 1996. Sanierung eines alten
im quellendem Gipskeuper gelegenen Eisenbahntunnels.
Taschenbuch für den Tunnelbau 20: 183–202.
Geyer, O.F. & Gwinner, M.P. 1968. Einführung in die
Geologie von Baden-Württemberg. 2nd edition. Stuttgart:
Schweizerbart, 228 pp.
Gwinner, M.P. 1971. Geologie der Alpen. Stuttgart:
Schweizerbart, 477 pp.
Henke, K.F. & Hiller, M. 1983. Gipskeuper als Baugrund –
Ingenieurgeologische Studie. Oberndorf: Schwarzwälder
Bote, 80 pp.
Laabmayer, F., Eder, M. & Schwab, P. 1996. Der Achbergtun-
nel – Umfahrung Lofer. Felsbau 14(3): 127–133.
Murray, R.C. 1964. Origin and diagenesis of gypsum
and anhydrite. Journal of sedimentary geology 34(3):
512–523.
Paul, A. & Wichter, L. 1996. Das Langzeitverhal-
ten von Tunnelbauwerken im quellenden Gebirge –
Neuere Meßergebnisse vom Stuttgarter Wagenburgtun-
nel. Taschenbuch für den Tunnelbau 20: 135–164.
Rauh, F. & Thuro, K. 2006. Why do pure anhydrites differ in
their swelling capacity? In 3rd Colloquium Rock Mechan-
ics – Theory and Practice (RMC06), Wien, In press.
761
Rauh, F., Spaun, G. & Thuro, K. 2006. Assessment of the
swelling potential of anhydrite in tunnelling projects. In
Proceedings 10th IAEG Congress, Nottingham, Paper no.
473, 8 pp.
Reimann, M. 1991. Geologisch-lagerstättenkundliche und
mineralogische Untersuchungen zur Vergipsung und Vol-
umenzunahme der Anhydrite verschiedener geologischer
Formationen unter natürlichen und labormäßigen Bedin-
gungen. Geologisches Jahrbuch D 97: 21–125.
Schenk, V. 1967. Die Faziesentwicklung der Reichenhaller
Schichten und die Tektonik im Süden des Achensees,
Tirol. Geologische Rundschau 56(2): 464–473.
Thuro, K. 1993. Der Pulver-Quellversuch – ein neuer Quell-
hebungsversuch. Geotechnik 16(3): 101–106.
Voll, K. 1992. Die Anhydrit-Gips-Umwandlung in Sediment-
gesteinen: Texturelle, strukturelle und chemische Mecha-
nismen. Ph.D. Dissertation, University Karlsruhe, 146 pp.
Wiesheu, R. 1997. Geologisch-geochemische Untersuchun-
gen zur Rekonstruktion der thermischen Geschichte des
Haselgebirges. D.Sc. Dissertation, TU München, 95 pp.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Shear testing of a model dam monolith under varying lateral

constraint conditions

D. Galic, S.D. Glaser & R.E. Goodman

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA

ABSTRACT: When sliding takes place on a foundation with significant, asymmetric topography, the resulting
effective friction angle is dependent upon this three dimensional “roughness” in the same way that a 2-D strength
envelope is dependent on dilatancy angle i. In both cases, there is considerable strength gain over a smooth test
pair. The addition of lateral constraints further increases test sample shear strength in the 3-D case, because the
block is forced to dilate upward when it would prefer to dilate laterally. In this paper, we examine this strength gain
as experienced by an asymmetric three-plane “monolith” sliding over its matching aluminum foundation block.
The test pair is first sheared without any lateral constraint, next with moderate lateral constraints, and finally
with rigid lateral constraints, which force the monolith to move linearly forward. The practical implications of
the increase in available friction angle are discussed in the context of a gravity dam foundation.

1 INTRODUCTION

The linear envelope known as the Mohr-Coulomb

failure criterion is a simple, practical, relationship
between normal and shear forces. Classically, the
model applies to macroscopically smooth horizontal
contact surfaces. Patton’s (1966) introduction of the
roughness parameter i enabled the model to handle
an entirely new range of surfaces, namely, those with
symmetric macro-scale topography.
The roughness coefficient i loses its physical mean-
ing when sample topography is strongly asymmetric.
However, if we assume that the failure envelope is still
reasonably linear, the interpretation of envelope slope
as the tangent of the effective friction angle continues
to hold. The question of whether a linear failure enve- Figure 1. Schematic of the foundation (bottom) block.
lope is appropriate for strongly asymmetric samples is Foundation planes marked.
beyond the scope of the present discussion (see Gras-
selli & Egger 2003). The point is that by making this side; 4. A sample which is tightly constrained on both
assumption, we retain in φeff a convenient means of sides. Each case is represented by a cohesionless linear
comparing the sliding resistance of different sample envelope whose slope is used to calculate the effective
configurations. friction angle. We also examine the post-slip behav-
In this paper, we examine the effects of topography ior of the top block as it relates to some fundamental
and constraint on the strength of an aluminum sam- questions in gravity dam engineering.
ple pair in direct shear. The bottom sample, shown
in Figure 1, has three linearly independent foundation
planes. This topography forces the matching top block 2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
to dilate both upward and laterally as it slides over
the bottom sample. The peak values of shear force at The backbone of the testing apparatus is a half-
initial slip are compared for: 1. An unconstrained sam- inch thick modular aluminum breadboard. Attached
ple; 2. A sample which is loosely constrained on one to this are the bottom sample, a brushless linear actu-
side; 3. A sample which is tightly constrained on one ator, and an array of laser rangefinders used to track

763
Figure 2. Panoramic view of the test setup.
Figure 3. Top-block (inverted) inside its confining jacket.
Contact points of the top-block denoted.
displacement (see Galic et. al. 2006). A load cell is
attached to the tip of the linear actuator. As the free
top block is pushed over the rigid foundation block,
a servo controller attempts to maintain the command
displacement rate by increasing or decreasing current
in the motor. Resulting changes in the shear load are
picked up by the load cell and recorded. The setup is
shown in Figure 2.
Both the top and bottom samples were cut from
6061 aluminum and subsequently hard-anodized. The
top block weighs 53.4 N and has top dimensions of
15.2 by 30.5 cm. The normal load can be increased or
decreased by placing additional weights atop the block.
Although the presence of additional weights changes
the location of the block’s mass center, inconsistency
can be kept to a minimum by using low profile weights
and limiting the range of normal loads.
The top sample is constrained by placing a struc-
tural “jacket” over it. This jacket consists of a small
rigid breadboard and two opposing sets of anodized
aluminum flanges (Fig. 3). The flanges progressively
764
Figure 4. Jacketed top-block in its pre-sliding position.
decrease in size, which accommodates the rising
topography of the foundation block and allows the
jacket to rest on the foundation block. The jacket is
fixed to the load frame via sliders attached to two
vertical columns (Fig. 4).
A one-sided constraint condition can be imple-
mented by removing the lefthand set of flanges from
the jacket, while keeping the structure bolted to both
sliders. A loose one-sided constraint can then be
achieved by removing the righthand slider, and unbolt-
ing the lefthand slider. The jacket is now balanced by
the remaining slider and by its remaining set of flanges,
and can offer only limited resistance to lateral block
movement.
Purely unconstrained sliding is investigated with the
jacket removed completely.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Unconstrained block
The top block is pushed over its matching founda-
tion block without any lateral constraint (as in Fig. 2).
Immediately upon displacing, the top block reverts to
three-point contact, and the same three points remain
in contact with their respective foundation planes
throughout sliding (these points are marked in Fig-
ure 3). The block dilates to the right as it is pushed
forward. This appears to be consistent with the orien-
tation of foundation plane 3 (see Fig. 1), whose dip
vector has a component in the rightward direction.
Figure 5 shows the results of a typical unconstrained
shear test. The shear load builds linearly to its peak
value (dashed vertical line), then drops to a plateau as
sliding begins. This eventually leads to a second load
Figure 5. CASE 1 – Unconstrained block. Sample results
of an unconstrained shear test.
Figure 6. CASE 1 – Unconstrained block. Strength
envelopes for the unconstrained case.
increase culminating in the maximum shear force, 4 cm
into sliding, or at approximately 15% of the block’s
length. The peak and maximum envelopes shown in
Figure 6 are based on a total of twenty shear tests run
at five different normal loads. The peak friction angle
of 24◦ should be compared with the 12◦ value that
smooth blocks cut from the same material exhibit in
tilt tests.
3.2 Loosely side-constrained block
The one-sided jacket is placed over the sample, bal-
anced but not bolted to the load frame. The constrain-
ing side of the jacket is flush with the right side of the
top-block. As the block dilates rightward, it pushes the
jacket aside. The jacket remains parallel to the longitu-
dinal axis of the block even after it has been displaced,
as seen in Figure 7.
Figure 8 shows the results of a typical shear test
in this configuration. Shear load builds linearly until
movement of the top block is initiated. The value of
765
Figure 7. The sliding block pushes aside its “loose” con-
straint but remains parallel with it.
Figure 8. CASE 2 – Loosely clamped block. Sample results
of a loosely constrained shear test.
shear force at this point, denoted by a dashed vertical
line in Figure 8, is the peak load. However, even after
this point is reached, the load continues to increase,
with no sudden drop as in the unconstrained case. The
load reaches a second peak (the “bonus” peak) with
no significant displacement experienced. After reach-
ing bonus peak, the load drops abruptly as the block
lurches forward, then builds once again to a plateau
where its maximum value is achieved. The plateau
begins at approximately 15% length displacement.
As seen in Figure 9, the peak envelope for the
semi-constrained case is practically identical to the
unconstrained peak envelope (cf. Fig. 6). The two
cases exhibit the same peak friction angle, and it ini-
tially appears that there is no strengthening benefit
from the moderate constraint. However, since the block
continues to strengthen after peak shear, the semi-
constrained case is better described by the “bonus”
envelope shown in Figure 9 than by its peak enve-
lope. For our particular setup, less than 2% length
displacement has occurred at bonus peak.
Figure 9. CASE 2 – Loosely clamped block. Strength Figure 10. The side constrained block tilts dramatically
envelopes for the loosely constrained case. because it is forced to move steeply uphill.

This strain-hardening behavior may be attributed

to the continuous preservation of contact between the
top block and constraint. When shear load reaches
the value corresponding to peak shear for an uncon-
strained block, the weak constraint cannot prevent the
block from moving, and motion is initiated. But once
both constraint and block have begun to move, they
are essentially transformed into a single heavier unit,
which behaves like an unconstrained block with much
greater normal load.This joint motion terminates when
the constraint jacket is arrested by foundation plane 2,
and as the top block slides past it, the load required to
maintain command displacement once again drops.

3.3 Rigidly side-constrained block

The one-sided jacket is positioned as in the loose case,
Figure 11. CASE 3 – Side clamped block. Sample results
but then bolted to the load frame. As the block moves of a side-constrained shear test.
forward, the jacket prevents it from dilating right.
Because there is no left-side constraint, the block can
still rotate about its longitudinal axis. Three-point con-
tact with the foundation is therefore maintained, but the
block is now forced to go further up foundation plane
3 and tilts precariously (Fig. 10).
Figure 11 shows representative output from a side
clamped shear test. Sliding initiates at the peak value
of shear force, denoted by a dashed vertical line in
the figure. However, shear load continues to build
until reaching a maximum value at approximately 15%
length displacement. Only after that point does the
block begin to slide under progressively decreasing
load. The peak friction envelope (Fig. 12) has an angle
of 31◦ , substantially higher than the 24◦ unconstrained
value. Peak and maximum envelopes are separated by
only 7◦ .

3.4 Clamped block.

The top-block is now clamped on both sides and can no Figure 12. CASE 3 – Side clamped block. Strength
longer rotate about its longitudinal axis. Three-point envelopes for the side constrained case.

766
 Figure 14. CASE 4 – Dually clamped block. Sample results
Figure 13. The back edge of the fully constrained block is of a dually clamped shear test.
dragged as the block slides forward.

contact with the bottom-block can no longer be main-

tained, as contact point 2 lifts off its foundation plane
and the entire back edge of the top-block is dragged
(Fig. 13).
The output of a dually clamped shear test always
displays a peculiar characteristic feature. This feature
is denoted by an arrow in Figure 14, and appears as a
blip in the otherwise linear load build-up to peak shear
(dashed vertical line). There is a simultaneous jump in
the displacement curve, followed by a period of little
or no displacement.
The origin of this quirk lies in the construction of
the constraint jacket. It is possible to align the sides of
the jacket so that they are perfectly flush with the sides
of the top block. However, the jacket has a tendency
to become slightly misaligned during the torqueing
of its assembly bolts. As a result, there is the tini-
est bit of wiggle room inside the jacket, and at a
critical load, the top block buckles inside the jacket
before wrenching into a sturdier position. This sud-
den movement is captured by both the load cell and
laser rangefinder, and results in the features seen in
Figure 14.
The buckling or seating phenomenon could be writ- Figure 15. CASE 4 – Dually clamped block. Strength
ten off as experimental error were it not for the fact envelopes for the dually clamped case.
that is must exist in-situ. While it is possible to care-
fully align the sides of the constraint jacket, it is
impossible to perfectly align the sides of adjacent
gravity dam monoliths. Due to the scale of a grav- The seating envelope has an angle of 29◦ , which is
ity dam and the tolerances involved in construction, roughly equivalent to the peak envelope of the one-
there always exists some amount of wiggle room along sided constraint (cf. Fig. 12). After seating, the load
monolith sides. Thus if the present clamped shear continues to build with little or no displacement, peak
test were intended to model the sliding behavior of shear occurring at 40◦ . The load profile flattens out
a suspect monolith positioned between two unques- after peak shear, before undergoing a long progressive
tionably reliable monoliths, important physical insight increase to maximum value, which occurs at approxi-
could be gained from the seating envelope, shown in mately 20% length displacement. The maximum shear
Figure 15. envelope has an angle of 53◦ .

767
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Unconstrained sliding
The three planes of the foundation block have the fol-
lowing topography: FP 1 has a dip of zero, FP 2 a dip
of 9.5◦ dipping away from the displacement direction,
and FP 3 a dip of 20◦ dipping 153◦ clockwise from the
displacement direction. These angles were chosen to
emphasize lateral dilation.
As stated, the “smooth” friction angle of anodized
6061 aluminum is approximately 12◦ . The effec-
tive friction angle doubles to 24◦ when sliding
occurs on the three-plane foundation. Needless to say,
macroscale foundation topography greatly increases
shear strength. While the magnitude of this increase
depends on the specific nature of the foundation, any
kind of uphill topography is better than none. The
foundation profiles of most gravity dams features
some combination of rising and dipping topography;
increasing the relative percentage of uphill profile
increases the design strength of the dam.
It was mentioned above that the block has a ten-
dency to dilate right as it moves forward. The actual
path taken by a test sample in a shear experiment is
very much influenced by frictional interference from
the actuator load tip. For more on this, see Galic et al.
(2007).
4.2 Loosely constrained sliding
This is at once the most interesting and problematic
case. The boundary condition might exist in a grav-
ity dam where none of the monoliths are considered
unquestionably reliable. What the results show is that,
at worst, a few extra degrees of friction angle can be
expected over the purely unconstrained case, before
irreversible damage occurs to the dam.
The exact meaning of irreversible damage is partic-
ular to the structure in question. As noted, the region
between peak and bonus peak in the moderately con-
strained shear tests featured structural displacements
on the order of 2% length. This value may be accept-
able for certain gravity structures; however, the 15%
length displacements at maximum shear would not be
acceptable for any structures.
The results associated with this constraint condi-
tion should be interpreted qualitatively. The numer-
ical data are specific to our testing machine and
choice of constraint. The weight of the constraint
(47 N) as well as its complicated frictional interac-
tion with both the block and load frame necessarily
influence test results. Although the load profile for
a different “loose” constraint likely features similar
post-peak strain hardening, the magnitude of the dis-
placement which occurs during this time is inevitably
different.
768
4.3 Side constrained sliding.
The increased resistance to load and higher peak enve-
lope may be attributed to two separate phenomena. The
desire of the block to dilate rightward forces it into
the rigid constraint on that side. Although the block
continues to maintain thee-point contact with its foun-
dation planes, its upper right edge is always flush with
the constraint, which remains fixed while the block
moves forward. As a result of this relative motion, a
friction force arises which acts in the direction oppos-
ing displacement. A greater shear force is therefore
required to maintain displacement.
Thus, the first strengthening mechanism is a result
of lateral dilation induced by the topography. The sec-
ond mechanism is a function of vertical dilation. The
block is no longer able to take the lower resistance
curving path which it displays in the unconstrained
case. Rather, it must remain parallel to the rigid con-
straint and now moves linearly forward. Since the dip
vector of the steep third foundation plane has a direc-
tion of 153◦ clockwise, a path along bearing 0◦ (the
forward displacement direction) will result in steeper
climb than a path further to the right. So much as in
the unconstrained case, the topography contributes to
the strength of the structure.
This type of constraint was investigated by Good-
man & Bro (2005) in connection with a safety review
of Folsom Dam, CA. The authors showed that the
design strength of a gravity dam monolith is increased
by the presence of foundation topography that tends to
promote lateral dilation.
4.4 Dually constrained sliding
Seating occurs at the point where the side-constrained
block would begin to move (30◦ ). Between this point
and peak shear (40◦ ), the motion of the top block is
completely arrested by friction between itself and the
confinement jacket. Once motion begins, the block can
no longer roll and both of its sides remain flush with the
constraints. As a result, the number two contact point
is lifted from its foundation plane while CP 3 is forced
to move steeply uphill as in the side-constrained case.
CP 3 experiences increased normal load and visible
grinding wear may be observed, especially at higher
normal loads.
In the absence of topography, a dual constraint does
little to strengthen a sliding block, as the smooth block
has a natural tendency to move parallel to its con-
straint. It is asymmetric macroscale roughness which
forces the sliding block to interact with its confine-
ment. The combined action of topography and absolute
constraint then strengthens the block significantly, in
this case increasing the peak friction angle from 12◦
to 40◦ . One portion of this strength increase is due
to a steeper vertical path being imposed; the other and
perhaps more important contribution is from the block
pushing laterally into its confinement. It is thus pos-
sible that in the presence of sturdy confinement, even
strongly downhill topography can lead to increased
strength, provided the topography is conducive to
lateral dilation.
Shear strength continues to increase after peak load
as the block wrenches itself further into the constraint
jacket. The practical ramifications of this again depend
on how much displacement can be tolerated by a par-
ticular gravity structure. The maximum friction angle
of 53◦ is reached at approximately 20% length dis-
placement, a value at which every gravity structure
would already be considered to have “failed”. How-
ever, this failure need not be a catastrophic event. If
a critical monolith were to slip forward 20% but then
stop before exceeding its maximum shear strength, the
structure could retain some degree of integrity so long
as the neighboring monoliths remained stationary and
continued to provide confinement. In that event, the
maximum shear strength envelope would represent the
threshold between a relatively controlled drawdown
and an uncontrolled flood.
4.5 Notes on error
The failure envelopes presented in this paper were cre-
ated by automatically fitting first-order polynomials
through the mean values of recorded shear at various
normal loads. The data points are reasonably well rep-
resented by a linear failure envelope passing through
the origin. There does appear to be some scatter how-
ever, especially in Cases 3 and 4. This scatter may be
explained by the greater difficulty of consistently posi-
tioning the block with the constraint jacket in place.
Cleaning the foundation between tests also proved
more challenging in the presence of confinement. As
a result, portions of the foundation became tacky with
aluminum residue, which seemed disproportionately
to impact tests at lower load levels.
769
5 CONCLUSION
In summary, the presence of significant foundation
topography leads to greater shear resistance. The pair-
ing of confinement and dilation inducing topography
gives rise to a powerful strengthening mechanism. On
a foundation which promotes lateral dilation, increas-
ing degrees of confinement lead to greater values of
peak shear strength. While the results of the paper
are best interpreted comparatively, they provide useful
physical insight into the failure mechanics of a grav-
ity structure. This is an area of ongoing research with
immediate field applications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded by the National Science
Foundation through grant number CMS-0408389.
REFERENCES
Galic, D., Glaser, S.D, & Goodman, R.E. 2007. Quantitative
analysis of end effects in a generalized shear experiment.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences (In Press).
Galic, D., Moore, J.R. & Glaser, S.D. 2006. Tracking the
motion of a prismatic test block with an array of laser
sensors. In Proceedings of the 41st U.S. Symposium on
Rock Mechanics, Golden.
Goodman, R.E. & Bro, A. 2005. Shear strength of a founda-
tion with two dimensional roughness. In Proceedings of
the 40th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Anchorage.
Grasselli, G. & Egger P. 2003. Constitutive law for the shear
strength of rock joints based on three-dimensional surface
parameters. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences 40: 25–40.
Patton, F.D. 1966. Multiple modes of shear failure in rock. In
Proc. 1st Cong. ISRM, Lisbon, 1: 509–513.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Time-dependant behavior of rock foundation by laboratory and

numerical modeling in Gotvand Dam

M. Ahmadi
Mining Engineering, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran, Iran

H.M.D. Niasar
Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran

M.R. Bidgoli
Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: Gotvand rock fill dam is being constructed in Khoozestan province (Iran) on the Karun river.
Its foundation will be founded on the Aghajary formation, which consists of interbedded siltstone and mudstone
layers. It is expected that creep deformation will occur during the operation life of the dam, requiring investigation
of the time dependant behavior of the foundation. These investigations will include both numerical and analytical
methodologies, which in turn will require the determination of creep parameters for the rock foundation layers. For
this, creep tests were carried out on the rock samples and the strain vs. time curves were obtained. Considering the
Burger’s creep model, the constants of creep law were determined. Comparison between the results of numerical
modeling and laboratory creep tests showed that the difference between deformations in the two methods was
less than 6%. Also the time required for both rocks to enter the tertiary creep stage was determined to be 40 days
for sandstone under 17.72 MPa uniaxial stress and 35 days for mudstone under 7.8 MPa uniaxial stress.

1 INTRODUCTION Iran. The dam is an earth embankment structure with

One of the more important deformation characteristics
of weak rock is it’s time-dependent or creep behavior.
Creep is identified as irrecoverable deformation as a
function of time and without fracture. This behavior is
seen in the soft rocks such as rock salt and coal. Hard
rocks also show creep behavior, but only over relatively
long time periods (Cristescu & Hunsche 1998).
As such, one of the fundamental assumptions in
the design of a rock foundation is to choose the cor-
rect modeling parameters for time-dependant analysis.
Different problems may be attributed to creep of rocks
including differential settlement of structures, crack-
ing of concrete linings in tunnels, and roof failure of
tunnels and caverns. These experiences show that time
is a very important factor in the design of rock struc-
tures (Sharokhi 1993). Of course, different rocks show
different creep deformations. Similarities and differ-
ences of geotechnical parameters must be considered
in engineering design. To achieve this aim, in-situ and
laboratory tests should be carried out in short and long
term tests and the creep constants and parameters for
rocks be determined (Cristescu & Hunsche 1998). The
Gotvand dam and hydraulic power house will be con-
structed on the Karun River in the north of Gotvand,
a clay core and a height of 177 m (from elevation 65 m
at the base to 244 m at the dam crest). The dam and
its related structures are located on and within the
Aghajary and Bakhtiary formations.
2 TIME-DEPENDENT STRAIN OF ROCK
Data obtained from laboratory creep tests show a
unique shape for time-dependant deformation of rock.
An ideal curve for a constant load test is shown in
Figure 1. Accordingly, this curve has four separate
parts (Familiar & Soroush 1991):
1) Instantaneous elastic strain (AB),
2) Primary creep (BC),
3) Secondary creep (CD) and
4) Tertiary creep (DE).
The segment AB represents instantaneous elastic
strain, which happens immediately after applying the
load. This is followed by “primary creep” (segment
BC) where dilatory elastic variation will occur. Con-
tinuous loading reaches point C, where “secondary
creep” starts and the sample deforms with a constant

771
 Tertiary
Primary Creep
Creep
Secondary
Creep
Strain
Permanent
Displacement
Time
Figure 1. A typical strain–time curve for creep deformation
of rock (after Familiar & Soroush 1991).
Figure 2. Burger’s model (after Itasca 2003).
strain rate. If unloading occurs here, some permanent
deformations will remain in the specimen. At point D,
the rate of strain will begin to increase until the sample
fails, i.e. “tertiary creep” (segment DE).
Most studies involving creep have been carried out
on the first and second regimes. The tertiary stage is
not as important because the design of structure con-
structed on rock works to avoid exceeding the pimary
or secondary stages of creep, i.e. to avoid foundation
collapse.
3 ROCK CREEP RHEOLOGICAL MODELING
Two methods are generally used for modeling of the
time-dependant behavior of rock: empirical and rhe-
ological. The empirical method is based on specific
formulas for creep curves and several constants. The
rheological method involves modeling creep behav-
ior through an arrangement of simple constitutive
elements. One important rheological model is the
Burger’s model. The Burger’s model is obtained by
combining a Maxwell model and a Kelvin model in
series (Fig. 2). When this model is under a constant
772
stress of σ1 for time t, the strain can be determined by
the following equation:
Where, σ 1 is the constant uniaxial stress on the sample,
K is bulk modulus and η1 , η2 , G1 , G2 are constants.
Equation (1) shows that total strain under stress is
formed from three parts:
Under low stresses after time t, the elastic part will
be fully recoverable, the primary creep will be released
gradually and the secondary creep will permanently
remain in a Maxwell condition.
4 INSTRUMENTATION
Laboratory testing was carried using creep test equip-
ment in the Civil Engineering Faculty of Amir Kabir
University, Tehran, Iran. The required constant stress
was applied on the sample within a 20 second time win-
dow and kept constant with 2% accuracy throughout
the test duration. To achieve a constant stress level, the
load was adjusted to account for the strain of the sam-
ple and change in its cross section. For convenience,
the test was performed under uniaxial loading. For
axial loading, a high power ENERPAC_RCH cylinder
unit was used. The creep cell has a hole to permit mea-
suring axial deformation (Fig. 3). Oil for producing
pressure was provided by a hydraulic circuit. Pressure
was held constant inside the cylinder using a hydraulic
pump.
4.1 Steel plates
Two steel plates were placed along the bottom and top
of each sample to transfer the axial load. One of the
plates had a spherical seating and the other plate was
flat and rigid. When the plates are new, their roughness
should not be more than 0.015 mm. Also, the diameter
of the spherical seat should be 1 to 2 times the sample
diameter. The center of the spherical seat should be
centered relative to the sample. Since soft rocks in the
creep test show substantial strain, the friction between
the sample’s surface and the plates must be minimized.
To achieve this, the sample ends were flattened and
polished smooth (Fig. 4).
 Figure 5. Burger’s model creep law.

follows that described by Equation 1. Figure 5 demon-

strates ε1 versus time diagram according to Equation
1. At t = 0, the curve intersects the ε1 axis at:

Figure 3. Photo and schematic illustration of creep test cell

and instrumentation.
and when the chart becomes linear, its intercept with
the ε1 axis and slope, respectively, are:

In practice, the stress cannot be applied instan-

taneously and the intersection of point εB is best
determined by regression. Here, q is equal to the
positive distance between the creep curve and creep
secondary asymptote (Fig. 5), therefore:

Figure 4. Internal cut-away of load cell. The semi-logarithmic graph log10 q versus t has,
respectively, an intersection point and slope:

5 DETERMINATION OF BURGER’S MODEL

CONSTANTS that give the parameters G1 , η1 .
G2 can be determined by the following equation:
The simplest method for determination of viscoelastic
constants is through uniaxial creep testing of cylindri-
cal rock specimens. Stress, temperature and humidity
must be held constant during the test.
The axial strain, ε1 (t), and time relationship under G2 and K are often independent from the stress.
the constant axial stress based on Burger’s model The creep deformability constants have real physical

773
Table 1. Dimensions and compressive strength of the test
samples.

Uniaxial strength Length Diameter

Rock Type σc (kg/cm2 ) (mm) (mm)

Sandstone 250 142 62

Mudstone 150 181 82

0.0036

0.0034

0.0032
17.72MPa
Strain

0.003 20.44MPa
19.08MPa Figure 8. Creep curve and tangent line fitted to the sec-
0.0028
ondary creep regime for the sandstone.
0.0026
-3
0.0024
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time (day) -3.5

y = -0.1974x - 3.73642
Figure 6. Creep curves for the sandstone samples tested -4
Log(q)

R2 = 0.9652
under different constant stresses.
-4.5
0.0029
-5
0.0027
-5.5
0.0025 Time (day)

0.0023
Strain

Figure 9. Equation of the fitted line from the log(q) values

0.0021
0.0019
0.0017
0.0015
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (day)
Figure 7. Creep curves for the mudstone samples tested
under different constant stresses.
meanings: G2 is the elastic shear modulus and G1 con-
trols the amount of delayed elasticity, η1 determines
the rate of delayed elasticity, and η2 describes the rate
of viscous flow.
6 TEST RESULTS
The tests were carried out on rock specimens sampled
from sandstones and mudstones the Gotvand dam will
be founded on. Geomechanical parameters and spec-
ification of the samples are presented in Table 1. The
sandstone samples were tested with constant stresses
of 177.2, 204.45, 190.8 kg/cm2 and the mudstone sam-
ples were tested with stress magnitudes of 78 and
70.1 Kg/cm2 .
Tests results are presented in Figures 6 and 7. Each
test was carried out until the sample passed into the
secondary creep regime. The time required for this
versus time t (see Fig. 8).
7.8MPa
7.0MPa
varied for the different samples, ranging from 8 to
14 days. The procedure followed was the same for
all samples; here, only the determination of the vis-
12 14 coelastic constants for the sandstone sample under
σ = 177.2 Kg/cm2 is described.
First, a tangent line was fitted to the linear seg-
ment representing the secondary creep regime (Fig. 8).
The equation ε = 10−5 t + 0.003 was found for this tan-
gent line with R2 = 0.97. Next, the (positive) distance
(q) between the creep curve and the tangent line was
calculated for different times. The logarithm of the q
values for different times versus time was plotted and
a line was fitted to these points (Fig. 9). This new line
has an equation of log q = −3.7364 − 0.1974t with
R2 = 0.96.
Accordingly, based on Equation 2, it can be con-
cluded that:
According to the strain intercept of the tan-
gent line on the creep curve (εB = 0.003), and the

774
Table 2. Viscoelastic constants determined for the tested samples.

Rock type σ(kg/cm2 ) K(GPa) G1 (GPa) G2 (GPa) η1 (GPa/day) η2 (GPa/day)

Sandstone 177.2 3 32.4 3.88 74.6 590

Sandstone 204.45 3 74.62 4.02 110.28 340.7
Sandstone 190.8 3 42.92 3.88 76.26 318
Mudstone 77.94 1.67 9.6 2.16 26.3 86.6
Mudstone 70.1 1.67 9.5 2.84 13 77.9

Table 3. Geomechanical rock properties used (after

Sharokhi 1993).

Young
modulus, Poisson Cohesion Friction
Rock type E(GPa) ratio, ν (MPa) angle, φ

Sandstone 4.5 0.25 0.48 36.2

Mudstone 2 0.3 0.58 34.2

sandstone bulk modulus (K = 3 GPa), G2 is obtained

after substitution in Equation 3, such that:

Figure 10. Comparison of the laboratory and numerical

strain vs. time (day) creep curves for the sandstone specimen
under the axial stress of 177.2 kg/cm2 .
σ1
By equaling 3η 2
to the slope of the tangent line, η2
is calculated as:

The same procedure was followed for all creep test

samples. Viscoelastic constants of the tested samples
are presented in Table 2.

7 NUMERICAL MODELING

To determine the accuracy and calibrate the lab-

determined creep constants, numerical modeling was
carried out to simulate the laboratory test conditions.
Since, these constants would be used for future numer-
ical modeling, it was also necessary to study their
implementation and response in simplified numerical
models. The models were generated using FLAC-
2D (Itasca 2003), which is able to simulate time-
dependent behavior of materials.
Sample geometries used in the models were the
same as the specimen dimensions tested in the lab. The
sandstone sample had 62 mm diameter and 140 mm
height and the mudstone had 82 mm diameter and
182 mm height. Material properties for the intact rock,
i.e. geomechanical and creep, were set to be the same as
those presented in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. Applied
stress conditions in the models were based on those
Figure 11. Comparison of the laboratory and numerical
strain vs. time (day) creep curves for the mudstone specimen
under the axial stress of 78(kg/cm2 ).
applied in the laboratory. A FISH-function was writ-
ten to produce strain vs. time plots from the FLAC
model runs to compare to the laboratory test results.
By introducing the Burger’s creep viscoplastic
model, the time-dependant behavior of the sample was
simulated for a period of a few days. The models were
executed for the sandstone sample under the stress of
17.72 MPa and for the mudstone under the stress of
7.8 MPa. The results are shown in Figures 10 and 11,
respectively.

775
 Error magnitudes of the comparison were found to
be less than 6%, showing a suitable level of agreement
between the accuracy of the test instruments and model
results. In the numerical plots, the inflection or change
from linear behaviour was considered as the end of
the secondary creep regime and the beginning of the
tertiary creep regime. For example, in the sandstone
sample, the tertiary creep was interpreted as occurring
after approximately 40 days, while for the mudstone
sample, it is 35 days. It is predicted that the amount
of strain leading to failure is 0.0034 for the sandstone
sample and 0.0032 for the mudstone sample.
8 CONCLUSIONS
Creep tests were carried out on rock samples taken
from the Gotvand dam foundation. These tests were
stopped when the samples reached the secondary
creep regime. For the sandstone sample (constant
stress = 17.72 MPa) and the mudstone sample (con-
stant stress = 7.8 MPa), the laboratory results were
compared to numerical models that adopted the same
sample and loading configurations. The results are
summarized as follows:
1 Creep data obtained by laboratory testing were
reproducible in the numerical models, giving con-
fidence that the lab test instruments were working
properly.
776
2 It is concluded that the numerical results can be used
to predict time-dependant behavior of the rock types
in question.
3 The failure time for the rock samples based on the
numerical analyses were 45 and 35 days for the
sandstone and mudstone samples, respectively.
4 The tertiary creep regime happens quickly and fail-
ure is inevitable. The amount of strain that can be
taken as an approximation of the failure thresh-
old was 0.0034 and 0.0032 for the sandstone and
mudstone samples, respectively.
REFERENCES
Cristescu, N.D. & Hunsche, U. 1998. Time Effects in Rock
Mechanics. John Wiley & Sons, 342 pp.
Sharokhi, Z. 1993. Applying classification of rocks in the
upper Gotvand Dam: Geotechnical parameters estimation.
In The Fourth Dam Construction Conference, Tehran, pp.
840–861.
Familiar, A. & Soroush, H. 1991. Rock Mechanic Tests.
Mechanic Earth & Technical Laboratory Company,
720 pp.
Itasca Consulting Group 2003. FLAC-2D manual, version
4.0, Minnesota, USA.
Goodman, R.E. 1989. Introduction to Rock Mechanics. John
Wiley & Sons.
Chuhe, Y., Daemen, J.J.K. & Jian, –H.,Y. 1999. Experimental
investigation of creep behavior of salt rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Science 36: 233–
242.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Shear failure and shear fracturing in shales

R. Nygård
University of Calgary, Schulich School of Engineering, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Department,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

M. Gutierrez
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

K. Høeg
University of Oslo, Department of Geosciences, Oslo, Norway

ABSTRACT: This paper present an experimental study on the shear behavior and the formation of shear
fractures in shales. The experimental study is based on triaxial tests on shales sheared at different effective
confining stresses. Triaxial tests with different loading conditions have been performed to establish the brittle-
to-ductile transition. Based on the results of the tests, it is shown that the brittle-to-ductile transition can be related
to the overconsolidation ratio. A relationship between normalized undrained shear strength and overconsolidation
ratio is established. In combination with this relationship, a correlation between compressional wave velocity
and apparent pre-consolidation stress, which accounts for both mechanical and chemical diagenesis, may be
used as a tool to evaluate shear failure and fracturing in shales.

1 INTRODUCTION behavior and properties of shales. Because of their

Shales are fine-grained soft rocks that contain 50 to
100% clay particles and are characterized by some
degree of lamination and fissility parallel to the bed-
ding plane. Shales are of great engineering importance
since they are one of the most abundant materials
on the uppermost layer of the earth’s surface. Many
constructions particularly tunnels are in shaly mate-
rials (Einstein 2000). Many cases of landslides have
occurred in shales and clay-shales (e.g. Mesri &
Cepeda-Diaz 1986, Stark et al. 2005). Drilling wells
for hydrocarbon production must pass through shaly
formations comprising the cap rock of a producing
reservoir (Steiger & Leung 1991).
Shales exhibit behavior that is intermediate of soft
clays and hard cemented rocks (Johnston & Novello
1994). Shales are formed in sedimentary basins by a
process consisting of deposition followed by a series of
loading (from compaction) and unloading (from uplift
and erosion), chemical and mineralogical changes, and
other agents such as creep and aging. The entire pro-
cess, which turns young clay sediment into a fully
compacted and cemented shale, is called diagenesis.
The properties of the original sediment, the loading
history and mineralogical changes will influence the
diagenetical history, shales are more difficult to char-
acterize and their behavior difficult to predict than
clays. In turn, because of their complex behavior,
shales pose greater challenge during construction than
most types of soils.
Shales have low permeability in the range of 10−23
to 10−17 m2 (Dewhurst et al. 1999, Best & Katsube
1995). Since shales have such low matrix perme-
ability, which prevents fluids from flowing through
their matrix, the most likely seepage path is through
fractures.The main uncertainty in determining the pos-
sibility of fluid flow and leakage along fractures in
shales is the fracturing criterion. Fractures are formed
either as hydraulic fractures when the pore pressure
exceeds the sum of the minimum total stress and ten-
sile strength of the sediment, or as shear fractures when
the shear stress exceeds the shear strength.
Shear fracturing may occur if the following condi-
tion is met:
where σ1 is the maximum effective principal stresses.
In the above equation, Nφ is the failure coeffi-
cient and σc is the unconfined compressive strength,

777
respectively. These parameters are related to the effec-
tive friction angle φ and the cohesion c as follows:
Equation (2) is the idealized linear Mohr-Coulomb
failure criterion. The effective stresses σi correspond
to differences between the total stress σi and the pore
fluid pressure pp according to Biot-Terzaghi’s effective
stress principle (Biot 1941).
Shear failure does not always result in shear fractur-
ing for rocks. In addition to the failure criterion, shear
fracturing is controlled by the ductility or brittleness.
The deformation can be brittle or ductile depending
on the properties of the shale and the effective con-
fining stress level. Ductile behavior is characterized
by contractive response and gradual deformation to
failure. Brittle deformation is characterized by dila-
tive response and sudden failure at a well defined
peak shear strength followed by strain softening down
to residual shear strength. Brittle response can be
accompanied by the formation of distinct shear fail-
ure surfaces. Ductile response usually produces more
diffused deformation, as typically evidenced by lateral
expansion of cylindrical specimen of mudrocks loaded
in shear, with less distinct shear failure surface.
Figure 1 taken from Nygaard et al. (2006) shows
typical normalized shear stress vs. vertical strain for
triaxial tests on a stiff clay. The tests with high con-
fined stress has less distinct yield point and there is
no steep slope after yielding before reaching resid-
ual stress. When the samples were visually examined
0.5
0.4
Normalized shear stress
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 1983). During each triaxial test, vertical load, con-
0 20 40 60
Vertical strain (mS)
Figure 1. Normalized shear vs. actual strain plot at dif-
ferent initial consolidation stresses (T1:1 MPa, T2:5 MPa,
T3:8 MPa, T4: 15 MPa, T5: 25 MPa, T6: 48 MPa).
after testing, there were no visible shear fractures in
the ductile samples.
A parameter used in soil mechanics to quantify the
ductility or brittleness of clays is the overconsolidation
ratio (OCR). Soil mechanics makes a clear distinc-
tion for materials that have been loaded previously to
a higher effective stress level and then unloaded to
its current in situ effective stress. These materials are
called overconsolidated (OC) materials and the max-
imum effective vertical stress it has been subjected
to is called the pre-consolidation stress. If the current
effective vertical stress in the material is as high or
higher than at any time in its history, then the material
is normally consolidated (NC). Nygaard et al. (2006)
showed that this is also valid for cemented shales. The
overconsolidation ratio is defined as the ratio between
the maximum effective vertical stress and the present
effective vertical stress, that is:
Once formed, shear fractures in brittle shales will
dilate at low effective normal stresses and have
increased permeability with increasing shear defor-
mation (Nygaard et al. 2006). Shear fractures created
in ductile mudrocks will contract at high effective
stresses and thereby have reduced permeability with
increasing shear deformation (Ingram & Urai, 1999,
Gutierrez et al. 2000).
There have been extensive studies of hydraulic
fracturing as a leakage mechanism for shales. In com-
parison, there are fewer studies on shear fracturing as
a mechanism for leakage and fluid flow in shales.
The objective of this paper is to study experimen-
tally the shear behavior and the formation of shear
fractures in shales. The experimental study is based on
triaxial tests on different shales from North Sea reser-
voirs and adjacent areas sheared at different effective
confining stresses. The main goal of the experimental
study is to develop a procedure to predict the brittle-
to-ductile transition of mudrocks, and how brittleness
affects shear failure, fracturing in shales.
2 EXPERIMENTAL TEST SETUP
Isotropically consolidated undrained triaxial compres-
sion tests were done in a triaxial cell with a 70 MPa cell
pressure capacity and a servo-controlled load frame
done according to the ISRM standard (Kacari et al.
80 100 fining stress and pore pressure were measured. The
test samples are 38 mm in diameter and with at height
least twice the diameter (72–95 mm). The samples are
drilled out from a sealed core with a diamond core drill
bit and the top and bottom are machined to be parallel.
The samples are drilled vertically (i.e. normal to the
778
bedding plane) except for a few tests that were oriented 3.2 Stress-strain results
horizontally. Two horizontal displacement sensors are
Figures 2 to 6 gives the stress-strain results for the
glued directly on the sample about 13 mm above and
undrained shearing triaxial test. Further information
below the mid height of the specimen and oriented
on the tested materials including the consolidation
90◦ radially apart. Stainless steel filter disks are put at
stress (po ) and shear stress at failure (q) and mean stress
the top and the bottom of the sample before the samples
at failure (p ) are given in Table 1 in the appendix.
are sealed by a sprayed on rubber membrane. The ver-
The effective stress paths for Tests 7 to 15 are shown
tical compression of the specimen is measured over the
in Figures 7 to 9. For the Upper Jurassic shale in
whole specimen height by measuring the travel of the
Figure 2, Tests 7, 8 and 9 have similar almost linear
piston. The external measurements are corrected for
elastic deformation in the first part of the test followed
false displacements due to effects of cell pressure and
by non-linear deformation before failure is reached.
piston load. The vertical compression is also measured
Failure is recognized with well-defined peak shear
internally by LVDT’s which measure the change in dis-
stresses followed by rapid reduction in shear strength
tance between the two horizontal displacement sensors
and a clear strain softening before the material reached
installed at approximately 1/3rd of the sample. To cal-
almost a constant residual shear stress. All three tests
culate vertical stress the vertical piston force are mea-
clearly developed shear planes when visually exam-
sured inside the triaxial cell to avoid the uncertainty
ined after testing. Similar results were observed for the
represented by the piston friction. The confined pres-
material shown in Figure 3 even though the material
sure in the oil filled cell is measured by screw pumps.
To measure the pore pressure a pressure sensor is
connected both to the top and to the bottom filter disk. 14
Natural brine was added to saturate the sample
and the filters to prevent drying of the sample after 12
mounting. The cell pressure and pore pressure are then
Shear stresss (MPa)

increased simultaneously both with a rate of 3.6 MPa 10

per hour keeping the difference between them constant T9
and equal to the desired isotropic consolidation pres- 8
T8
sure. After application of the back pressure, the valve
6
controlling the drainage from the specimen was then
opened (very slowly to avoid damage the sample) so 4
T7
that drainage from the specimen could take place. The
time from opening for drainage until start of shear- 2
ing is the consolidation time, which in all cases was
made long enough for a plot of volume change ver- 0
sus square root of time to level out and to determine 0 5 10 15 20 25
the appropriate rate of strain to use for shearing of the Vertical strain (mS)
sample. The samples were consolidated isotropically
at confining stresses of 2, 5, 10, 15 or 30 MPa. Before Figure 2. Shear stress-vertical strain curves for Tests 7–9.
shearing started the drain valve was closed and all the
tests were sheared under undrained conditions. During 14
shear phase the total horizontal stress was kept con-
stant. For some of the samples sonic P-wave velocities 12
were measured. For two of the samples the temperature
was increased to 95◦ C. T12
Shear stress (MPa)

10

8 T11
3 TRIAXIAL TESTS ANALYSIS
T10
6
3.1 Undrained shear tests
The results of the CU triaxial tests are shown in terms 4
of the shear stress q vs. axial strain ε1 , and in terms of
the effective stress path in the effective mean stress p 2
vs. shear stress q diagram. The mean and shear stresses
are defined as: 0
0 5 10 15 20
Vertical strain (ms)

Figure 3. Shear stress-vertical strain curves for Tests 10–12.

779
 50 14
45 12
40

Shear stresss (MPa)

Shear stress (MPa)

T14 10
35
T15
30 8
T13
25 6 T9
20 T8
4
15
T7
10 2

5 0
0 0 5 10 15 20
0 5 10 15 20 25 Mean effective stress (MPa)
Vertical strain (mS)
Figure 7. Effective stress path for Tests 7–9.
Figure 4. Shear stress-vertical strain results for Tests 13–15.

14
9
8 12
Shear stress (MPa)
Shear stress (MPa)

7 T18
10
6
T17 8
5
4 6
3 T12
4 T11
T16
2 T10
1 2

0
0
0 5 10 15 20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Vertical strain (mS) Mean effective stress (MPa)

Figure 5. Shear stress-vertical strain curves for Tests 16–18. Figure 8. Effective stress path for Tests 10–12.

12
50
T21
10 45
T20 T15
Shear stress (MPa)

40
Shear stress (MPa)

8 35 T14
T19
30
6 T13
25

4 20
15
2 10
5
0
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Vertical strain (mS) Mean effective stress (MPa)

Figure 6. Shear stress-vertical strain curves for Tests 19–21. Figure 9. Effective stress path for Tests 11–13.

780
even had a more distinct reduction of the shear stress 2
after peak shear stresses were reached. However, the 1.8
material had similar peak shear stresses for tests with

Normalised shear stress

1.6
the same confining stresses.
The tested materials shown in Figures 2, 3, 5 and 1.4
6 were buried at a depth from 2050 to 2400 m. The 1.2 T20
materials have similar peak shear strength values. The 1
deformation progressed very similar for the samples T19
0.8
both before and after peak shear stress. All of the
materials showed clear shear fractures when visually 0.6
examined after testing. The deeper buried (∼4500 m) 0.4
T21
material in Figure 5 had the same approximately linear 0.2
deformation behavior followed by non-linear defor- 0
mation before failure is reached. After failure, this 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
material also showed distinct strain softening after Normalized mean effective stress
peak stress. However, this material has much higher
shear strength. Peak shear stress was roughly five times Figure 10. Normalized effective stress path for Tests 19, 20
bigger compared to the materials buried to just below and 21.
2000 m.
All the tested materials were from the Jurassic geo-
logical time period. Samples for Tests 1 to 6 (Fig. 1) 16
are currently surface-exposed materials although they
14
have been previously been buried down to 500 m
(Kvilhaug 1995). For the other locations, the materials 12 T25
Shear stress (MPa)

are at maximum burial depth. Since all the tested sam-

ples are at the same age, the chemical and mechanical 10
compaction which is controlled by the increased effec- 8
T24H
T23
tive stress and increased temperature with depth are T22
main contributor to the development of shear strength. 6

3.3 Effective stress paths 4

The effective stress paths in Figure 7 for Tests 7 2

to 9 leans to the right with increasing shear stress.
This behavior indicates an increase in mean effective
stress due to a reduction in the pore pressure when
the tests approach peak strength. The pore pressure
reduction occurs since the material dilates under shear
stresses. The materials in Figure 8 and 9 show the same
behavior. The dilatant behavior is easier to observe,
when the normalized effective stress path are plotted
(Fig. 10). However, the deeper buried material in Fig-
ures 5 and 9, which have significantly higher shear
strength compared to the shallower buried materials,
has increasing mean stress even around peak strength
value. The same observation can also be made for Test
5 in Figure 7. These results indicate that the stresses are
brittle enough that the when fracture forms the effec-
tive stresses on the fracture contacts is not large enough
to crush the fracture asperities but the fracture are only
riding on top of the asperities when sheared. The same
effect is observed in direct shear tests of shales at low
confining stresses (Gutierrez et al. 2000).
The observations made above that all tests show a
very distinct post peak shear stress strain softening and
have developed a clear shear fracture and all samples
show a dilative behavior, indicate clearly that the mate-
rial behaves in brittle manner and is over-consolidated.
0
0 5 10 15 20
Vertical strain (mS)
Figure 11. Shear stress-vertical strain curves for Tests
22–25. Test T24H (stippled line) is a horizontal test specimen.
None of the samples in Figures 2 to 6 have similar
deformation pattern like the ductile samples T4, T5
and T6 in Figure 1.
3.4 Effects of anisotropy
For two of the shales, tests were preformed with sam-
ples normal (vertical) and parallel to the bedding
(horizontal). The purpose was to study the effects of
anisotropy. Figures 11 and 12 show the stress-strain
results and effective stress path for Tests 22–25. The
vertical tests, which were conducted with the same test
conditions as above, showed brittle overconsolidated
behavior response to shear loading. One horizontal test
(T24H) was run with 10 MPa confining stress to com-
pare withTest 23.The shear stress vertical strain curves
for the horizontal tests were almost identical to the ver-
tical samples (Fig. 11). The effective stress path is not

781
 16 50
45
14 T28H T29H
40

Shear stress (MPa)

12
Shear stress (MPa)

T24H 35
T27
10 30
T23
8 25
T26
20
6 T25
T22 15
4 10
2 5
0
0 0 20 40 60 80
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Mean efective stress (MPa)
Mean effective stress (MPa)
Figure 14. Effective stress paths for vertical (T26 and T27)
Figure 12. Effective stress paths for Tests 22–25. Test T24H and horizontal tests (28H and T29H – stippled lines).
(stippled line) is a horizontal test specimen.
25
50
Shale
45 20
Shear stress (MPa)

40
T = 95°
Shear stress (MPa)

35 15

30
25 10

20 Clay
15 5

10
5 0
0 Mean effective stress (MPa)
0 5 10 15 20 25
Vertical strain (mS)
Figure 13. Shear stress-vertical strain curves for vertical
(T26 and T27) and horizontal tests (28H and T29H – stippled
lines).
significantly different than the effective stress path for
the vertical tests.
For Test 26–29, two horizontal tests (T28H and
T29H) were run with 15 MPa confining stress (Figs. 13
and 14). The shear stress vertical strain curves for the
two horizontal tests differed somewhat from the verti-
cal tests. Test 29 has a higher shear strength compared
to Test 28. The increased peak strength also shows up
in the effective stress paths, but the horizontal tests
had the same effective stress paths as the vertical test.
Both horizontal samples have less deformation that the
vertical tests before reaching the peak shear stress.
The results show that the shale anisotropy seems not
to be very important in terms of the shear strength and
ductile-brittle behavior. This observation is in agree-
ment with other experimental studies (Niandou et al.
T = 95°
0 10 20 30 40 50
30 35
Figure 15. Effective stress paths for normal temperature and
high temperature triaxial tests on a stiff clay and a shale.
1997). The effects of anisotropy are more pronounced
in terms of the deformability.
3.5 Temperature effects
Two tests were conducted at 95◦ C to study the tem-
perature effects on brittle to ductile behavior (Fig. 15).
The stiff clay is the upper Jurassic clay presented in
Figure 1. The shale is the same formation but under-
gone deeper burial. Further information about the
materials can be found in Nygaard et al. (2006). The
stiff clay material showed a ductile behavior at 15 MPa
confining pressure at room temperature. The effective
stress paths for the both the normal and the high tem-
perature clay are similar but the high temperature test
had a slightly lower shear strength than the normal tem-
perature test. The room temperature shale test showed
brittle behavior. The high temperature tests stress path
leaned more towards the right compared to the room

782
temperature test (Fig. 15). The peak shear strength was 1000
also higher for the high temperature test. y = 1E-07Vp2.5

Apparent pre-consolidation
The results are inconclusive about the effect of R2 = 0.84
temperature on brittle-ductile behavior. It may be

stress (MPa)
speculated that if the material are tested under duc-
tile conditions elevated temperature will increase the
100
ductility, and if the material is tested under brittle con-
ditions elevated temperatures will increase brittleness.
Another possibility is that the clay is non cemented
but the shale is a cemented material and that they
behave differently when temperature is increased. Due
to the limited test availability the temperature results 10
are inconclusive. 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Compressional wave velocity (m/s)

4 FIELD APPLICATION Figure 16. Correlation between apparent pre-consolidation

and compressional wave velocity for mudrocks.
There are two important factors in considering whether
fluid flow due to shear fractures can occur in shales:
1) the shear strength of shale, and 2) whether shear fail- 10.0

ure is brittle enough that it will lead to the development

of distinct shear fractures. As mentioned above, shear
Normalized shear stress

failure at ductile conditions will cause contraction of

the material and will not enhance the permeability.
One simple method developed by Nygaard et al.
(2006) is to use the apparent pre-consolidation and
the OCR of the material, which accounts for both
mechanical and chemical compaction, to determine
shear strength and brittleness. It was found that if the
OCR is 2.5 or higher, brittle response in shales is likely.
To estimate the OCR, the current effective vertical
stress in the field must be known and the apparent pre-
consolidation stress needs to be known. The present
effective vertical stress is obtained from the total over-
burden stress and the pore pressure using the effective
stress principle. The total vertical stress can be cal-
culated by integrating the density (solids plus fluid
density of the formation established from well logs)
over the depth z of the formation. To estimate the pore
pressure several methods exits. Further the effective
horizontal stress σh is determined from in situ stress
measurements.
Apparent pre-consolidation stress and compressive
strength can both be considered as material parameters
which depend on the degree of mechanical compaction
and cementation of a material. A correlation between
the apparent pre-consolidation stress and compressive
has been established for shales and chalks (Havmøller
& Foged 1996, Nygaard et al. 2006). A more con-
venient way to establish apparent pre-consolidation
stress is to correle to field measurements. Sonic veloc-
ity from well logs can predict compressive strength and
should also correlate with apparent pre-consolidation
stress. The apparent pre-consolidation can be calcu-
lated from the compressional wave velocity according
to the empirical relationship presented in Figure 16.
This correlation can be used for the situations where
the detailed geological history is not known. However,
1.0 0.67
T10-T12 q/po = 0.51OCR
R2 = 1.00
0.65
T21-T23 q/po = 0.49OCR
R2 = 1.00
q/po = 0.21OCR1.32
T19-T21
R2 = 0.92
0.1
1.0 10.0
OCR
Figure 17. Normalized undrained shear strength as function
of OCR.
more data is needed to verify this relationship. Once
the effective stresses and apparent pre consolidation
are known, OCR can be calculated from Equation 4.
The undrained shear strength normalized with appar-
ent pre-consolidation stress can then be estimated from
the OCR using the empirical relationship given in
Figure 17.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Triaxial tests have been performed to study the
shear behavior, brittle-to-ductile transition and shear-
induced fracture formation in shales. Normal consol-
idated mudrocks or those with low OCR show ductile
behavior. Overconsolidated shales with high OCR
show brittle behavior characterized by stiff response
with well defined peak shear stress and distinct strain
softening. Shear failure of brittle shales results in the
formation of distinct shear fractures. Shale anisotropy
was not important in determine the brittle to ductile
behavior for mudrocks.

783
 Correlations of the apparent pre-consolidation
stress with compressional wave velocity, and the nor-
malized undrained shear strength with OCR are also
proposed. These correlations together with the in situ
stress and pore pressure data, can be used to evaluate
shear failure and shear fracturing in shales.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank to Norwegian
Geotechnical Institute for letting us use their labora-
tories. Toralf Berre is greatly acknowledged for his
tremendous effort and patience when teaching the first
author the art of triaxial testing.
of tournemire shale. Int. J. Rock. Mech. Min. Sci.
34(1): 2–16.
Nygård, R., Gutierrez, M., Bratli, R. & Høeg, K. 2006. Brittle-
ductile transition, shear failure and leakage in mudrocks
from the North Sea and adjacent areas. Marine and
Petroleum Geology 23: 201–212.
Stark, T.D., Choi, H. & McCone, S. 2005. Drained shear
strength parameters for analysis of landslides. J. Geotech.
Geonvir. Eng., ASCE 131(5): 575–588.
Steiger, R.P. & Leung, P. 1991. Critical state shale mechanics.
In Proc. 32nd U.S. Symp. Rock Mech., pp. 293–302.
APPENDIX – TEST RESULTS
Table 1. Triaxial test results. Tests 1–6 are taken from
Nygaard et al. (2006). Test 7–9 are from Holt et al. (1996).

REFERENCES Failure
Cons.
Best, M.E. & Katsube, T.J. 1995. Shale permeability and Depth Stress q p
its significance in hydrocarbon production. The Leading Test
Edge 14: 165–170. Loc. Age No. m MPa MPa MPa OCR
Biot, M.A. 1941. General theory of three dimensional con-
solidation. Journal of Applied Physics 12: 155–164. UK U. Jur. C1 0 1.0 0.4 0.9 2.0
Dewhurst, D.N., Yang Y. & Aplin, A.C. 1999. Permeability UK U. Jur. C2 0 4.9 1.7 4.3 1.0
and fluid flow in natural mudstones. In Aplin et al. (eds.), UK U. Jur. C3 0 7.8 2.2 6.2 1.0
Muds and Mudstones: Physical and Fluid Flow Proper- UK U. Jur. C4 0 14.2 3.5 11.0 1.0
ties: Geological Society of London Special Publications UK U. Jur. C5 0 25.0 5.1 18.3 1.0
158, pp. 23–43. UK U. Jur. C6 0 40.6 10.2 39.9 1.0
Einstein, H.H. 2000.Tunnels in Opalinus clayshale –A review N-S U. Jur. T7 2399 10.0 9.7 9.9 2.8
of case histories and new developments. Tunnelling and N-S U. Jur. T8 2399 15.0 11.7 14.4 1.9
Undergr. Space Tech. 15(1): 13–29. N-S U. Jur. T9 2399 5.0 5.3 5.7 5.6
Gutierrez, M., Øyno, L.E. & Nygård, R. 2000. Stress- N-S M. Jur. T10 2151 9.0 9.9 17.6 3.2
dependent permeability of a de-mineralised fracture in N-S M. Jur. T11 2151 5.0 8.3 9.5 5.8
shale. Marine and Petroleum Geology 17: 895–907. N-S M. Jur. T12 2151 15.0 12.0 25.2 1.9
Havmøller, O. & Foged, N. 1996. Review of rock mechanics NW-S M. Jur. T13 4499 10.2 40.3 51.3 7.9
data for chalk. In Proceedings of the Fifth North Sea Chalk NW-S M. Jur. T14 4499 5.1 31.7 36.7 16
Symposium, paper IV-2. NW-S M. Jur. T15 4499 2.1 43.8 50.8 38
Holt, R.M., Sønstebø, E.F. & Horsrud, P. 1996. Acoustic N-S U. Jur. T16 2406 10.0 7.3 8.8 3.0
velocities of North Sea shales. In Proc. EAGE 58th Conf N-S U. Jur. T17 2406 15.0 6.4 11.8 2.0
and Tech Exh. Amsterdam. N-S U. Jur. T18 2406 5.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
Ingram, G.M. & Urai, J.L. 1999. Top-Seal leakage through N-S M. Jur. T19 2068 5.0 8.9 10.9 5.4
faults and fractures: the role of mudrock properties. N-S M. Jur. T20 2068 10.0 10.4 14.1 2.7
In Aplin et al. (eds.), Muds and Mudstones. Physical N-S M. Jur. T21 2068 15.0 11.1 23.6 1.8
and Fluid Fow properties: Geological society of London N-S U. Jur. T22 2403 5.0 9.6 14.6 8.0
Special Publications 158, pp. 125–135. N-S U. Jur. T23 2403 10.0 11.8 20.2 4.0
Johnston, I.W. & Novello, E.A. 1994. Soil mechanics, rock N-S U. Jur. T24H 2403 15.0 11.5 19.3
mechanics and soft rock technology. Proc. Inst. Civil N-S U. Jur. T25 2403 15.0 14.2 28.0 2.7
Engrs., Geotech. Eng. 107: 3–9. NW-S M. Jur. T26 4921 5.0 32.2 39.6 19
Kvilhaug, T. 1995. Rock mechanical properties of mudrocks NW-S M. Jur. T27 4921 15.0 38.9 68.8 6.2
in relation to petrology. Ph.D. thesis, Norwegian Univer- NW-S M. Jur. T28H 4921 15.0 46.8 67.3
sity of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. NW-S M. Jur. T29H 4921 15.0 38.5 55.5
Mesri, G. & Cepeda-Diaz, A.F. 1986. Residual shear strength
of clays and shales. Géotechnique 36(2): 3269–274. UK, Onshore UK.
Niandou, H., Shao, J.F., Henry, J.P. & Fourmaintraux, D. 1997. N-S, North Sea.
Laboratory investigation of the mechanical behavour NW-S, Norwegian Sea.

784
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Influence of scale on the uniaxial compressive strength of brittle rock

L. Li, M. Aubertin, R. Simon & D. Deng

Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

D. Labrie
CANMET Mining and Mineral Sciences Laboratories, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: The prediction of failure conditions has always been a critical issue in rock engineering. One
of the factors that makes this a complex problem is the influence of scale (size) on the response of rocks and
rock masses. A variety of approaches have been developed and used to estimate the strength of rock media at
different scales. These include a scaling function proposed by the authors, which is partly based on the statistical
variability of uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock samples. In this paper, this approach is revisited. A
simple method is presented for determining the required parameters for predictive applications, using standard
laboratory test results. The validity of the proposed approach is evaluated using test results recently obtained by
the authors and with some data taken from the literature.

1 INTRODUCTION

The mechanical properties of rocks are known to vary

with sample size (e.g. Durelli & Parks 1962, Lundborg
1967, Lo & Roy 1969, Einstein et al. 1970, Brace
1981, Jackson & Lau 1990, Newman & Bennett 1990,
Frantziskonis et al. 1991, Cunha 1993a, Andreev 1995,
Ghosh et al. 1995, Goodchild & Wade 2002). This
behavior is important because most rock engineer-
ing projects require the knowledge of the rock media
response at a relatively large scale. However, the direct
measurement of rock properties at a representative
scale is often difficult to conduct due to technical or
economical constraints.
The influence of scale manifests itself in vari- Figure 1. Schematic representation of the scale effect on
ous ways (e.g. Cunha 1990, 1993b, Bandis 1990, the strength of rock media; σN is the nominal uniaxial com-
Hudson & Harrison 1997). Figure 1 presents schemat- pressive strength corresponding to nominal size dN (adapted
ically how the uniaxial compressive strength σc of rock from Aubertin et al. 1999, 2000).
media typically varies with size. On Figure 1, the unit
bock is defined as the maximum size of intact rock These flaws reduce the intact rock strength until it
units in situ (between geological discontinuities). For reaches a minimum value (σL ) when a sufficiently
intact rock samples (larger than a few grain diameters large size (dL ) is reached. At the rock mass (field)
dg ), Figure 1 shows that a volume increase typically scale, new geological discontinuities (such as fractures
tends to increase the number and length of defects, and joints) are introduced, and these often constitute
thus increasing their potential for reducing material the controlling factors for the failure strength. A larger
strength. At the intact rock scale, macroscopic defects volume also tends to lead asymptotically to a minimum
are usually avoided when selecting laboratory test value of the rock mass strength.
samples, so the dominant weakening flaws are micro- Standard tests on intact rocks are normally con-
cracks and pores (at least for relatively isotropic rocks). ducted on samples much smaller than the unit block

785
size, which itself is often larger than dL . The corre-
sponding minimum strength of intact rock σL (reached
at dL ) is of importance as it represents the typical
media strength at an intermediate scale (applicable to
a small orepass or a venting shaft, for instance). The
value of σL can also serve to establish the upper bound
for the rock mass strength (Aubertin et al. 2000). The
authors have proposed a simple method for estimat-
ing the scale dependent strength of intact rocks up to
dL , based on standard laboratory tests (Aubertin et al.
2001). This approach is used here, with new labora-
tory tests results, to illustrate how to estimate both the
small (σS ) and large scale (σL ) strength of intact rocks.
These new results have been obtained on hard rock
samples collected in a Canadian underground mine
located in Abitibi, Quebec, Canada (Labrie et al. 2006,
Simon et al. 2006). The approach is also validated
using additional data taken from the literature.
2 PHYSICAL PROCESSES AND SCALING
FORMULATION
The scale-dependent failure strength of brittle and
semi-brittle materials has been linked mainly to the
energy field and energy dissipation around cracks,
and to statistical effects due to random strength and
defect distribution in the media (e.g. Hawkes & Mellor
1970, Jaeger & Cook 1979, Ingraffea 1987, Carter
1992, Bazant 1993, Tsoutrelix & Exadaktylos 1993,
Bazant & Planas 1998, Fox et al. 2001, Hanson &
Ingraffea 2003, Castelli et al. 2003, Lobo-Guerrero
& Vallejo 2006). The magnitude of the size effects
depends on the deformation processes involved, which
in turn depend on the stress state. The influence
of scale is generally more pronounced in the brit-
tle field where microcrack initiation and propagation
dominate. The size effect tends to decrease under a
semi-brittle behavior, where microcracking is coupled
with intragranular dislocation motion and other ductile
processes (Aubertin et al. 1998). The size dependency
almost entirely disappears in the fully plastic regime
of inelastic behavior, where isovolumetric deforma-
tion processes dominate. Accordingly, the influence
of sample size can be reduced substantially by apply-
ing a large confining pressure, as the latter tends to
limit cracking and promotes more ductile deforma-
tion mechanisms (Aubertin et al. 1998, 1999, 2000).
It has also been observed that the influence of scale
is more pronounced in tension than in compression, at
least for brittle materials.
With brittle rocks, experimental evidence indicates
that significant size effects cannot be neglected. This
applies to the uniaxial compressive strength, which
is significantly reduced when the sample volume is
increased (e.g. Pratt et al. 1972). This observation
may be related to the fact that rock strength tends
786
to decrease with the number and size of defects (e.g.
Wong & Chau 1996, 1998), each of which can increase
in larger specimens.
As shown in the schematic representation of
Figure 1, the sample strength decreases until it reaches
a minimum value σL at size dL . Beyond dL , the effect
of scale practically disappears, unless new types of
defects are introduced (such as joint sets in a rock
mass). The large size intact rock strength, σL, can be
much lower than the failure strength at the usual spec-
imen scale. Likewise, specimen-scale strength is less
than the strength measured on even smaller samples,
which can increase to the maximum strength, σS, cor-
responding to the smallest size dS which still shows an
isotropic behavior (and hence is not controlled by the
influence of grain boundaries).
Many functions exist to describe, and sometimes
predict, the above mentioned size effect (Evans &
Pomeroy 1958, Jaeger & Cook 1979, Hoek & Brown
1980, Bazant 1993, Tsoutrelis & Exadaktylos 1993).
For instance, various researchers have shown that the
progressive decrease of uniaxial compressive strength
can be empirically related to the increasing diameter
dN (in mm) of the sample using a power-law function.
Such expressions can be written as (Hoek & Brown
1980, Cunha 1990):
where σc50 represents the uniaxial compressive
strength obtained on standard size samples (with a
diameter of 50 mm). In this equation, the exponent β
was fixed at 0.18 by Hoek & Brown (1980), while
Cunha (1990) proposed a value of 0.22. As shown
in Figure 2, this equation describes quite well typ-
ical results obtained on relatively small scale sam-
ples. However, Equation 1 incorrectly predicts that
the strength decreases indefinitely with an increas-
ing size. This equation also indicates that the strength
can become extremely large when the sample size
is reduced much below the standard size. To over-
come these limitations, the authors have proposed a
power law function bounded by realistic values for
the small and large scale strengths. This function
can be expressed as follows for the nominal strength
(Aubertin et al. 2002):
or in a normalized form (for σc50 corresponding to
d50 = 50 mm):
Figure 2. Application of two size functions (Equations 1 and
2) to test results obtained on a variety of rocks (data taken
from Cunha 1990).

In these equations, dL is taken as the reference size

(diameter in laboratory tests) at which the minimum
uniaxial compressive strength σL is reached; dS is the
size corresponding to the maximum isotropic strength
σS . In Equation 2 (a and b),   are the MacCauley
brackets (x = (x + |x|)/2 ≥ 0); here, their use means
that the corresponding term disappears when size dN
becomes larger than dL ). The exponent λ controls the
non linearity of the relationship, and its value may
depend on material characteristics and in some cases,
on the sample geometry. Various results analyzed by
the authors indicate that this exponent value is fairly
uniform for different types of rock, so it can be taken
as a constant (λ = 20) for most practical applications.
Equation 2 implies that the size effect function of intact
rocks tends toward two limiting strength values (i.e.
σL ≤ σN ≤ σS ) when the scale increases from a few
grains to the large unit block size. Figure 3 shows
schematically the general shape of this function, with
the influence of parameters λ (Fig. 3a), dL (Fig. 3b),
and σL (Fig. 3c).
Figure 2 introduced above also shows the applica-
tion of Equation 2 to a few test results taken from the Figure 3. Influence of parameters λ (a), dL (b), and σL
literature. It can be seen that the proposed equation also (c) on the shape of the scaling function (Equation 2) describ-
describes these experimental results quite well. In this ing the strength of intact rocks.
case, the values of dS and dL (and of σS and σL ) are not
known before hand. These have been estimated based
on the limited number of results (obtained on different λ. These could be determined directly through a tar-
types of rocks) given in Figure 2. In the following sec- geted testing campaign, but this is not a commonly
tion, a more specific approach is proposed to establish used approach in rock engineering. For practical appli-
the value of the parameters to be used in Equation 2. cations, a simple and pragmatic approach is proposed
(in the absence of relevant specific data).
First, the following simple predictive equation has
3 PARAMETER DETERMINATION been developed for estimating the large scale strength
of intact rocks (Aubertin et al. 2001):
The application of Equation 2 requires that the value
of five parameters be estimated: σS , σL , dS , dL and

787
where σcL is the large scale uniaxial compressive
strength of rock, σ̄c50 is the average observed mean
value of the uniaxial compressive strength on stan-
dard size specimens (50 mm), S0 is the corresponding
standard deviation of the test results (when a mini-
mum of about 10 results are available), and x1 and x2
are two statistically obtained parameters (see details in
Aubertin et al. 2001). This equation was applied by Li
et al. (2001) for the analyses of the URL tunnel, with
x1 ∼
= 0.08 and x2 ∼ = 5 to 6. It will be used below with
new test results and Equation 2.
On the other hand, the small scale strength σS may
appear easier to obtain experimentally, but again, it is
seldom determined by direct measurements. Because
of this, the authors have also developed a simple
statistical approach to estimate this parameter from
laboratory tests conducted on standard size samples.
The approach assumes that for a low enough probabil-
ity (which depends on the number of tests available, n),
the statistical upper bound value of the strength may
correspond to the maximum strength value. This is
deemed to provide a representative value for the small
scale uniaxial compressive strength of the rock to
be used in Equation 2. The estimate is based on the
following expression:
This equation represents a particular form of the
upper bound value expression, which can be found
in many statistical textbooks (e.g. Spiegel 1961,
Buntinas & Funk 2005). This equation is applicable
to a small random population (sample) having a nor-
mal distribution. In Equation 4, the value of tα/2,ν and
σcS (i.e. σS in uniaxial compression) depends upon
the selected confidence level (1 − α) (or cumulative
probability) and on the number of degrees of freedom
ν (= 1−n). Here, σ̄c is the mean uniaxial compres-
sive strength obtained from a minimum number of
laboratory tests (n.b. smaller samples can be used if
standard size samples are not available), and S0 is
the corresponding standard deviation. The statistical
Students’ law parameter tα/2,ν is defined from the fol-
lowing equation (e.g. Spiegel 1961, Buntinas & Funk
2005):
where t is the Student distribution function.
The other 3 parameters (dS , dL and λ) have been
found to take values that are almost the same for
various types of rocks (having a small grain size).
Hence, these will become constants in the following
applications of Equation 2.
788
Table 1. Uniaxial compressive strength test results obtained
on standard size (NQ) samples at the three depths; the large
and small scale strengths are also given (the latter is based on
a confidence level of 99.9%; experimental data taken from
Simon et al. 2006).
† † † †
Location n σ̄c S0 σL tα/2,ν σS
at 40 m 10 104.8 33.5 23.1 4.781 158.2
at 70 m 10 168.2 37.6 30.0 4.781 228.2
at 130 m 8 133.4 33.1 25.2 5.408 201.1
†
in MPa.
4 LABORATORY TESTS
4.1 New results
As part of a research project aimed at evaluating the
strength of hard rocks with respect to scale, several
parallel holes of different calibers were cored with a
diamond drill (Labrie et al. 2006). The coring was
done in 2005 at the CANMET Experimental Mine
near Val-d’Or, Quebec. Four calibers were used for the
holes (AQ – 29.8 mm, BQ – 36.3 mm, NQ – 47.4 mm,
and HQ – 63.3 mm) which were between 6 and 9 m
in length. The drilling was performed at three loca-
tions in the mine, at depths of 40 m, 70 m, and 130 m.
Rock cores were recovered, prepared, and tested at the
rock mechanics laboratory of the École Polytechnique
de Montréal (Simon et al. 2006). The uniaxial com-
pression testing program was conducted on cores from
each hole. The main results obtained on n standard size
samples are given in Table 1.
Calculation results indicate that the minimum large
scale uniaxial compressive strength of the rock σL
(at a depth of 40 m) is equal to 23.1 MPa, based
on Equation 3 with x1 = 0.08 and x2 = 5.5. This sig-
nificant strength reduction (from a mean uniaxial
compressive strength value σ̄c of 104.8 MPa) is in
accordance with laboratory test results obtained on
these same rock samples (see below) and also with
stiffness measurements made in situ with a dilatome-
ter (Labrie et al. 2006, Simon et al. 2006). Then, using
Equations 4 and 5 with tα/2,ν = 4.781, corresponding
to a confidence level of 99.9% (chosen as a function
of the small number of samples tested), one obtains a
small scale strength σS of 158.2 MPa. These small and
large scale strengths correspond to sizes that have been
fixed at dS = 5 mm and dL = 2000 mm, respectively.
As mentioned above, the analysis of these and various
other results indicates that the λ value can be taken as
a constant (λ = 20), as most back calculations lead to
a value close to this preset exponent.
Figure 4 shows that the proposed Equation 2 with
the above mentioned parameters represents the exper-
imental results well for the other sample sizes tested
 σN (MPa) σN (MPa)
250 Eq. 2
200 200 Eq. 2 250
200 data
150 data
estimated 200 150 estimated
150
100
100
50 150
100 50
0 0
100
1 100 10000 1 100 10000
50
50

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
dN (mm)
dN (mm)
Figure 4. Representation of the scaling function (arithmetic
and semi-log scales) for the rock sampled at the 40 m level Figure 6. Representation of the scaling function (arithmetic
(see Table 1). and semi-log scales) for the rock sampled at the 130 m level
(see Table 1).

σN (MPa)
250 250 Eq. 2 σN (MPa) 60
200 60 Eq. 2
data
40 exp. data
200 150 estimated 50 estimated
100
40 20
150 50
0 30 0
100 1 100 10000 0 10 20 30 40 50
20
50
10

0 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 0 50 100 150 200
dN (mm) dN (cm)

Figure 5. Representation of the scaling function(arithmetic Figure 7. Representation of the scaling function (with a
and semi-log scales) for the rock sampled at the 70 m level close up) for a coal (data taken from Bieniawski 1968; see
(see Table 1). Table 2).

(AQ, BQ, HQ). The same procedure was applied to

the testing results obtained for rock cores sampled at
a depth of 70 m and 130 m. The estimated parameters
are also given in Table 1. The application of Equa-
tion 2 to the laboratory test results is presented in
Figures 5 and 6. Again, a good agreement is obtained
for both cases between the estimated and the experi-
mental results. This constitutes a partial (limited) val-
idation of the approach introduced above for defining
the scaling function.
4.2 Data taken from the literature
Figures 7 to 9 show the application of the proposed
procedure to other rocks using data taken from the
literature. The experimental data and parameters are
given in Table 2. These results were retained because
they provided information on the response of rocks
from the small to the large scale.
As can be seen in Figures 7 to 9, the scaling func-
tion proposed here, with the parameters obtained from
the proposed determinative approach, appears to well
represent the experimental results measured on these
types of rock, even if these are quite different in nature.
5 DISCUSSION
The results shown above tend to indicate, among other
observations, that the large scale strength of rocks
at size dL can often be significantly lower than the
value obtained on standard size specimens. The mag-
nitude of the strength reduction is compatible with

789
 σN (MPa) Table 2. Uniaxial compressive strength of laboratory test
Eq. 2 samples (with a level of confidence of 99.9%).
70 60
exp. data
60 † † †
40 estimated Fig. n dN (cm) σ̄c† S0 σL tα/2,ν σS
50 20 7 10 2.5 41.9 5.9 6.0 4.781 51.3
40 0 8 11 4.6 29.6 16.8 10.4 4.587 56.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 9 11 2.5 58.0 11.9 9.9 4.587 75.3
30
20 †
in MPa.
10
bound strength value expected from commonly used
0
analyses (e.g. Martin 1997, Li et al. 2001). It should be
0 50 100 150 200
recalled here that the phenomenon of strength reduc-
dN (cm)
tion associated with an increasing scale is limited
mostly to the region close to the opening boundary, as
Figure 8. Representation of the scaling function (with a the larger mean (confining) stress encountered deeper
close up) for a coal (data taken from Singh 1981; see Table 2).
in the rock mass tends to reduce the influence of size
on the material strength (Aubertin et al. 2000, 2001).
σN (MPa) 100 Eq. 2 The rock at depth within a confined rock mass may
estimated thus remain very strong at a large size. It is only when
100 80 exp. data
creating new openings, within regions of lower mean
60 stress (which tends to promote the above described
80
40 scale effect), that this scaling reduction is observed.
60 20 There are nonetheless a number of uncertainties
that exist when trying to predict the large (and small)
0
40 scale strength based on results obtained from standard
0.1 1 10 100 1000
laboratory specimens. For instance, in the proposed
20 approach, the margin of error on the mean and on
the standard deviation (Aubertin et al. 2001), which
0 depends on the available number of tests n, could play
0 50 100 150 200 a major role. For the approach to be valid, the margin
dN (cm) of error must be within a certain range, which requires
that a minimum number of tests be conducted on the
Figure 9. Representation of the scaling function (arithmetic same sample set (generally 10 tests or more; e.g. Gill
and semi-log scales) for Cedar City quartz diorite (data taken et al. 2003). A minimum number of results is required
from Pratt et al. 1972; see Table 2); the equivalent diameter to help insure that the data reflect the natural variability
was used with Equation 2 for these prism samples, based of rock properties. This is important here because the
on dN = 2[V /(πh)]1/2 (V and h are the volume and height of proposed approach assumes that small and large scale
prism samples, respectively). strengths can be statistically related to the weak and
strong portions of the strength distribution curve of a
other results ensuing from direct measurements con- given rock. Hence, the proposed methodology could
ducted on relatively large scale samples (e.g. Jahns not be strictly applied to results shown in Figure 2,
1966, Bieniawski 1968, Pratt et al. 1972, Herget & because too few tests are available for each type of
Unrug 1974, Singh 1981, Swolfs 1983, Natau et al. rock. This is why in this case, a simple regression
1983, 1995). The low strength values obtained here was used to obtain the relevant parameters. This may
are also in line with the reduction observed on the in explain why the large scale strength appears to be much
situ modulus at a larger scale (Simon et al. 2006, Labrie higher when compared to more complete data sets.
et al. 2006). The modulus is known to be correlated to On the other hand, it should also be noted that Equa-
the uniaxial strength of rocks and other geomaterials tion 3, used here to obtain σcL for the different rock
(e.g. Peck 1976). types, is somewhat empirical, although it was deduced
The relatively low rock strength at a large scale, initially from a representative statistical analysis of
deduced from the analysis presented here, may help to the data (Aubertin et al. 2001) which included the
explain some of the observations made around under- evaluation of the margin of error for both the mean
ground openings, which indicated that some failure and the standard deviation. At this point however, it is
had been observed close to the excavation boundaries not practical to base the estimate on the use of these
where the stress state was much lower than the lower two margins because these are much too dependent

790
on the number of test results, especially when n is
small (as is the case here). This means that a few addi-
tional (or missing) tests may be sufficient to tip the
balance toward an unrealistic value for σcL . Hence,
it was deemed more realistic for the general scaling
function to assess the value of σcL with Equation 3
(which is more robust), instead of using the more com-
plete formulation introduced previously. More work
is underway to validate the proposed semi-empirical
relationship, and to assess its general validity from
a more complete statistical evaluation. It should be
noted nonetheless that obtaining a precise estimate will
always remain difficult for a testing program with a
small number of samples.
More work is warranted in this area because the
large scale strength of intact rock is of particular inter-
est in many applications (Aubertin et al. 2000, 2001).
6 CONCLUSION
In this paper, a scaling function proposed by the
authors is revised and the procedure to estimate
the model parameters is defined. These parameters
include the small and large scale sizes (dS and dL )
that correspond to the limiting (maximum and mini-
mum) strength values of intact rocks. These sizes can
be given constant values of 5 mm and 2 m, respectively.
The procedure also includes an estimate of the small
and large scale strengths based on common laboratory
tests. A good agreement has been obtained between the
predictions obtained from the proposed scaling func-
tion and the experimental results.The proposed scaling
function and corresponding parameter estimation pro-
cedure can thus be considered a useful tool for rock
engineering applications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work has been financed in part by IRSST
and by the Industrial NSERC Polytechnique-UQAT
Chair on Environment and Mine Wastes Management
(http://www.polymtl.ca/enviro-geremi/).These contri-
butions are gratefully acknowledged. The authors also
thank Dr. John Molson for his help in improving the
manuscript.
REFERENCES
Andreev, G.E. 1995. Brittle Failure of Rock Materials – Test
Results and Constitutive Models. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Aubertin, M., Julien, M.R. & Li, L. 1998. The semi-brittle
behavior of low porosity rocks: Keynote Lecture. In
Proceedings of the 3rd North American Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Cancun, vol. 2, pp. 65–90.
Aubertin, M., Li, L., Simon, R. & Khalfi, S. 1999. A unified
representation of the damage and failure criteria for rocks
791
and rock masses. In Vouille & Berest (eds.), Proceedings
of the 9th Int. Congr. Rock Mech. Rotterdam: Balkema,
pp. 843–848.
Aubertin, M., Li, L. & Simon, R. 2000. A multiaxial stress
criterion for short term and long term strength of isotropic
rock media. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences 37: 1169–1193.
Aubertin, M., Li, L. & Simon, R. 2001. Evaluating the large
scale strength of rock mass with the MSDPu criterion.
In Elsworth et al. (eds.), Rock Mechanics in the National
Interest: Proceedings of the 38th U.S. Rock Mechanics
Symposium, DC Rocks 2001, Washington D.C. Rotterdam:
Balkema, vol. 2, pp. 1209–1216.
Aubertin, M., Li, L. & Simon, R. 2002. Effet de
l’endommagement sur la stabilité des excavations souter-
raines en roche dure. Études et Recherches, R312, Institut
de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et sécurité du travail
(IRSST).
Bandis, S.C. 1990. Scale effects in the strength and deforma-
bility of rocks on rock joints. In Cunha (ed), Proceedings
of International Workshop on Scale Effects in Rock Masses
Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 59–76.
Bazant, Z.P. 1993. Scaling laws in mechanics of failure.
Journal of Engineering Mechanics 119(9): 1828–1844.
Bazant, Z.P & Planas, J. 1998. Fracture and Size Effect in
Concrete and Other Quasi-brittle Materials. Boca Raton:
CRC Press.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1968. The effect of specimen size on com-
pressive strength of coal. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 5:
325–335.
Brace, W.F. 1981. The effect of size on mechanics properties
of rock. Geophysical Research Letters 8: 651–652.
Buntinas, M. & Funk, G.M. 2005. Statistics for the Sciences.
Belmont: Thomson.
Carter, B.J. 1992. Size and stress gradient effects on fracture
around cavities. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering
25(3): 167–186.
Castelli, M., Saetta, V. & Scavia, C. 2003. Numerical study
of scale effects on the stiffness modulus of rock masses.
International Journal of Geomechanics 3(2): 160–169.
Cunha, A.P. (ed.) 1990. Scale effects in rock mass. In Pro-
ceeding of InternationalWorkshop on Scale Effects in Rock
Masses. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Cunha, A.P. 1993a. Research on scale effects in the deter-
mination of rock mass mechanical properties – the
Portuguese experience. In Cunha (ed.), Scale Effects in
Rock Masses. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 285–292.
Cunha, A.P. 1993b. Scale effects in rock engineering – An
overview of the Loen Workshop and other recent papers
concerning scale effects. In Cunha (ed.), Scale Effects in
Rock Masses. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 3–14.
Durelli, A.J. & Parks, V. 1962. Relationship of size and stress
gradient to brittle failure. In Proceedings of the 4th US
National Congress ofApplied Mechanics, Berkeley.Amer-
ican Society of Mechanics Engineers, United Engineering
Centers, pp. 931–938.
Einstein, H.H., Baecher, G.B. & Hirschfeld, R.C. 1970. The
effect of size on strength of a brittle rock. In Proceedings
of the 2nd Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics, Beograd, vol. 2, pp. 7–13.
Evans, I. & Pomeroy, C.D. 1958. The strength of cubes of coal
in unixial compression. In Mechanical Properties of Non-
metallic Brittle Materials. London: Butterworth, pp. 5–28.
Fox, S.L., Mitchell, B.C., Smart, J. & Marsden, B.J. 2001. A
numerical study on the application of the Weibull theory
to brittle materials. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 68:
1171–1179.
Frantziskonis, G., Tang, F.F. & Desai, C.S. 1991. Borehole
scale effects and related instabilities. In Desai et al. (eds.),
Constitutive Laws for Engineering Materials. ASME, pp.
409–411.
Ghosh, A., Fuenkajorn, K. & Daemen, J.J. 1995. Tensile
strength of welded Apache Leap tuff: Investigation of
scale effects. In Daemen & Schultz (eds), Rock Mechanics.
Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 459–464.
Gill, D.E., Corthésy, R. & Leite, M.H. 2003. Les valeurs
pratiques des propriétés mécaniques des roches. Rap-
port technique EPM-RT-2005-03, École Polytechnique de
Montréal.
Goodchild, R. & Wade, L. 2002. Scale effects in the destruc-
tive testing of borehole cores. In Proceedings of the ’99
International Symposium on Mining Science and Technol-
ogy, Beijing, China. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 179–181.
Hanson, J.H. & Ingraffea, A.R. 2003. Using numerical sim-
ulations to compare the fracture toughness values for
concrete from the size-effect, two-parameter and fictitious
crack models. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 70(7–8):
1015–1027.
Herget, G. & Unrug, K. 1974. In-situ strength prediction
of mine pillars based on laboratory tests. In Advances
in Rock Mechanics: Proceedings of the Third Congress
of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, Denver.
Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, vol.
II(A), pp. 150–155.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: Institution of Min. & Mettall.
Hudson, J.A. & Harrison, J.P. 1997. Engineering Rock
Mechanics: An Introduction to the Principles. Pergamon.
Hawkes, I. & Mellor, M. 1970. Uniaxial testing in
rock mechanics laboratories. Engineering Geology 4(3):
179–285.
Ingraffea, A.R. 1987. Theory of crack initiation and propa-
gation in rock. In Atkinson (ed), Fracture Mechanics of
Rock. London: Academic Press, pp. 71–110.
Jackson, R. & Lau, J.S.O. 1990. The effect of specimen size
on the laboratory mechanical properties of Lac du Bonnet
grey granite. In Cunha (ed.), Scale Effects in Rock Masses.
Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 165–174.
Jaeger, J.C. & Cook, N.G.W. 1979. Fundamentals of Rock
Mechanics. New York: Chapman and Hall.
Jahns, H. 1966. Measuring the strength of rock in situ at
an increasing scale. In Proceeding of the 1st International
Congress on Rock Mechanics, Lisbon, vol. 1, pp. 477–482.
Labrie, D., Anderson, T., Judge, K. & Conlon, B. 2006.
Essais de déformabilité à la Mine-Laboratoire, Val-
d’Or, Québec, Canada. Rapport LMSM-CANMET 05-
058(RC), Ressources naturelles Canada, Ottawa.
Li, L., Aubertin, M. & Simon, R. 2001. Stability analyses
of underground openings using a multiaxial failure crite-
rion with scale effects. In Sijing et al. (eds.), Frontiers of
Rock Mechanics and Sustainable Development in the 21st
Century: ISRM Int. Symp./2nd Asian Rock Mech. Symp.
Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 251–256.
792
Lo, K.Y. & Roy, M. 1969. Rock breakage as related to some
engineering and geological processes. In Proceedings of
the 22nd Canadian Soil Mechanics Conference, Queen’s
University, pp. 61–81.
Lobo-Guerrero, S. & Vallejo, L.E. 2006. Application of
Weibull statistics to the tensile strength of rock aggre-
gates. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering 132(6): 786–790.
Lundborg, N. 1967. The strength-size relation of granite.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 4: 269–272.
Martin, C.D. 1997. Seventeenth Canadian Geotechnical Col-
loquium: The effect of cohesion loss and stress path on
brittle rock strength. Can. Geotech. J. 34: 698–725.
Natau, O.P., Froehlich, B.O. & Mutschler, T.O. 1983. Recent
development of the large scale triaxial test. In Proceedings
of the 5th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. A65–A74.
Natau, O., Fliege, O., Mutcher, Th. & Stech, H.J. 1995. True
triaxial tests of prismatic large scale samples of jointed
rock masses in laboratory. In Proceedings of the 8th Inter-
national Congress on Rock Mechanics, Tokyo, vol. 1, pp.
353–358.
Newman, D.A. & Bennett, D.G. 1990. The effect of specimen
size and stress rate for the Brazilian test – a statistical anal-
ysis. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 23: 123–134.
Peck, R.B. 1976. Rock foundations or structures. In Rock
Engineering for Foundations and Slopes. New York:
ASCE, vol. 2, pp. 1–21.
Pratt, H.R., Black,A.D., Brown, W.S. & Brace, W.F. 1972. The
effect of specimen size on the mechanical properties of
unjointed diorite. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 9: 513–529.
Singh, M.M. 1981. Strength of rock, Chapter 5, Physical
Properties of Rocks and Minerals. In Touloukian et al.
(eds.), McGraw-Hill/CINDAS Data Series on Material
Properties. McGraw-Hill Book Co., vol. II-2, pp. 83–121.
Simon, R., Deng, D., Aubertin, M. & Li, L. 2006. Inves-
tigation of scale effects in hard rocks. In Proceedings of
the 59th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and 7th Joint
CGS/IAH Groundwater Specialty Conference,Vancouver:
CD-ROM.
Spiegel, M.R. 1961. Schaum’s Outline of Theory and Prob-
lems of Statistics. New York: Schaum Publishing Com-
pany.
Swolfs, H.S. 1983. Aspects of the size-strength relationship
of unjointed rocks. In Mathewson (ed), Rock Mechanics:
Theory, Experiment, Practice, Proc. 24th U.S. Symp. Rock
Mech. Assoc. Engng. Geologists, pp. 501–510.
Tsoutrelis, C.E. & Exadaktylos, G.E. 1993. Effect of rock dis-
continuities on certain rock strength and fracture energy
parameters under uniaxial compression. Geotechnical and
Geological Engineering 11: 81–105.
Wong, R.H.C. & Chau, K.T. 1998. Peak strength of repli-
cated and real rocks containing cracks. Key Engineering
Materials 145–149: 953–958.
Wong, R.H.C., Chau, K.T. & Wang, P. 1996. Microcracking
and grain size effect in Yuen Kong marbles. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 33(5): 479–485.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The confining effect of end roughness on unconfined

compressive strength

Z. Szczepanik, D. Milne & C. Hawkes

Department of Civil and Geological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

ABSTRACT: The influence of sample end effects on the unconfined compressive strength of rock core is well
recognised. ASTM standards exist to ensure that minimum standards of sample smoothness are maintained to
minimise the influence of friction between the samples ends and loading platens. Sample end preparation is also
done to avoid stress concentrations on irregularities on the end surfaces. This paper describes tests that have
been conducted on relatively uniform grey granite from northern Manitoba, Canada to investigate the influence
of sample end effects. End conditions were varied by polishing the sample ends and by using loading platens
with varying degrees of roughness. In one series of tests, lead foil was placed between the sample ends and
the loading platens to further decrease frictional effects. In all tests, except the lead foil tests, procedures and
sample preparations were conducted within the ASTM standards for unconfined compressive strength (UCS)
testing. The test results presented show that sample “hourglassing”, as measured using circumferential strain
gauges located near sample ends and at sample mid-points, resulted in strengths as low as 50% of the standard
UCS values. Rougher sample ends and platens produced sample “barrelling” with strengths the same, or slightly
higher than results from standard tests. These results suggest that standard UCS tests are conducted with a
significant degree of effective sample confinement generated by sample end friction.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 SAMPLES AND PLATENS USED FOR THE

TESTING PROGRAM
Research into factors influencing unconfined com-
pressive strength (UCS) tests have been conducted 2.1 Sample descriptions
at the University of Saskatchewan for over 10 years.
Samples of a medium-grained grey granite from
Early testing was conducted to look at crack initiation
northern Manitoba have been tested. The granitic
and propagation in granitic samples (Eberhardt 1998).
rock was divided into two groups based on the P-
Subsequent creep testing was conducted to deter-
wave velocity measured for each sample. The slower
mine if the strength of granitic samples was reduced
velocity samples ranged from 3161 metres per sec-
under long term loads in excess of the theoretical
ond (m/s) to 4373 m/s and the faster velocities were
strength, causing unstable crack growth (Sczcepanik
between 4496 m/s to 5134 m/s. Two groups of sample
et al. 2003). Based on the results of these tests, research
sizes were tested as well. The smaller samples were
is concentrating on the influence of sample end con-
35 mm in diameter and the larger samples had diame-
ditions on sample strength (Sczcepanik et al. 2005).
ters of 61 mm. All tests had a length to diameter ratio
Test results have shown a relationship between the
between 2.0 and 2.5, which is within ASTM (1987)
ratio of circumferential strain at the sample mid point
specifications.
and sample ends versus the sample UCS, and that
varying sample to platen contact friction can change
the resulting sample UCS by up to about 100%. This
2.2 Sample instrumentation
paper presents the results of continued tests in this
area. Modifications have been made to test proce- All samples were strain gauged. Circumferential strain
dures to try and vary sample end friction as much as gauges were mounted 10 mm from each sample end
possible. and at the sample midpoint.

793
• For the 35 mm diameter samples, both 14 mm
and 90 mm long strain gauges were used. For the
samples instrumented with 14 mm long gauges, 2
gauges were installed at each location and 2 axial
strain gauges were also used. For the tests conducted
with 90 mm long gauges, only 1 circumferential
gauge was used at each location.
• For the 61 mm diameter tests, 90 mm long strain
gauges were used with circumferential gauges
10 mm from each sample end and the sample mid-
point. Two axial strain gauges were also used.
Two gauges were used at each location to provide
redundancy.
2.3 Surface roughness measurements
Both sample end conditions and platen conditions
were varied and a method of quantifying the sur-
face conditions of the sample ends and platens was
adopted. A portable surface roughness tester (pro-
filometer) was used to measure sample end roughness
to the nearest 0.01 µm. The roughness tester measured
roughness along a 12.5 mm profile length. Average
surface roughness, Ra, was recorded. Ra is calculated
by first determining an average straight profile to rep-
resent the surface trace. The areas above and below the
profile are calculated and added together. This total
area is divided by the straight line profile length to
determine the average profile roughness parameter Ra.
To account for any directional anisotropy in the rough-
ness of the sample ends, roughness was measured at
60◦ increments on the sample surface to produce a
“roughness rosette”. An average roughness value for
each sample end was obtained by averaging the rough-
ness rosette values. Figure 1 shows how the Ra value
is calculated.
the sample ends and platens and did not conform to
ASTM standards.
Three platen conditions were also used for testing.
In all cases the steel platens had a hardness in excess
of 58 (Hardness Rockwell C) HRC, as specified in the
ASTM standards (1987). No effort was made to match
the elastic properties of the rock and platens. Instead,
the contact friction between the sample and platens was
varied. Polished and striated platens were used, all of
which conformed to ASTM standards. The polished
platen was prepared on a thin section polishing wheel
whereas the striated platen (Fig. 2) was prepared on a
fine grinding wheel.
A third platen type was used that consisted of con-
centric grooves with a roughness in excess of ASTM
standards. This platen is shown in Figure 3.
The variation in platen types was used to vary
sample to platen contact friction. The three types of
sample end finish and three platen types that were used
are summarized in Table 1, along with corresponding
ranges in average roughness. The sample tested using
lead foil are also listed in this table. The thickness of
these foils were 0.015 mm, 0.03 mm, or in three cases,
1 mm.

2.4 Platen and sample end preparation

Three sample groups were prepared with rough, stan- Figure 2. Striated platen showing scratch marks. Scale bar
dard and polished end conditions. All of these sample shows 1 cm.
end conditions were within ASTM standards (ASTM
1987). An additional suite of samples was tested with
lead foil placed between the platens and the rock sur-
face.This was done to reduce frictional effects between

Profile length
j

a b c e f g i m n o p
d h l
Centreline k
Roughness
average (Ra)
… + yn
Ra = y a + yb + yc +
n
Figure 3. Rough platen showing concentric grooves. Scale
Figure 1. Average roughness, Ra. (after Hebert 2004). bar shows 1 cm.

794
3 TEST RESULTS circumferential strain at the sample ends was calcu-
lated. The smallest value for this ratio represents the
ASTM testing procedures were followed for sample sample end that experienced the greatest strain, which
testing unless otherwise stated. The sample loading is interpreted as the end with the minimum surface to
rate was kept constant at 8.1 MPa per minute, which platen confining friction.
failed the samples in the ASTM recommended time Table 2 summarizes the ratios of minimum mid-
period of 5 to 15 minutes for all but the strongest point strain to average end-point strain measured at
test results. Load and strain values were continuously 50% of the sample UCS. It is interesting to note that
recorded. the polished samples tested on the striated platens
After each test, the sample strains at 50% of the show the highest circumferential strain ratio, sug-
sample UCS were assessed. The ratio of the circum- gesting that the contacts between polished samples
ferential strain at the sample mid-point to the average and striated platens experienced the highest friction.
Rough samples tested on the grooved platens, however,
show approximately 1-to-1 mid-point to end-point cir-
Table 1. Platen types and sample end finishes used in
laboratory UCS tests.
cumferential strain ratios, indicating significantly less
friction. It appears that the relatively rounded groove
Platen type/Sample end finish Average roughness surfaces of the concentric grooved platens produce less
rock-to-platen friction under loading than the polished
• Polished platens 0.17 µm < Ra < 0.21 µm or striated platens, even though these have much lower
• Smooth/striated platens 0.8 µm < Ra < 1.0 µm roughness (Ra) values.
Additional tests were also conducted on the large
• Concentric grooved platens 4.0 µm < Ra < 4.6 µm
samples with the lower compressional wave velocity.
• Rough sample end condition 3.8 µm < Ra < 4.3 µm Brazilian tests were conducted, according to ASTM
• Standard/smooth sample 2.4 µm < Ra < 3.0 µm standards (ASTM 1995), to obtain an estimate of the
end condition tensile strength of the rock. 8 samples were tested and
• Polished sample end condition 0.6 µm < Ra < 1.2 µm gave an average tensile strength of 12.1 MPa, with a
standard deviation of 1.0 MPa.

Table 2. Minimum ratio of sample mid-point to end-point circumferential strain.

Circumferential strain Circumferential strain Circumferential strain

ratio for rough ratio for smooth/ ratio for polished
Sample/platen description sample ends standard ends sample ends

61 mm diameter samples:
Concentric grooved platens 1.113
1.029
Smooth striated platens 1.449
1.847
1.778
Polished platens 1.802
1.111
0.822
0.482 lead foil
0.502 lead foil
0.489 lead foil
35 mm diameter samples:
Polished platens 1.065 0.799 0.743
1.12 0.838 0.862
1.063 0.845 0.505
0.908∗
0.837∗
1.409∗
0.637 lead foil∗
0.818 lead foil
0.524 lead foil
1.552 lead foil
0.790 lead foil
∗
One sample end strain gauge failed for these tests – the remaining sample mid to end circumferential
strain ratio is shown.

795
 300
Sample Hourglassing Sample Barrelling
250

200
UCS (MPa)

Samples Tested with Lead Foil

150

100
High Velocity Small Samples
High Velocity Small Samples - 1 End Gauged
50
Low Velocity Large Samples
High Velocity Large Samples
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Strain Ratio

Figure 4. Sample UCS versus the minimum mid-point to

end-point circumferential strain ratio.

Figure 5. Post-failure photograph of a sample that showed

relatively high strength with pronounced sample barrelling
before failure.

4 TEST INTERPRETATION Figure 6. Post-failure photograph of a sample that showed

The frictional bond between the loading platens and
sample ends is not well understood, however, the appli-
cation of circumferential strain gauges at sample ends
and mid-point allows the frictional effect to be indi-
rectly quantified. Figure 4 shows measured sample
UCS versus the sample circumferential strain ratio.
Four groups of test results are shown. Tests conducted
with lead foil on the sample ends have been circled.The
granite samples with the lower compressional wave
velocities were expected to be weaker and in general
a slightly lower strength is obtained for these samples
at a given circumferential strain ratio (Fig. 4).
Tests with a mid-point to end-point circumferen-
tial strain ratio greater than 1.0 are deforming to
a barrel shape, showing significant end friction. In
this circumferential strain ratio range, relatively high
sample strengths between 200 and 250 MPa were con-
sistently measured. At circumferential strain ratios less
relatively low strength with sample hourglassing before
failure.
than 1.0 the samples developed an hourglass shape,
signifying reduced end friction. Sample strengths in
this circumferential strain ratio range show a distinct
trend of reduced strength with increased hourglass-
ing. Strengths range from just over 200 MPa to under
100 MPa. Of the 16 samples that show some degree
of hourglassing, 8 were tested with lead foil, 7 were
tested with polished ends and polished platens, and one
was tested with polished platens and standard smooth
ends. It is interesting to note that the smooth striated
platens produced some of the highest sample strengths
and the largest degree of sample barrelling. The stri-
ated platen was finished on a fine grained aluminum
oxide polishing wheel that left very shallow scratches
on the platen surface. The scratched surface produced
a low Ra roughness value of 0.8 to 1.0 µm, however,

796

Figure 7. Strain gauged sample showing circumferential
gauge locations.
the scratched or striated surface produced an apparent
high friction between the samples and platen.
The failure mechanism, as well as strength, between
hourglassing and barrelling samples appears to be dif-
ferent (Figs. 5 and 6). Figure 7 shows the location of the
circumferential strain gauges. Figure 5 shows a typi-
cal failed sample that deformed to a barrelled shape
before failure. The sample ends were relatively intact
after failure and a shear type failure developed in the
sample. Figure 6 shows a typical failed sample that
deformed to an hourglass shape before failure. Axial
fracturing developed in the sample and the UCS was
significantly lower than for the samples that deformed
to a barrel shape prior to failure. The three test results
for the lower velocity samples with the greatest degree
of hourglassing before failure had circumferential
strain ratios between 0.48 and 0.50 (Table 2) and
an average UCS of 98 MPa (Fig. 6). It is interest-
ing to note that the average unconfined compressive
strength for these three samples is 8.1 times the tensile
strength. This is remarkably close to the theoretical 8:1
ratio between UCS and tensile strength predicted with
Griffith’s crack theory (Griffith 1924).
797
5 CONCLUSIONS
Testing has been conducted on relatively uniform
medium grained granitic rocks. The samples tested
were divided into two groups based on compressional
wave velocity, and the lower velocity samples appeared
to have a slightly lower strength. Circumferential strain
gauges applied at centre of the sample and 10 mm
from the each sample end provided an indirect mea-
sure of the friction end confinement due to the contact
between the platens and the rock. Sample hourglass-
ing resulted in sample strength dropping to less than
50% of the maximum UCS values obtained. In half the
cases of sample hourglassing, lead foil had been placed
between the loading platens and the sample ends.
Hawkes & Mellor (1970) reported similar testing pro-
cedures with the application of paper orTeflon between
the loading platens and samples. It was reported that
thicker layers, in excess of 0.5 mm, extruded under
loading and the failed samples exhibited axial cleav-
age. It was thought that the axial cleavage was evidence
that the material placed between the sample ends and
platens was inducing a tensile stress at the samples
ends and this approach was not recommended. The
tests reported in this paper suggest that rock failure
by axial cleavage can be obtained simply by reducing
end friction during testing and that this can signifi-
cantly influence the reported unconfined compressive
strength of the rock.Additional testing is planned at the
University of Saskatchewan to test other rock types and
to better quantify sample end constraint and friction
effects.
REFERENCES
ASTM D2938-86 1987. Standard test method for uncon-
fined compressive strength of intact core specimens.
Philadelphia: ASTM.
ASTM D3967-95a 1995. Standard Test Method for Split-
ting Tensile Strength of Intact Rock Core Specimens.
Philadelphia: ASTM.
Eberhardt, E. 1998. Brittle rock fracture and progressive
damage in uniaxial compression. Ph.D. thesis, Depart-
ment of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatoon.
Griffith, A.A. 1924. Theory of rupture. In First Int. Congr.
Appl. Mech., Delft, pp. 55–63.
Hawkes, I. & Mellor, M. 1970. Uniaxial testing in
rock mechanics laboratories. Engineering Geology 4:
177–285.
Hebert, M. 2004. Get the Roll Surface Right. Plastics Tech-
nology: http://www.plasticstechnology.com/articles.
Szczepanik, Z., Milne, D., Kostakis, K. & Eberhardt, E. 2003.
Long term laboratory strength tests in hard rock. In Proc.,
International Society of Rock Mechanics, Gauteng, South
Africa.
Szczepanik, Z., Milne, D., Hawkes, C. & Greenlay, K. 2005.
The influence of end effects on unconfined compressive
strength. In CGS – AGM, Saskatoon, CD-ROM.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The long-term stress-strain behaviour of chalk

K.J.L. Stone & K.I. Katsaros

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Brighton, UK

ABSTRACT: Extensive infrastructure development in the Chalk of the Anglo-Paris basin has highlighted the
requirement for a comprehensive understanding of both the short and long-term behaviour of the material. Whilst
the short-term strength and deformation properties are relatively well reported, there remains little guidance in
terms of the long-term response of the material. This paper presents the results of a long-term stress path testing
programme on intact homogeneous samples of low to medium density chalk. Data was collected over periods
of continuous loading in excess of 450 days, from which the long-term or creep response of the material can be
assessed.

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Current practice

During the geotechnical design and construction of
large civil engineering projects, it is not always pos-
sible to evaluate the long-term stress-strain response
or creep aspects of the ground within the time frame
of the design and construction programme. Conse-
quently, prediction of the long-term response of the
structure must be assessed from the extrapolation of
data obtained from relatively short-term testing pro-
grammes (of the order of a few months) or based
on generic relationships which may not reflect accu-
rately the rhelogical characteristics of the materials
encountered at the site.
In recent years extensive infrastructure develop-
ment has taken place in the Chalk of the Anglo-Paris
basin, and significant projects are planned for the
near future. Consequently there remains a requirement
for a comprehensive understanding of both the short
and long-term behaviour of the Chalk. The short-term
strength and deformation properties are reasonable
well reported in the literature, see for example, Millar
(2002), Kageson-Loe et al. (1994), Mortimore &
Fielding (1990), and guidance for design can be found
in the CIRIA (2002) guide. Whilst there have been
several previous studies of the long-term response of
porous chalk, see for example, Dahou et al. (1995),
Maranini & Brignoli (1999), and Monjoie & Schroder
(1990, 1992) there remains little published guidance
in terms of the long-term strength and deformation
parameters for use in design.
The research reported here was carried out to
redress this situation through a laboratory study of
the long-term stress-strain response of intact low to
medium porosity chalk.
Two approaches are usually adopted for determin-
ing the creep parameters of a rock. In the first case
specimens are subjected to different compressive load
values ranging from 30–90% of the short-term com-
pressive strength; deformation is measured with time.
In the second case, the same specimen is subjected
to incremental compressive loads. The deformation is
measured with time for each load increment (i.e. a
multi-stage test). In both cases, the test procedure is
generally based on BS 1377:8 (1990), and as a result
the applied stress paths are those of conventional triax-
ial compression (i.e. with a constant confining stress
and increasing axial compressive stress).
1.2 Stress path testing
For many types of rock it has been shown that strength
is generally less in extensional tests compared to
compression tests. The difference for rock salt, for
example, is up to 4 MPa (Hunsche 1992, 1993, 1994).
Similarly, it has been reported that the creep response
obtained under conditions of uniaxial compression
and tension are generally different. It is therefore
possible that the creep behaviour of a rock element
will be dependent, at least in part, on the stress path
experienced by the element. In particular the stress
paths associated with reduction in confining stress
are particularly relevant to the in-situ conditions in
the vicinity of tunnels, underground constructions and
natural or engineered slopes (Stone et al. 2003).
In the laboratory test programme reported here
four long-term conventional compression tests, and
three long-term extensional tests were carried out. The
extensional tests were performed using conventional

799
 6.0
Peak strength envelope
5.0 (Mohr-Coulomb)

4.0 UCS strength

envelope
q = ␴'1 ⴚ ␴'3, (MPa)

3.0

2.0 A

1.0 B

0.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0
C
-1.0
p' = (␴'1 + 2␴'3)/3, (MPa)
Figure 2. Load frame arrangement and triaxial cell.
-2.0

AXIAL
Figure 1. Typical stress paths performed during test pro- LOAD

gramme; A) conventional compression, B) conventional

extension and C) Axial stress reduced cell pressure constant. Piston area
The failure envelope for peak strength data is shown dashed. A Seals

triaxial cells modified for stress path testing as Top cap

described in the following section. In addition to the area Ac

tests conducted on intact samples, two conventional

compression tests on singly fractured (artificially)
specimens were initiated, and at the time of writing
are on-going.
Figure 1 below presents an overview of the stress
paths followed in the test programme. It should be
noted from this figure that the tests were conducted
at relatively low stress levels corresponding to depths
from 25–50 m, which is consistent with major civil Figure 3. a) Schematic arrangement of modified triaxial
engineering projects and natural features. At these low cell and b) as built unit (note radial strain belts on sample).
stress levels it is also interesting to note that unloading
type stress paths intersect the tension failure surface
rather than the Mohr-Coulomb failure surface. compression (confining stress constant, axial stress
increasing), the triaxial cells were modified such that
axial and radial (confining) stresses could be applied
2 LABORATORY EQUIPMENT AND independently. The modification involved converting
PROCEDURES the plunger and ram arrangement of a conventional tri-
axial cell to act as a balanced ram, such that increments
A purpose built environmentally controlled laboratory in axial force acting on the top cap of the specimen
was fabricated for the creep study. Load frames were are balanced by an equal force acting in the opposite
constructed utilising a dead weight and cantilever load- direction on the plunger. This arrangement is illus-
ing arrangement to provide a stable applied axial load trated schematically in Figure 3a and a photograph of
as illustrated in Figure 2a. an as-built unit is shown in Figure 3b.
Seven cantilever type load frames were constructed,
five as shown in Figure 2, and a further two using
modified oedometer loading frames which also incor- 2.2 Short term test programme
porated a cantilever loading arrangement.
The stress state at any stage of a creep test is often
expressed as a percentage of the ultimate peak (devi-
2.1 Stress path cells
atoric or axial) failure stress for a corresponding
In order to explore the creep characteristic of the short-term drained test. Consequently an extensive
chalk under stress paths other than that of conventional review of published and unpublished data was carried

800
Table 1. Summary of creep tests. 0.8
99%
85% 93%
35% 50% 96%
0.6
Initial stress Stress path
Test ID 0.4
Axial strain R4
(stress path*) q (MPa) p (MPa) Axial Radial 0.2 Axial strain R2

Strain (%)
R1 (C) 0.00 1.032 Decr. Const. 0

R2 (A) 0.00 0.573 Incr. Const. -0.2

R3 (A) 0.00 0.930 Incr. Const. Radial strain R2
R4 (A) 0.00 0.930 Incr. Const. -0.4

R5 (A) 0.65 0.809 Incr. Const. -0.6

R6 (B) −0.24 0.855 Const. Incr. 40% 70% 85%
93%
96%
R7 (B) −0.20 0.866 Const. Incr. -0.8
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Time (Days)
* Refer to Figure 1.
Figure 4. Strains recorded for conventional compression
tests R2 and R4. The numbers indicate percentage of peak
out, together with a short-term testing programme to strength applied to sample.
derive a short term strength envelope for the low to
medium density Seaford chalk used in this study.These 1
data are illustrated in Figure 1 where a Mohr-Coulomb Increasing axial stress

failure criteria has been fitted to represent the fail- 0.5

ure surface of the material intersecting the unconfined Decreasing axial stress
compression envelope defined by q/p = 3.
0
Strain (%)

2.3 Long term test programme -0.5

Seven 38 mm diameter by 76 mm high plugs of intact

-1
low to medium density Seaford chalk were tested under Cell pr
continuous loading for periods in excess of 1 year. As dropped
-1.5
already stated the test programme incorporated several 27% 44% 50% 84% 104%

different applied stress paths, and stress increments

were applied in relation to the estimated peak failure
stresses associated with each stress path. Load incre-
ments were generally held for periods ranging from
1–5 months. Radial and axial strains were recorded
together with cell pressures and environmental
parameters.
A summary of the test programme is presented
below in Table 1.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Compression tests
Figure 4 shows the strains recorded for the conven-
tional compression tests R2 and R4. For test R2 both
axial and radial strains were measured, but in the
absence of a radial strain belt, only axial strains were
recorded for test R4. The axial strain response for both
tests is very similar, and no significant axial strains are
observed until the samples are subjected to deviatoric
stresses greater than about 70% of their estimated peak
failure stress.
The axial strain response is in contrast to that
recorded by the radial strain belt used in test R2 which
shows that dilative strains occur from the onset of load-
ing. These dilative strains reduce over the course of
-2
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Time (Days)
Figure 5. Axial strains recorded for extension test R1 (stress
path C in Fig. 1).
each load increment, and have effectively reduced to
zero during the load increment corresponding to about
40% of the estimated peak strength. It is very inter-
esting to note that in the subsequent load increment
at 70% of the estimated peak strength, the onset of
axial strain is associated with contractive radial strains.
These contractive strains are also seen to reduce over
the load increment.
3.2 Extension tests
The results for the extension tests are shown in and
Figures 5 and 6 for test R1 and R6 respectively. Test R1
was the only test where a stress path involving a reduc-
tion in axial stress was implemented. It is noted that
the initial cell pressure for this test was approximately
1 MPa which reflects an insitu depth of about 50 m.
However at these low initial confining pressure, reduc-
tion in the axial stress to zero results in a deviatoric
stress level which is only at about 50% of the estimated

801
 1.1
Axial stress increased
1.05 Confining stress reduced
1 0.9
0.95
30 % 67 %
Axial strain
Strain (%)
0.9
0.85
0.8
0.75
Radial strain
0.7
90 %
0.65
0.6
0 50 100
Time (Days)
Figure 6. Axial and radial strains recorded for conventional
extension test R6 (stress path B in Fig. 1).
peak strength. It is apparent from Figure 5 that at such
stress levels there is a minimal creep response. Some
axial creep (expansive) is observed at the start of each
load increment, and there some evidence of movement
within the 44% load increment, however this stabilizes
before the end of the load increment and does con-
tinue in the following load step. Once the axial stress
had been reduced to zero, the cell pressure was also
reduced, but no significant movement was observed.
The specimen was then subjected to an unconfined
compression stress path with an initial axial load incre-
ment applying a deviator stress of about 80% of the
estimated peak strength. For this stage of the test sim-
ilar axial creep strains are observed as reported earlier
for the triaxial compression tests R2 and R4.
The stress path followed for tests R6 and R7 were
conventional extension tests where the axial stress was
held constant (stress path B in Fig. 1) while the radial
stress was reduced. Figure 6 presents and overview of
the axial and radial strains recorded for test R6.
It is apparent from this plot that no significant radial
strains are observed for the duration of the extension
test. No radial strain is observed until the sample has
achieved a stress state approximately 60–70% of its
estimated peak strength. Beyond this stress state, sig-
nificant radial strains are observed at the onset of the
loading increment and reduce during the load incre-
ment. No significant axial strains are observed for the
stage of the test associated with a constant axial stress
and reducing cell pressure.
Once the radial stress has been reduced to zero,
then the sample is effectively in a state of uncon-
fined compression. At this stage the axial stress was
increased such that a conventional unconfined com-
pression stress path was followed. The response of the
specimen at the start of this phase is also recorded
in Figure 6 although not enough data is presented to
observe the development of any significant axial or
radial strains.
1.1 4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
It should be noted that all but two of the tests reported
0.7 here are still in progress. Post-test SEM analysis and
further data reduction will be carried out on termina-
Radial strain (%)
0.5
tion of the tests. However, from the results presented
0.3 in this paper some initial conclusions can be drawn in
respect of the long-term testing and behaviour of low
0.1
to medium density chalk. These are listed as follows:
107 %
-0.1 • Simple cost-effective modifications can be made to
-0.3
standard triaxial equipment to allow stress path tests
150 200 250 to be performed.
• Similarly axial strain belts provide useful infor-
mation at minimal cost and could be employed in
routine tests.
• No significant influence was observed of the stress
path on the creep response.
• Even in the absence of significant axial creep
strains, radial or dilative strains are observed.
• No significant axial creep effects are observed in
the pre-yield (elastic) response of the material.
• It seems likely that creep deformations are asso-
ciated with post-yield shearing behaviour (>70–
80% of ultimate peak strength as determined by
conventional testing).
• In all cases the creep strains are very small (<1%)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Authors are gratefully acknowledge the financial
support of the U.K Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council for funding the work reported in this
paper, and to the University of Brighton for providing
additional funding support for the second author.
REFERENCES
British Standards Institution 1990. The Testing of Soils for
Civil Engineering Purposes. BS 1377: part 8, BSI.
Construction Industry Research and Information Association
2002. Engineering in Chalk. Guide C574.
Dahou, A., Shao, J.F. & Bederiat, M. 1995. Experimental
and numerical investigations on transient creep of porous
chalk. Mechanics of Materials 21: 147–158.
Hunsche, U. 1992. True triaxial failure tests on cubic rock salt
samples. In Kakihana et al. (eds.), Experimental Methods
and Results. Finite Inelastic Deformations – Theory and
Applications. IUTAM Symp. on Salt, Kyoto. Amsterdam:
Elsevier, vol. 1, pp. 59–65.
Hunsche, U. 1993. Strength of rock salt at low mean stresses.
In Proc. 7th Int. Cong. on Rock Mechanics. Rotterdam:
Balkema, pp. 160–163.
Hunsche, U. 1994. Uniaxial and triaxial creep and failure tests
on rock: Experimental technique and interpretation. In
Critescu & Gioda (eds.), Visco-Plastic Behaviour of Geo-
materials. Vienna-New York:Springer-Verlag, pp. 1–53.
802
Kageson-Loe, N.M, Mortimore, R.N., Jones, M.E. &
Willis, S. 1994. On chalk fabrics and their influence
on deformation behaviour. In EAPG Chalk Conference,
Copenhagen.
Maranini, E. & Brignoli, M. 1999. Creep behaviour of a weak
rock: experimental characterisation. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. 36: 127–138.
Millar, M. 2002. The Stress-strain behaviour of jointed chalk.
PhD Thesis, University of Brighton.
Monjoie, A. & Schroder, Ch. 1990. Establishment of consti-
tutive laws of chalk and long time tests. In Proc. 3rd North
Sea Chalk Symp.
803
Monjoie,A. & Schroder, Ch. 1991. Testing procedure for time
dependent behaviour of chalk. In Proc. 7th Int. Congress
ISRM, p. 565.
Mortimore, R.N. & Fielding, P.M. 1990. The relationship
between texture, density and strength of chalk. In Chalk,
Proc. Int. Chalk Symposium, Brighton. Thomas Telford,
pp. 109–132.
Stone, K.J.L., Watson, T. & Proughton, A. 2003. Some obser-
vations on the long-term strength and deformability of
weak molassic marl. In Soil and Rock American 2003 39th
US Rock Mechanics Symposium, MIT Boston.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The effect of diagenesis on stress-strain behavior and acoustic

velocities in sandstones

R. Nygård
University of Calgary, Schulich School of Engineering, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Department,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

K. Bjørlykke & K. Høeg

University of Oslo, Department of Geosciences, Oslo, Norway

G. Hareland
University of Calgary, Schulich School of Engineering, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Department,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: When sands are buried in sedimentary basins the additional overburden mechanically compact
the sands to a denser configuration. Burial also increases temperature and the porosity is reduced by chemical
compaction. Therefore, the geomechanical behavior of sandstones is to a large extent controlled by mechanical
and chemical compaction. To investigate the relationship between the geological processes and geomechanical
properties we conducted rock mechanical tests and petrographical analyses on different sandstones from the
North Sea. For all tested sandstones with different degrees of cementation the peak strength is closely correlated
with the Young’s modulus. There seems to be a strong correlation between porosity and strength. This correlation
was further improved by taking into account the primary layering. Sonic travel times also correlate with the peak
strength and can be used as a method for calculating rock strength.

1 INTRODUCTION porosity reduction in the form of sediment volume

1.1 Introduction
After sands are deposited they become sandstones dur-
ing the geological history. The main driver for this
process is the porosity reduction in the sand caused
by deeper burial. Understanding the effect geological
history has on the strength and deformation properties
of sands is important. For example, the oil industry
needs to plan and conduct safe drilling, design com-
pletions and manage sand production. The objective
of this paper is to investigate the relationship between
geological processes and geomechanical properties.
A rock mechanical test program and petrographical
analyses of different sandstones from the North Sea
were conducted.
1.2 Sandstone diagenesis
When sand is deposited it usually has a porosity around
35–50% dependent on the initial sorting of the sand,
mineralogy content and amount of fines (Bjørlykke
1989). During burial these sediments experience
reduction or increase in bulk density due to mechani-
cal and chemical compaction. Mechanical compaction
involves sliding reorientation, bending, ductile defor-
mation and crushing of grains (Cuhan et al. 2002,
Cuhan et al. 2004). Chemical compaction is chemi-
cal dissolution of minerals and precipitation of new
minerals in the pore-space and on the grains. The term
chemical compaction is now widely used in geology
(e.g. Bjørkum et al. 1989, Walderhaug 2000). When
the source of the cement is external precipitation of
cement reduces the porosity but do not reduce (com-
pact) the sediment volume. But in most cases the
source of the cement is derived locally by dissolution,
and if the dissolution occurs at grain contacts there will
be chemical compaction. The combined mechanical
and chemical compaction is named diagenesis by geol-
ogists. Diagenesis starts immediately after burial and
continues until the temperature reaches 200–300◦ C
(Bjørlykke 1989). The primary mineral composition is
the single largest control of which one of the diagenetic
processes is most important. The porosity reduction
caused by diagenesis increases the strength, and weak
sandstone has unconfined compressive strength (UCS)

805
in the range 0.5 to 20 MPa and sandstone has UCS
above 20 MPa (Dobereiner & de Freitas 1986).
Diagenetic processes in sandstones can be divided
into an early and late phase. Early diagenesis is the pro-
cess occurring until a depth of a couple of km where
the most important process is mechanical compaction
and to less extent chemical dissolution of unstable
minerals and mineral precipitation. Typical unstable
minerals in sands are feldspars and micas which break
down and create clay minerals, e.g. kalonite. However,
carbonate cementation can be an important cement-
ing material in an early diagenetic process. Sediments
which undergo early cementing will have less sedi-
ment volume reduction due to mechanical compaction
compared with sediments that have less cement.
When the sands are buried below 2–3 km, and enter
the window of late diagenesis, the temperature controls
the diagenetic processes (Walderhaug 2000). Impor-
tant late diagnetic processes are; a) dissolution of
quartz grains, or amorpheous silica (amorphous silica
becomes unstable at 60–70◦ C which is in most cases
at 1–2 Km depth) and precipitation of quartz cement,
b) mineral transformations where feldspars and clays
transform into quartz and clay minerals e.g. illite.
The porosity reduction from mechanical com-
paction increases the interlocking of the grains and
increase the shear strength of the sandstone, but
cement is what creates true cohesion in sandstones
(Barton 1993).
2 EXPERIMENTAL TEST SETUP
2.1 Triaxial test set up
Consolidated drained triaxial compression tests were
conducted in a triaxial cell. The test samples were
38 mm in diameter and with at height 72–95 mm.
During each test, vertical load and confining stress
were measured. Two horizontal displacement sensors
were glued directly on the sample about 13 mm above
and below the mid height of the specimen and oriented
90◦ apart. The vertical compression is measured inter-
nally by LVDT’s to measure the change in distance
between the two horizontal displacement sensors over
approximately 1/3 of the sample. The vertical com-
pression of the specimen was also measured over the
whole specimen height by measuring the travel of the
piston. The external measurements were corrected for
false displacements due to effects of cell pressure and
piston load. For some of the samples sonic p-wave
velocities were measured. For additional details of the
testing apparatus see Nygaard et al. (2007).
The tests were consolidated to different confin-
ing stresses in the range from 2–30 MPa. Most of
the tests were isotropically consolidated, but a few
tests where consolidated following a K0 -stress path.
806
After consolidation the test was run under drained
conditions.
The results of the triaxial tests are shown in terms
of the vertical stress vs. strain. Failure is reported as
vertical stress and horizontal stress at peak at the stress-
strain curve. For all the testsYoung’s module (E50 ) was
calculated as the secant of the vertical stress vs. vertical
strain curve over the range of 45–55% of the vertical
stress at failure.
2.2 Petrographical analysis
The porosity of the samples was measured by a Helium
gas expansion porosity apparatus. For each sample
tested in the triaxial apparatus a vertical thin sec-
tion was made and analyzed in Nikon polarization
microscope. Texture, grain size, sorting and diagene-
sis were investigated. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD)
was analyzed to assist in classifying the various clastic
minerals and cement types.
3 MATERIALS
The tested materials were from the North Sea Brent
group which is an important reservoir rock in the
North Sea. The Brent group consists of the Broom,
Rannoch, Etive, Ness, and Tarbert formations. Brent
group sandstones are dominated by arkoses and sub-
arkoses (quartz and feldspar rich sandstones). The
depths of the tested materials range between 2.1 km
to 4.1 km and offers therefore the opportunity to study
the results of diagenetic processes at different stages.
Bjørlykke et al. (1992) list the diagenetic processes
occurring in the Brent group as; a) feldspar dissolution,
precipitation of kaolinite and carbonate cementation
b) albitization of K-feldspar c) quartz cementation
c) precipitation of authigenic illite.and quartz.
4 RESULTS AND INTERPRETATIONS
4.1 Geological and geomechanical description
A total of 107 triaxial tests are included. Table 1 reports
the results for each test depth and for the tests with
2 MPa confining stress. InTable 1 the reported porosity
is the porosity measured at atmospheric conditions.
Nine samples are from the Etive formation. The
depth varies from 2170 m to 2520 m. The Etive sand-
stones are medium to coarse grained arkoses and
sub-arkoses with good to very good sorting, and with
little matrix in the samples. Quartz grains are the
main composition. Feldspar, mica (muscovite) and
rock fragments are the other components. The plagio-
clase feldspar is heavily weathered which can be seen
as over-dimensioned pores. The grain contacts in the
Table 1. Triaxial test results. UCS is unconfined com- Thin silt and clay (and mica) layers are observed in
pressive strength. CS.2 is strength with confining stress most of the samples, but Quartz grains constitute
of 2 MPa. the main portion of the samples. The samples from
UCS Porosity Depth CS.2 E-Module
2185 m and 2254 m are exceptions, where mica and
Formation (MPa) (%) (m) (MPa) (GPa) clay dominate. Feldspar and mica are to a large extent
disintegrated and authigenic kaolinite is present in the
Etive 6.8 35 2170 10.0 0.9 pores.There are traces of carbonate cement.The poros-
Etive 11.5 34 2235 16.5 2.9 ity varies from 26% to 34% and with average USC of
Etive 24.2 30 2284 29.4 4.7 15 MPa.
Etive 14.6 31 2297 18.3 2.1 Eight samples are from the Rannoch formation.
Etive 14.1 32 2302 19.1 3.4 The depth varies from 2261 m to 2597 m. The sam-
Etive 16.4 34 2373 20.1 3.0 ples from the Rannoch formation consists of fine to
Etive 16.9 35 2398 20.6 3.7
medium grained arkoses and sub-arkoses, with mod-
Etive 16.8 32 2522 23.4 3.0
Etive 19.3 31 2550 25.1 3.6 erate to good sorting. The matrix content is low and
Ness 12.2 26 2185 15.2 1.5 all the samples are grain to grain contacts. Tangen-
Ness 17.6 32 2199 21.3 3.8 tial grain contacts are most dominant, and the samples
Ness 16.5 26 2206 21.6 3.8 have undergone low to moderate compaction.The clas-
Ness 12.5 32 2212 18.0 2.7 tic minerals in the samples are quartz, feldspar and
Ness 21.7 27 2221 26.0 4.3 mica. The feldspars and micas are partly dissolved.
Ness 7.8 23 2238 12.4 1.7 Authigenic kaolinite in booklets is distributed in the
Ness 5.3 30 2254 13.4 2.0 pores. Carbonate cement and pyrites occur. The poros-
Ness 15.6 34 2270 18.9 2.2
ity of the samples varies from 4% to 33%. The samples
Ness 17.2 32 2271 19.3 2.5
Ness 19.0 31 2610 26.0 4.1 from 2373 m and 2374 m have very low porosities
Rannoch 15.0 32 2261 19.3 3.2 due to high carbonate cement content. The strength
Rannoch 17.6 31 2333 23.9 4.2 results from Rannoch are divided in two groups. One
Rannoch 41.0 15 2373 47.7 11.3 is the grain carried with porosities between 28%–33%
Rannoch 108.0 4 2374 119.9 37.2 and average UCS of 20 MPa. The 2nd group is the
Rannoch 19.8 33 2442 25.4 4.5 cemented ones with porosities of 4%–6% and USC
Rannoch 20.1 28 2452 25.0 4.5 above 40 MPa.
Rannoch 23.9 28 2573 30.1 5.3 Ten samples are from theTarbert formation and with
Rannoch 25.8 28 2597 32.9 6.1
depths from 2146 m to 4087 m. The Tarbert formation
Tarbert 15.9 32 2146 20.2 3.5
Tarbert 15.7 33 2173 20.7 4.1 consists of very fine to coarse grained sub-arkoses
Tarbert 4.8 31 2179 20.7 3.1 with moderate to good sorting. Quartz and feldspar
Tarbert 13.9 33 2186 20.6 3.0 grains are the dominant minerals (more than 85%)
Tarbert 11.0 31 2199 19.5 1.9 except for samples 4078 m and 4087 m where the mica
Tarbert 14.4 33 2201 17.6 2.2 content is high (around 20%). The compaction in the
Tarbert 7.2 27 2222 14.4 3.0 samples is low except for the two deeply buried sam-
Tarbert 17.9 30 2447 23.4 4.1 ples which have a very high degree of compaction. The
Tarbert 74.8 5 4078 84.4 22.0 feldspar is disintegrated in all samples but it is increas-
Tarbert 63.5 6 4087 73.4 12.3
ing with depth. The porosity varies from 5% to 33%.
The Tarbert samples are divided in two groups, where
the samples buried less than 2500 m have average USC
of 14 MPa and the deeper samples have a UCS above
60 MPa and porosity of 5–6%.
samples are mainly tangential and the samples have
undergone low to moderate compaction. Two excep-
tions from this trend are samples 2284 m and 2573 m,
4.2 Stress-strain curves
where strait and sutured grain contacts occur and indi-
cate higher compaction. There are traces of cement like All samples developed a distinct shear plane after peak
carbonate and overgrowths of quartz.There is evidence strength. The shear planes were visible when examin-
of dissolved feldspar and mica, and precipitation of ing the test specimen after testing. The stress-strain
kaolinite. The porosity varies from 30% to 34%. The curves in Figures 1 and 2 have an almost linear strain
average UCS is 16 MPa. response before the peak strength is reached. The peak
Ten samples are from the Ness formation. The point is followed by a rapid stress reduction when the
depths were from 2186 m to 2610 m. The Ness forma- sample is continued sheared beyond peak strength and
tion samples are arkoses with grain sizes varying from the macro shear fracture is created. Samples sheared
very fine to coarse. The grain contacts are tangential well beyond peak reached a plateau where the stress is
and strait, and indicate weak to moderate compaction. constant with increased strain when the upper part is

807
 50
195
45
40

Vertical stress (MPa)

185
Vertical stress (MPa)

35
175
30
25 165 External
vertical strain
20 Horizontal
155
15 strain
Internal vertical
10 145 strain
5
135
0
-10 -5 0 5 10 15
-15 -5 5 15
Horizontal strain Vertical strain (mS)
Horizontal strain Vertical strain (mS)
Figure 3. Stress-strain curve for Tarbert formation at depth
Figure 1. Stress-strain curves for triaxial tests with 2, 5 and 4087 m. The test is K0 -consolidated before sheared.
10 MPa isotropic confining stress for Tarbert formation at
depth 2173 m.
Vertical stress at failure (MPa) 1000
160
140
Vertical stress (MPa)

120 100

100
80
60
40
20
0
-15 -10 -5
Horizontal strain Vertical strain (mS)
Figure 2. Stress-strain curves for triaxial tests with 2, 5 and
10 MPa isotropic confining stress for Tarbert formation at
depth 4087 m.
sliding on the existing shear fracture. The tests show
a typical brittle behavior. In Figure 3 the sample is
K0 -consolidated and the vertical and horizontal stress
is 135 MPa and 28 MPa respectively at the beginning
of the shear test. For this test both the internal and
external vertical strain is reported. The internal strain
is somewhat less than the external, but shows a very
similar curve shape.
Peak vertical stress for samples with 2 confining
stress varied between 10 to 120 MPa. The calculated
E-modulus varied between 0.9 to 37 GPa (Table 1). In
Figure 4 the peak vertical stress and Young’s modulus
are correlated. There is a good correlation between
the increase in strength and increase in stiffness for
the sandstones. That implies that if either strength or
modulus is known the other can be predicted.
10 UCS = 9.4(E)0.7
R2 = 0.94
1
0 1 10 100
0 5 10 15 E-module (GPa)
Figure 4. Correlation between peak vertical stress and
Young’s-modulus for tests run with 2 MPa confining stresses.
4.3 Failure envelopes
The peak strength for the Tarbert material at depth
4078 m (Figs. 2 and 3) and an additional set of Tarbert
formation samples at depth 4087 m are plotted in Fig-
ure 4. From Figure 4 it can be seen that the failure
envelope is best fitted with a curve. The unconfined
compressive strength (UCS) for the material is esti-
mated to be 71.5 MPa and 62.5 MPa respectively. Both
materials have the same burial history and reached the
same porosity of 5–6%. Both samples are fine to very
fine grained sandstones. The 4078 m depth sample is
homogenous and has less mica and more quartz grain
and quartz cement compared to the 4087 m sample.
The 4087 m sample has, due to its high mica content,
a distinct horizontal layering. The high mica content in
the 4087 m sample has also increased the compaction
in this sample compared to the 4078 m sample.

808
 200 1000
Vertical stress at failure (MPa)

Vertical stress at failure (MPa)

180
160
140
120 UCS = 137-34Ln(p)
100 100 R2 = 0.89
80 4087 m
60 4078 m
40
20
0 10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 0 10 20 30 40
Horisontal stress (MPa) Porosity (%)

Figure 5. Failure envelopes for Tarbert formation from Figure 7. Correlation between confined compressive
tests isotropically consolidated to 2, 5, 10 MPa and strength and porosity. Tests with dipping layers are circled.
K0 -consolidated to 20 and 38 MPa confining stress before
shear test.
20
18
160 16
4078 m
Vertical stress (MPa)
Vertical stress at failure (MPa)

140 4087 m 14 0°
120 2173 m 12
22°
100 10

80 8 38°
6
60
4
40
2
20 0
0 5 10 15
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Vertical strain (mS)
Horisontal stress (MPa)
Figure 8. Effect of natural layering for tests on Ness for-
Figure 6. Failure envelopes based on tests isotropically mation samples (0◦ at 2212 m, 22◦ at 2238 m and 38◦ at
consolidated to 2, 5 and 10 MPa for Tarbert formation. 2254 m).

presented in Figure 7. The correlation gives a reason-

In Figure 5 the failure envelope from the deeply
buried Tarbert materials from Figure 4 is compared
with the shallower Tarbert material (2173 m) from
Figure 1. The 2173 m has an UCS of 15.7 MPa which
is four five times less than the deeper buried sam-
ples. The 2173 m sample is fine-grained and homo-
geneous with mineralogical content similar to that of
the 4078 m sample. The effect of additional mechani-
cal and chemical compaction on rock strength is very
clear. Therefore a close connection between measured
porosity and rock strength should be expected.
4.4 Strength correlations with porosity
To evaluate the correlation between unconfined com-
pressive strength (UCS) and porosity the results are
able fit, but five of the samples with low strength do not
follow the same pattern. When the samples are investi-
gated in the microscope all of the show natural layering
with angles of 22◦ to 45◦ with respect to the horizon-
tal axis. Figure 8 shows the effect of the layering for
the Ness formation samples. All the samples with dip-
ping layers have simply been given a correction factor
based on comparing samples from the same forma-
tion with similar porosity but are homogenous. When
the UCS value for the layered samples are multiplied
with the appropriate correction factor the correlation
improves as shown in Figure 9. However, the spread
among the stronger samples is still significant. Espe-
cially one sample from the Rannoch formation from
depth 2374 m, which is circled on Figure 9, does not
follow the trend. The sample is less compacted and

809
 140
Vertical stress at failure (MPa)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 10
Porosity (%)
Figure 9. Correlation between compressive strength for
2 MPa tests and porosity corrected for layering. Rannoch
sample 2373 m is circled.
140
120
Vertical stress (MPa)
100
80
60
40
20
0 that there is a clear correlation between sonic travel
0 5
Vertical strain (mS)
Figure 10. Stress strain curves for Rannoch forma-
tion samples with variation in carbonate cement content.
0% = 2333 m 28% = 2373, 40% = 2374 m.
the porosity reduction, down to 4%, is mainly due to
carbonate cement infilling. In Figure 10 the samples
are compared with other Rannoch formation samples
with various carbonate cement. For the sample 2333 m
there is no carbonate cement and the porosity is 31%.
The sample at 2373 m has 28% carbonate cement and
the porosity is 15%. The carbonate cement boosts the
strength and stiffness. The total inter-granular vol-
ume (porosity and cement added together) is higher
for the cemented samples with 43% (15% + 28%) and
44 (4% + 40%) than for the non-cemented sample with
31%. That indicates that the carbonate cement was in
place early and prevented any further compaction.
The high strength of the Rannoch sample from
2374 m compared with the deeper Tarbert samples
(4078 m and 4087) indicates that cement increase
80
Unconfined rock strenght (MPa)
70 UCS = 7E+06stt-2.8
60 R2 = 0.8
UCS = 137-34Ln(p) 50
R2 = 0.91 40
30
20
10
20 30 40 0
50 70 90 110 130 150
Sonic travel time (microsec/ft)
Figure 11. Sonic travel time correlated with unconfined
compressive strength.
strength and modulus more effectively for low porosity
sandstones than mechanical compaction and chemical
processes where the result is pore filling clays.
4.5 Strength correlated with sonic velocity
Another method for indirectly correlating the poros-
ity and strength for sandstones is to use sonic travel
time. Sonic travel time from well logs is a well estab-
40% Cement lished method to derive porosity (Wyllie et al. 1956).
Sonic travel time is correlated with the unconfined
28% Cement
No Cement
compressive strength for sandstones. Figure 11 shows
10 15 time and UCS. However the correlation coefficient
(r 2 ) is 0.8, and the test results are scattered around
the line of best fit. The sonic travel time values will
not reflect variation in layering or differences due to
various cementing types. Thus both sonic travel time
and laboratory measured porosity have the same weak-
nesses when calculating rock strength. Therefore care
needs to be taken when sonic travel time correlation is
used for obtaining rock strength. One way to improve
this correlation is if correlation is made for each for-
mation or the effects mentioned above can be taken
into consideration.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper shows failure envelopes for different types
of sandstones and correlations between UCS and
porosity and UCS and sonic travel time. There is also
a correlation between UCS and Young’s modulus.
Porosity reduction of sandstones occurs due
increased mechanical compaction and due to develop-
ment of cement. The results here show that cements
increase strength more effectively than mechanical
810
compaction and that the strength is correlated with
porosity and burial depth, This again is mostly a
function of the percentage of cement.
Natural occurring dipping layers will reduce the
strength for sandstones and needs to be taken into
consideration when comparing rock strengths.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank to Norwegian
Geotechnical Institute and Toralf Berre for their triax-
ial laboratory testing support. Rolf Bratli and former
Saga Petroleum ASA are thanked for their support and
the permit to publish this work.
REFERENCES
Barton, M.E. 1993. Cohesive sands:The transition from sands
to sandstones. In Anagnostopoulos et al. (eds.), Geothec-
nical Engineering of Hard Soils-Soft Rocks. Rotterdam:
Balkema, pp. 367–374.
Bjørlykke, K. 1989. Sedimentology and Petroleum Geology.
Berlin: Springer Verlag, 363 pp.
Bjørlykke, K., Ramm, M. & Saigal, C. 1989. Sandstone dia-
genesis and porosity modification during basin evolution.
Geologische Rundschau 78: 243–268.
811
Bjørlykke, K., Nedkvitne, T., Ramm, M. & Saigal, G. 1992.
Diagenetic processes in the Brent Group (Middle Jurassic)
reservoirs of the North Sea: an overview. Geology of the
Brent Group, Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. 61: 263–287.
Bjørkum, P., Oelkers, E., Nadeau, P., Walderhaug, O. &
Murphy, W. 1998. Porosity prediction in quartzose sand-
stones as function of time, temperature, depth, stylolite
frequency and hydrocarbon saturation. AAPG Bulletin 82:
637–648.
Chuhan, F.A., Kjeldstad, A., Bjørlykke, K. & Høeg K. 2002.
Porosity loss in sand by grain crushing. Experimental
evidence and relevance to reservoir quality. Marine and
Petroleum Geology 19: 39–53.
Chuhan, F.A., Kjeldstad, A., Bjørlykke, K. & Høeg, K. 2003
Experimental compression of loose sands: Relevance to
porosity reduction during burial in sedimentary basins.
Canadian Geotechnical Journal 40: 995–1011.
Dobereiner, L. & de Freitas, M.H. 1986. Geotechni-
cal properties of weak sandstones. Geotechnique 1:
79–94.
Nygaard, R., Gutierrez, M. & Høeg, K. 2007. Shear fail-
ure and shear fracturing in shales. In Eberhardt et al.
(eds.), Proc., 1st Canada-U.S. Rock Mechanics Symp.,
This volume.
Walderhaug, O. 2000. Modeling quartz cementation and
porosity loss in deeply buried sandstone reservoirs, APPG
Bulletin 80: 731–745.
Wyllie, M., Gregory, A. & Gardner 1956. Elastic wave veloc-
ities in heterogeneous and porous media. Geophysics 21:
41–70.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The effective stress coefficient in porous sandstone

I.O. Ojala & E. Fjær

Sintef Petroleum Research, Trondheim, Norway

ABSTRACT: We have investigated the mechanical effect of pore fluid by subjecting cores of Castlegate
sandstone to several cycles of pore (Pp ) and confining pressures (Pc ). Acoustic p- and s-velocities and the
volumetric deformation of the sample were measured during each test. The results were interpreted according to
the formalism of the effective stress principle. The effective stress coefficient for axial and radial p-waves varied
from 0.10 to 0.88 and 0.57 to 0.86, respectively. The effective stress parameters for s-waves and bulk volumetric
strain ranged from 0.75 to 1.12 and 0.60 to 0.83, respectively. Increasing Pc and net stress caused a reduction
in the effective stress parameters for acoustic and elastic properties. Increasing pore pressure caused the p-wave
and volumetric strain coefficients to increase. The effect of axial load was to increase the s-wave and volumetric
coefficients and to decrease the p-wave coefficient.

1 INTRODUCTION of interest (Robin 1973, Berryman 1992). If the spe-

Any process related to petroleum production requires
knowledge of the rock properties under some partic-
ular combination of confining pressure (Pc ) and pore
pressure (Pp ) (Warpinski & Teufel 1993). Knowledge
about the combined effect of external pressure and
pore pressure may therefore be very useful. For exam-
ple, it may be possible to relate changes in shear and
compressional velocities to stress and pore pressure
in such a way that Vp,s = f(Pc ,Pp ). Subsequently, one
may use this function for predicting the distribution
of pore pressure in the subsurface (Eberhardt-Phillips
et al. 1989, Sayers et al. 2002, Siggins & Dewhurst
2003).
In order to simplify the analysis, the combined
effect of Pp and Pc is usually expressed in terms of
an effective stress law:
where σ = external stress; and n = effective stress
coefficient. The effective stress coefficient describes
the relative importance of pore and applied pressures
on the effective properties of the material. Experi-
mental studies have demonstrated that the parameter n
equals one for soft sediments and hence, the Terzaghi
law applies (Terzaghi 1943, Morrow et al. 1992). How-
ever, n may be considerably less than one for cemented
rocks, such as sandstones (Todd & Simmons 1972,
Prasad & Manghani 1997, Siggins & Dewhurst 2003).
The majority of rock physical properties (e.g.
strain, permeability, acoustic velocities) depend on
both confining and pore pressures. Hence, an effective
stress law can be defined for the particular property
cific form of the effective stress law is known one can
measure the rock behaviour at one pore pressure and
predict the corresponding values for other pore pres-
sures (Warpinski & Teufel 1993). The effective stress
law allows laboratory measurements to be related to
in situ rock properties, even if the laboratory tests are
not performed under true in situ conditions. It may
also be used for interpreting seismic data in terms of
subsurface petrophysical properties (Prasad & Mang-
hani 1997). Hence, both the effective stress law and
the exact value of the effective stress coefficient are of
paramount importance in understanding the behaviour
of subsurface reservoirs.
Theoretically, the effective stress coefficient for
strain is given by
where Kb = bulk modulus of the solid matrix; and
Ks = bulk modulus of the solid grain material (Biot
1941, Gurevich 2004). The effective stress coefficient
for strain is commonly called the Biot coefficient.
In this study we investigated the effective stress
law for acoustic and elastic properties by subjecting
sandstone cores to series of pore and confining pres-
sure levels. From such tests, the coefficient n may be
determined in a dynamic fashion from

813
where Q = the property of interest; and Pd = net stress
(Pc − Pp ).
Equation (4) was originally derived from the acous-
tic wave propagation theory of Biot (Todd & Simmons
1972). It has therefore been utilized for evaluating
the effective stress coefficient for acoustic properties
(Christensen & Wang 1985, Prasad & Manghani 1997,
Darot & Reuschle 2000, Siggins & Dewhurst 2003).
The first equation (3) has been used for studying the
dependence of strain and permeability on effective
stress (Bernabe 1986, 1987, Warpinski & Teufel 1993,
Darot & Reuschle 2000, Al-Wardy & Zimmerman
2004).
There has been some controversy regarding the
value of the effective stress parameter for acoustic and
elastic properties. While many theoretical considera-
tions assume that n for volumetric strain equals one
(Zimmerman 1991, Gurevich 2004), several experi-
mental studies have demonstrated that this coefficient
can be considerably less than one (Fatt 1959, Coyner
1984, Warpinski & Teufel 1993, Bouteca & Gueguen
1999, Lockner & Beeler 2003, Lion et al. 2004, Figure 1. Three types of loading regimes that were used for
the tests. 1) Type A test, b) type B test and c) type C test. Type
Berryman 2005). Similarly, the effective stress param-
A tests were carried out under hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic
eter for shear and compressional waves has been loads.
reported to range from 0.41 to 1.17 and 0.50–1.35,
respectively (Todd & Simmons 1972, Christensen &
monitored with the strain gauges. Two pairs of strain
Wang, 1985, Prasad & Manghani 1997, Ringstad &
gauges (axial and lateral) were attached to each speci-
Fjær, 1997, Siggins & Dewhurst 2003). Furthermore,
men at its mid-height. The axial p- and s-waves as well
the coefficient n cannot be considered as a constant for
as radial p-wave velocities were also recorded contin-
all stress states. Its exact value depends on both confin-
uously. We used mineral oil as the saturating medium
ing stress and pore pressure (Todd & Simmons 1972,
in order to exclude any chemically assisted water-rock
Gangi & Carlson 1996, Prasad & Manghani 1997).
interaction as the aim of the study is to investigate
This study was motivated by the need to understand
the mechanical effect of the pore fluid. The samples
the dependence of the coefficient n on pore and con-
were tested along three different stress paths that are
fining pressures as well as axial stress with a view of
illustrated in Figure 1.
predicting the effective stress parameter for a given
stress regime.
3 RESULTS
2 METHODOLOGY
3.1 General
The measurements were carried out on cylindrical The experimentally determined data demonstrated that
cores of Castlegate sandstone. This is an outcrop rock the effective stress coefficient for acoustic and elas-
with 28.8% porosity, consisting of 70% quartz, 30% tic properties in Castlegate sandstone is not equal to
feldspar and rock fragments, and no clay (Fjær et al. one. The effective stress coefficient depends on the
2005). The cores were 2.5 cm in diameter and 5 cm in applied stresses and on the order in which the pore
length. The rock cores were instrumented with axial and confining pressures are applied on the test spec-
and radial strain gauges and placed in a rubber jacket. imen, in agreement with previously reported results
In a typical test the sample was saturated with min- (Bernabe 1986, 1987). The evolution of the effective
eral oil and subjected to several confining and pore stress coefficient with time and applied pressures is
pressure levels. The strain response of the rock was also influence by the loading path that is used for

814
the test. The effect of applied stresses on the effective
stress properties was investigated by carrying out three
types of tests that are shown in Figure 1.
3.2 The effect of confining pressure
The first test was carried along type A loading path
(Fig. 1a) under hydrostatic load. The axial load equaled
the confining pressure throughout the test. The load-
ing sequence consisted of increasing Pc and axial stress
Pa up to 65 MPa at steps of 7 MPa. These 7 MPa steps
provided the denominator in expression (3) for the pur-
pose of determining the effective stress coefficient.
The pore pressure was simultaneously cycled between
2 and 9 MPa, thus giving the nominator for expres-
sions (3) and (4). Hence, the average pore pressure
was 5.5 MPa throughout the test. Due to the hydrostatic
stress state and approximately constant pore pressure Figure 2. The effective stress coefficients for p and s-wave
this kind of loading sequence can be used to study velocities (np & ns ) and volumetric strain (ng ) during loading.
the effect of confining pressure on the effective stress The type A test (Fig 1a) was carried out under hydrostatic
properties. stress (Pa = Pc ) at an average pore pressure of 5.5 MPa.
The four pore pressure cycles during the loading
part of the test allowed the effective stress coeffi-
cients to be calculated from expressions (3) and (4).
Both formulae yielded identical coefficients for p- and
s-wave velocities (np & ns ) and volumetric strain (ng )
for a given stress level.
The evolution of the effective stress parameter for
p and s-wave velocities and volumetric strain is illus-
trated in Figure 2. The effective stress coefficients for
acoustic and elastic properties were less than one for
this test. The coefficients np and ns ranged from 0.10
to 0.82 and 0.75 to 0.98, respectively. The effective
stress coefficients for volumetric strain (ng ) ranged
from 0.75 to 0.83. During loading part of the test
the effective stress parameters for acoustic and elas-
tic properties decreased as a linear function of the
applied confining pressure. The effective stress coeffi-
cient for compressional velocities exhibited the largest
reduction with increasing confining pressure.
Figure 3. The p-wave velocity as a function of net stress
3.3 The effect of axial stress (Pc − Pp) during test 2. The recorded velocities exhibit
Subsequently, type A test (Fig. 1a) was repeated under hysteresis.
non-hydrostatic stress regime in order to study the
effect of axial load on the effective stress proper- These observations are backed up by the velocity
ties. During the loading stage the axial load was data for test 3 at constant net load of 20 MPa that
increased to 137 MPa, whilst the confining pressure is shown in Figure 4. At a constant net pressure of
was increased in steps of 7 MPa. The axial load 20 MPa, the axial p-wave velocities increased by 2.8%
was approximately 2.5 times Pc throughout the test. as the pore pressure was increased from 2 to 40 MPa.
The pore pressure was cycled between 2 and 9 MPa. The radial p-wave velocities also displayed a similar
Figure 3 shows the axial p-wave velocities that corre- pore pressure effect. At 40 MPa pore pressure the wave
spond to the two pore pressure levels. It is interesting velocities were 3.4% higher than at 2 MPa. Hence, the
to note that the recorded axial p-wave velocities were effect of pore pressure on wave velocities was stronger
consistently higher at a higher level of pore pressure. in the axial direction of the test specimen. However,
For example, at a net stress of 7 MPa the compres- the shear wave velocities were observed to increase
sional wave velocities were 3160 and 3223 m/s at 2 and only by 0.5% for the same pore pressure range.
9 MPa, respectively. The corresponding values were The effective stress coefficients for test 2 were cal-
1846 and 1860 m/s for shear waves. culated using expressions (3) and (4). They are listed

815
Figure 4. The compressional wave velocity as a function of
pore pressure at a constant net pressure (Pc − Pp) of 20 MPa
for test 3 (Fig. 1b). The p-wave velocity increases as the pore
pressure increases.

Table 1. The effective stress coefficients for elastic (ng ) and

acoustic properties (ns and np ) for test 2. The sample was first
loaded to 137 MPa axial load and subsequently unloaded.
Figure 5. The modeled effective stress parameters for test 2.
Axial P Pc Pp
MPa MPa MPa np ns ng
axial p-wave data during both loading and unloading
30.50 12.5 5.5 0.36 0.84 0.69 regime. Least squares regression was used for com-
64.50 26.5 5.5 0.19 0.87 0.63 puting the optimal fit to the data. It was assumed that
111.08 45.5 5.5 −0.86 2.01 0.58 the (dQ/dPc) and (dQ/dPp) are proportional to the
128.51 52.5 5.5 212.48 7.60 0.60 logarithm of (Pc − Pp ). Subsequently, these logarith-
128.50 52.5 5.5 0.13 0.77 0.65 mic functions were used for calculating the effective
111.50 45.5 5.5 0.18 0.76 0.61 stress coefficients according to expression (3). The
77.49 31.5 5.5 0.21 0.75 0.62 modeled effective stress parameters are illustrated in
43.49 17.5 5.5 0.31 0.81 0.71 Figure 5b. The p-wave coefficient decreased from 0.36
26.50 10.5 5.5 0.42 0.78 0.75
to −0.26 as the net stress (Pc − Pp ) increased from 5
to 47 MPa. The s-wave coefficient ns increased from
0.8 to 1.12 for the above load range. The effective
in Table 1. The effective stress parameters for strain stress coefficient for volumetric strain also exhibited
and p-wave velocities display a slight decrease that a slight decrease from 0.72 to 0.60 with increasing net
is followed by increasing values at higher axial loads stress. The increase in the effective stress coefficients
during sample loading. Both p- and s-wave coeffi- for shear velocities may have been caused by increased
cients increase dramatically as a function of the applied microcrack activity at high axial loads.
stresses.This could indicate that the effective stress law
does not hold at high effective loads. It is likely to be
3.4 The pore pressure effect
related to the way by which wave velocities increase as
the axial load and confining pressure increases (Fig. 2) The loading path B that is shown in figure 1b was
during loading. At high effective loads there is very lit- utilized for investigating the effect of relatively high
tle change in the measured velocities even though the pore pressures on the acoustic and elastic properties of
load on the sample is increasing. This causes both the Castlegate sandstone. Such loading regime was moti-
negative and anomalously high values of the effec- vated by the study of Siggins & Dewhurst (2002) that
tive stress coefficients for p- and s-wave velocities was carried out on Australian sandstones. Firstly, the
(Table 1). confining pressure was increased from 2 to 60 MPa
The data for test 2 was further analysed by plotting and let to stabilise. Subsequently, the pore pressure
the denominator (dQ/dPc) and nominator (dQ/dPp) of was increased to 40 MPa and decreased to 2 MPa.
expression (3) as a function of net stress (Pc − Pp). The effective stress coefficients for loading (increas-
This procedure is illustrated in Figure 5a for the ing Pc − Pp ) regime were calculated from the first Pc

816

Figure 6. The effective stress parameters for compressional
wave velocities under type B loading regime (Fig. 1b).
step (2 to 60 MPa) and the first Pp step (2 to 40 to
2 MPa). The following Pp step (2 to 40 to 2 MPa) and
the subsequent decrease in confining pressure (60 to
22 MPa) were utilized for determining the effective
stress coefficients for the unloading scenario. Hence,
we obtained four sets of effective stress coefficients
for each property of interest.
Figure 6 shows the effective stress coefficients for
compressional wave velocities during type B (Fig. 1b)
loading. It is interesting to note that the calculated val-
ues varied with the pairs of measurements that were
used for the computation according to expression (3).
The data scatter was also decreased by increased num-
ber of pressure cycles. This may have been caused
by sample seasoning (Bernabe 1986). Furthermore,
effective stress coefficients for compressional waves
and volumetric strain tend to be higher during the
unloading regime. Such a trend could be caused by
the fact that the pore pressure is applied first during
specimen unloading. Similar behaviour has been pre-
viously observed for the effective stress coefficient for
permeability in granites (Bernabe 1986).
The effective stress parameters were influenced by
pore pressure in test 3. Since there were four differ-
ent effective stress coefficients for each property of
interest we have plotted the average value of n in
Figure 7. The effective stress coefficients for axial
and radial p-wave velocities increased with increas-
ing pore pressure. As the pore pressure increased from
6 to 15 MPa the axial and radial p-wave parameter
817
Figure 7. The effective stress parameter for s-wave (ns),
axial (np) and horizontal (nph) p-waves as a function of pore
pressure.
increased from 0.46 to 0.88 and 0.57 to 0.83, respec-
tively. The increase in the effective stress parameters
with pore pressure is likely to have been caused by
the higher p-wave velocities at higher pore pressures
(Figs. 3–4). Quite interestingly, the bulk volumetric
strain coefficient ng also increased from 0.70 to 0.81
for the above pore pressure range.
3.5 The experiment with low and relatively
constant net load
The loading cycle that is illustrated in figure 1c was
inspired by the study of Bouteca & Gueguen (1999).
They observed strain hysteresis in Tavel limestone.
The Biot effective stress law with nv = 0.65 restored
the linear relationship between stress and strain for
their experimental data. We used a similar methodol-
ogy in analysing the test results. Figure 8 illustrates the
measured p-wave velocities at four different confining
pressure levels (15, 25, 35 and 45 MPa) as a func-
tion of pore pressure. The velocities were observed to
decrease with increasing pore pressure at a constant
level of confinement. At a constant value of velocity
the horizontal offset between any two curves can be
used to estimate the appropriate effective stress param-
eter (Al-Wardy & Zimmerman 2004). The effective
stress coefficient n for can then be computed from
where Q is the property of interest (Bernabe 1987).
Previous studies have used expression (5) in estimating
the effective stress coefficient for fluid permeability
(Kwon et al. 2001). However, we used this formula
for computing n for acoustic and elastic properties.
A single effective stress parameter was found to be

Figure 8. The Biot coefficients for effective stress that cor-
respond to loading path 3 (Fig. 1c). The test was carried out
under a small differential load with subsequently stepping up
Pc and Pp.
sufficient in describing the effective stress behaviour
for each property of interest. In analysing the results we
assumed that velocity V scales as V ∝ log (Pc − nP p )
and that strain is a linear function of (Pc − nP p ).
The effective stress parameters for axial and radial
p-wave velocities were 0.71 (r2 = 0.992) and 0.86
(r2 = 0.974), respectively. The axial shear wave coef-
ficient ns was 0.92 (r2 = 0.986) while 0.79 provided the
best fit to the bulk volumetric strain data (r2 = 0.997).
It is perhaps due to the relatively small range of effec-
tive pressures Pc − Pp (5–15 MPa) that the effective
stress properties could be well modeled with a single
parameter for this test.
4 DISCUSSION
The test results show that the effective stress param-
eter for acoustic and elastic constants is not equal to
one. Similarly, the parameter n cannot be considered to
be constant everywhere. It varies with confining pres-
sure, pore pressure and axial load. It is only for the test
type C (Fig. 1c) that we can assume a constant value of
the effective stress coefficient for each material prop-
erty. This is maybe due to the fact that both confining
and pore pressures were relatively similar during the
entire loading path. Hence, the net load Pd (= Pc − Pp )
on the specimen only varied from 5–15 MPa through-
out the test. Similar behaviour has been previously
observed for the bulk volumetric properties of Tavel
limestone (Bouteca & Gueguen 1999) and the fluid
permeability of Wilcox shale (Kwon et al. 2001). In the
tests of Kwon et al. (2001) Pd varied from 3–12 MPa
while the corresponding variation was 0–20 MPa in
the study of Bouteca & Gueguen (1999). These obser-
vations suggest that we may assume a constant value
818
of the effective stress coefficient if the specimen has
not experienced large differential loads (>20 MPa).
Hence, the value of n may depend on the loading
path (Bernabe 1987). The path dependency is likely to
caused by frictional effects or microfracturing inside
the test specimen.
The effective stress coefficient for bulk volumet-
ric ng strain ranged from 0.60 to 0.83. It varies with
Pc , Pp and axial stress. The effect of increasing pore
pressure was to increase the value of ng , while increas-
ing Pc caused ng to decrease. Similar results have
been reported by Lockner & Beeler (2003) for Berea
sandstone. In their tests the effective stress coeffi-
cient decreased with increasing Pc and Pd . In our
test the increasing Pc and Pd during hydrostatic load-
ing caused ng to decrease. However, in a similar test
with axial load ng exhibited a slight increase at high
axial stress. Such behaviour may have been caused by
microfracturing in the rock sample as the stress state
is approaching the failure envelope.
The effective stress coefficient for the radial and
axial p-wave velocities varied from 0.10 to 0.88 and
0.57 to 0.86, respectively. The P-wave coefficient
increased with Pp and decreased with increasing Pc
and Pd in accordance with previous studies (Todd &
Simmonds 1972, Christensen & Wang 1985, Prasad
& Manghani 1997,Siggins & Dewhurst 2003). Both
axial and radial components for effective stress param-
eters for p-waves exhibited pore pressure dependence.
Our experiments demonstrate that established formu-
lae (3) and (4) may give anomalous values for np at
high axial and differential stress. This could be related
to the observation that the pore fluid density depends
on the pore pressure and not on the external stress. As
the rock framework stiffness changes only a little at
high stresses it may be impossible to change external
stress in such a way that it compensates for a change
in pore pressure.
The shear wave coefficients for effective stress
took values from 0.75 and 1.12. The shear parameter
was frequently greater than one as one might expect
for properties involving shear (Christensen & Wang
1985). The shear wave parameter was observed to
decrease with Pd and Pc under hydrostatic loading. In
contrast, high differential loads caused ns to increase.
The increasing values for ns and np may have been
caused by dilatancy at high stresses.
5 CONCLUSION
This study demonstrated that the effective stress coef-
ficients for acoustic and elastic properties in Castle-
gate sandstone can be considerably different from
one. These effective stress parameters depend on con-
fining and pore pressures as well as on the applied
stresses. They also exhibited path dependency due to
microfracturing or frictional effects.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Jørn Stenebråten,
Johannes Stavrum and Eyvind Sønstebø for helping
out with the experiments. This study has been sup-
ported by the Research Council of Norway through
the Strategic Institute Program called Geomechani-
cal Data.
REFERENCES
Al-Wardy, W. & Zimmerman, R.W. 2004. Effective stress law
for the permeability of clay-rich sandstones. J. Geophys.
Res. 109: B04203 doi:10.1029/2003JB002836.
Bernabe, Y. 1986. The effective pressure law for Chelmsford
granite and Barre granite. Int. J Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
Geomech. Abstr. 23: 167–175.
Bernabe,Y. 1987. The effective pressure law for permeability
during pore pressure and confining pressure cycling of
several crystalline rocks. J Geophys. Res. 92: 649–657.
Berryman, J.G. 1992: Effective stress for transport proper-
ties of inhomogeneous porous rock. J. Geophys. Res. 97:
17409–17424.
Berryman, J.G. 2005. Poroelastic fluid effects on shear for
rocks with soft anisotropy, Geophys. J. Int. 161: 881–890.
Biot, M.A. 1941. General theory of three-dimensional con-
solidation, J. Appl. Phys. 12: 155.
Bouteca, M. & Guéguen, Y. 1999. Mechanical properties of
rocks: Pore pressure and scale effects. Oil & Gas Science
and Technology -Rev. IFP 54: 703–714.
Christensen, N.I. & Wang, H.F. 1985. The influence of
pore pressure and confining pressure on dynamic elastic
properties of Berea sandstone. Geophysics 50: 207–213.
Coyner, K.B. 1984. Effects of stress, pore pressure and pore
fluids on bulk strain, velocity and permeability of rocks,
Ph.D. thesis, MIT, Cambridge.
Darot, M. & Reuschle, T. 2000. Acoustic wave velocity and
permeability evolution during pressure cycles on a ther-
mally cracked granite. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 37:
1019–1026.
Eberhardt-Phillips, D., Han, D.-H. & Zoback, M. 1989.
Empirical relations among seismic velocity, effective pres-
sure, porosity, and clay content in sandstone. Geophysics
54: 82–89.
Fatt, I. 1959. The Biot-Willis coefficients for sandstone.
ASME, J. Appl. Mech. 26: 296–297.
819
Fjær, E., Larsen, I. & Scheldt, T. 2005. What is the Poisson’s
ratio of a soft rock? In Alaska Rocks 2005, Proceedings of
the 40th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Anchorage,
ARMA-USRMS 05–826.
Gangi, A.F. & Carlson, R.L. 1996. An asperity-deformation
modell for effective pressure. Tectonophysics 256:
241–251.
Gurevich, B. 2004. A simple derivation of the effective
stress coefficient for seismic velocities in porous rocks.
Geophysics 60: 393–397.
Kwon, O., Kronenberg, A.K., Gangi, A. & Johnson, B. 2001.
Permeability of Wilcox shale and its effective pressure law.
J. Geophys. Res. 106: 19339–19353.
Lion, M., Skoczylas, F. & Ledesert, B. 2004. Determination
of the main hydraulic and pore-elastic properties of a lime-
stone from Bourgogne, France. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min.
Sci. 41: 915–925.
Lockner, D.A. & Beeler, N.A. 2003. Stress-induced
anisotropic poroelasticity response in sandstone. In 16th
ASCE Engin. Min. Conf., U. Washington, Seattle, WA.
Morrow, C., Radney, B. & Byerlee, J. 1992: Frictional
strength and the effective pressure law of montmillril-
lonite and illite clays. In Fault Mechanics and Transport
Properties of Rocks, pp. 69–88.
Prasad, M. & Manghani, M.H. 1997. Effects of pore and
differential pressure on compressional wave velocity and
quality factor in Berea and Michigan sandstones. Geo-
physics 62: 1163–1176.
Ringstad, C. & Fjær, E. 1997. The effect of pore pressure
on acoustic velocities. In EAGE 59th Conference and
Technical Exhibition, Geneva.
Robin, P.-Y. 1973. Note on effective pressure. J. Geophys.
Res. 78: 2434–2437.
Sayers, C.M., Johnson, G.M. & Denyer, G. 2002. Predrill
pore pressure prediction using seismic data. Geophysics
67: 1286–1292.
Siggins, A.F. & Dewhurst, D.N. 2003. Saturation, pore pres-
sure and effective stress from sandstone acoustic proper-
ties. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30: doi:10.1029/ 2002GL016143.
Todd, T. & Simmons, G. 1972. Effect of pore pressure on the
velocity of compressional waves in low-porosity rocks. J.
Geophys. Res. 77: 3731–3743.
Warpinski, N.R. & Teufel, L.W. 1993. Laboratory measure-
ments of the effective stress law for carbonate rocks under
deformation. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech.
Abstr. 30: 1169–1172.
Zimmerman, R.W. 1991. Compressibility of Sandstones.
Elsevier.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Development of upper and lower bounds to describe engineering

properties as a function of macroporosity

A. DaCosta
University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

C. Wright
Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte, Montana, USA

Y. Ye
University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

M. MacLaughlin
Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte, Montana, USA

N. Hudyma
University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

ABSTRACT: The engineering and mechanical properties of macroporous rock are highly variable and exhibit
considerable scatter when unconfined compressive strength or deformation modulus are plotted as functions
of macroporosity. One approach to such describe such highly scattered data is to constrain them with derived
upper and lower bounds. The data set for this investigation consisted of experimental data from plaster of Paris
specimens containing Styrofoam macropores of various shapes and sizes. Two methods, traditional regression
analysis and local regression analysis, were applied in an attempt to develop upper and lower bounds to unconfined
compressive strength and deformation modulus data as a function of macroporosity. Both methods produced
bounds that exponentially decreased as macroporosity increased. However, traditional regression analysis was
not able to provide bounds to the majority of the experimental data and expected modulus behavior was not
satisfactorily described. Local regression was able to provide bounds to the majority of the experimental data
and could describe the expected behavior of the macroporous specimens.

1 INTRODUCTION shape of the pores and defects in the mineral struc-

Rock contains both matrix material and void space.
The amount of void space in rock has a considerable
influence on its engineering properties. Specifically,
an increase in porosity generally decreases the com-
pressive strength and the elastic modulus of rock
(Howarth 1987, Martin et al. 1994, 1995, Price et al.
1985). Porosity can be divided into two categories:
microporosity and macroporosity. Microporous rocks
are those containing voids too small to be seen with
the unaided eye. Macroporous rocks, such as vesicular
basalt, lithophysical tuff, and vuggy limestone contain
voids large enough to be seen without any magnifying
equipment.
Studying the effects of void size and void shape on
rock properties is difficult using natural rock speci-
mens due to the inherent variability in the size and
ture of natural rock. To bypass these difficulties, tests
were conducted on cylindrical specimens of plaster of
Paris containing Styrofoam inclusions. Earlier work
has shown that plaster of Paris specimens containing
Styrofoam inclusions are representative of Topopah
Spring tuff (Erfourth et al. 2005). Plaster of Paris,
which will be referred to as plaster throughout this
paper, serves as the matrix material of the analog rock.
Styrofoam is sufficiently light and weak in comparison
to the plaster such that Styrofoam inclusions behave
as air voids within the plaster matrix. The use of plas-
ter and Styrofoam allows control of the size and shape
of the voids, the porosity of the specimens, and the
density of the matrix material. This paper attempts to
define upper and lower bounds of UCS and modulus as
a function of macroporosity for specimens containing
various sizes and shapes of macropores.

821

Figure 1. Shape of Styrofoam macropores.
2 PLASTER-STYROFOAM SPECIMENS
Specimens were made of plaster of Paris containing
Styrofoam inclusions of various sizes and shape to
simulate rock containing macropores. Specific sizes
and shapes for the inclusions were 12.7 mm diame-
ter spheres, 12.7 mm cubes, 11.43 mm diameter cap-
sules (12.7 mm height), 25.4 mm diameter spheres,
and 25.4 mm cubes. The specimens contained uniform
sizes and shapes of Styrofoam inclusions. The inclu-
sions were generally uniformly distributed throughout
the specimen. The shapes of the inclusions are shown
in Figure 1.
The specimens were cast in plastic cylindrical molds
at a constant water-to-plaster ratio of 2:1 by weight.
First, plaster and water were mixed together in a bowl
until homogeneous. The desired number of Styrofoam
macropores were then added and mixed thoroughly
with the plaster paste. This mixture was spooned in
several stages into the molds. The molds measured
101.6 mm in height by 50.8 mm in diameter. The out-
side of the molds were lightly tapped several times
after each stage to help consolidate the plaster and
ensure that no large air bubbles were trapped within
the specimens.The Styrofoam macropores often had to
be pushed downward into the specimens after tapping
the outsides of the molds because they tended to rise to
the surface of the specimens due to density differences.
Eight solid plaster specimens containing no Styro-
foam macropores were also cast as control specimens
to obtain data for cylinders with zero macroporosity.
Specimens were allowed to dry to a constant weight
before preparation and testing.
3 LABORATORY TESTING
3.1 Specimen preparation
The specimens were prepared for testing and tested at
Montana Tech of the University of Montana using their
Terra Tek Triaxial Testing System. This equipment
allows for uniaxial compression testing using triax-
ial testing equipment. Specimens ends were trimmed
approximately flat before being ground flat to within
0.025 of a mm to ensure uniform stress distribution on
the loading surfaces. After being ground, specimens
822
were weighed and final measurements were made for
specimen heights and diameters. Final aspect ratios of
the specimens were between 1.9:1 and 2.15:1.
3.2 Porosity calculations
The final dimensions and mass for each specimen
were used to calculate the specimen density. The den-
sity for the eight zero macroporosity specimens was
calculated and averaged with the density of four zero-
porosity specimens from a previous study to give an
average density for a solid specimen containing no
Styrofoam. The actual porosity for each specimen con-
taining Styrofoam was then found by dividing each
specimen’s density by the average density for a solid
cylinder. Due to the negligible weight of Styrofoam,
the porosity calculated in this manner includes the
Styrofoam macropores as well as macropores caused
by air bubbles in the plaster.
3.3 Testing
All specimens were tested in uniaxial compression
on the modified triaxial equipment with the results
being recorded by Terra Tek data acquisition software.
Axial strain was applied to the specimens at a rate
of 50.0 × 10−6 (mm/mm)/s until a post-peak phase of
the stress-strain curve was clearly achieved. Axial load
was measured with a load cell and axial strain was mea-
sured with LinearVariable DisplacementTransformers
(LVDTs). All uniaxial compression testing was per-
formed in accordance with ASTM D2938 (ASTM
1995).
4 DEFINING UPPER AND LOWER BOUNDS
4.1 Composite material mechanics
If the plaster and Styrofoam specimens are consid-
ered two-phase materials, there are a number of models
from composite material mechanics that can be used
to describe change in modulus as the volumetric pro-
portion of the voids changes. The most common of
these volumetric or mixture models are the Parallel
(Voigt) Model and the Series (Reuss) Model. In the
parallel model, the two phases are subjected to uniform
strains that are orientated parallel to the two material
phases. This model provides an upper bound to the
change in elastic properties with the increase in one
of the material phases. In the series model, the two
phases are subjected to uniform strains that are orien-
tated perpendicular to the two material phases. This
model provides the lower bound to the change in elas-
tic properties with the increase in one of the material
phases. These models have been applied to the study
of concrete (Mindess et al. 2003).
4.2 Approximate schemes
Approximate schemes or approximate analytical solu-
tions adapt constitutive laws and use continuum
mechanics, which assume the matrix is continuous.
The most common of these methods are effective
medium theories, which model cavities by replac-
ing them into an effective environment. This effective
environment is either an effective matrix or effective
stress.
Hudyma & Avar (2003) applied four approximate
schemes in an attempt to describe the decrease in
elastic modulus of lithophysal tuff with increasing
porosity. Although the approximate schemes did not
successfully describe the change in elastic modulus,
they did note two of the schemes provided an upper and
lower bound. The generalized self-consistent scheme
(Mackenzie 1950) provided the upper bound of the
schemes and the self-consistent scheme (Hill 1950)
provided the lower bound.
Figure 2. Curve fit upper and lower bounds for normalized
4.3 Statistical methods UCS as a function of macroporosity.

Numerous nonparametric and parametric methods

have been developed to provide consistent estimators
of function curves. The construction of confidence
bands for an unknown function which describes the
change in UCS or deformation modulus is of particu-
lar interest to this study. Cox & Ma (1995) developed a
method to construct asymptotic confidence bands for
generalized nonlinear regression models which can be
used in any situation where large sample theory can
be applied. Piegorsch (1987) discussed the robustness
of simultaneous confidence bands for different band
functions.

5 ANALYSIS

5.1 Trends in strength and deformation

modulus data
As expected, both strength and deformation modu-
lus data exhibit a decreasing trend with increasing
macroporosity, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The UCS Figure 3. Curve fit upper and lower bounds for normalized
deformation modulus as a function of macroporosity.
and deformation modulus data is normalized to a
solid plaster (zero macroporosity) UCS and modulus
value, which allows for comparison between different constant scatter across all macroporosities, between
conditions. 95 and 35 percent of the normalized value at approx-
Data scatter, which is defined by the difference imately 7% macroporosity and between 60 and 20
between the highest and lowest values at a given percent of the normalized value at approximately 33%
macroporosity, is different between UCS and defor- macroporosity.
mation modulus. The UCS data show high scatter at
low macroporosities, between 95 and 40 percent of the
5.2 Definition of upper and lower bounds
normalized value at approximately 7% macroporos-
ity, and low scatter at high macroporosities, between Given the high scatter in the data, it is advantageous
40 and 20 percent of the normalized value at approx- to define both upper and lower bounds. Such bounds
imately 33% porosity. The modulus data show fairly can be used to provide design professionals with a

823
measure of the variation in properties with increasing
macroporosity based on laboratory testing.
Upper and lower bounds for UCS and modulus are
developed using two techniques, traditional curve fit-
ting (regression) through single or multiple data sets
and using a local regression technique. Each method
is fully described below.
5.3 Traditional curve fitting
To define upper and lower bounds using traditional
curve fitting (regression) techniques, one of two meth-
ods can be employed. In the first method, the five
data sets are combined to form a large data set. Select
points are then chosen to define the upper and lower
bounds and curve fitting is then conducted on the
chosen points. In the other method, curve fits for indi-
vidual or combined data sets which seem to define the
upper and lower bounds of the combined data set can
be performed.
The first method is much more subjective than the
second method. However because of the large scatter in
the data, using the second method may exclude poten-
tial data that truly represents either the upper or lower
bound. The underlying assumption for both methods
is that the five data sets, which are defined by macrop-
orosity size and shape, all belong to the same data set.
The second method was employed to define upper
and lower bounds in this study. For the UCS as a
function of macroporosity data, the lower bound is
approximated using the 12.7 mm cube data set and the
upper bound is approximated using both the 25.4 mm
cube data set and the 25.4 mm sphere data set. The
plot showing upper and lower curve fit bounds with
equations is shown in Figure 2. The bounds begin to
converge at approximately 15% macroporosity. Less
than 50% of the data are contained between the upper
and lower bounds, which indicate traditional regres-
sion can not sufficiently establish UCS bounds to this
data set.
For the deformation modulus as a function of
macroporosity data, the lower bound is approximated
by 11.43 mm capsules and the upper bound is approx-
imated by the 25.4 mm and 12.7 mm spheres. The plot
showing upper and lower curve fit bounds with equa-
tions is shown in Figure 3. The upper and lower bounds
begin to diverge at approximately 15% macroporosity.
This behavior is unexpected since as macroporosity
approaches 100%, the deformation modulus should
converge to zero. Again, less than 50% of the data
are contained within the upper and lower bounds indi-
cating that traditional regression is cannot sufficiently
establish upper and lower bounds to the deformation
modulus data.
The large number of data points that fall outside
of both the upper and lower curve fit bounds is an
artifact of the regression. Regression lines provide an
824
“average” line through data points and do not truly pro-
vide either an upper or lower bound of the regressed
data set(s). Additionally, there is no statistical confi-
dence applied to the regression lines.
5.4 Local regression
To overcome the difficulties in establishing upper and
lower bounds to the combined data set using traditional
regression methods, a rigorous statistical technique
was used. Due to the high scatter in the combined data
set, a robust local regression model is used to define
upper and lower bounds. R, a free software environ-
ment for statistical computing and graphics, is used
for the analysis. The five data sets are still combined
to form a large data set.
One of the goals of the local regression is to
smooth out the noise and capture the true relationship
between the predictor (macroporosity) and response
variables (UCS and deformation modulus). A robust
local regression model which iteratively identifies and
downweighs outliers is used. The function is of the
form,
whereY are the smoothed responses and X are the cor-
responding predictor values from which the responses
were taken. The function g is obtained by a local fit
of a polynomial to a neighborhood of data points and
is a random error term. The function in (1) does not
have a simple expression, but using the “locfit.robust”
function in the software allows provides a fit to the
data.
Using the fitted model, responses can be predicted
at the distinct original predictor values. The predicted
responses now have less noise and still representative
of the original raw data. The standard error of a mean
prediction from the fitted model are calculated and
used to build the point-wise confidence bands. The
95% confidence bands on the response are used to
identify the lower and upper bound points in order to
fit the upper and lower bound curves. This data-driven
point selection method avoids the arbitrariness in the
previous point selection method. The plots showing
the upper and lower curve fit bounds with equations
for normalized UCS versus macroporosity and nor-
malized deformation modulus versus macroporosity
data are shown in Figures 4 and 5.
The equations of the upper and lower bounds are
defined using traditional curve fitting techniques on
the predicted responses of the local regression. Each
of the bounds was best fit with an exponential function.
For normalized UCS as a function of macrop-
orosity with the local regression upper and lower
bounds, there is convergence of the bounds begin-
ning at approximately 27% macroporosity. Over 80%

Figure 4. Local regression upper and lower bounds for
normalized UCS as a function of macroporosity.
Figure 5. Local regression upper and lower bounds for
normalized modulus as a function of macroporosity.
of the data are contained within the bounds, which
is a marked improvement over traditional regression
derived bounds.
The local regression bounds for the normalized
deformation modulus as a function of macroporosity
contain over 70% of the experimental data. Addition-
ally, the bounds begin to converge at approximately
25% macroporosity. This is the expected behavior
of this material, which was not seen in the bounds
generated by traditional regression.
825
6 CONCLUSIONS
Experimental investigations on the relationship
between UCS or deformation modulus as a function
of macroporosity show a large amount of scatter in
the data. In order to quantify these relationships, it is
important to define upper and lower bounds to the data.
Experimental data from testing plaster specimens
containing five different sizes and shapes of macro-
pores were combined into one large data set. Two
methods were used to establish upper and lower bounds
to the data; traditional regression using data subset(s)
that appeared to define the upper and bounds, and a
local regression technique.
Both methods produced upper and lower bounds
that decreased exponentially with increasing macro-
porosity. However, the traditional regression bounds
contained less that 50% of the experimental data and
the upper and lower bounds for modulus actually
diverged instead of converging at high macroporosi-
ties. Bounds computed through local regression were
able to capture the majority of the experimental data
and reflect the expected behavior of UCS and modulus
as a function of macroporosity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the laboratory
testing contributions of Bethany Erfourth (Montana
Tech graduate student) and Johanna Fryer (Montana
Tech undergraduate student). Informative discussions
with Dr. David Cruden of the University of Alberta
helped to develop the form of the upper bounds for
the experimental data. This work is supported by grant
from the National Science Foundation (Award Number
CMS-0555812).
REFERENCES
ASTM 1995. Standard test method for unconfined compres-
sive strength of intact rock core specimens. Annual Book
of ASTM Standards, 04–08: D2938.
Cox, C. & Ma, G. 1995. Asymptotic confidence bands
for generalized nonlinear regression models. Biometrics
51(??): 142–152
Erfourth, B., Hudyma, N. & MacLaughlin, M.M. 2005.
Comparison of unconfined compressive strengths of cast
versus cored samples of rock-like materials with large air
voids. In Proc. 40th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics,
Anchorage.
Gadbury, G.L., Rutter, A.P., Ye, Y., Hagen, D.E. &
Whitefield, P.D. 2003. A study evaluating aerosol partic-
ulate concentration. In Proc., American Statistical Asso-
ciation, Section on Statistical Consulting, Alexandria, VA
[CD-ROM].
Hill, R. 1965. Self-consistent mechanics of composite mate-
rials. J. of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 13:
213–222.
Howarth, D.F. 1987. The effect of pre-existing micro-
cavities on mechanical properties on mechanical rock
performance in sedimentary and crystalline rocks. Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 24:
223–233.
Hudyma, N. & Avar, B. 2003. Comparison of elastic modu-
lus of lithophysal-rich tuff to predictions of approximate
schemes. In Proc. 56th Can. Geotech. Conf.. Winnipeg
[CD-ROM].
Mackenzie, J.K. 1950. Elastic constants of a solid containing
spherical holes. Proc. Phys. Soc. 63B(1): 2–11.
Martin, R.J., Price, R.H., Boyd, P.J. & Noel, J.S. 1994. Bulk
and mechanical properties of the Paintbrush Tuff recov-
ered from Borehole USW NRG-6; data report. Sandia
National Labs Report, SAND93-4020.
826
Martin, R.J., Price, R.H., Boyd, P.J. & Noel, J.S. 1995. Bulk
and mechanical properties of the Paintbrush Tuff recov-
ered from Borehole USW NRG7/7A; data report. Sandia
National Labs Report, SAND94-1996.
Mindess, S.,Young, J.F. & Darwin, D. 2003. Concrete, Second
Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Piegorsch, W. 1987. Model robustness for simultaneous
confidence bands. J. Amer. Stat. Assoc. 82(399): 879–885.
Price, R.H., Nimick, F.B., Connolly, J.R., Keil, K.,
Schwartz, B.M. & Spence, S.J. 1985. Preliminary char-
acterization of the petrological, bulk, and mechanical
properties of a lithophysal zone within the Topopah Spring
member of the Paintbrush Tuff. Sandia National Labs,
SAND84-0860.
R Online Manuals. http://cran.r-project.org/.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Determining abrasivity with the LCPC test

K. Thuro, J. Singer & H. Käsling

Engineering Geology, Technische Universität München, Germany

M. Bauer
Baugeologisches Buero Bauer, Munich, Germany

ABSTRACT: A new approach to rock and soil abrasivity testing is presented focusing on the needs of under-
ground excavation. The abrasivity assessment is based on the LCPC Abrasivity Test which was developed by
the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées in the 1980ies. The LCPC Abrasivity Coefficient (ABR or LAC)
can be used as a measure for both the abrasivity of the material and the influence of the grain size. A calibration
chart has been established using different artificial and natural granular materials, containing both rounded and
angular grains, different rock materials and especially highly abrasive material such as quartz and non abrasive
material such as limestone. This chart allows the classification of different materials using the background of tool
wear and drillability problems. Applied in the correct framework of geological and geotechnical investigations,
the LCPC test allows a reliable, quick and hence, cost effective assessment of the abrasivity of rock and granular
materials.

1 SCOPE (Normalisation Française P18-579, 1990) were evalu-

Numerous methods exist for determining abrasivity of
hard rock, however very few are established in the field
of coarse granular materials of sand and gravel size.
This is due to the fact that there is a long tradition of
predicting e.g. TBM performance rates and tool wear
(Thuro 2002, Plinninger 2002, Thuro & Plinninger
2003). As it is generally agreed, that abrasivity plays
a key role in hard rock tunnel boring since it directly
influences both the cost and schedules of the project
(Büchi et al. 1995). Although this might not apply to
the same extent for coarse granular material, such as
gravel and sand, soil abrasivity can have a significant
impact on the performance of shielded TBMs or large
diameter drillholes in soft ground. Also in soft ground,
a reliable prognosis of the abrasiveness of the soil
material would be of great value for the designer as
well as the client and the contractor in order to calcu-
late the tool costs and to minimize underground risk.
This paper contributes to the actual discussion of TBM
wear prediction in soft ground.
Using the experience in abrasivity testing of rock,
the CERCHAR abrasivity test, developed by the Cen-
tre d’Études et des Recherches des Charbonages de
France (1986) and the LCPC abrasivity test introduced
by the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées
ated for rock and soil abrasivity testing. Basic results
of a comparison between the both testing procedures
are already given in Büchi et al. (1995). Although the-
state-of-the-art CERCHAR abrasivity test can be used
for testing individual components e.g. of a gravel sam-
ple, the procedure is not feasable for small grains or
mixed soil samples. Only the LCPC abrasivity test
allows the testing of mixtures containing different
grain sizes and therefore large and representative soil
samples.
The abrasivity testing of rock is controlled by
well known parameters (Thuro 2002, Plinninger 2002,
Thuro & Plinninger 2003), whereas in soils many
factors are influencing the abrasivity such as in-
situ soil conditions (inhomogeneity, density, porosity),
sedimentary petrology (mineral composition, round-
ness) and technical properties (uniaxial compressive
strength and abrasivity of the individual grains).
To date, there is no ISRM Suggested Method nor
national or international standard for rock and soil
abrasivity testing. The necessity for a new application-
oriented approach has recently been made clear by
Nilsen et al. (2006a, b). Currently the NTNU Trond-
heim is developing an own method (Nilsen et al.
2006c) based on the classic NTNU testing suite
(Bruland 1998). Up to now, in the NTNU test only

827

Figure 1. LCPC abrasivity testing device (“abrasimeter”)
after (Cerchar, 1986). 1 – motor, 2 – metal impeller, 3 – sample
container (Ø 93 mm × 100 mm), 4 – funnel tube.
the soil fraction of less than 1 mm (in the future possi-
bly 2 mm) can be tested, which reduces its application
to sand.
2 THE LCPC TEST
2.1 General introduction
The LCPC abrasivity testing device is described in
the French Standard P18-579 (1990) (Fig. 1). The
“abrasimeter” is built of a 750 W strong motor holding
a metal impeller rotating in a cylindrical vessel con-
taining the granular sample. The rectangular impeller
is a metal plate of the size 50 × 25 × 5 mm and is made
of standardized steel with a Rockwell hardness of B
60–75. The steel impeller has to be exchanged after
each test.
After the French standard (Normalisation Française
P18-579, 1990) 500 g ± 2 g of the air-dried sample of
the fraction 4–6,3 mm is poured into the cylindrical
container through the funnel tube. The rectangular
metal impeller rotates for 5 minutes at a speed of
4,500 rpm in the cylindrical container with the sam-
ple material. For abrasivity determination the impeller
is weighed both before and after the LCPC Test (Fig. 2,
No. 1 against No. 2 – 5). The mass loss of the metal
impeller is a measure of the sample abrasivity and
therefore a material property. Through this procedure
it is clear, that the impeller cannot be used again.
Together with the mass loss, the metal impeller is
deformed depending on the strength of the grains due
to the rotation in the container. The more abrasive the
sample, the larger is the deformation and the material
loss (Fig. 2).
By comparing the grain distribution curves of the
sample before and after the LCPC Test and by deter-
mining the fraction below 1.6 mm, conclusions on the
828
Figure 2. Impeller before and after the LCPC test. 1 – new
impeller, 2 – limestone (not abrasive), 3 – quartzitic sandstone
(abrasive/very abrasive), 4 – diorite (very abrasive), 5 – vein
quartz (extremely abrasive).
breakability or brittleness of the sample material can
be drawn.
2.2 Sample preparation
The LCPC testing device is designed for granular
materials with a size of 4 – 6.3 mm. Coarser material
has to be crushed in advance and the desired frac-
tion has to be obtained by sieving. This is due to
the diameter of the sample container and the dimen-
sion of the steel impeller. Although consideration has
been given to construction of larger containers, the
technical complexity would be too high. The vessel
diameter for e.g. gravel (63 mm) would be about 1 m
and the dimensions of the impeller, which has to be
exchanged after each test, rises from 50 × 25 × 5 mm
to 50 × 25 × 5 cm. Therefore the test would no longer
be cost effective.
The testing of rock material implicates, that the rock
specimen has to be broken to a granulate material in a
crusher. Subsequently the sample has to be sieved to
gain the desired fraction between 4 and 6.3 mm. The
fines <4 mm are excluded from the sample and the
fraction 4/6.3 can directly be used for testing. When
testing soil or other granular material, some consid-
erations have to be made in order to agree with the
technical recommendations and to get the desired abra-
sivity for tool wear, So far, two procedures have been
performed:
– Testing the entire soil sample leads to a representa-
tive value for the mixture of all grain sizes.
– Testing of fractions of the soil sample, e.g. 4/8, 8/16,
16/32, 32/64, >64 mm. Abrasivity values for each
fraction can be obtained. The summation of the val-
ues according to the grain size distribution lead to
an abrasivity value for the entire soil sample.
In the first case, different sub procedures are
possible:
– Testing the grain sizes between 4 and 6.3 mm of the
soil sample as originally intended by LCPC. The
fraction has to be obtained by sieving. The fraction
below 4 mm and higher than 6.3 mm is discarded.
This leads to low abrasivity values, which do not

Figure 3. Classification of grain roundness (Pettijohn et al.
1973, Tucker 1981).
Figure 4. Crystalline-rich, sandy gravel before preparation
(left picture), before (middle picture) and after (right picture)
LCPC test. Scale: 1 black bar equals 1 cm (1 pitch line equals
1 mm).
represent the real abrasivity of the entire soil sam-
ple. Note that in comparison the NTNU (Bruland
1998) is only using the fraction below 1 mm.
– Testing the grain sizes less than 6.3 mm of the sam-
ple accordingly. This also leads to low abrasivity
values, which do not represent the real abrasivity
of the entire soil sample. Note, that originally the
LCPC test was not intended to contain fine-grained
material less than 4 mm.
– Testing the entire soil sample and crushing the
grains larger than 6.3 mm in a crusher. The sam-
ple has to be sieved to gain the desired fraction
<6.3 mm. Depending on the scope of the abrasiv-
ity determination, the fines <4 mm have to be used
for the test or excluded.
No matter which procedure is selected, a grain size
distribution analysis has to be carried out before sepa-
ration and crushing of the sample. If this is not done a
geotechnical interpretation of the obtained abrasivity
values is not possible. The grain size distribution anal-
ysis after the test is needed for the interpretation of
the breakability of the material. Changes in grain size
distribution can then be clearly visualized. Figure 4
shows a gravel sample before and after processing as
well as after the LCPC test.
829
In addition to the grain size distribution, a min-
eralogical and petrologic analysis of the components
should be performed. The fines below 2 mm can be
analyzed by X-ray diffractometer, whereas the larger
components can be determined manually and optically.
For the fine gravel a microscope has proven to be use-
ful. Also it is necessary to obtain the roundness of the
grains before the sieving, crushing and testing (Fig. 3).
It should be mentioned that it is crucial for the inter-
pretation of the obtained data to use a representative
sample of the ground containing all grain sizes and
rock types. Otherwise the abrasivity values lead to
misunderstanding of the processes with respect to tool
wear.
2.3 Testing the entire sample
Testing the grain fraction below 6.3 mm or the grain
fraction between 4 and 6.3 mm means excluding the
components above 6.3 mm from the test. In our expe-
rience, components larger than 6.3 mm dominate the
wear process of cutting tools. Especially the large com-
ponents as pebbles, blocks and boulders may damage
cutter tools or bits shortly after contact. Using the
coarse material in the LCPC test has a severe impact
on the obtained abrasivity value.
The use of a larger sample container and impeller
has been considered. In addition to the already men-
tioned “oversize” (container Ø 1 m) for testing gravel
up to 63 mm or even larger, no data background and
experiences would be available for the interpretation
of the results. Each test would be so expensive that
from a practical point of view the test would never be
applied in a framework of a preliminary investigation
program.
In our experience a grain fraction below 4 mm
reduces the overall abrasivity of a gravel sample sig-
nificantly. Therefore the wear process on site is crucial
in any decision to discard the fines or not. For example
the fine fraction of the soil, especially sand and fine
gravel, may have a great impact on tool wear e.g. of
a TBM shield. In such cases the grain fraction below
4 mm is very important. Other considerations may lead
into the original LCPC procedure, where the fines are
rejected to get a maximum or worst-case value for the
abrasivity.
When using the entire soil sample, the follow-
ing procedure has proven to be useful: After sieving
the entire sample, the grain fraction above 6.3 mm
is crushed by a jaw crusher. The crushing process is
repeated for the grains above 6.3 mm until the whole
sample has a grain size below that size. After this pro-
cess the crushed material is mixed with the remaining
fraction <6.3 mm. Now the roundness of the crushed
grains represents more or less the former grain size dis-
tribution: the larger the former grains, the more angular
are the processed grains and the higher is the abrasiv-
ity of the processed soil sample. This is, of course, a
basic change of the natural soil composition. Finally
the test results have to prove if the obtained abrasiv-
ity represents the original grain size distribution and
therefore come close to the abrasivity of the natural
sample.

2.4 Testing separate grain size fractions

If the abrasivity of different grain size fractions is to
be determined, the time and effort for sample sepa-
ration and preparation rises significantly. After grain
size distribution and petrologic analysis, the sample
has to be separated into the desired grain size frac-
tions. A possible way to deal with large gravel samples
is to separate into the fractions of 4/16 mm, 16/32 mm,
32/64 mm and >64 mm. These four samples have to be Figure 5. Correlation between CAI and LCPC abrasivity
treated as described above to obtain a grain size below testing results using data in Büchi et al. (1995) and results
6.3 mm. In this case, in total four LCPC tests have to from this study.
be performed.
In the end about 2–2.5 kg of soil sample are needed Table 1. Classification of the LCPC abrasivity Coeffi-
to get 500 g of crushed sample material in the desired cient LAC in connection with the CERCHAR Abrasivity
4/6.3 fraction for the LCPC test. In our experience, Index CAI.
about 20 kg sample material is necessary to run four LAC CAI Abrasivity
to five LCPC tests on different grain size fractions [g/t] [0.1] classification Examples
of a gravel material, provided each desired fraction
contains enough material (>2.5 kg). 0–50 0.0–0.3 not abrasive organic material,
50–100 0.3–0.5 not very abrasive
mudstone, marl
100–250 0.5–1.0 slightly abrasive
slate, limestone
3 DERIVED PROPERTIES AND THEIR 250–500 1.0–2.0 (medium) abrasive
schist, sandstone
CLASSIFICATION 500–1250 2.0–4.0 very abrasive basalt, quartzitic
sdst.
1250–2000 4.0–6.0 extremely abrasive amphibolite,
3.1 The LCPC Abrasivity Coefficent (LAC) quartzite
The LCPC Abrasivity Coefficent LAC is calculated as
the mass loss of the impeller divided by the sample
mass (500 g).
problems. Also, there is a lot of data available where
the CERCHAR Abrasivity is connected with tool wear
problems. Hence it is highly recommended to use the
where: LAC = LCPC Abrasivity Coefficient (g/t); newly introduced LAC classification given in Table 1,
m0 = mass of the steel impeller before LCPC test instead of the original LCPC classification given in
(g); m = mass of the steel impeller after LCPC test Büchi et al. (1995). The authors state the linear cor-
(g); M = mass of the sample material (=0.0005 t). relation of LAC and CAI, but unfortunately do not
The naming of this coefficient follows international connect the abrasivity scales.
rules, referring the institution (LCPC), the property
(abrasivity) and the type of the property (coefficient). 3.2 The LCPC Breakability Coefficient (LBC)
The abbreviation LAC stands for LCPC Abrasivity
Coefficent and is exactly the same value as “ABR ” With the aid of the LCPC abrasivity test, the break-
in Büchi et al. (1995) and Normalisation Française ability or brittleness of the sample material can be
P18-579 (1990). E.g. the name of the CERCHAR quantified. The LCPC Breakability Coefficient LBC
Abrasivity Index CAI followed the same standard. is defined as the fraction below 1.6 mm of the sample
The LAC varies between 0 and 2000 g/t for natu- material in the grain size distribution curve (see Figs 9,
ral rock and soil samples. This range can be divided 11, 12):
in five classes. Since there is a close linear correla-
tion between LAC and CAI (Fig. 5), the abrasivity
classification of the well-known CERCHAR Abrasiv-
ity Index CAI can be used. The coherence between where: M1,6 = mass fraction <1.6 mm after LCPC test
both abrasivity spectrums is crucial for all practical (g); M = mass of sample material (= 0.0005 t).

830
Table 2. Classification of the LCPC Breakability Coeffi-
cient LBC according to Büchi et al. (1995).

LBC Breakability
[%] classification

0–25 Very low

25–50 Low
50–75 Medium
75–100 High
>100 Very high

As before, the naming of this coefficient follows

international rules, referring the institution (LCPC),
the property (breakability) and the type of the prop-
erty (coefficient). The abbreviation LBC stands for
LCPC Breakability Coefficent and is exactly the same
value as “BR ” in Büchi et al. (1995) and Normalisation
Française P18-579 (1990).
The LBC for natural rock and soil samples normally
varies between 0 and 100%. This range can be divided Figure 6. LCPC abrasivity coefficient plotted against the
in five classes including one above 100% (Table 2). Up medium grain diameter at 50% mass fraction (D50 ) for
different soil materials.
to now, there is no reason to diverge from the original
LCPC classification given in Büchi et al. (1995). The
higher the value of the LBC, the easier it is to break
the material and the higher is the brittleness.
The breakability or brittleness of a sample material
depends mainly on the mineralogical composition of
the grains components when testing rock or coarse
soil (gravels). This does not apply for fine grained
soils such as sands. Since the grain size distribution
of the entire soil sample is decisive for the LBC, the
grain size distribution curves before the sample prepa-
ration (crushing) and after the LCPC test have to be
determined and compared. In addition this provides a
good basis for discussion of abrasivity and its origin.
Evidence for this statement are given later.

4 RESULTS Figure 7. LCPC abrasivity coefficient plotted against the

medium grain diameter at 70% mass fraction (D70 ) for
4.1 Abrasivity different soil materials.

In Figures 6 and 7 a synopsis of typical testing results is
given. The diagrams show the LCPC Abrasivity Coef-
ficient plotted against the medium grain diameter of
the original sample at 50% (D50 ) and 70% mass frac-
tion (D70 ) resepectively for different soil materials. For
this classification diagram, “artificial” single grain
sizes of different materials were tested to provide a
background for interpretation of the abrasivity of “nat-
ural” soil samples. Rounded grains of limestone range
quite low in abrasivity (not abrasive to slightly abra-
sive). Angular grains of limestone have an increased
abrasivity in comparison with rounded grains (up to
medium abrasive). The abrasivity of rounded quartz
grains range up to very abrasive, whereas angular
quartz gives the highest values in the field of extremely
abrasive. In summary, there is a close correlation with
the former or “original” grain diameter of the artificial
samples as well as the natural soil samples, although
the processed and hence crushed sample only contains
grains up to 6.3 mm! The coherence of these reference
samples can be used in the interpretation of the natural
grain mixtures or soil samples.
The two different diagrams allow distinction
between finer and coarser soil samples. The commonly
used medium grain diameter at minus 50% mesh (D50 )
is used in the diagram of Figure 6. The fine and
medium sized gravels are displayed best in this layout.
For the coarser natural gravels as well as the fine clays,
silts and sands the D70 diagram in Figure 7 is most
suitable since there is no overlap between sand/fine

831
Figure 8. LCPC abrasivity coefficient plotted against the
content of abrasive (crystalline) components in the gravel.

gravel and coarse gravels (and even larger grains).

Future experience and testing will lead to an improved
design of this classification diagram. Using the largest
grain on the x-axis of the classification diagram did
not prove appropriate.
The following trends can be derived from both
diagrams (Figs. 6, 7):
– The abrasivity of natural samples consisting of
sand, silt and clay altogether is low (not abrasive
to not very abrasive) although they might still be
quartz-rich. In pure quartz sand abrasivity increases
slightly (slightly abrasive).
– The reference samples of limestone (angular and
rounded) range predominantly between not abra-
sive to slightly abrasive. There is a significant
correlation with grain size.
– The river gravels containing limestone and
dolomite predominantly range between not abra- Figure 9. Grain size distribution curve before and after the
sive to slightly abrasive. With increasing crys- LCPC test for crushed limestone and quartz components.
talline content (containing high amounts of highly A distinct difference in the LCPC Breakability Coefficient
is visible.
abrasive minerals such as quartz, amphibole, gar-
net, epidot) abrasivity might increase significantly. much higher than the abrasivity of rounded quartz
Figure 8 shows the LCPC Abrasivity Coefficient grains of the same size.
for the river gravels plotted against the content of – The abrasivity of the quartz-rich gravels and sands
crystalline or abrasive components (data from Festl lies between that of pure gravel and pure sand
2006). The correlation is very good, although the but is still higher than the abrasivity of limestone
number of tested samples may still not be deemed dolomite gravels. Abrasivity seems to be related to
sufficient and the “crystalline” content, although the small amount of large pebbles in the samples,
well known, is not specified here. which are not represented in the diagrams.
– The river gravels containing quartz and other abra-
sive crystalline components, range between very
4.2 Breakability
abrasive to extremely abrasive. There is only a
vague correlation with grain size, possibly related Figure 9 shows the classical application of the LCPC
to the fact that no differentiation of mineral content Breakability Coefficient. Limestone and quartz com-
is made here. Generally the function in Figure 8 is ponents were crushed and tested and the grain dis-
valid. tribution curves before and after the test plotted in
– The main correlation with grain size can be seen in the diagrams. The “higher” the left curve, the more
the reference samples (plotted single grain sizes). fines are produced by the LCPC testing device and
Note that the abrasivity of angular quartz grains is the higher is the breakability or brittleness of the

832

Figure 10. Limestone (1, 2) and Quartz samples (3, 4)
before and after the LCPC test illustrating differences in
breakability. (1 black bar equals 1 cm).
Figure 11. Grain size distribution curve before and after the
LCPC test for sand with mainly well rounded quartz and other
crystalline grains. The LAC = 100 g/t is classified between
not very abrasive and slightly abrasive.
Figure 12. Grain size distribution curve before and after the LCPC test for gravel with mainly well rounded quartz components.
The LAC = 1540 g/t is classified as extremely abrasive.
833
material. This process is also illustrated in Figure 10
where the samples before and after the LCPC test are
displayed. The breaking or grinding process is evident
by the amount of fines produced, which is higher in
the quartz sample.
In Figures 11 and 12 the breakability or brittleness
of two samples are visualized with their grain distri-
bution curve, composition of rock components and
their LCPC Abrasivity and Breakability Coefficient
LAC/LBC. Both the gravel and the sand have been
processed using the entire sample and crushing the
grains >6.3 mm as described above. For the test, the
entire material between 0 and 6.3 mm has been used.
The line on the right shows the grain size distribu-
tion of the original sample whereas the line on the left
displays the material after the LCPC test.
In Figure 12 the entire graph is shifted more or less
to the left resulting in a LBC of 65.3% (classifica-
tion medium). Due to the lower medium grain size
of the original sand sample in Figure 12 this shift is
much lower although the LBC of 97% seems to be still
high. This shows, that in soil samples, the LBC is only
meaningful in coarse material such as gravels. There-
fore the recording of the grain size distribution curves
is extremely important, much more than the value of
the LBC itself.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In the preceding paragraphs a procedure for abrasivity
assessment using the LCPC testing device has been
introduced. For rock material and granular materi-
als different procedures have been suggested. Rock
specimen simply have to be crushed to a granulate
material between 4 and 6.3 mm to be directly tested in
the LCPC abrasimeter. A grain size distribution anal-
ysis after the LCPC test as well as a mineralogical and
petrologic analysis of the material should be performed
subsequently. The processing of granular samples is
much more complicated and should be accompanied
by a grain size distribution analysis before crushing
and after the LCPC test as well as a mineralogical and
petrologic analysis. Both background data of artificial
samples and a classification system lead to an under-
standing of the key parameters petrologic composition
and grain size:
– Material composition: quartz-rich and crystalline
rock with high amounts of highly abrasive miner-
als feature high abrasivity, limestone and dolomite
low abrasivity.
– Grain size distribution: Abrasivity increases signif-
icantly with grain size. Especially large pebbles,
blocks and boulders which behave like “hard rock”
in combination with cutting tools and are therefore
essential for abrasivity.
– Grain roundness: Abrasivity increases with higher
angularity. Angular or crushed grains are much
more abrasive than well rounded grains.
Nevertheless some geological factors that cannot
be determined in the laboratory play a key role in the
abrasivity of soils and should be recorded in on site:
– Packing density: Abrasivity increases with density
of a sediment or soil.
– Cemented layers: Abrasivity increases significantly
in cemented layers. The extent of the effect is
dependent on the type of binder mineral for exam-
ple calcitic cementation (medium, e.g. Quarternary
gravels or breccias), silicic cementation (high, e.g.
Tertiary sands = quartzites). Tool wear may increase
excessively in such lithified soil layers due to their
high compressive strength.
– General factors like inhomogeneity (soft versus
hard layers or components, matrix versus compo-
nents), water level and water content or porosity
may also play important roles in abrasivity.
Summarizing the investigations that have been car-
ried out, the discussed materials can be characterized
as follows:
– Quartz- and crystalline-rich gravels show a very
high to extremely high abrasivity.
– The content of highly abrasive rock components
like quartzitic sandstone, granite, diorite, basalt,
gneiss, amphibolite, eclogite, quartz-rich schists
etc. is important especially when deposited as large
pebbles, blocks or boulders.
– Silt and clay only play an inferior role in consider-
ations concerning abrasivity. Actually they may act
834
as a moderator when present in a matrix embedding
larger grains, i.e. the abrasivity of a mixture of clay,
silt, sand and gravel has a lower abrasivity than the
gravel alone.
– The abrasivity of sand has yet to definitively
assessed. Clean sand does not seem to be of high
abrasivity even if composed mainly of quartz, espe-
cially in contrast to quartz-rich gravels. But when
combined with a slight gravel content abrasivity
appears to rise significantly.
On the basis of these observations it is clear that nei-
ther laboratory testing nor geological field work and
testing alone will allow abrasivity to be clearly defined
using formulae. The entire system of contributing geo-
logical and geotechnical properties, its interaction with
the ground or in-situ soil and the cutting or dredg-
ing tool process must be understood before significant
advances in quantifying tool wear problems in granular
materials can be achieved.
REFERENCES
Bruland, A. 1998. Hard rock tunnel boring: Drillability test
methods. Project report 13A-98, NTNU Trondheim.
Büchi, E., Mathier J.-F. & Wyss, Ch. 1995. Rock abrasivity –
a significant cost factor for mechanical tunnelling in loose
and hard rock. Tunnel 5: 38–44.
Cerchar – Centre d’Études et des Recherches des Char-
bonages de France. 1986.The Cerchar abrasiveness index.
Verneul.
Festl, J. 2006. The LCPC test – A possibility to determine
soil abrasivity? Bachelor thesis, Technische Universität
München.
Nilsen, B., Dahl, F, Holzhäuser, J. & Raleigh, P. 2006a. Abra-
sivity of soils in TBM tunnelling. Tunnels & Tunnelling
Int. 3: 36–38.
Nilsen, B., Dahl, F, Holzhäuser, J. & Raleigh, P. 2006b. Abra-
sivity testing for rock and soils. Tunnels & Tunnelling Int.
4: 47–49.
Nilsen, B., Dahl, F, Holzhäuser, J. & Raleigh, P. 2006c. SAT:
NTNU’s new soil abrasion test. Tunnels & Tunnelling Int.
5: 43–45.
Normalisation Française P18-579. 1990. Granulats: Essai
d’abrasivité et de broyabilité. AFNOR Association
française de normalisation, Paris.
Pettijohn, F.J., Potter, P.E. & Siever, R. 1973. Sand and
Sandstone. Berlin: Springer.
Plinninger, R.J. 2002. Classification and prognosis of tool
wear in conventional excavation in hard rock. Münch-
ner Geologische Hefte, B17, Technische Universität
München.
Thuro, K. 2002. Geological and rock mechanical fundamen-
tals of excavatability in tunnelling. Münchner Geologis-
che Hefte, B18, Technische Universität München.
Thuro, K. & Plinninger, R.J. 2003. Classification and prog-
nosis of performance and wear parameters in tunnelling.
Taschenbuch für den Tunnelbau 2003. Essen: Glückauf.
Tucker, M.E. 1981. Sedimentary Petrology. An Introduction.
Oxford: Blackwell.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Weathering and geomechanical properties of Alvand granitic rocks,

western Iran

A. Shafiei
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

M. Heidari
Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran

M.B. Dusseault
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: The group of Alvand granitic rocks is distributed widely around the city of Hamadan, western
Iran, and a number of important civil engineering structures have been founded on and in this rock group. Thus, the
weathering characteristics of Alvand granites are of considerable practical importance. The granites are generally
medium to coarse-grained and porphyritic, light-grey to buff in colour.To assess the influence of weathering on the
geomechanical characteristics of these rocks, a sampling and testing program was carried out. Field work involved
assessment of the rock mass weathering grades, execution of simple field tests and collection of representative
samples from different weathering grades. This paper presents the results of laboratory investigations, including
weathering characteristics and physical, chemical and mechanical properties. Interrelationships are determined
for all test results. From the field and laboratory studies, robust linear relationships are found between the
weathering degree of the tested samples and their geomechanical properties.

1 INTRODUCTION both from the engineering geological and the rock

The geomechanical properties of rocks vary consider-
ably depending on the rock type, nature of discontinu-
ities and weathering. Weathering is one of the most
important of these factors affecting geomechanical
and mechanical properties of rocks. The effects of
weathering on the geomechanical properties of rocks
have been studied by numerous investigators and var-
ious weathering indices and classifications have been
proposed.
In nature, the inevitable process of weathering pro-
duces significant changes in almost all the chemical
and physical properties of rocks and it is universally
recognized that this process will have affected many
of the geomechanical properties of the rock mass
(Gupta & Rao 2001).
The main aim of the present study was to demon-
strate the effect of weathering on the geomechanical
properties of Alvand grantitic rocks. The group of
Alvand granitic rocks is distributed widely around
the city of Hamadan, western Iran, and a number
of important civil engineering structures have been
founded on and in this igneous rock group. Thus,
the weathering characteristics of Alvand granites,
mechanics points-of-view, are of considerable prac-
tical importance. Emphasis is given to the appli-
cability of weathering indices for tested granite
samples and their significance for geomechanical
practice.
To assess the influence of weathering on the geo-
chemical and geomechanical characteristics of the
studies rocks, a sampling and analysis program was-
carried out on profiles from the study area. Field
work involved assessment of the rock mass weathering
grades, execution of simple field tests with a Schmidt
hammer and point load devices, characterization of the
discontinuities, and collection of representative sam-
ples from different weathering grades for laboratory
testing.
The existing methods of determining effects of
weathering on geomechanical properties are reviewed.
In the laboratory, the rock samples are character-
ized by several methods including chemical analyses
and series of geomechanical tests such as dry unit
weight, saturated unit weight, water absorption, poros-
ity, slake-durability index, point-load strength index,
uniaxial compressive strength and Brazilian tensile
strength.

835
 The data obtained from the field and labora-
tory studies were evaluated with regression analyses.
Relations between the geomechanical properties and
weathering grade of the studied rocks were thus deter-
mined and are discussed. Correlations between weath-
ering and geomechanical indices have indicated some
important points which we believe will be useful for
the geomechanical assessment of weathering in these
rocks, as well as in other igneous rock masses.

1.1 Geological setting

The study area is located 10 km south and southwest
of Hamadan city, western Iran. It is a part of the 1500-
km long Sanandaj–Sirjan metamorphic belt of the
Zagros orogeny in western Iran which created the well-
known Zagros Mountains.The trend ofAlvand granitic
rocks is NW-SE generally with joints and faults which
influenced the weathering profiles. The minimum and Figure 1. The study area.
maximum annual temperature in this region is −29
to +39.8 Celsius centigrade, respectively. The annual
rainfall at the Hamadan observation post is 335 mm
(Fig. 1).
The Zagros tectonic belt formed during subduction
of a Neo-Tethyan seaway and subsequent oblique col-
lision of the Afro-Arabian (Gondwana) plate with the
Iranian microcontinent in the Late Cretaceous–Early
Tertiary. The formation of the Sanandaj–Sirjan belt
included a period of continental arc magmatism before
the collision took place. The Alvand Plutonic Complex
is a Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary, crustally-derived
array of granitic plutons in the region (Sepahi et al.
2004; after Berberian & King 1981, Alavi 1994,
Mohajjel & Fergusson 2001).
Crustal shortening associated with subduction and
collision metamorphosed and deformed Late Palaeo-
zoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, influencing
a sequence of different lithologies near Hamadan
(Fig. 2). The tectonic evolution of the Sanandaj–Sirjan
belt involved continental arc magmatism followed by
collision. Mafic to intermediate plutonic bodies are
older than crustally derived granitic plutons in the
region (Alvand Plutonic Complex), but all intrusions
formed during Cretaceous-Tertiary subduction and Figure 2. Simplified geological map of the study area
collision (from Sepahi et al. 2004 after Baharifar et al. (adapted from Sepahi et al. 2004).
2004).
The plutons, including the granites, are commonly
associated with contact metamorphism aureoles paper. The main minerals are quartz and plagioclase
defined by hornfelsic textures and mineral assem- feldspar, with minor amounts of secondary minerals
blages that overprint earlier minerals and fabrics. The such as biotite, chlorite, apatite, zircon, sphene and
granites are generally medium- to coarse-grained and opaque minerals. The second granite selected for this
porphyritic in texture, light-grey to buff in color. The study is a medium-grained (2–5 millimeters in diam-
Alvand granitic rocks include five different types of eter) hololeucocratic granite with a semi-porphyritic
granite; two types were selected for this study. Based texture, which is called H in this paper. The main
on petrographic examination, one is a coarse-grained minerals are quartz, feldspar, and sphene, with minor
granular granite (5–10 millimeters in diameter) with amounts of muscovite, apatite, zircon and opaque
a euhedral granular texture, which is called G in this minerals as secondary minerals.

836
Table 1. Weathering grade classification (Anonymous
1995).
Grade Term Typical characteristics
X0 Fresh rock Unchanged from original state
X1 Slightly Slight discoloration, slight
weathered weakening
X2 Moderately Considerably weakened penetrative
weathered discoloration
X3 Highly Large pieces can be broken by hand
weathered dose not readily disaggregate (slake)
when dry sample immersed in water
X4 Completely Considerably weakened slakes
weathered original texture apparent
X5 Residual soil Soil derived by in-situ weathering but
retaining none of the original texture
of fabric
2 BACKGROUND
Weathering leads to general weakening of a rock
due to the alteration of the minerals, the develop-
ment of voids, and disintegration (Ebuk et al. 1993).
The consequences depend on the mineralogy, tex-
ture and the structure of the original rock, as well
as the various processes and rates of weathering
(Anon 1995).
Weathering of crystalline material usually results
in the creation of voids due to the preferential dissolu-
tion of certain mineral phases as weathering processes
continue and particular minerals are leached out; the
original structure of the rock is changed and it then
consists of altered grains with increasing numbers of
macro- and micro-fractures (Bell 1993).
Anon (1995) (Table 1) and ISRM (1981) sug-
gested classifications mainly based on field observa-
tions and determined six classes with respect to the
degree of weathering. Also, a number of researchers
have studied the effect of weathering on the geome-
chanical properties of granitic rocks and reported
that weathering involves processes which alter the
original geomechanical properties of a granitic rock
(Nishiyama & Kusuda 1996, Gupta & Rao 1998,
Ehlen 1999, Gupta & Rao 2000, Duzgoren-Aydin et al.
2001, Fang & Harrison 2001, Gupta & Rao 2001,
Campbell & Dethier 2005).
Several weathering indices have been proposed to
quantify effects of weathering on the geomechanical
properties of crystalline rocks. The most commonly
used methods can be broadly categorized as chemi-
cal, mineralogical-petrographical and geomechanical
indices. Here, a number of selected geomechanical
properties, physical properties and chemical weath-
ering indices are reviewed for the purpose of this
study.
837
2.1 Engineering and physical properties indices
Detailed studies of variation of index properties of
rocks such as density, specific gravity, porosity, void
ratio and saturated water content during the weathering
of granites have been carried out by Irfan & Dearman
(1978a, b), Roj (1985), Irfan & Powell (1985), Gupta &
Rao (1998).
2.1.1 Point load strength index
The point load strength index (Is) provides a use-
ful estimation of strength, particularly the unconfined
compressive strength (UCS) of intact rocks (Broch &
Franklin 1972). Fookes et al. (1971) used the point load
index for assessing the strength of weathered rocks. For
fresh granite, values of Is generally vary from 7.1 to
10 (Irfan & Dearman 1978a).
2.1.2 Unconfined compressive strength
This test method is intended to measure the uniaxial
compressive strength of a rock sample with a regular
cylindrical geometry. The test is mainly intended for
strength classification and characterization of intact
rock (Duzgoren et al. 2002). A mean value of UCS for
fresh granite is reported to be 132.8 MPa by Gupta and
Rao (1998).
2.1.3 Tensile strength
Most rocks have a low tensile strength and in their
weathered state this decreases dramatically (Turk et al.
1994). From a detailed study of the tensile strength
of clastic sedimentary rocks, Beavis (1985) noted a
reduction of up to 75% in tensile strength of fresh
claystone compared with that in its slightly weathered
state, and attributes this to the development of a micro-
fracture system. Gupta & Rao (1998) reported a mean
tensile strength of 16.1 MPa for granite (about 1/8th
the mean UCS value).
2.1.4 Slake durability Index
Franklin & Chandra (1972) suggested a slake durabil-
ity index to assess the resistance offered by a rock
sample to weathering and disintegration when sub-
jected to two standard cycles of drying and wetting.
Slake durability indices are based on the classification
schemes of Gamble (1971) and Franklin & Chandra
(1972). Slake durability indices are high for mod-
erately weathered granodiorite and low to medium
for fresh and slightly weathered rocks, respectively
(Arel & Tugrul 2001).
2.2 Chemical weathering indices
Several weathering indices are proposed for quantify-
ing the changes in the intrinsic properties of the rocks
from different points of view. Probably Reiche (1945)
was the first researcher who proposed a chemical
weathering indices such as the weathering potential
index (WPI) and product index (PI), as follows:
A decreasing WPI implies decreasing mobile cations
and increasing hydroxyl water, whereas PI indi-
cates decreasing silica content with the progress of
weathering.
Ruxton (1968) suggested the Silica Alumina Ratio
(SAR) for a weathering index, defined as:
and shape, particularly with highly weathered spec-
imens. As coring was sometimes difficult, cuboidal
and prismatic samples were prepared from the highly
weathered samples.
Two different types of granites with different weath-
ering grades are tested: granular granite (G) and
hololeucocratic granite (H). The weathering grade is
presented based on weathering classifications pro-
posed by Anon (1995). For example HX0 represents
granular granite with weathering grade of X0 (fresh
rock) in this paper.
Point load and Brazilian tests were carried out to
determine the strength properties. Unconfined com-
pressive strength was determined for each grade of
weathering, using a constant rate of loading. Nor-
mally three to six tests were carried out for each
sample following the ISRM suggested method (ISRM
1981). Where appropriate, X- ray fluorescence was
used to assess the effects of weathering on the chemical
properties of the studied rocks.

This has been found to be a good index of chemi-

cal weathering in free-draining acidic environments
in humid climates, particularly in acidic (alumino-
silicate) rocks.
Jayaverdena & Izawa (1994) assumed possible rela-
tionships between Al2 O3 , SiO2 and TiO2 and put
forward an index of chemical weathering referred to
as the silica-titania index:
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Laboratory investigations
Results from laboratory investigations including intact
rock characterization and X- ray fluorescence (XRF)
are now presented and discussed. Care was necessary
in order to ensure that samples were of a specific size
3.2 Physical properties
Physical properties such as specific gravity, dry and
saturated densities, water content and porosity were
determined for each sample. For each physical prop-
erty the value quoted is the mean over 10 specimens.
The range of the values obtained for the tested samples
from different weathering grades are given in Table 2.
Based on results from this study, the porosity increases
with an increase in weathering grade for all tested
samples in both granular and hololeucocratic granites.
These observations correspond to those recorded by
other researchers including Irfan & Dearman (1978a),
Gupta & Rao (1998), Arel & Tugral (2001), Gupta &
Rao (2001).
3.3 Geomechanical properties
The numbers for geomechanical properties such
as slake durability index, unconfined compressive

Table 2. Physical properties of the studied rocks.

Weathering Dry density Saturated density Water content

grade Specific gravity (g/cm3 ) (g/cm3 ) (%) Porosity (%)

HX0 2.662–2.681 2.59–2.659 2.602–2.659 0.292–0.326 0.743–1.505

HX1 2.657–2.674 2.422–2.643 2.581–2.655 0.359–0.705 0.942–1.707
HX2 2.652–2.702 2.594–2.614 2.616–2.633 0.719–0.888 1.887–2.353
HX3 2.604–2.659 2.498–2.566 2.539–2.601 1.239–1.805 3.155–4.564
HX4 2.519–2.631 2.368–2.488 2.428–2.539 1.657–2.658 4.107–6.516
GX0 2.699–2.788 2.651–2.743 2.669–2.759 0.353–0.525 0.96–1.609
GX1 2.701–2.753 2.654–2.731 2.672–2.746 0.452–0.582 1.252–1.567
GX2 2.663–2.685 2.624–2.646 2.639–2.661 0.51–0.643 1.341–1.64
GX3 2.657–2.706 2.582–2.623 2.61–2.69 0.89–1.17 2.319–3.101
GX4 2.381–2.404 2.128–2.172 2.243–2.26 4.041–5.375 8.78–11.44

838
strength, point load index and the Brazilian tensile H
12
strength values determined for the rocks with different G
weathering grades are summarized in Table 3. 10 Linear (H)
The mean point load values for both fresh granular

Point load index (MPa)

Linear (G
and hololeucocratic granites obtained in this research 8
are approximately 7.0 and 12.1 MPa, respectively. R2 = 0.7023
Point load strength decreases with increasing weath- 6
ering grade so that X4 may evidence a 90% reduction
4
in strength compared with the fresh material, X0 . The R2 = 0.5659
Brazilian tensile strength obtained in this study varies 2
between 15.6 MPa for fresh hololeucocratic granite to
9.5 MPa for granular granite. 0
As shown in Table 3, the unconfined compres- 0 2 4 6 8 10
sive strength values for both fresh hololeucocratic Porosity (%)
and granular granites are 427 MPa and 126 MPa,
respectively. Both the hololeucocratic and granular Figure 3. Relationship between porosity (%) and Point load
granites showed declines in unconfined compressive index (MPa).
strength with reductions sometimes greater than 90%,
compared with the fresh varieties.

16
3.4 Relationships between index properties
Comparisons were made between two groups of the 14 H
studied granites with different weathering grades R2 = 0.908 G
Brazilian tensile strength (MPa)

12
from fresh to completely weathered. The relationship Linear (H)
between porosity and point load index, Brazilian ten- 10 Linear (G)
sile strength and unconfined compressive strength are
shown in Figures 3 to 5, respectively. It can be con- 8
cluded that with increase of porosity for all of the
tested weathering grades there is a sudden decrease in 6
point load index, Brazilian tensile strength and uncon- R2 = 0.7659

fined compressive strength. This evidence confirms 4

expectations of different weathering grade effects on

2
strength properties of the rocks.
Figure 6 shows the relation between point load 0
index and unconfined compressive strength. Rela- 0 2 4 6 8 10
tionships between durability index and unconfined Porosity (%)
compressive strength, and Brazilian tensile strength
and unconfined compressive strength for both granu- Figure 4. Relationship between porosity (%) and the
lar granites (G) and hololeucocratic granites (H) with Brazilian tensile strength (MPa).

Table 3. Geomechanical properties of the studied rocks.

Unconfined
Durability compressive
Weathering index strength Point load index Tensile strength
grade (%) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)

HX0 99.79 411.6–531.195 5.059–18.69 12.219–18.268

HX1 99.816 133.4–159.329 2.529–13.35 10.921–17.588
HX2 99.755 63.8–199.68 2.773–8.667 6.45–12.366
HX3 98.762 69.77–72.514 0.554–1.594 2.116–4.633
HX4 97.347 25.39–32.878 0.304–2.523 2.018–4.865
GX0 99.555 104.5–158.198 3.765–6.997 8.026–13.215
GX1 99.715 52.9–87.555 2.987–5.272 8.49–12.824
GX2 99.42 51.99–86.148 2.138–3.742 4.18–9.766
GX3 98.744 45.58–67.947 0.596–2.228 2.989–8.141
GX4 73.948 9.101–25.788 0.31–0.967 1.134–3.089

839
 500 500

Unconfined compressive strength (MPa)

Unconfined compressive strength (MPa)

450 H 450 G
400 G 400 H
Linear (H) Linear (G)
350 350
Linear (G) Linear (H)
300 300
R2 = 0.5043
250 250 2
R = 0.3213
200 200
150 150
100 100 2
R2 = 0.6293 R = 0.5528
50 50
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105
Porosity (%) Durability index (%)

Figure 5. Relationship between porosity (%) and uncon- Figure 7. Relationship between durability index (%) and
fined compressive strength (MPa). unconfined compressive strength (MPa).

500 500
H
450 450 H
Unconfined com pressive strength (MPa)

G
Unconfined compressive strength (MPa)

400 Linear (H) 400 G

R2 = 0.9217
Linear (G) 350 Linear (H)
350
300 Linear (G)
300 R2 = 0.5802
250
250
200
200 150
150 100

100 50
R2 = 0.7454
R 2 = 0.9029 0
50
0 5 10 15
0
Brazilian tensile strength (MPa)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Point load index (MPa)
Figure 8. Relationship between the Brazilian tensile
Figure 6. Relationship between point load index (MPa) and strength (MPa) and unconfined compressive strength (MPa).
unconfined compressive strength (MPa).
order for the weathering sequence has been established
different weathering grades are shown in Figures 7 and (the Bowen sequence concept):
8, respectively. As can be seen, there is a clear linear
relationship between these parameters.

3.5 Chemical properties This indicates that, for these rocks, first Na then Ca is
affected by the weathering process. Results from XRF
In this section other variations in properties of the analyses are shown in Table 4.
rock material with chemical weathering indices are Some of the well known chemicals weathering
examined. The geochemical studies were carried out indices were used to determine the weathering state of
using XRF technique to determine the variation in the studied granites; results are presented in Table 5. It
relative abundance of the major elements throughout can be seen that the weathering potential index (WPI)
the weathering sequence on the both group of studied provides a good indication of weathering state for the
granites with different weathering grades. both granular and hololeucocratic granites. WPI val-
The determined relative mobility of elements in ues are decreasing with increasing weathering grade.
each weathering grade shows the stability or differ- Comparison of the range of values for the studied rocks
ential movement of cations with respect to the cations shows that the SiO2 content with weathering drops
present in the parent material. The following mobility significantly.

840
Table 4. XRF analyses results.

SiO2 Al2 O3 Na2 O MgO K2 O TiO2 MnO CaO Fe2 O3

Sample (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

GX0 64.17 14.83 2.12 1.99 5.02 1.00 0.11 2.16 7.32
GX1 63.42 14.67 2.45 2.08 5.30 1.05 0.12 2.07 7.63
GX2 65.08 14.53 2.52 1.70 3.88 0.93 0.09 2.55 7.07
GX3 63.75 15.12 2.14 1.83 4.94 0.95 0.11 2.28 7.24
GX4 72.95 12.07 2.32 0.52 5.70 0.36 0.06 0.98 3.55
GX5 63.38 14.36 2.41 1.81 4.15 1.00 0.13 2.63 6.74
HX0 62.04 20.09 6.79 0.12 0.24 0.74 0.01 8.56 0.63
HX1 62.50 19.97 7.17 0.01 0.20 0.77 0.01 7.74 0.73
HX2 67.11 17.73 8.76 0.38 0.87 0.78 0.03 2.04 1.12
HX3 61.56 21.26 6.97 0.15 0.25 0.83 0.01 7.86 0.76
HX4 62.36 20.04 6.37 0.40 0.27 0.81 0.01 7.44 0.82
HX5 61.47 20.82 6.62 0.37 0.42 0.85 0.02 6.89 1.12

Table 5. Calculated chemical weathering indices. from the Alvand Plutonic Complex in order to
determine the resulting changes in geomechanical
Weathering TI properties. Almost all the physical, geomechanical
grade index WPI PI SAR and chemical properties of the studied rocks were
significantly influenced by the weathering grade.
GX0 0.76 9.42 73.48 4.32
The results indicated:
GX1 0.76 9.95 73.08 4.32
GX2 0.77 9.11 74.28 4.47 • There is a predominance of physical rather than
GX3 0.76 9.53 73.22 4.21 chemical processes, as indicated by chemical analy-
GX4 0.83 9.13 82.02 6.04 ses. Hololeucocratic granites show a slight chemical
GX5 0.77 9.52 74.15 4.41
weathering. As the hololeucocratic granites have
HX0 0.73 15.7 74.29 3.08
HX1 0.73 15.2 74.42 3.13 only a small amount of easily weathered minerals,
HX2 0.76 1.80 77.36 3.78 the predominant weathering effect in this rock is
HX3 0.72 15.1 72.92 2.89 physical degradation.
HX4 0.73 14.2 74.21 3.11 • As the weathering grade increasing, the percent-
HX5 0.72 14.1 72.95 2.95 age of Al2 O3 , MgO and TiO2 increases but the
percentage of SiO2 , Na2 O and CaO decreases.
• Physical and geomechanical properties of weath-
ered granites vary over a wide range depending
The product index (PI), based on the ratio of SiO2 to upon the weathering grade. It was observed that
the sum of silica and sesquioxides, appears to be highly the unit weight and the rock strength decrease with
sensitive to silica content in fresh rock, although as weathering, with concomitant porosity increases.
seen in Table 5, the variation in index values is minimal • Weathering potential index (WPI) appears to be
for the tested rocks. useful for all the tested rocks, but the index is
The silica-alumina ratio (SAR) varied for the two highly sensitive to the alkali content in the parent
rock groups with different weathering grades. The rock.
highest and lowest SAR values were obtained for the • The direct use of index properties such as the Brazil-
hololeucocratic and granular granites, respectively. ian tensile strength and unconfined compressive
The silica-titania index (Si-Ti) which considers the strength was found to be appropriate for the deter-
influence of immobile TiO2 and Al2 O3 during the mination of weathering grade. The study has shown
weathering process, shows only a small variation in that other indices such as slake durability can help
the index values. because of a clear and generally robust correlation
to weathering grade.
• Weathering influences the tensile strength more
4 CONCLUSIONS strongly than the compressive strength, particularly
at the initial stage of the weathering process.
Physical, geomechanical and chemical analyses were • There is a significant difference in the relationship
carried out on the both granular (G) and hololeuco- between various index properties and weathering
cratic (H) granites with different weathering grades grade.

841
REFERENCES
Alavi, M. 1994. Tectonics of the Zagros Orogenic belt of
Iran: new data and interpretations. Tectonophysics 229:
211–238.
Anonymous, 1995. The description and classification of
weathered rocks for engineering purposes. Quarterly
Journal of Engineering Geology 28(3): 207–242.
Arel, E. & Tugrul, A. 2001. Weathering and its relation to
geomechanical properties of Çavusbasi granitic rocks in
northwesternTurkey. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and
the Environment 60: 123–133.
Baharifar, A. Moinevaziri, H. Bellon, H. & Pique,
A. 2004. The crystalline complexes of Hamadan
(Sanandaj-Sirjan zone, western Iran): metasedimentary
Mesozoic sequences affected by Late Cretaceous tectono-
metamorphic and plutonic events. Comptes Rendus
Geoscience 336(16): 1443–1452.
Beavis, F.C. 1985. Engineering Geology. London: Blackwell
Scientific.
Bell, F.G. 1993. Durability of carbonate rock as building
stone with comments on its preservation. Environmental
Geology 21: 187–200.
Berberian, M. & King, G.C. 1981. Towards a paleogeography
and tectonic evolution of Iran. Canadian Journal of Earth
Sciences 18: 210–265.
Broch, E. & Franklin, J.A. 1972. Point load strength test.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sci-
ences 9(6): 669–97.
Campbell, J.E. & Dethier, D.P. 2005. Slow chemical weather-
ing of organic rocks, Front Range, Colorado. In Salt Lake
City Annual Meeting, Paper No. 190–52.
Duzgoren-Aydin, N.S. Aydin, A. & Malpas, J. 2001.
Reassessment of chemical weathering indices: Case study
from pyroclastic rocks of Hong Kong. Engineering Geol-
ogy 63: 99–119.
Duzgoren-Aydin, N.S. Aydin, A. & Malpas, J. 2002. Distribu-
tion of clay minerals along a weathered pyroclastic profile,
Hong Kong. Catena 50: 17–41.
Ebuk, E.J. Hencher, S.R. & Lumsden, A.C: 1993. The influ-
ence of structure on the shearing mechanism of weakly
bonded soils. In Proceedings 26th Annual Conference of
the Engineering Group of the Geological Society, The
Engineering Geology of Weak Rock, Leeds. Paper No.
207–215.
Ehlen, J. 1999. Fracture characteristics in weathered granites.
Geomorphology 31: 29–45.
Fang, Z. & Harrison, J.P. 2001. A mechanical degradation
index for rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
& Mining Sciences 38: 1193–1199.
Fookes, P.G. Dearman, W.R. & Franklin, J.A. 1971. Some
engineering aspects of rock weathering with field exam-
ples from Dartmoor and elsewhere. Quarterly Journal of
Engineering Geology 4: 139–185.
Franklin, J.A. & Chandra, R. 1972. The slake durability
test. International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Sciences 9: 325–341.
842
Gamble, J.C. 1971. Durability-plasticity classification for
shales and other argillaceous rocks. PhD Thesis, Univer-
sity of Illinois.
Gupta, A.S. & Rao, K.S. 1998. Index properties of weathered
rocks; inter-relationships and applicability. Bulletin of
Engineering Geology and the Environment 57: 161–172.
Gupta, A.S. & Rao, K.S. 2000. Weathering effects on the
strength and deformational behavior of crystalline rocks
under uniaxial compression state. Engineering Geology
56: 257–274.
Gupta, A.S. & Rao, K.S. 2001. Weathering indices and their
applicability for crystalline rocks. Bulletin of Engineering
Geology and the Environment 60: 201–221.
Irfan, T.Y. & Dearman, W.R. 1978a. The engineering pet-
rography of a weathered granite in Cornwall, England.
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology 11: 233–244.
Irfan, T.Y. & Dearman, W.R. 1978b. Engineering classifica-
tion and index properties of a weathered granite. Bulletin
of Engineering Geology and the Environment 17: 79–90.
Irfan, T.Y. & Powell, G.E. 1985. Engineering geological
investigations for foundations on a deeply weathered
granitic rock in Hong Kong. Bulletin of International
Association of Engineering Geology 32: 67–80.
ISRM 1981. Suggested Methods for Rock Characterization,
Testing and Monitoring, ISRM Commission on Testing
Methods. Oxford: Pergamon.
Jayawardena, U. De S. & Isawa, E. 1994. Application of
present indices of chemical weathering for Precambrian
metamorphic rocks in Sri Lanka. Bulletin of International
Association of Engineering Geology 49: 55–61.
Mohajjel, M. & Fergusson, C.L. 2000. Dextral transpression
in Late Cretaceous continental collision, Sandandaj-Sirjan
Zone, western Iran. Journal of Structural Geology 22:
1125–1139.
Nishiyama, T. & Kusuda, H. 1996. Application of a fluo-
rescent technique to the study of the weathering process.
Engineering Geology 43(4): 247–253.
Raj, J.K. 1985. Characterization of the weathering profile
developed over a porphyritic biotite granite in penin-
sular Malaysia. Bulletin of International Association of
Engineering Geology 32: 121–129.
Reiche, P. 1943. Graphic representation of chemical weath-
ering. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 13: 58–68.
Ruxton, B.P. 1968. Measures of the degree of chemical
weathering of rocks. Journal of Geology 76: 518–527.
Sepahi, A.A. Whitney, D.L. & Baharifar, A.A. 2004. Petro-
genesis of andalusite–kyanite–sillimanite veins and host
rocks, Sanandaj-Sirjan metamorphic belt, Hamadan, Iran.
Journal of Metamorphic Geology 22(2): 119–134.
Turk, N. Koca, M.Y. Yuzer, E. Qztas, T. & Erdogan, M. 1994.
Engineering geological problems of the first phase of
the Izmir Metro. In Proc. 7th Int. IAEG Congr., Lisbon,
pp. 4259–4264.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Evaluation of the mechanical and physical properties of rock

containing pyrite by leaching tests

I. Woo
Gunsan National University, Korea

J.G. Kim
Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Korea

G.H. Lee
Korean Gas Corporation, Korea

H.J. Park
Sejong University, Korea

J.G. Um
Pukyung National University, Korea

ABSTRACT: The weathering characteristics of rock containing pyrite sometimes have serious influences on its
environment since the oxidation of pyrite (FeS2 ) generates acid drainage, resulting in accelerated rock weathering
and the discharge of heavy metals into the environment. Pyrite is a common and abundant sulfide mineral and
it is oxidized upon exposure to oxygen at the earth’s surface. Such accelerated weathering of rock can degrade
its mechanical properties and therefore menace the stability of rock structures such as slopes and tunnels. The
evaluation of the physical properties of rocks and the chemical composition of the drainage were evaluated by
leaching tests using a double soxhlet extractor for one month in the laboratory. Three groups of biotite gneiss
were used for the soxhlet extraction experiment: Group A: <0.1% of pyrite; Group B: about 5% of disseminated
pyrite; Group C: about 6% of vein type pyrite. Groups A and B showed no significant quick absorption ratio after
one month experiment but Group C showed about a 10% increase in value. The uniaxial compressive strength
of the three groups decreased about 20%, 10% and 45% for Groups A, B and C, respectively. The mechanical
properties of the samples and the chemical composition of the drainage indicate that the oxidation of pyrite
contained in the samples accelerated weathering, resulting in the deterioration of the mechanical properties of
rocks and the possibility of discharging heavy metals and acid into the environment.

1 INTRODUCTION acid drainage and accelerates the rock weathering

Natural weathering cannot be generally recognized
due to its slow rate, whereas we sometimes find that
rock containing pyrite FeS2 ) which has been exposed
to the atmosphere is considerably weathered in a rela-
tively short period. Many researchers have studied the
weathering processes of pyrite due to its abundance in
the earth’s surface and its particular reaction to weath-
ering processes (Boon & Heijnen 1998, Bouffard
et al. 2006, Garrels & Thompson 1960, Holmes &
Crundwell 2000, Descostes et al. 2004, McKibben &
Barnes 1986, Wiersma & Rimstidt 1984). One of
the main weathering processes of pyrite involves
oxidation by the atmosphere and water that causes
processes.
In the present study, an attempt is made to quantify
the behavior of pyrite-bearing rock by the leach-
ing process in terms of physical properties and the
compressive strength of the rock according to pyrite
content.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Sample characterization and preparation
Pyrite-bearing biotite gneiss was sampled from rock
blocks at the bottoms of excavated rock slopes at

843
Table 1. Properties of biotite gneiss specimens for labora-
tory test.
Pyrite Orientation Vp Vs
content angle QA
Group (%) (◦ ) (%) (m/sec)
A 0 15∼20 ≈0.15 ≈4500 ≈2890
B 3.3 20∼25 ≈0.10 ≈4970 ≈3010
C 5.5 35∼40 ≈0.40 ≈4630 ≈2910
*QA : quick absorption ratio, Vp : longitudinal ultrasonic
wave propagation velocity, Vs : transverse ultrasonic wave
propagation velocity.
Incheon, Korea. The samples were prepared for labora-
tory tests as cylindrical specimens 32 mm in diameter
and 60 mm long. There were three main criteria for
classifying the rock specimens: pyrite content, foli-
ation plane direction and physical properties. First,
the specimens were divided into 3 groups according
to pyrite content in order to evaluate the influence of
pyrite content on rock properties:
Group A < 0.1% pyrite
Group B ≈ 5% disseminated pyrite
Group C ≈ 6% vein-type pyrite
Biotite gneiss rock specimens are mechanically
anisotropic due to foliation planes. In order to min-
imize the scatter of engineering properties of the rock
specimens, samples having the same foliation plane
direction relative to the major principal stress direc-
tion in the unaxial compression test were selected for
each group (Table 1).
The rock specimens belonging to a group should
have the same initial physical and mechanical prop-
erties in order to compare them before and after the
leaching test. In contrast to those physical properties
which can be determined without destructive tests,
mechanical properties have to be evaluated by destruc-
tive tests, which does not permit the same rock speci-
men to be compared for mechanical properties before
and after the leaching test. Assuming that rock with
the same physical properties – ultrasonic propagation
velocity and quick absorption ratio in this study – have
the same mechanical properties, rock specimens pos-
sessing similar physical properties were selected for
each group in the laboratory leaching test (Table 1).
2.2 Leaching test apparatus
Double soxhlet extractor was used for the 30 days’
laboratory leaching test, keeping the humidity in vitro
100% during the test.
This apparatus is composed of a hot plate, a flask,
two soxhlets mounted one to another and a condenser.
The operating principal of this apparatus is as follows.
844
The boiled water in the lower flask rises in the form
of distilled vapor up to the condenser at the top of this
apparatus. The vapor is cooled by the condenser out-
side of which cold water is continuously circulated.
Distilled water from the condenser is accumulated in
the upper soxhlet. By means of the side siphon, the hot
distilled water at about 70 degrees in the upper soxh-
let falls and leaches the rock specimens placed in the
lower soxhlet. After leaching, the solution falls again
into the flask at the bottom of the system. This proce-
dure consists of one cycle of leaching with a duration
of about 90 minutes.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The characteristics of the rock specimens were eval-
uated by measuring their physical and mechanical
properties in order to quantify the evaluation of the
rock by leaching as suggested by the ISRM (1979).
The physical properties of the rock specimens were
measured before and after the leaching test for the
same specimens by non-destructive methods – quick
absorption ratio and ultrasonic propagation velocity.
The mechanical properties of the rock specimens after
the leaching test were evaluated by means of the uni-
axial compression test, and were then compared with
those of specimens in the same group that had not been
leached.
3.1 Evaluation of the quick absorption ratio
The absorption ratio is generally considered as a good
index of weathering; that means that it has a close
correlation with weathering grade. If a rock is exposed
to weathering processes, physically or chemically, the
increase of porosity becomes more and more important
due to the widening or connecting of pores and cracks
in the rock.
Although an increase of porosity is usual after
the accelerated weathering test in the laboratory, for
Groups A and B in this study no significant increase
– or even no increase – of the quick absorption ratio
was found after a 30-day leaching test. This is because
the value of the quick absorption ratio was so small
that the variation of these values was within the error
range of measurement.
On the other hand, the rock specimens of Group C
showed a 10% increase in the quick absorption ratio.
This is because the oxidation and weathering of pyrite
had a much greater influence on the specimens of
Group C with their high pyrite content.
3.2 Evaluation of ultrasonic propagation velocity
The ultrasonic velocity after the leaching test showed a
tendency to decrease, compared to the initial ultrasonic
velocity. Some of the specimens did not show this
 300

250

200
UCS(MPa)

150

100

50

0
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-8
1-10
1-1
1-2
1-3
1-7
2-5
2-6
2-7
2-8
2-10
2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4
3-1
3-3
3-5
3-6
3-2
3-4
3-9
3-10
Sample No.
Before leaching test After leaching test

Figure 1. Evolution of uniaxial compressive strength after and before leaching test (Group A: left column, Group B: middle
column, Group C: right column).

tendency because of the dispersion property of the the leaching test is possible for the same rupture pattern
ultrasonic velocity. in a group. The second one is to exclude UCS values
The transverse ultrasonic velocity (S-wave) had of great deviation in one group, because the number
a general tendency of about a 7–10% reduction for of specimens was not enough to compensate for the
all specimens. The longitudinal ultrasonic velocity great deviation of UCS values in a group.
(P-wave) of Groups A and C had about a 3–7% Figure 1 indicates the evolution of the UCS after a
reduction, and that of Group B about a 1–3% reduction. 30-day leaching test, compared with the UCS without
These results indicate that the reduction of the the leaching test; for Group A in the left, Group B in
mechanical properties of Groups A and C would be the middle, Group C in the right column.
more prominent than that of Group B.
Group A: the difference between the UCS without the
leaching test and after the leaching test is
3.3 Evaluation of uniaxial compressive strength about 45 MPa.
Group B: the difference is about 10 MPa.
The specimens in each group were divided into two
Group C: the rupture of unleached specimens occurred
categories: leached and unleached, in order to com-
along the foliation plane, whereas the rup-
pare the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). The
ture pattern of leached specimens could be
uniaxial compressive strength, however, varies due to
divided into two groups: rupture along a
the anisotropy and heterogeneity of the rock speci-
foliation plane (Samples 3–9, 3–10 on the
men that has several causes, namely foliation, invisible
left two samples in Fig. 2) whose UCS val-
microcracks, specimen size effect, specimen shape
ues are similar to UCS without leaching
condition, etc.
test, and rupture independent of the foli-
For reliable test results, we carried out two steps for
ation plane (Samples 3–2, 3–4 on the right
analyzing the test results. The first one is to observe
two samples in Fig. 2). The comparison of
the rupture pattern of the rock specimens, that is, to
UCS was made, therefore, for the rupture
observe if the rupture takes place along foliation planes
along a foliation plane. There is about a
or not. The UCS value in a foliated rock specimen
50-MPa difference.
depends much on the rupture plane status: a weak UCS
value could be marked when the rupture took place These differences can be interpreted into 20%, 10%
along a foliation plane.Therefore, a proper comparison and 45% reductions, respectively, compared to the
of the UCS value between specimens before and after initial UCS value.

845

Figure 2. Rupture patterns of specimens in Group C
(a) without and (b) after leaching test.
The influence of pyrite weathering on the mechani-
cal properties of rock is hence proportional to the pyrite
content of the rock. Specifically, a reduction of more
than 20% in the mechanical properties could be caused
by about a 5.5% increase in the pyrite content of a
rock type.
4 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The physical and mechanical properties of most rock
specimens containing pyrite was decreased by a 30-
day leaching test in the laboratory. The leaching test
reduced the ultrasonic wave velocity by about 10%
for Group C whose pyrite content is highest, whereas
that of Groups A and B decreased by 1–7% and
1–3% respectively. The water absorption ratio
increased about 10% only for Group C, but there was
little increase for Groups A and B. Most of the physical
changes caused by leaching arose from the oxidation
along specimen surfaces and foliation planes.
As in Figure 2, the specimen surfaces turned reddish
due to the oxidation of pyrite, but 30 days’leaching was
not sufficient to cause a significant physical property
change in the rock specimens of GroupsA and B whose
pyrite content was smaller.
The uniaxial compressive test showed the impor-
tance of rock texture. Groups A and C were more
foliated than Group B, whose UCS values after leach-
ing test were almost unchanged. On the other hand,
the rupture of specimens of Group A and some of
Group C took place along foliation planes. The reduc-
tion of UCS value of Groups A and C between leached
846
and unleached specimens is significant. Comparing
the UCS value evolution of Group A to that of Group
C, the UCS can decrease by more than 20% with only
a 5.5% increase in pyrite content.
These phenomena resulted, however, from the shear
strength reduction of the foliation plane due to oxida-
tion by water penetrating into the foliation plane. Since
the shear strength of a rock joint is much influenced
by its surface condition, we can deduce from these
results an influence of pyrite oxidation on the mechan-
ical properties of foliation planes. As this experimental
study is limited to 30 days, we could not obtain
satisfactory results for the evolution of the mechan-
ical properties of rock materials. For further study,
long-term experiments will be required to evaluate
the weathering impact on rock containing pyrite as a
function of pyrite content.
REFERENCES
Boon, M. & Heijnen, J.J. 1998. Chemical oxidation kinetics
of pyrite in bioleaching processes. Hydrometallurgy 48:
27–41.
Bouffard, S.C., Rivera-Vasquez, B.F. & Dixon, D.G. 2006.
Leaching kinetics and stoichiometry of pyrite oxidation
from a pyrite-marcasite concentrate in acid ferric sulfate
media. Hydrometallurgy 84: 225–235.
Descostes, M., Votorge, P. & Beaucaire, C. 2004. Pyrite dis-
solution in acidic media. Geochimica et Cosmochimica
Acta 68(22): 4559–4569.
Garrels, R.M. & Thompson, M.E. 1960. Oxidation of pyrite
by iron sulfate solution. Am. J. Sci. 258(A): 57–67.
Holmes, P.R. & Crundwell, F.K. 2000. The kinetics of the
oxidation of pyrite by ferric ions and dissolved oxygen.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 64: 263–274.
ISRM 1979. Commission on Standardisation of Labor-
tory and Field Tests. Suggested methods for determin-
ing the uniaxial compressive strength and deformability
of rock materials. Int. J. Rock. Mech. Min. Sci. 16(2):
135–140.
ISRM 1979. Commission on Standardisation of Labortory
and Field Tests. Suggested methods for determining water
content, porosity, density, absorption and related proper-
ties and swelling and slake-durability index properties. Int.
J. Rock. Mech. Min. Sci. 16(2): 141–156.
McKibben, M.A. & Barnes, H.L. 1986. Oxidation of pyrite
in low temperature acidic solutions:rate laws and sur-
face textures. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 50:
1509–1520.
Wiersma, C.L. & Rimstidt, J.D. 1984. Rates of reactin of
pyrite and marcasite with ferric iron at pH 2. Geochimica
et Cosmochimica Acta 48: 85–92.
Natural & Engineered Slopes
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The use of geological models for foundations on rock; ‘Test Section’ of the
Sea to Sky Highway Upgrade, B.C.

P. Schlotfeldt
Golder Associates, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

M. Goldbach
Golder Associates, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT: Construction of the 800 m long ‘Test Section’ for the upgrade of the Sea to Sky Highway
(Highway 99), located near Lions Bay, B.C., was competed in August of 2004. The design and construction for
this part of the highway improvement project ‘paved the way’ for the rest of the upgrade to Highway 99, which
is an integral part of the infrastructure development for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler. The upgrade
included the construction of a number of major elevated structures and walls founded on rock. Limited space
at the base of the slopes due to the existence of the CN railway line and very steep, high slopes above the
roadway dictated that most structures had to be founded on or cantilevered over pre-existing, steeply inclined
and potentially unstable rock slopes. Innovative foundation solutions were required during construction due to
highly variable ground conditions. The purpose of this paper is to present aspects of the approach used to 1)
identify and understand key geotechnical constraints at the site, 2) provide geotechnical input into the design of
alternative foundations unsuitable for the steep unstable ground conditions, 3) design foundations on rock once
the type and layout of structures had been finalized, and 4) design deep-seated anchorages required to counter
overturning and seismic loads in structures and walls.

1 INTRODUCTION the highway upgrade. Golder Associates Ltd. provided

The Sea to Sky Highway (Hwy 99N) follows the east
side of Howe Sound linking the cities of Vancouver,
Squamish and Whistler, B.C. The Highway is cur-
rently undergoing major upgrade in preparation for
the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics
Games. Prior to the upgrade, the majority of the align-
ment comprised a two lane undivided highway. To
accommodate the upgrade, many new structures will
be required to cross creeks and drainage courses and to
traverse steep ground below the highway. A significant
number of these structures will need to be founded on
rock and/or span steep, often unstable, rock outcrops
in order to support the outside edge of the new south-
bound highway lanes (Golder Associates 2003a, b, c).
Late in 2003, the BC Ministry of Transportation
(MoT) embarked on the upgrade of an 800 m long
Test Section, located approximately 5 km north of
Horseshoe Bay. This section was chosen because it
crosses some of the most rugged and challenging ter-
rain along the Sea to Sky Highway alignment. The
purpose of the Test Section was to assess the impact
of construction on traffic mobility and develop design
solutions for implementation during the remainder of
detailed geotechnical design and construction inspec-
tion services for the project. Associated Engineering
Limited of Burnaby, B.C. provided the highway and
structure designs.
The Test Section involved adding two new south-
bound lanes to the down slope side of the existing
highway to produce a four lane template and ultimately
included decked structures (half bridges), Ares panel
walls, and cast-in-place concrete walls, all founded on
rock (Figures 1–4). Two 5 m high Sierra Scape MSE
walls founded on rock fill slopes were also constructed,
but the design of these structures is not included in this
paper.
The Test Section was constructed under a modi-
fied Alliance Contract and was completed in August
2004 on schedule and 30% under budget. The original
two lanes on the upslope side of the highway, used to
maintain traffic flow during construction, have subse-
quently been upgraded, but this work was completed
under a separate design-build contract.
Despite some initial baseline investigations (limited
probe and core drilling and bedrock mapping) highly
variable geological and geotechnical conditions were
encountered during construction. The bedrock profile

853
 Figure 2. Typical example of cast-in-place walls and
anchors at the top of an unfavourably jointed rock cliff.
Figure 1. Typical example of a pier foundations and anchors
on a steeply inclined unfavourably jointed slope for a decked
downslope structure.

proved to be extremely irregular.TheAlliance Contract

proved to be well suited as it allowed for an evolution-
ary design approach that accommodated the highly
variable sub-surface conditions as they were revealed
during excavation.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of
geological models to 1) develop alternative design
solutions where the preliminary designs proved to be
inappropriate due to unexpected ground conditions,
and 2) develop foundation treatments and establish
rock anchorage requirements for structures that were
founded on steep rock slopes.

2 DEVELOPMENT OF GEOLOGICAL
MODELS

Figures 1 through 5 are typical sections that schemat-

ically show examples of downslope topography and
dominant structural discontinuities (major joint sets
and occasional faults) present within the rock mass
below specific structures that were founded on rock.
While the sections presented show typical ‘as built’
foundation geology for individual piers and strip foot-
ings for MSE walls, they represent the final step
in an iterative process of developing and revising
geological models for use in designing foundations
on rock. Unforeseen geological conditions were fre-
quently encountered as the highway upgrade got
Figure 3. Typical example of piled foundations and anchors
for cantilevered structures on potentially unstable steep slope.
underway. In order to account for local geological
uncertainties and complexities, geological models of
individual piers or footings were developed using the
baseline geological and geotechnical data available at
the initiation of the project. As the foundations for
structures were excavated and more detailed map-
ping data became available (often via roped access)

854

Figure 4. Typical example of foundations and anchor for
Ares panel walls with geology schematically shown.
Figure 5. Typical rock pull-out cone geometry surrounding
a Class 1 anchor (Table 1) predicted on the basis of joint sets
developed in the rock mass and anchor details.
during construction, geological models were updated
and used in an interactive manner in order to:
• Provide key geotechnical input into alternative ele-
vated structural solutions (in conjunction with the
highway designer and the bridge designer) where,
as a result of unforeseen geological conditions,
855
preliminary designs of structures were no longer
considered feasible (Figs. 1–3);
• Make detailed assessments of the potential founda-
tion failure mechanisms and undertake the design
of foundation treatments and/or support require-
ments needed to address global and local slope
stability and bearing capacity issues once structural
solutions were finalized (Figs. 1–4). Stability con-
ditions in the foundations varied for individual pier
or wall foundations (even within the same struc-
ture) because of the differing geological conditions,
slope profiles, and changes in loading conditions.
This resulted in the development of a range of anchor
‘Support Classes’ for rock foundations (see Table 1)
to cope with geological and geotechnical variability.
In certain cases, piles were required to transfer loads
to deeper, better quality rock in order to address
global stability issues (Fig. 3). In these cases, rock
socketed piles were used where it was initially deter-
mination that conventional anchorages would not be
effective in supporting structural surcharge loads at
the crest of the steeply inclined slopes or as a result
of the presence of large-scale unstable wedges or
fault zones below the structures;
• Predict geological conditions where deep-seated
anchorages were required to counter overturning
and seismic loads in structures and walls (Figs. 1,
3–5); and
• Predict the dimensions, shape, and pull-out capacity
of the potential rock cones (e.g. Fig. 5) for a variety
of anchor ‘Support Classes’.
With reference to Figures 1 to 5, surveyed slope pro-
files at individual pier locations for proposed down
slope structures and at strip footings for panel and
cast-in-place concrete walls provided a starting point
for generating geological models. A prominent stress
relief joint set (Jsr ), likely formed as a result of ice
unloading during glacial retreat, frequently provided
the primary sliding surfaces for potentially unstable
blocks or wedges in founding rock masses. Joints from
set Jsr dipped on average between 50◦ and 62◦ out
of the slope and had a strike that was sub-parallel to
the general trend of the majority of the slopes below
the highway. Tectonic joint sets (labeled J1 , J2 , or J4 ,
depending on their mean orientation) provided near
vertical back release (tension cracks) or side release
surfaces in the upper part of the foundation slope.
In some places tectonic joint set J3 provided back
release planes that dipped steeply at 51◦ into the slope
providing a potential overhanging release surface.
3 CHARACTERIZATION OF ROCK
FOUNDATIONS
While geological sections provided a starting point
for foundation design, the geological models are
Table 1. Summary of rock anchorage support classes used on the Test Section.
Support
class Rock Bolt/Anchor type
Class 4 SCP Dywidag anchor, 25 φ, 517/690 MPa,
galvanized steel threadbar. Corrosion
protection – smooth HDPE sheathed free
stressing length.
Class 3 SCP Dywidag anchor, 36 φ, 835/1030 MPa,
galvanized steel threadbar. Corrosion
protection – HDPE sheathed free stressing
length.
Class 2 DCP Dywidag post-tensioned anchor,
36 φ, 835/1030 MPa, steel threadbar.
Free stressing length protection – smooth
HDPE covered sheath over inner corrugated
PVC sheathing. Bonded length – PVC
sheathing.
Class 1 DCP Dywidag post-tensioned anchor, 46 φ,
835/1030 MPa, steel threadbar. Free stressing
length and bonded length corrosion protection . to drill these anchors usually reasonable and more conventional
same as Class 2.
* SCP – single corrosion protection, DCP – double corrosion protection, HDPE – high density polyethylene.
essentially incomplete without a detailed characteriza-
tion of the rock mass. Typically, the mapping system
used ensured that the locations of major discontinu-
ities were accurately recorded for footings, e.g., fault
locations were surveyed in relation to the proposed
footing location(s). Qualitative and quantitative geo-
logical data (intact rock weathering and strength and
discontinuity orientation, continuity, sidewall sepa-
ration, condition, roughness, waviness, and spacing)
were systematically assessed on the exposed bedrock
surfaces of potential foundations and recorded on
joint survey sheets. Iterative updates to the geological
models (during excavation cycles to locate adequate
founding conditions) provided the means to concep-
tualize the potential impact of the topography and
geology on foundation options for structures on rock.
Characterization of specific rock foundations was
Purpose of support class
Used to stabilize jointed rock foundations for bridge
piers or walls located on steeply inclined
(occasionally overhanging) bluffs when access was difficult, i.e.
either crane or roped access techniques required. Access
constraints limited type and size of drill rig that could be used.
Anchor lengths typically 6 m or 8 m. Borehole diameter
50 mm. System efficient because single stage grouting only
required. Typical design bond length 2.5 m or 3 m. Typical
design working loads 210 kN.
Used to stabilize large-scale rock wedges with difficult access.
Increased bar size and steel grade provided higher capacity
anchors resulting in fewer placements (less drilling albeit with
increased borehole diameter requirements) to obtain required
support level to stabilize larger-scale wedges (typical where
wider spacing of rock joints present). Also used as a tieback
anchor (to counter uplift or overturning loads on a bridge)
when installation difficulties were encountered with the
installation of DCP anchors (Class 2). Typical anchor length
9 m into rock. Borehole diameter 90 mm. System efficient
because single stage grouting only required. Design bond
length 4 m. Typical design working load 510 kN.
Used as integral part of a bridge structure and on Ares Wall to
counter uplift, overturning, and seismic loads. Access to drill
these anchors usually reasonable and more conventional drilling
methods could be used (roped access not required). Anchor
embedment lengths into rock 9 m. Borehole diameter 120 mm.
Design bond length 4 m. Typical design working load 510 kN.
Used as integral part of bridges and on Ares Walls design to
counter active uplift, overturning, and seismic loads. Access
drilling methods could be used. Anchor embedment lengths in
rock vary between 6 m and 15 m. Borehole diameter 120 mm.
Design bond length 4 m. Typical design working load 854 kN,
occasionally as low as 554 kN.
enhanced or limited by the amount of data collected
at each location; roped access was mostly required
to access footings and, at times, this limited the
amount of data that could be collected. In certain
locations 1) a high degree of weathering on joints
and/or faults required additional excavation (typically
trim blasting) in order to develop adequate found-
ing conditions, or 2) required moving footings to
alternative locations to avoid potentially very unsta-
ble situations. Updated mapping was then undertaken
to reflect the improved/alternate conditions. Geotech-
nical and structural geological data for individually
mapped footings were compared to adjacent foot-
ings (or structures) and, provided it was determined
that these were statistically similar, the bedrock below
a footing (or structure) was classed as part of the
same structural domain. Table 2 provides the typical
856
Table 2. Typical rock mass characterization for structures founded on rock for the Test Section.

Rock types Intact rock Joints Faults/Shear zones

Varied from diorite Intact rock typically Frequently occurred in swarms Frequent small-scale
to quartz diorite unweathered to slightly with close spacings within faults and shear zones
to granodiorite weathered, medium the swarm and very wide present. On average
(Coastal Intrusives). strong to strong. spacings between swarms. zones were completely
Some meta-igneous UCS values ranged Spacings averaged between weathered to highly
rocks, likely from 25 MPa 1 m and 3 m. Infill on joints weathered, soil like
Twin Island to 100 MPa. varied from completely to very weak rock (UCS
Group present. weathered to moderately values ranged from
weathered, extremely weak 0.1 MPa to 5 MPa),
to very weak (UCS values with between 10 cm
ranged from 0.25 MPa to and 1000 cm of
5 MPa) rock/soil material. weathered gouge
Infill thickness was highly material present
variable (3 cm–10 cm). in places.
Beyond 6 m into slope,
degree of weathering on
joints diminished, joints
tighter and less permeable.

UCS – uniaxial compressive strength.

characterization that was developed for most struc-
tures founded on rock. At some locations, a high level
of rock mass anisotropy was recognized and particular
attention was made to understand the potential impacts
to planned structures.
4 STABILITY OF ROCK FOUNDATIONS FOR
STRUCTURES
4.1 Global stability
The global stability of structures founded on rock is
dependent on the foundation rock mass conditions
and the reaction of the foundation rock mass to the
loading imposed by specific structures. Each pier foot-
ing or strip footing was independently checked using
the computer program RocPlane (v4.0) developed
by RocScience to ensure adequate factors of safety
(FOS) against sliding. Input data (slope geometry, joint
strength parameters, etc.) for the global stability analy-
ses were obtained from a synthesis of information from
the developed geological models, cross-sections, and
rock mass characterization data. An example of a Roc-
Plane model used to conduct a global stability analyses
with associated output is provided in Figure 6.
Typical assumptions and simplifications used to
analyze the global stability are summarized in Table 3.
Typically, the footings for piers were slightly less than
1 m wide. Depending on the size of the blocks or
wedges located below the pier, a unit length stability
check was assumed to be reasonable or the analysis
was extended to assume an in situ block up to 3 m
wide below the pier. To analyze for this situation, the
wedge weight was increased accordingly in RocPlane
in order to simulate the increased potential failure
block size, while maintaining the same surcharge loads
from individual piers. For piers, the total support force
per footing to achieve the required FOS was calcu-
lated and converted to an equivalent bolting pattern.
Bolt lengths were calculated to ensure that anchor
lengths were bonded behind the worst case wedge for
a particular pier. For walls, unit length analyses were
undertaken and calculated support levels were typi-
cally converted to a row of bolts drilled into bedrock
below the toe of the wall. The support level was main-
tained provided the wall dimensions, loading, bedrock
topography, and the geological conditions remained
similar. Where changes occurred, additional analyses
were undertaken and support re-designed. As a result,
the type, length and spacing of bolts below walls var-
ied considerably, depending on access for drilling and
other slope conditions.
When doing the conversion for support level
requirements, it was typically assumed that support
classes 3 or 4 shown in Table 1 would be used.
4.2 Structural anchors
The anchor types and locations required to counter
overturning and seismic loads in structures and walls
were determined by the project structural engineers.
These varied considerably for the various elevated
structures and panel walls. The free stressing and
bonded lengths of these anchors were designed by
Golder on the basis of the rock mass conditions
predicted by the geological models. Figure 5 shows
a typical DCP anchor installation for a bridge pier
and presents, schematically, the method used and the

857
Figure 6. Example of RocPlane output for foundation stability check.

Table 3. Typical assumptions, parameters, and analysis methods for foundations on rock.

Typical Simplifying Strength FOS and support

failure mechanism assumptions parameters Method of analysis levels

Most likely failure Probable stepped failure φp = 45◦ to 49◦ and FOS calculated Seismic loading
mechanism: planar surfaces modeled as c = 30 kPa used for using weight of simulated using
sliding on a critical average planar failure clean joints with potential failure a horizontal
failure surface surfaces (single failure rock-on-rock some wedge and acceleration of
provided by stress contact and surfaces rock bridging required increasing its 0.17 g (equivalent
relief joints. drawn through a for surface to fail. unit weight to 1:475 year
Overhanging or stepped profile dipping φp = 40◦ and c = 25 kPa until it equaled return period
back release planes at 50◦ out of slope). for weathered joints the weight of seismic event).
provided by sub- Drainage installed with some gouge wedge plus load Support levels
vertical tectonic assumed to be and some rock-on-rock imposed by pier estimated using
joints striking sufficiently effective contact. or unit length a minimum dynamic
sub-parallel to to limit ground water of wall. FOS of 1.1
the slope. Side on failure surface to (some damage
release surfaces lessthan 10 % of or small-scale
typically provided slope height. Peak water failures possible)
by sub-vertical pressure assumed to occur and a minimum
tectonic joints at mid-height of the static FOS of 1.5.
striking sub-normal pressure distribution area
to the slope. on failure surface.

c = cohesion, φp = Peak friction angle.

858
assumptions made to check the capacity of the poten-
tial rock pull-out cones. The anchor free-stressing
length frequently continued from the rock interface
some distance into a particular structure or to the out-
side edge of a retaining wall system (Figures 1 and
4 provide examples). This increase in free stressing
length affects the potential elastic elongation of the
anchor when tensioned but does not affect the dimen-
sion or shape of the potential rock pull-out cone or
the requirement to have an adequately developed free
stressing length for anchors bonded into rock. In the
case of structural anchors, the free stressing lengths
were designed to ensure that sufficient rock mass vol-
ume was mobilized to support the tensile loads applied
on the anchors.
For design purposes it was assumed that the apex
of the pull-out cone or potential initiating failure point
of the rock cone is centered at the middle of the
bonded length of the anchor (Littlejohn & Bruce 1975,
Littlejohn 1993, Wyllie 1999). The apex depth was cal-
culated as shown in Figure 5. The pull-out cone apex
angle varied between 50◦ and 80◦ for the Test Sec-
tion, depending on a number of factors. The pull-out
cone would likely fail partially through intact rock, but
mostly along joints present in the rock mass. The cone
angle is likely to be affected locally by the angle of
anchor emplacement, the orientation and number of
major joint sets present in the rock mass, the spacing
of the major joint sets, the continuity of the major sets,
the shear strength of the joints and the intact rock, and
the rock surface profile (see Fig. 5).
Occasionally two or more DCP anchors were placed
in close proximity to each other and the pull-out cones
for these will likely overlap (Fig. 1 provides an exam-
ple). The effect of these anchor groups was considered
in two ways; 1) estimating the size, weight and allow-
able capacity of a pull-out cone surrounding a single
anchor using a truncated pull-out cone to account for
the overlapping nature of adjacent cones and checking
that the allowable cone capacity did not exceed the pull
out force of a single anchor, and 2) estimating the size,
weight and allowable capacity of a composite pull-out
cone surrounding a group of anchors and checking to
see that the cone capacity did not exceed the total force
applied by the group of anchors.
5 ROCK ANCHORAGE SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Determining the type and location of the anchorage
system used for a particular structure depended on
the intended use of the anchors and access considera-
tions.As indicated in Section 2, four main categories of
support class were designed for tensioned anchors for
use on the Test Section (Table 1). In some cases two
classes of support were used for a particular struc-
ture and in other cases only one support class was
859
Figure 7. Piers founded on rock for Downslope Struc-
ture #1.
used (Figs. 1–4). Single corrosion protected (SCP)
anchors were used primarily to support smaller scale
blocks below foundations on steeply inclined surfaces.
These anchors consisted of single stage grouted gal-
vanized threadbars. Higher capacity, double corrosion
protected (DCP) anchors were typically used to pro-
vide deeper-seated anchorage for structures to counter
overturning and uplift loads.
The design of anchor bonded lengths followed a
fairly rigorous process (PTI 1996) that requires esti-
mates to be made of the allowable rock-grout shear
strength values τa in the bonded zone for a variety
of rock mass conditions. τa is a function of the uni-
axial compressive strength of the rock mass and the
assumed joint spacing and degree of weathering on
the joints locally present. For the Test Section, working
bond shear strengths of between 550 kPa and 700 kPa
were adopted as being representative, and were used
to check the minimum bond length requirement at
the rock grout interface. Steel-grout interface checks
were also conducted to ensure adequate capacity in the
bonded length of all anchors.
6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
This paper presents a synopsis of the methodology
used to develop geological models and their use in the
design of rock foundations for a variety of highway
structures constructed for the Test Section of the Sea
to Sky Highway upgrade. The Test Section was part
of the initial upgrade of the highway between Vancou-
ver and Whistler, B.C. for the Vancouver 2010 Winter
Olympics and Paralympic Games. Figures 7 and 8
show one of the structures where geological models
were effectively used to design the foundations on a
steep rock slope.
Highly variable ground conditions necessitated the
development of site-specific geologic models and

Figure 8. Piers 4 and 5 of Downslope Structure #1 founded
on overhanging rock.
accurate characterization of rock mass conditions at
individual foundation/footing locations for each struc-
ture.Accurate topographic survey and geological map-
ping provided the basis for assessing local and global
slope stability and determining appropriate foundation
support options.
Initial geological models, based on limited baseline
information, were used during preliminary design of
foundations on rock. During construction, the highly
variable rock profile and rock mass conditions neces-
sitated multiple revisions/upgrades to the original
geological models. A number of separate rock slope
support classes were developed to respond to the vari-
ety of ground conditions and slope access constraints
860
encountered on the project. The collaborative process
between the geotechnical, highway and structural
engineers allowed for quick-turnaround modifications
to be made to both structural and rock foundation
designs. The modified Alliance Contract for the Test
Section facilitated this iterative design process by
providing a contractual framework that included risk
sharing and fostered cooperation between the Owner,
Designers and Contractor.
REFERENCES
Golder Associates Ltd. 2003a. Report on Geotechnical Inves-
tigation, Analysis and Detailed Design Input to the Test
Section, Stations 105+560 to 106+560, Section 2 of the
Sea to Sky Highway Project. Ref. 022–5091C.
Golder Associates Ltd. 2003b. Report on Updated Rock Cut
Stability Analysis for Detailed Design, Test Section Sta-
tions 105+560 to 106+560, Section 2, Sea to Sky Highway
Project. Ref. 022–5091D.
Golder Associates Ltd. 2003c. Report on Reliability and
Seismic Deformation Analysis for Proposed MSE Walls
on Rockfill Slopes, Test Section, Section 2, Sea to Sky
Highway Project. Ref. 022–5091D.
Littlejohn, G.S. & Bruce, D.A. 1975. Rock anchors – state of
the art, Part 1: Design. Ground Engineering 8(4): 25–48.
Littlejohn, G.S. 1993. Overview of rock anchorage. In Com-
prehensive Rock Engineering. Pergamon Press, vol. 4, pp.
413–450.
Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI) 1996. Recommendations
for Prestressed Rock and Soil Anchors, 3rd Edition.
Phoenix, AZ.
Wyllie, D.C. 1999. Foundations on Rock, 2nd Edition. E&FN
Spon, 401 pp.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Estimating lateral support pressure for rock cuts at Washington-Dulles

International Airport expansion

C.D. Martin
University of Alberta, Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

E.B. Rehwoldt
Schnabel Engineering, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA

V. Gall
Gall Zeidler Consultants, Ashburn, Virginia, USA

ABSTRACT: Washington-Dulles International Airport (Virginia, USA) has been expanding its capacity since
1999. This expansion has required extensive vertical, open-cut rock excavations to depths of up to approximately
20 m adjacent to existing infrastructure for construction of new below-ground stations for the new Automated
People Mover (APM) passenger transportation system. As the construction could not impact the airport opera-
tions, the selection of support pressures for the rock excavations had to balance the projects’risks and construction
costs. Site investigation identified that bedding dipping at approximately 30◦ would be the primary hazard to the
vertical rock cuts. Extensive laboratory testing and field observations suggested that the potential for a large slide
along a bedding plane was relatively low. Therefore, design lateral pressures for permanent station walls were
based on a potential failure model of local wedge/block failure. The reduction in lateral support requirements
for the permanent below-grade walls for the APM station structures resulted in significant cost savings to the
project. Detailed field mapping combined with automated instrumentation were successfully used to confirm
the design assumptions.

1 INTRODUCTION be significantly weaker than the adjacent rock. When

Estimating the support pressure for a rock cut depends
on the assumed failure mode and that failure mode
is a function of the rock mass and its geological his-
tory and the method of excavation. At one extreme the
rock mass can be a homogeneous intact block whereby
the designer is only concerned with elastic deforma-
tions and for such situations no support is required.
At the other end of the spectrum the rock mass may
be so heavily jointed that the rock mass behaves as
an assembly of discrete blocks. For this situation the
failure mode may be described as an active wedge and
the support must be designed to stabilize this wedge.
Most rock masses lie between these two end members,
and the support requirements can vary significantly.
Sedimentary rocks are characterized by trans-
versely isotropic layers. Such layers may end up with
a weak plane separating the beds and these planes can
occur as thin mm-scale partings that can extend for
hundreds of metres (Fookes 1997). The origin of these
bedding planes varies, i.e. depositional and/or tectonic,
but in most cases a bedding plane is formed that can
attempting a rock cut in a sedimentary sequence that is
dipping into the excavation the designer must decide if
a bedding plane exists, the extent of this bedding plane,
and its strength, in order to determine the support
pressure. The calculations are straightforward and the
challenge lies in assessing the strength and continuity
of the bedding planes. For such situations traditional
site investigations are seldom adequate as detection of
these bedding-planes can be easily missed. This was
the challenge for the Washington-Dulles International
Airport (Dulles Airport) expansion project (Fig. 1).
Dulles Airport (Virginia, USA) has been expand-
ing its capacity since 1999. The present stage of
expansion is called the D2 program. This expansion
includes extensive vertical, open-cut rock excavations
to depths of up to approximately 20 m adjacent to exist-
ing infrastructure to construct below-grade stations for
the new Automated People Mover (APM) passenger
transportation system. As the construction could not
impact the airport operations, the selection of support
pressures for the rock excavations had to balance the
projects’ risks and construction costs.

861

Figure 1. Major projects map for Washington-
Dulles International Airport (http://www.mwaa.com/dulles/
d2_dulles_development_2/d2_home).
The observational method describes a risk-based
approach to geoengineering that employs adaptive
management, including advanced monitoring and
measurement techniques, to substantially reduce costs
while protecting capital investment, human health,
and the environment (NRC 2006). Development of
the observational method in geoengineering is gen-
erally attributed to Terzaghi (Peck 1969). The essen-
tial elements of the observational method that were
implemented at Dulles Airport to establish the lateral
pressures required to support the rock cuts can be sum-
marized as follows: Establish the geological model
for the site; Determine the likely modes of failure
and the appropriate method of calculation; Specify a
construction procedure consistent with the geological
model and the possible mode(s) of failure; Instrument
and monitor the excavation sequence and slope perfor-
mance; Compare predicted and measured parameters
to ensure the design assumptions are valid; Change the
design as needed.
In this paper we describe the geotechnical investiga-
tions, the design sequence, the recommended support
pressures, and the results from constructing several
cuts.
2 GEOLOGICAL/GEOTECHNICAL SETTING
2.1 Geological model
Hoek & Bray (1977), in their book on Rock Slope
Engineering say, in the context of regional geological
investigations, “A frequent mistake in rock engineer-
ing is to start an investigation with a detailed examina-
tion of drill cores. While these cores provide essential
862
information, it is necessary to see this information
in the context of the overall geological environment
and it is therefore useful to start an investigation by
building up a picture of the regional geology.” This
approach was used for characterization of the rock
mass, and development of the geological model for
design support pressures for deep excavations at the
Dulles Airport.
The project site lies within the Culpeper Basin, a
geologic feature that extends from South Central Vir-
ginia to western Maryland. The predominant rocks are
mudstones, siltstones, shales, and sandstones of the
Culpeper Group of Triassic age (Toewe 1966). The
regional joints in these Triassic “redbeds” are sub-
vertical and strike North-South and East-West (Toewe
1966, Nickelson & Hough 1967, Lee & Froelich 1989).
While the region has been uplifted and intruded by
igneous rocks, the sedimentary sequence is relatively
undeformed regionally. Geotechnical investigations
confirmed that at the Dulles Airport site the struc-
tural features that could impact the design of the
rock cuts were the bedding planes and the regional
subvertical fractures. The bedding planes were the
dominant feature encountered and strike approxi-
mately North-South and dip towards the West, while
the subvertical fractures were often non-persistent.The
non-persistent nature of these fractures is consistent
with the regional deformation history experienced by
these rocks (Price & Cosgrove 1990).
2.2 Geotechnical model
Geotechnical investigations pertaining to the rock
excavations for a variety of Dulles Airport expansion
projects, including open-cut, mined and bored tunnels,
new concourses, existing concourse expansion, and
below-ground APM stations have been ongoing since
1999. The field investigations have consisted of tra-
ditional and oriented cored boreholes, pressuremeter
testing, seismic refraction surveys, optic and acoustic
televiewer surveys, and groundwater studies. Samples
from cored boreholes were tested to determine the
strength and deformation characteristics, as well the
durability of the rock.
Because of the sedimentary layering it is challeng-
ing to obtain good core recovery and undisturbed
samples. During the most recent rock mass character-
ization study for the new Tier 2 (Concourse C/D) and
West station project in 2006, the average core recov-
ery was 98% and the average RQD was 72%. From all
the cored holes the majority of the RQD values were
>90% (Fig. 2).
The investigations concluded that the discontinu-
ities along bedding planes posed the biggest threat to
the stability of the planned excavations, as they dipped
between 20 to 30◦ towards the west. While steeply dip-
ping fractures were observed, they often appeared as
rough to undulating in the cores and did not occur as
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0 - 25 25 - 50 50 - 75 75 - 90 90 - 100
Rock Quality Designation (RQD)

Figure 2. Rock Quality Designation (RQD) determined

from various boreholes from the site investigations for the
Dulles Airport rock excavations.

well defined joint sets. Figure 3 shows an equal angle

lower hemisphere stereonet of the bedding plane and
joint orientations determined from the early site inves-
tigation work (Haley & Aldrich 2001). Based on these
investigations it was decided that an average bedding
plane dip of 30◦ would be used for the design of the
open cuts. It is clear from Figure 3 that the orientation
of the joint sets is less well-defined but given the steep
dip of these features the vertical and subvertical bore-
holes may have biased those results. Recent Acoustic
and Optical Televiewer surveys in vertical coreholes
confirmed the earlier conclusion of the distinct bed-
ding plane dip and the discontinuous nature of the
steeply dipping joints (Schnabel Engineering 2006).
A laboratory program was carried out in 2001
(Haley & Aldrich 2001) to determine the strength of
Figure 3. Orientation of all fractures measured in core. Note
the discontinuities. Direct shear tests were carried out the majority of fractures are classed as bedding planes.
on core samples to establish the strength of the bed-
ding planes and Brazilian, uniaxial and triaxial tests
were carried out to establish the shear strength of the
intact rock. A summary of the results for open bed-
ding planes is given in Figure 4. The bedding plane test
results were consistent and suggest an average inter-
nal friction angle of approximately 30◦ and a cohesive
strength that varied from 68 to 125 kPa with a mean
of 96 kPa. The direct shear tests on these open bed-
ding planes showed that there was little difference
between the peak and residual strength for most of the
samples tested. Hence, if the excavation-induced dis-
placements remained small and blasting procedures
were well controlled, the cohesion indicated by the
laboratory tests could be preserved near the rock face.
Figure 4. Summary of bedding plane shear strengths mea-
sured in direct shear tests on core samples. All samples tested
2.3 Groundwater conditions exhibited a discrete open bedding plane.
A total of 26 observation wells were installed dur-
ing multiple phases of subsurface investigations in the groundwater yields and inflow to wells was low. Ris-
vicinity of planned project excavations. The results ing head permeability tests in 15 of these wells and
from these wells indicated that the stabilized ground- multi-well pumping tests gave hydraulic conductivi-
water level was at depths between 2 and 4 m; however, ties between 1×10−6 and 1×10−8 m/s, with an average

863
of 3×10−7 m/s, with the ‘permeability’ of the rock
mass representative of the flow through rock fractures.
These hydraulic conductivities indicated that the rock
cuts could be adequately drained using conventional
horizontal drains drilled from the excavation face. For
such situations experience has shown that drain holes
drilled on a spacing of 3 to 10 m to a depth of about 1/2
to 1/3 of the slope height provide adequate drainage
(Wyllie & Mah 2004).

2.4 Summary
The geology for the site and the results from the site
investigation suggested that the bedding planes were
the dominant discontinuity that posed the greatest
hazard to the proposed rock excavations. In the next
section the methodology that was used to evaluate this
potential hazard is discussed.

3 EXCAVATION ANALYSES

The most important and essential first step in design-

ing the support for any rock cut is establishing the
appropriate geological model for the rock conditions at
hand. Geotechnical investigations confirmed that the
major structural features that could impact the design
of the rock cuts were the bedding planes and subver-
tical joints. The bedding planes strike approximately
North-South while the subvertical joints were random
but regionally strike North-South and East-West. As a
first step it is reasonable to assume that the failure of
the rock cut could occur along: (1) a bedding plane,
(2) subvertical joint, (3) a combination of subvertical
joints and bedding plane, or (4) blast induced fractur- Figure 5. Example of possible failure mechanisms that
ing. An illustration of these various failure modes is needed to be considered in designing rock cuts at the Dulles
illustrated in Figure 5. Airport site.
As can be seen in Figure 5 considerable simpli-
fication is required in going from a site geological
model to the failure mode model. However, it is impor- slope performance. However, regardless of the method
tant that the essential characteristics of the fractures, used to assess the stability of the slope, it is assumed
particularly regarding the strength and continuity, be that the geological model is correct.
incorporated into the failure modes (Fig. 5).
There are two basic methods that can be used to
3.1 Numerical analysis
assess the lateral pressures required for design of
excavation support for the rock cuts: (1) traditional The finite element package Phase2 (available from
limit equilibrium method (LEM, see Fig. 6), and (2) www.rocscience.com) was used to simulate a deep
numerical methods such as finite element or dis- rock cut in the mudstones and siltstones encountered
crete elements. When there is uncertainty in the shear at Dulles Airport (Fig. 7). The model was constructed
strength, loading parameters, and slope angle, a prob- looking North and included the soil, weathered rock,
abilistic approach can be coupled with the traditional and the mudstones/siltstones. Bedding planes and
limit equilibrium method. The numerical methods joints were included to simulate the bedding planes
readily available today provide a means of evaluat- dipping at 30◦ and the subvertical joints. The location
ing the construction sequence and support interaction, of the joints and bedding planes was limited to the
something which cannot be evaluated using the limit East and West Wall to reduce the simulation time. For
equilibrium method. These numerical methods also these analyses the slope was assumed to be adequately
provide a link with instrumentation records and the drained such that uplift pressures could be ignored.

864

Figure 6. Simple sliding block model used in limit equilib-
rium analysis.
Figure 7. Phase2 model used to simulate the rock cut. The
left side of the model is West and the right side is East.
The main focus of this study was to:
1. determine the potential shape of the yield zone on
the East and West Walls;
2. assess the strength of the joints required to bring the
system to equilibrium using the nominal support of
5 tonne 3-metre-long split sets on a 2.1×2.1 metre
pattern;
3. assess the loads on the bolts at the end of excavation;
4. assess the effect of a 1.5-m thick blast induced
damaged zone; and
5. assess the stability of the cut assuming long-term
strength parameters for both the bedding planes
and subvertical joints. For this purpose, the cohe-
sion of joints and bedding planes was decreased, in
stages, from an initial value of 96 kPa to 0.6 kPa. A
cohesion value of zero would cause the East wall
to fail.
865
The material properties and strength parameters
used in the Phase2 analyses are given below for each
of the material types:
Soil:
Modulus = 300 MPa, Poisson’s ratio = 0.4,
Unit weight = 0.018 MN/m3
Friction = 30◦ , Cohesion = 0.050 MPa
Weathered rock
Modulus = 2000 MPa, Poisson’s ratio = 0.3
Unit weight = 0.022 MN/m3
Friction = 35◦ , Cohesion = 0.5 MPa,
Mudstone/Siltstones:
Geological Strength Index = 40,
Modulus = 3600 MPa, Poisson’s ratio = 0.25,
Unit weight = 0.026 MN/m3
Hoek-Brown Failure parameters:
σ ci = 40 MPa , mb = 1.994, s = 0.0013
Blasting-induced damaged Mudstone/Siltstones:
Modulus = 2489 MPa, Poisson’s ratio = 0.3,
Unit weight = 0.025 MN/m3
Hoek-Brown Failure parameters:
σ ci = 40 MPa, mb = 0.796, s = 0.0002
Bedding Plane:
Joint stiffness: kn = 8000 MPa/m, ks = 4000 MPa/m
Friction = 26◦ , Cohesion = 0.1 MPa
Tension = 0.001 MPa
Subvertical Joint:
Joint stiffness: kn = 8000 MPa/m, ks = 4000 MPa/m
Friction = 40◦ , Cohesion = 0.1 MPa,
Tension = 0.001 MPa
In-situ stress:
A gravity stress state was assumed with the hori-
zontal stress equal to 0.8 of the vertical stress.
The joint stiffness parameters were estimated using
the published work of Barton et al. (1985) on joint
characterization. The frictional strength parameters
were based on the laboratory direct shear results con-
tained in the Geotechnical Data Report (Haley &
Alrich 2001) for “open bedding planes”. The results
were reported as “residual shear strength” suggesting
that the peak and residual shear strength was simi-
lar, i.e., there is no rapid loss of strength with shear
displacement. A least squares fit for the data gave
cohesion = 96 kPa and friction (φ) = 29.8◦ . Analyses
were carried out using φ = 30◦ and ϕ = 26◦ for the
bedding planes. Only the φ = 26◦ are discussed here
as these results represent a lower bound for the bed-
ding planes dipping 30◦ . The results for the bedding
planes with φ = 30◦ showed similar trends although
the displacements and the corresponding loads on the
rock bolts were slightly less.
It was assumed that, because the shear strength of
the bedding planes included some cohesion, move-
ments induced by the excavation and blasting could
reduce this cohesion. To simulate this effect and
the potential for cohesion-loss with time as a result
Figure 8. Phase2 model at the end of excavation with the
anchors installed.

of softening, the cohesion strength component was

reduced to a very low value (0.7 kPa) in a series of
stages for both the bedding planes and the subvertical
joints.
In the analyses, split set anchors were staged with
each level of excavation and installed as the excavation
proceeded. The anchor pattern in the model was based
on a 2.1 m × 2.1 m pattern and the assigned pullout
capacity of the Ingersoll-Rand SS-46 split sets was set
to 49 kN.
A total of 17 stages were used in the analyses. Stage
1 was used for initial equilibrium and Stages 2 to 8
were used for excavation and installation of the sup-
port (Fig. 8). Stage 9 was the application of a surcharge
of 12 kN/m to the top of the slope and Stage 10 was the
application of the blast-induced damage. This was uni-
formly applied to the whole slope to assess the impact
of blast damage on slope displacements and for com-
parison to a slope where blast-induced damage was
eliminated through blast-control measures. Stages 11
through 17 were used to reduce the cohesion from
96 kPa to 0.6 kPa. In all the analyses, the dip of the
bedding planes was assumed to be at 30◦ and uniform.
Figure 9 shows the results from the analyses at the
end of excavation and after the cohesion had been
reduced to 0.6 kPa. The individual anchor loads of
5.3 to 20.9 kN do not exceed the anchor capacity of
49 kN. Minor yielding has occurred along some of the
joints and bedding planes but this zone is restricted to a
wedge inclined approximately 60◦ (see dashed line in
Fig. 9). The potential for slip is enhanced in this wedge
shaped region because of the maximum unloading that
occurs in this zone. Slip along the bedding planes and
subvertical joints could lead to a stepped-shape failure
surface, generally following the 30◦ bedding and the
subvertical joint, even though there is no single plane
for sliding. Excavation support must be adequate to
minimize the disturbance to the rock mass in this zone
and to minimize the size of a potential failure zone if
the subvertical joints control the mode of failure.
Figure 10 shows the reduction in cohesion at each
stage in the numerical analysis versus the anchor
Figure 9. East Wall – Stage 17 showing anchor loads and
yielding in joints. Note that even though the cohesive strength
is only 0.6 kPa there is still considerable reserve capacity
in the bolts (split sets usually have a pull-out capacity of
approximately 49 to 68 kN). The bedding is dipping into the
excavation at 30◦ .
Figure 10. The reduction in cohesion along the bedding
planes and the corresponding load increase in the anchor bolts
from the numerical analyses.
load normalized to the anchor capacity. At the end of
construction, and assuming limited blast induced dam-
age occurs, no instability is observed along any of the
joints or bedding planes. The Triassic red beds encoun-
tered at the Dulles Airport site are known to deteriorate
when exposed to the natural elements. Therefore, the
rock cuts were covered with shotcrete to minimize the
potential for deterioration. Because of this weathering
sensitivity and the potential for a loss in cohesion dur-
ing and after excavation the cohesion was gradually
reduced to assess the impact on anchor loads. As the
cohesion is reduced there is only minor increase in
the anchor load until about 8 kPa (Fig. 10). However,
even with 0.6 kPa cohesion the anchor loads are still
well below the anchor capacity. Reducing the cohesion
to zero results in complete failure along the deepest
daylighting bedding plane (see Fig. 9).

866
Figure 11. Typical rock cuts at Dulles Airport site (Tier 3
Excavation, photo from McQuinn et al. 2006).
4 CONSTRUCTION PERFORMANCE
Today there have been several thousand lineal metres
of rock cuts at the Dulles Airport site, varying in height
from 5 to 25 m. All of the cuts in rock have been verti-
cal and excavated using either blasting, saw-cutting,
or roadheader techniques (Fig. 11). In excavations
adjacent to buildings and equipment blasting is very
carefully controlled.
4.1 Construction Sequence
The excavation sequence for rock cuts must be com-
patible with the anticipated rock response and typical
construction equipment. The sequence involves exca-
vating the bench which is typically 2 to 3 m high,
installing the support, and installing the drainholes.
When the rock face is supported with shotcrete, the
support requires several additional steps depending
on the type of shotcrete used, e.g., plain or fibre-
or mesh-reinforced. It is important in the excavation
sequence to ensure that the support is installed before
the next bench is excavated. As construction equip-
ment increases in size and capacity there is a tendency
to excavate double or triple benches. In critical exca-
vations such as the Dulles Airport site, controlling the
bench height controls the displacements, which in turn
controls the stability. In the previous section, it was
shown that stability was readily maintained if the cohe-
sion was not destroyed. One way to minimize the loss
of cohesion is to control the displacements, which are
related to the bench height. For the excavation of the
rock cuts at the Dulles Airport site, bench heights are
restricted to 2 to 3 m.
In one excavation, a double bench height was taken
and this extra bench height resulted in localized fail-
ure along a bedding plane (Fig. 12). Inspection of the
failure suggested that the instability was bounded by
the bedding planes and the sub-vertical joint planes,
similar to the mechanism shown in Figure 5. Peri-
odically, smaller (<4 m3 ) wedge falls have formed,
but these have typically formed near horizontal and
867
Figure 12. Localised failure along a bedding plane when a
double-height bench was excavated.
vertical corner excavations where confining stresses
have been reduced.
4.2 Drainage
Construction drainage is considered standard prac-
tice for rock excavations below the groundwater table.
Drainage is provided via drainholes that are drilled
as excavation advances. Drainholes not only reduce
the uplift pressures near the face, but also change the
direction of the seepage force, which can also improve
stability. The effect of drainholes on the water table can
be observed in the construction of the excavations for
the Taxiway F APM tunnel crossing. At Taxiway F,
six piezometers were installed about 9.1 m behind
the excavation face. These piezometers were sealed
through the soil overburden and into weathered rock
to a depth of about 4 m, and were screened to about
1 meter below the level of the bottom of excavation.
Excavation operations lasted from late April to the first
part of October 2002. During the excavation 4 rows of
drain holes were installed. These rows were spaced
1.5 m vertically and the drains in each row spaced
6.5 m horizontally. The first row was 15.25 m long,
the second row 12 m, third row 9 m and the bottom
row 6 m long.
The response of the piezometers to excavation and
drainhole drilling is clearly seen in Figure 13. The
ground water levels in piezometers on the East side
 295

290
D Northeast
285 E Center East
Ground Water Elev (feet)

280 F Southeast
275

270

265

260
255

250

245
r
ay

29 n

27 n
24 ul

21 g
ep

16 ct

14 v
ec

an

b
ar

31 y
ay
Ap

Ap
o

a
Ju

Fe
-J

-O

M
M

-N

-D

-M
-J

-A

-S

-J
6-

5-
1-

8-

8-
4-

19

3-
11

Figure 13. Ground water levels recorded by the piezometers

on the East side of Taxiway F excavation.

dropped approximately 5 m by the completion of exca-

vation, while those in the piezometers on the West side
dropped approximately 3 m.
4.3 Excavation monitoring
In keeping with the observational method, rock cuts
must be monitored. The instrumentation at the Dulles
Airport site includes automated in-place inclinome-
ters, automated EDM surveys, and extensometers.
Instruments are routinely monitored during excava-
tions and results conveyed to the contractor and project
office. Threshold displacement limits were established
for each excavation site and warning levels assigned.
All instruments have shown that wall deformations are
well within the expected limits.
4.4 Excavation mapping and testing
During the course of the excavations, detailed mapping
was carried out to confirm the design assumptions.
The major concern was the dip of the bedding and the
potential for large-scale bedding planes infilled with
clay, particularly in the upper part of the rock mass
below the weathered zone. Figure 14 gives the results
from detailed field mapping of several rock cuts and
confirms the results from the original site investigation
(see Fig. 3). In addition 100-mm diameter samples of
the bedding planes were collected and tested in direct
shear (Schnabel Engineer 2006). These results were
also within the previous design assumptions.
Figure 14. Lower hemisphere stereonet of the field mapping
of the rock cut giving the large scale dip of the bedding and
the joints.
excavation. Such a support system if adopted for
the whole site would have had significant cost and
scheduling implications. Through a detailed site inves-
tigation and laboratory testing program combined with
extensive analyses, it was concluded that the probabil-
ity of large scale bedding-plane-controlled instabilities
was low. As a result, the permanent station walls were
designed to contain the wedge of rock that was con-
sidered to be the most likely mode of failure. This
reduced lateral support pressure of 12 kPa was less
than 1/10th the support system that would be required
for a large bedding-controlled block. Extensive field
mapping and a comprehensive monitoring system have
confirmed the design assumptions. Future excavations
will continue to implement the observational design
method.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the permission of the
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to pub-
lish the data presented in this paper. The contribution
ofAtkinson-Clark-Shea, J.V. and Parsons Management
Consultants are gratefully acknowledged.

5 CONCLUSIONS
Deep rock cuts for the APM tunnel stations at Dulles
Airport presented several challenges. The approxi-
mately 30◦ dip of the bedding planes into the 25 m-
deep excavation presented a significant potential haz-
ard. A worst-case scenario would require supporting
a sliding block that daylighted at the bottom of the
REFERENCES
Barton, N.R., Bandis, S. & Bakhtar, K. 1985. Strength,
deformation and conductivity coupling of rock joints. Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Gemech. Abstr. 22: 121–140.
Fookes, P. 1997. The First Glossop Lecture – Geology for
engineers: the geological model, prediction and perfor-
mance. Q. J. Eng. Geol. 30: 293–431
Haley & Aldrich, Inc. 2001. Geotechnical Data Report,
Dulles APM Tunnel Systems and Vehicle Maintenance

868
 Facility. Contract 1-00-C065, Washington Dulles Inter-
national Airport, Metropolitan Washington Airports
Authority.
Hoek, E. & Bray, J.W. 1981. Rock Slope Engineering, 3rd ed.
London: The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Lee, K.Y. & Froelich, A.J. 1989. Triassic-Jurassic stratig-
raphy of the Culpeper and Barboursville Basins, Vir-
ginia and Maryland. U.S. Geological Survey Professional
Paper 1472.
McQuinn, M.T., Ragsdale, I.J. & Parham, A. 2006. Case
history of the support of excavation systems at the
Dulles Automated People Mover (DAPM) tunnels and sta-
tions. In Proceedings 31st Annual Conference on Deep
Foundations, Washington, D.C., pp. 35–46.
National Research Council (NRC) 2006. Geological and
Geotechnical Engineering in the New Millennium: Oppor-
tunities for Research and Technological Innovation.
Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering.
Washington, D.C.: The National Academy Press, 206 pp.
869
Nickelson, R.P. & Hough, V.N.D. 1967. Jointing in
Appalachian Plateau of Pennsylvania. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.
78: 609–629.
Peck, R.B. 1969. Ninth Rankine Lecture: Advantages and
limitations of the observational method in applied soil
mechanics. Geotechnique 19: 171–187.
Price, N. & Cosgrove, J. 1990. Development of system-
atic fractures in slightly deformed sedimentary rocks. In
Analysis of Geological Structures. Cambridge: University
Press, pp. 209–238
Schnabel Engineering, Inc., 2006. Geotechnical Design Sum-
mary Report, Tier 2 Midfield Concourse and Related
Projects, Washing-Dulles International Airport, Loudoun
County, Virginia, November 2006.
Toewe, E.C. 1966. Geology of the Leesburg Quadrangle, Vir-
ginia. Report of Investigations 11, Virginia Division of
Mineral Resources.
Wyllie, D.C. & Mah, C.W. 2004. Rock Slope Engineering,
4th ed. London: Spon Press.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Dip slope analysis and parameter uncertainty – Case history and

practical recommendations

B.R. Fisher
Kleinfelder Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA & University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

E. Eberhardt
Geological Engineering/Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

ABSTRACT: Uncertainty in geotechnical engineering is inherent and due diligence requires that the geological
engineer use all of the avenues/tools available to them. While estimating the stability of rock slopes, numerical
tools (e.g. discrete element modeling) are not always available to practicing engineers and therefore, practical
recommendations regarding appropriate slope failure mechanisms based on these theoretically correct models
are required, coupled with avenues for practical solutions. This paper presents the results of limit equilibrium
and discrete element modeling of a dip slope with orthogonal jointing. Results show that the Sarma method
of slices utilizing plasticity theory estimates a reasonable failure surface and mechanism suitable for practical
solutions where the set back distance of structures is required behind a dip slope.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 DIP SLOPE FAILURES

A dip slope is a natural or engineered/cut rock slope
that has an inclination coincident with a prominent
discontinuity or set of discontinuities. The promi-
nent discontinuity provides a plane of weakness upon
which, sliding may occur. Because the slope inclina-
tion is the same as the discontinuity inclination, the
discontinuity does not ‘daylight’ in the slope and is
precluded from a typical planar/wedge kinematic eval-
uation (e.g. Hoek & Bray 1974). In order for failure
to occur, ‘toe-breakout’ is required and therefore, the
key issue to understanding dip slope failures is to
understand the toe-breakout mechanisms.
This paper focuses on the failure mechanisms asso-
ciated with dip slope failures, where slope parallel
bedding planes are cross-cut by natural orthogonal
joints. The application of different techniques for esti-
mating their stability is investigated and practical
recommendations for stability evaluation of dip slopes
with similar geologic characteristics are provided. The
paper provides a comparison of these different tech-
niques utilizing a sensitivity analysis of a typical dip
slope geometry, focusing on limit equilibrium (LEM)
and discrete element (DEM) modeling. The rock mass
parameters used are based on those collected through
a series of field investigation and practical slope char-
acterization studies performed for the design of set
back distances above a dip slope for a real estate
development project in Southern California.
Dip slope failures occur in both natural and engi-
neered cut slopes. There are generally three failure
mechanisms described for cases where a single persis-
tent discontinuity does not daylight the slope (which
if so, would enable simple planar translational slid-
ing). These include ploughing, buckling, and bi-planar
failure. Most case histories describe buckling and
ploughing and are from pit wall failures in western
Canadian and United Kingdom surface coal mines.
2.1 Bi-planar failure mode
Bi-planar case histories described in the geotechnical
literature differ between cut mine slopes and natural
slopes, largely based on the toe failure mechanism and
temporal nature as to how failure initiates. It is evi-
dent that adverse cross-cutting structures daylighting
at the slope toe is the primary factor responsible for
most reported mine slope failures, much more so than
for natural slopes. These failures tend to occur rapidly
when a cross-cutting structure is daylighted during the
mining process. Step path and rock mass failures occur
less rapidly and are more prevalent in natural slopes
that fail progressively over time.
Brawner et al. (1971), Walton & Atkinson (1978),
Walton & Coates (1980), Hawley et al. (1986),
Stead & Eberhardt (1997), Eberhardt & Stead (1998),
and Wang et al. (2004) provide detailed theoretical

871

Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the active-passive
bi-planar failure mode. From Kvapil & Clews (1971).
accounts of the different types of bi-planar slope fail-
ure. A bi-planar slope failure consists of an active and
passive block (Fig. 1) and therefore, has been referred
to as an active-passive slope failure. The active por-
tion of the failure model is bounded by a surface such
as bedding that is coincident with the slope face. The
active block moves down slope creating a ‘bearing’
or rock mass failure in between the active and pas-
sive blocks. The bearing failure portion of the slide
is termed the Prandtl zone and is the transition zone
between the active and passive sliding blocks.
2.2 Bi-planar toe breakout
When evaluating bi-planar dip slope failure modes,
three toe-breakout failure mechanisms are generally
considered based on the geologic conditions specific
to the slope being evaluated. These include:
• Failure at the toe along cross-cutting structure
dipping into or out of the slope;
• Failure at the toe through shearing of the intact rock
material at the toe; and
• Sliding at the toe facilitated by a step path or rock
mass failure.
2.2.1 Cross-cutting structure dipping out of slope
Nathanail (1996) provides a kinematic check for the
possibility of bi-planar slope failure where a cross-
cutting structure dips out of the slope. The following
three conditions must be met. First, the lower edge of
the active wedge must dip more steeply than the lower
edge of the passive wedge. Second, the lower edge of
the passive wedge must daylight the slope but dip less
steeply than the friction angle. Thirdly, there needs to
be a separating planar feature dipping steeply back
into the slope between the active and passive wedge.
Brawner et al. (1971) noted several cases of bi-planar
slope failures where bedding or thrust planes dipped
out of slope at low angles within the coalmines of
British Columbia. He derived stability charts for foot-
wall design via force equilibrium relationships, which
872
assumed that the rock slabs involved act as rigid bodies
and that sliding occurs in a translational manner.
2.2.2 Cross-cutting structure dipping into slope
Intuitively, bi-planar failure where a prominent cross-
cutting structure dips into the slope is less likely,
lending itself to a complex ploughing mode of fail-
ure instead. However, there are case histories reported
where the discontinuity dips into slope. Those include
Hughes & Clarke (2002) where sliding occurred along
a normal fault coincident with the coalmine slope face
resulting in toe breakout along a surface inclined into
the slope face so that movement occurred upward
and out of the slope toe, and Calder & Blackwell
(1980) where bi-planar failure was facilitated by a low
angle discontinuity dipping into the slope. Movement
monitoring of the passive block suggested that it was
moving up and away from the toe.
2.2.3 Intact rock failure model
Hungr & Evans (2004) describe toe breakout through
intact rock as being amongst the most catastrophic
massive natural rock slope failures. Steeply inclined
and thinly bedded sedimentary rocks or foliated meta-
morphic rock slopes are the most susceptible. Eber-
hardt et al. (2005) provide a back analysis of natural
dip slope failures within interbedded sedimentary
units consisting of marl, sandstone, and conglomerate.
Toe breakout was attributed to strength degradation
of the marl, with shearing occurring through highly
weathered intact rock.
2.2.4 Step-path or rock mass failure
A detailed and theoretically correct limit equilibrium
solution for analyzing step path failures was presented
by Jennings (1970). He states that composite shear
strength may be ascertained by a weighted average of
joint shear strength and intact rock tensile strength.
Failure occurs at an “average” angle based on the
joint(s) dip angle. Although this is a rigorous solution,
its practicality has been questioned owing to the dif-
ficulty in properly estimating the extent of intact rock
bridges within the rock mass (Hoek & Bray 1974).
Others have taken a less theoretically correct
approach to describing step path failure as a toe
breakout mechanism. It is more convenient to use a
“smeared” or equivalent rock mass strength to describe
slippage along joints and shearing through intact rock
(Hoek et al. 2000). Giani (1992) provides a detailed
account of dip slope back analysis where the toe
breakout was modeled using the Hoek-Brown failure
criterion.
3 CASE HISTORY
During the past five years, the lead author has
been involved with a consulting project in Southern
California where the stability of a dip slope required
detailed evaluation. An account of the investigation
and slope stability analysis can be found in Fisher
& Eberhardt (2006). In summary, a developer pro-
posed building homes behind the crest of a 60 m high
dip slope composed of interbedded sandstone with
minor amounts of shale and siltstone. Recommenda-
tions were required regarding set back distances for the
residential structures planned behind the slope crest.

3.1 Engineering geologic model

Detailed geologic mapping was completed on both
a regional and local scale. The geologic structure of
the area was described by recording thousands of dis-
continuity orientation data during outcrop mapping,
core logging and down hole televiewing. In general,
the geologic structure in the area is homoclinal (i.e.
folding is minimal). The general relationship of the ori-
entations of the discontinuities within the rock mass is
provided in a stereonet that encompasses the structural
data within the dip slope in question (Fig. 2). There
are three main discontinuity sets, which for discussion
purposes are referred to as bedding, cross-joints, and
lateral joints.
The three discontinuity sets interconnect to form
orthogonal blocks. Bedding planes bounds the top
and bottom faces of the blocks, lateral joints bound
the sides, and cross-joints bound the front and back
of the blocks in the direction of sliding, which is to
the northeast. The cross-joints are truncated at the
bedding planes. The lateral joints are continuous. Bed-
ding was traced between boreholes suggesting a very
high persistence. Spacing of the discontinuity sets was
estimated using data from down-hole logging: the ori-
entation of the borehole, dip of the discontinuity, and
spacing measured within the borehole (Wyllie & Mah
2004).
3.1.1 Intact rock strength and weathering
The intact rock within the rock mass ranges in strength
from extremely weak (R0) to strong (R4), according
to the Brown (1981) criteria. Rock strength increases
with depth and corresponds to the degree of weathering
which decreases with depth.
3.1.2 Groundwater
Surface water was observed to flow intermittently
within the canyon northeast of the dip slope. Ground
water was encountered in several of the boreholes,
allowing a groundwater table to be approximated at
depth between the toe and crest of the slope.
3.2 Laboratory testing
A number of laboratory tests were performed to con-
firm field strength estimates and to help define the
shear strengths that would be used for the slope
Figure 2. Equal-area polar dip vector stereonet.
stability evaluation. Direct shear testing was carried
out on intact rock samples (grade R0 and R1), as well as
on saw cut, weathered, and clay-filled discontinuities.
Torsional ring shear tests were performed on clay/shale
core samples. Uniaxial compressive strength testing
on grade R1 through R3 intact rock, and undrained
triaxial testing on grade R0 through R2 intact rock,
was carried out to estimate the Hoek-Brown parame-
ter mi for the sandstones. Further details are provided
in Fisher & Eberhardt (2006).
3.3 Rock mass characterization
The characterization of the rock mass for the case his-
tory dip slope was based on geologic mapping on a
regional and local scale, structural data mapped at out-
crops and derived from down-hole borehole televiewer
images, direct shear testing of discontinuities and
intact rock, and strength testing of the different rock
materials encountered in the rock cores. These data
sets helped to constrain a site specific mi value to be
used with the Hoek-Brown strength criteria. Figure 3
shows a simplified geologic model of the dip slope.
3.4 Slope stability analysis of case history
The goal of the slope characterization was to provide
recommendations for set back distances where struc-
tures could be safely constructed. The procedures that
are used to evaluate dip slope stability and structural
set backs in Southern California are outlined in Blake
et al. (2002).
The slope stability analysis carried out was per-
formed following the general guidelines found in
Blake et. al. (2002) and was further restricted by
several requirements specified by the reviewing

873

Figure 3. Geologic model of dip slope.
agency. As discussed in Fisher & Eberhardt (2006),
the authors argued that the Hoek-Brown Failure Cri-
terion should be used to estimate the strength of the
rock mass at the toe based on the geology and pre-
scribed failure mechanism determined through the
field investigation. This was in contrast to the guide-
lines specified which were deemed to result in either
overly conservative or overly risky design criteria for
the project.
Based on these experiences, a study was initi-
ated to investigate the different methods available to
perform slope stability analyses, with the goal of pro-
viding practical recommendations for establishing the
stability state of natural dip slopes in similar geo-
logic settings. The study involved a sensitivity analysis
and the different methods analyzed included several
limit equilibrium solutions, as well as the distinct-
element method (DEM). Preliminary results from this
investigation are presented in the following section.
4 MODEL UNCERTAINTY IN RELATION TO
TOE BREAKOUT
For the sensitivity analyses, bi-planar slip surfaces are
assumed parallel to bedding with toe break occur-
ring along either: 1) a persistent cross-cutting joint,
2) through the rock mass as a step path following non-
persistent joints and intact rock bridges, 3) through
solely intact rock, or 4) along a persistent cross joint.
For the limit equilibrium models, the simplest model
that could be used to analyze the dip slopes’ stability
would encompass dividing the slope into two sections
or “slices”. Uncertainty would lie in the inclination
of the toe breakout surface, inclination of the bound-
ary between the upper (active) and lower (passive
block), and the shear strength model used at the toe.
Of course, while using the method of slices, the inter-
slice boundary is defined by the method’s solution.
874
Figure 4. a) Relationship of failure surface to principal
stresses; and b) Influence of cross joints on rock mass shear
strength. After Hoek & Brown (1980).
No predetermined boundary was specified in the anal-
yses. For the distinct-element models, the rock mass
bedding and cross-cutting discontinuity spacings were
explicitly incorporated into the model based on those
measured in the field.
4.1 Toe breakout from plasticity theory
Several authors have discussed the orientation of a dip
slope toe failure surface indirectly while discussing
plasticity theory in soil and rock. For instance, while
generating the Hoek-Brown failure criterion, Hoek &
Brown (1980) discussed the most critical failure sur-
face of intact rock and the influence of the inclination
of a joint during a triaxial test (Fig. 4a). They state that
the angle between the principal stress and the failure
surface (θ) is equal to:
Thus, without an existing persistent discontinuity
cross-cutting the intact rock/bedding, failure would
proceed at the angle described by θ. Because the major
principal stress within a dip slopes is approximately
parallel to the slope face, it is convenient to envision
the orientation of θ as being the angle between bed-
ding and the orientation of the failure surface at the
toe. Also, from plasticity theory, an interslice bound-
ary would develop. The angle between the toe breakout
surface and the interslice boundary (α) is defined as:
Hoek & Brown (1980) also state that a pre-existing
persistent discontinuity, where θ is greater than about
60◦ has no influence on the maximum principal stress
(Fig. 4b). It follows that in the case of orthogonal joint-
ing, the cross-joints should not play a role in the slope
stability estimate and that the shear strength to use for
the toe breakout surface should be that of the intact
rock (or equivalent rock mass).
Table 1. Basic assumptions adopted by various “Method of
Slices” algorithms to make the non-circular slip surface limit
equilibrium calculation determinate.
Method Details & Assumptions
Bishop’s Satisfies vertical and moment equilibrium
modified only; inclination of interslice forces are
assumed to be horizontal; although usually
only applicable to circular slip surfaces,
modifications allow a solution for
non-circular slip searches.
Janbu’s Satisfies all conditions of equilibrium;
generalized assumes that the inclination of the interslice
forces is horizontal; iterative procedure used
to apply correction based on the length and
depth of the failure surface as well as the
Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters used.
Spencer’s Satisfies all conditions of equilibrium;
method assumes that the inclination of the interslice
forces is the same for all slices; iteratively
solves for moment and force equilibrium
while varying force inclination and strength
along interslice boundaries.
Sarma’s Satisfies all conditions of equilibrium;
method explicitly considers the inclination and shear
strength along the interslice boundaries;
interslice boundaries do not need to be
vertical, making it highly suitable for cases
where faults or steeply inclined joints may
facilitate sliding along block boundaries
(e.g. dip slopes).
4.2 Limit equilibrium results
The goal of the limit equilibrium analyses was to: 1)
investigate the failure surfaces predicted using com-
monly employed method of slices approaches. The
methods included Bishop’s Modified, Janbu’s Simpli-
fied, Spencer, and Sarma methods, for non-circular
slip surfaces (see Table 1), and 2) compare the struc-
tural setback distances that would have been set by
each. The setback distance stipulated for the case his-
tory was the distance from the slope crest to the slip
surface for which a safety factor of 1.5 was obtained.
Nine different scenarios were considered involving
varying rock mass and discontinuity shear strengths
(Table 2). An anisotropic strength model was used
where the bedding, cross joint, and intact rock were
assigned different strength values based on the orien-
tation of the slip surface (Fig. 4b). For example, any
slip surface that was generated parallel to bedding ±1◦
was assigned bedding strength. For the cross joints, the
variance used was ±10◦ . For any other direction, the
intact rock strength was assigned. It was assumed the
intact rock strength is 0.5 MPa and that a failure enve-
lope for the intact rock would be best approximated by
the Hoek-Brown Failure Criterion.
Results obtained using the Bishop’s Modified
method (Bishop 1955) and Janbu’s Generalized
875
Table 2. Cases considered during the sensitivity analysis
(σ = standard deviation).
Case Assumptions
1 Average strength values
2 Rock mass cohesion decreased by 1σ
3 Rock mass cohesion decreased by 2σ
4 Rock mass friction decreased by 1σ
5 Rock mass friction decreased by 2σ
6 Bedding friction decreased by 1σ
7 Bedding friction decreased by 2σ
8 Cross joint friction decreased by 1σ
9 Cross joint friction decreased by 2σ
Method (Janbu 1973) provided a critical toe break-
out surface that was parallel to the cross joints for
each condition with the exception of Cases 5 and 7.
For Cases 5 and 7 (see Table 2), the critical surface
passed through the rock mass at an inclination below
the horizon.
Spencer’s method (Spencer 1967) generated critical
failure surfaces at the toe that were inclined similar to
that predicted by plasticity theory (e.g. Eq. 1). Simi-
larly, results obtained using the Sarma method (Sarma
1979) found a minimum safety factor when the toe
breakout surface (and the interslice boundary surface)
had inclinations aligned with plasticity theory. As will
be shown in the next section, these were similar to those
observed in the distinct-element models and elasto-
plastically yielding intact blocks. Figure 5 provides a
summary of the critical failure surfaces obtained for
the different LEM results.The failure surfaces coincid-
ing with a safety factor of 1.5 were found to be deeper
than the most critical failure surfaces calculated for
each method of slices approach.
While estimating the set back distances using a
safety factor of 1.5, the Janbu Modified and Bishop
Methods chose failure surfaces parallel with the cross
joints for the deep failure surfaces and for each con-
dition considered. Spencer’s method chose surfaces
that passed through the intact rock. The Sarma method
failure surfaces coincided with toe breakout and inter-
slice boundaries inclined according to those most
susceptible to plastic yielding of the intact rock blocks.
Results for the sensitivity analysis are provided in
Figure 6 for each LEM model.
4.3 Distinct-element approach
Distinct-element modeling was performed using the
commercial program UDEC (Itasca, 2006). The mod-
els assumed that the intact rock slabs present in the
slope were bounded by bedding and non-persistent
cross joints dipping normal to bedding. These mod-
els also assumed that plastic yielding within the intact
blocks may contribute to the slope failure process, and
in certain cases, help predict the most critical shear
Figure 5. a) Set back (safety factor of 1.5) failure surfaces determined using different limit equilibrium methods for
non-circular slip surfaces and; b) Set back distances derived from the limit equilibrium analyses.
Figure 6. Discrete element model showing development
of toe breakout and internal shear zone along plastic yield
surfaces.
failure surface. Each model was solved using the same
joint and rock mass strength parameters as used for the
limit equilibrium models.
As shown in Figure 6, toe breakout leading to slip
and failure of the upper slope blocks along bedding
planes was observed when shear indicators near the
toe of the slope linked to form a localized shear surface
through the intact rock.Thus, even though the dip slope
beds are cut by cross-joints normal to bedding, plastic
yielding in the model suggests that sliding on the cross-
cutting joints alone cannot lead to catastrophic failure
given their relative orientation to the acting principal
stresses.
As previously noted, the failure surfaces that
developed within the distinct-element models were
observed to form and exit the toe at similar dip angles
as those calculated using the Sarma method.
876
5 DISCUSSION
5.1 Model uncertainty
In all cases, the Modified Bishop and Janbu Gen-
eralized methods provided more conservative results
than the Spencer and Sarma methods. This is because
neither considers the interslice forces that must be
generated to enable the upper and lower blocks to
translate and dilate in a kinematically feasible manner
(Nathanail 1996). The Modified Bishop and Gener-
alized Janbu methods were also found to be limited
by their treatment of the toe breakout, i.e. restricted
to that along a plane normal to bedding. As demon-
strated by the distinct-element models, shearing along
the normal cross joints is not possible given that the
required shearing direction is parallel to the minor
principal stress. Bishop (1955) states that the safety
factor of a slope may be taken as the ratio of the
total shear strength available on the slip surface to the
total shear strength mobilized to maintain equilibrium.
Thus, a safety factor is produced for the conditions
along the bedding slip surface, more so than for the toe
release required for actual failure. Clearly, the Mod-
ified Bishop and Generalized Janbu methods are not
applicable in the case of a dip slope with orthogonal
jointing. The geology of a dip slope simply does not
coincide with the geologic conditions that Janbu or
Bishop envisaged when deriving their slope stability
solutions.
Spencer’s and Sarma’s methods both consider the
contribution to total shear strength made available by
the shear strength contribution from internal shear-
ing. Therefore, these models are more appropriate for
estimating slope stability in the geologic conditions
considered in this example. Spencer’s method assumes
vertical interslice boundaries and that the ratio of the
normal and shear stresses along the interslice bound-
aries are constant. The procedure calculates the shear
strength of the material through which the interslice
boundaries lie. In the case of the sensitivity analy-
sis considered here, the Spencer and Sarma methods
provided similar results for the shallow failure sur-
faces where the interslice boundary, and therefore it’s
contribution to the safety factor calculated was small
compared to the portion of the slip surfaces that passed
along bedding or through the rock mass at the toe.
Thus, Sarma’s method appears to be the most appro-
priate method for evaluating dip slope stability. This
is because the method accounts directly for the shear
strength of the interslice boundary during the compu-
tations. Moreover, the safety factor calculated while
considering an orthogonally jointed rock mass was
minimized with the toe break surface and interslice
boundary inclinations predicted by plasticity theory.
The distinct-element models also reproduced the
plastic yield and tensile failure surfaces that coincided
with the angle θ measured from the bedding dip. How-
ever, the standard output for numerical models is not
in terms of a safety factor, thereby limiting its use as a
stand alone tool where required practice stipulates the
setback distance must be set to a given safety factor.
Although strength reduction routines have been devel-
oped for the method, numerous questions still persist in
terms of defining what constitutes “failure” on which
to base a safety factor calculation.
The distinct-element method provides an ideal tool
to be used in conjunction with limit equilibrium anal-
yses, as it can provide key insights into complex
stress-strain behavior that impacts the failure mech-
anism. These may be missed if the analysis completed
was restricted only to limit equilibrium solutions and a
specific failure mode. When the distinct-element mod-
els are allowed to run so that large displacements are
experienced at the slope toe, the outer bedding layers
begin to buckle presumably because of the outward
forces generated by shearing at the toe. This fail-
ure mechanism is not considered by the LE methods
chosen for this sensitivity analysis.
5.2 Parameter uncertainty
In addition to model uncertainty, parameter uncer-
tainty plays an important role in any stability assess-
ment. All methods of analysis were sensitive to the
changes in certain strength parameters used for the
evaluation. The degree of sensitivity was related to the
assumptions inherent in the different LEM solutions.
For example, Bishop’s and Janbu’s methods were sen-
sitive to the strength of the cross joint while the Spencer
and Sarma methods were sensitive to the strength of the
rock mass. The parameters most important in the limit
equilibrium analyses were the strength parameters of
the bedding.
877
The distinct-element models were sensitive to the
same input parameters as the Spencer and Sarma meth-
ods; i.e. they were most sensitive to the shear strength
of the bedding.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the literature review and sensitivity analysis,
the following conclusions can be made with respect to
dip slopes:
• The Modified Bishop and Generalized Janbu
methods of slices for non-circular slip surfaces are
not appropriate for modeling the stability of dip
slopes given the non-treatment of interslice bound-
aries and the requirement of toe breakout along
a plane normal to bedding. This requires larger
driving forces generated along bedding, and thus
a deeper-seated failure and larger setback distance.
• Spencer’s method of slices is more accurate than
Bishop’s or Janbu’s method. Spencer considers
internal shearing of the rock mass at the slice bound-
aries. However, the assumption that the interslice
boundary is vertical and the fact that the shear
strength of the rock mass at the interslice bound-
ary is not implicit in the solution provides reason to
question the accuracy of the method for dip slope
analyses.
• Sarma’s method was found to be the best suited
limit equilibrium method for estimating the stabil-
ity of dip slopes as it implicitly considers the shear
strength of the rock mass at the interslice boundaries
and allows for interslice boundaries that are non-
vertical. This allows Sarma to account for geologic
structures that meet the kinematic requirements for
dip slope failure.
• The distinct-element models showed that elements
of plasticity theory (i.e. plastic yielding of the intact
rock blocks) are an important part of the failure
process and its development. The method provided
a reliable means of estimating critical toe break-
out surface angles and locations, as well as that of
the interslice boundary, when no pre-existing persis-
tent cross-cutting surface is present. Further insights
gained into the complex failure mode that developed
in the models suggest that shearing at the toe of
the orthogonally-jointed slope may manifest itself
as deformation that appears to be buckling. There-
fore, minor buckling at the toe may indicate pending
deep seated, bi-planar failure.
7 PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the preliminary results obtained to date,
the following practical recommendations can be
provided with respect to the analysis of dip
slopes:
• Concentrate time and budget available on character-
izing the geology at the toe of dip slopes. If the rock
mass consists of orthogonal joints, spend consider-
able effort estimating the shear strength of the rock
mass and slope coincident discontinuities/bedding
planes.
• While evaluating the stability of dip slopes, the
Sarma method presents the most applicable limit
equilibrium approach. For the analyses carried out
in this paper, an algorithm based on that given in
Hoek (1987) was used. There are commercial soft-
ware packages that can carry out a Sarma analysis.
• Distinct-element modeling provides important
insights into the failure mechanisms and complex
failure modes; e.g. buckling of the near surface
slabs. Buckling failures are shallow and therefore
of less concern when providing structural set backs
based on a minimum safety factor.
• Since distinct-element codes are not best suited for
calculating a safety factor along a potential slid-
ing surface, and because limit equilibrium solutions
require the pre-specification of the failure mode,
where possible, an integrated use of the two should
be carried out to ensure confidence in the deci-
sions made with respect to the design and long-term
performance of the slope.
REFERENCES
Bishop, A.W. 1955. The use of the slope circle in the stability
analysis of slopes. Geotechnique 5(1): 7–17.
Blake, T.F., Hollingworth, R.A. & Stewart, J.P. 2002. Guide-
lines for Analyzing and Mitigating Landslide Hazards in
California. Southern California. Recommended Proceed-
ings for Implementation of DMG Special Publication 117,
Earthquake Center, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles, 110 pp.
Brawner, C.O., Pentz, D.L. & Sharp, J.C. 1971. Stability stud-
ies of a footwall slope in layered coal deposits. In Proc. of
the 13th US Symposium on Rock Mechanics, pp. 329–365.
Brown, E.T. 1981. Rock Characterization, Testing and Mon-
itoring – ISRM Suggested Methods. Oxford: Pergamon,
pp. 171–183.
Calder, P.N. & Blackwell, G.H. 1980. Investigation of a
complex rock slope displacement at Brenda Mines. CIM
Bulletin 73(820): 73–82.
Eberhardt, E. & Stead, D., 1998. Mechanisms of slope insta-
bility in thinly bedded surface mine slopes. In Proc., 8th
Int. Congr., Int.Assoc. for Eng. Geol. and the Environment,
Vancouver, vol. 5, pp. 3011–3018.
Eberhardt, E., Thuro, K. & Luginbuehl, M., 2005. Slope
instability mechanisms in dipping interbedded conglom-
erates and weathered marls-the 1999 Rufi landslide,
Switzerland. Engineering Geology 77(1–2): 35–56.
Fisher, B. & Eberhardt, E. 2006. Dip slope characteriza-
tion for residential development in Southern California
using the Hoek Brown Failure Criterion. InGolden Rocks,
878
Proc. 41st U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Golden
Colorado.
Giani, G.P. 1992. Rock Slope Stability Analysis. Rotterdam:
A.A. Balkema, 361 pp.
Hawley, P.M., Martin, D.C. & Acott, C.P. 1986. Failure
mechanics and design considerations for footwall slopes.
CIM Bulletin 79(896): 47–53.
Hoek, E. 1987. General two-dimensional slope stability anal-
yses. In Brown (ed.), Analytical Computational Method in
Engineering Rock Mechanics. London: Allen & Unwin,
pp. 95–128.
Hoek, E. & Bray, J. 1974. Rock Slope Engineering. London:
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, 309 pp.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, 527
pp.
Hoek, E., Read, J., Karzulovic, A. & Chen, Z.Y. 2000. Rock
slopes in civil and mining engineering. In Proc., Geo-
Eng2000 International Conference on Geotechnical and
Geological Engineering. Melbourne: Technomic.
Hughes, D.B. & Clarke, B.G. 2002. Faulting and slope fail-
ures in surface coal mining – Some examples from North
East England. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering
20(4): 291–332.
Hungr, O. & Evans, S.G., 2004. The occurrence and clas-
sification of massive rock slope failures. Felsbau 22(2):
1–12.
Itasca, 2006. UDEC (v. 4.0). Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting
Group Inc.
Janbu, N. 1973. Slope stability computations. In Hirshfield
& Poulos (eds.), Embankment Dam Engineering, Cas-
sagrande Volume. New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp.
47–86.
Jennings, J.E. 1970.A mathematical theory for the calculation
of the stability of slopes in open cast mines. In Planning
Open Pit Mines. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, pp. 87–102.
Nathanail, C.P. 1996. Kinematic analysis of active/passive
wedge failure using stereographic projection. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
33(4): 405–407.
Sarma, S.K. 1979. Stability analysis of embankments and
slopes. ASCE Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Divi-
sion 105: 1511–1524.
Spencer, E. 1967. A method of analysis of the stabil-
ity of embankments assuming parallel inter-slice forces.
Geotechnique 17: 11–26.
Stead, D. & Eberhardt, E., 1997. Developments in the analysis
of footwall slopes in surface coal mining. Engineering
Geology 46(1): 41–61.
Walton, G. & Atkinson, T. 1978. Some geotechnical consider-
ations in the planning of surface coal mines. Transactions
of the Institution of Mining & Metallurgy, Section A 87:
147–171.
Walton, G. & Coates, H., 1980. Some footwall failure
modes in South Wales opencast workings. In 2nd Interna-
tional Conference on Ground Movements and Structures,
Cardiff, pp. 435–449.
Wang, F.-W., Zhang, Y.-M., Huo, Z.-T., Matsumoto, T. &
Huang, B.-L. 2004. The July 14, 2003 Qianjiangping
landslide, Three Gorges Reservoir, China. Landslides 1:
157–162.
Wyllie, D.C. & Mah, C.W. 2004. Rock Slope Engineering:
Civil and Mining. New York: Spon Press, 456 pp.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Rockslope engineering challenges for power transmission lines,

Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada

W.C.B. Gates & C. Lukkarila

Kleinfelder, Inc., Bellevue, Washington, USA

ABSTRACT: Design and construction of roads and foundations on steeply dipping slopes and weak bedrock
creates challenging rockslope engineering problems because of the kinematic potential for failure into the rock
excavations. Nevada Power Company (NPC) is constructing the 83 km (50 mile) Harry Allen Mead (HAMD)
500 kV power transmission line, their largest. Because ideal terrain was occupied by towers owned by another
utility, tower pad HAMD 24/1 and access road had to be constructed on the dip slopes of the adjoining ridge.
The slopes created design problems because they dip unfavorably into the excavation creating potentially large
planar failures and rockfall. During construction NPC encountered engineering and geological challenges, which
necessitated design modifications: adversely dipping rock structure, very weak and fractured unstable rock,
rockfall, backbreak from preshear blasting, and poor bonding of resin grout. To stabilize the backwall of the
tower pad and road, over 1311 m (4300 ft) of rockbolts and dowels were installed.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project
The Nevada Power Company (NPC) is constructing
the Harry Allen Mead (HAMD) 500 kV power trans-
mission line, NPC’s largest. Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power (LADWP) owns a high power
transmission line that traverses prime terrain in a pass
formed from the shoulder of Lava Butte and the steeply
dipping limestone slope of the Horse Spring Forma-
tion (Figs. 1–2). The new power line parallels the line
operated by LADWP. However, because the present
power line occupies prime terrain in the pass tower pad
HAMD 24/1 and access road had to be constructed on
the dip slope of the adjoining ridge. To achieve the
proper tower pad and access road size, vertical cut
slopes were proposed. These dip slopes created rocks-
lope design problems in that the slopes dip unfavorably
into the excavation of the proposed structures creat-
ing potentially large planar failures and rockfall. This Figure 1. High power transmission lines operated by
section of the project was unique because no other sig- LADWP north of Las Vegas, Nevada. Lava Butte is on the
nificant cut slopes were present along the alignment. left and the project site is on the right shoulder of the pass.

which the power lines traverse is owned and managed

1.2 Location
The HAMD 24/1 tower pad and access road are located
approximately 33 km (20 miles) northeast of down-
town Las Vegas, NV. The transmission line traverses
desert terrain southeast from the HAMD power sta-
tion adjacent to Interstate 15 for approximately 83 km
(50 miles) to the Las Vegas area. Most of the land over
by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
1.3 Project challenges
During construction of the HAMD 24/1 tower pad
and access road the following engineering and geo-
logical challenges were encountered that necessitated

879
Figure 2. Project site displaying LADWP lattice tower on
left and steeply dipping limestone dipslope on right.
design modifications: adversely dipping rock struc-
ture, very weak and fractured unstable rock, rockfall,
backbreak from preshear blasting, and poor bonding
of resin grout.
Construction of the tower pad and access road
dictated a 9.8 m (32 ft) vertical backwall, which exac-
erbated the stability of the rock cut. Because of the
proximity of the present power transmission line, and
the concern for rockfall damage to the lattice struc-
tures, NPC’s engineers required their consultant design
the backwall with a factor of safety of 3.0. This
increased the cost of the project at least threefold. In
addition, because exploratory drilling access was dif-
ficult and expensive, NPC engineers elected to forgo
initial exploratory drilling at the pad site and go with
one exploration borehole drilled near the LADWP
lattice tower.
To control the stability of the backwall, about
1024 m (3360 ft) of sub-vertical dowels and rockbolts
were installed behind the proposed cutlines followed
by preshear blasting. Initially NPC’s consultant recom-
mended installation of about 692 m (2270 ft) of rock
bolts in the face of the rockslope above the access road
and pad. However, during excavation to the first bench
the contractor encountered very weak and fractured
rock and a 0.6 m (2 ft) stratum of gypsum below the
cut line. Once the access road and first tier of the pad
was excavated, three exploratory boreholes were com-
pleted to further quantify the rock mass characteristics.
In addition, preshear blasting to control backbreak
beyond the cutline performed poorly.
The change in geologic conditions necessitated
design modification of the backwall. Based on the
changed geologic conditions the backwall design was
modified to a reinforced shotcrete wall with 457 m
(1500 ft) dowels and 84 m (275 ft) of drains and weep
holes.
880
Figure 3. Limestone beds of the Rainbow Garden Mem-
ber dip adversely out of slope creating potential translational
block slides and rockfall.
2 ENGINEERING GEOLOGIC CONDITIONS
2.1 Rainbow gardens geologic preserve
The Rainbow Gardens Geologic Preserve is a unique
geologic feature just northeast of downtown LasVegas.
Tertiary rock members of the Horse Spring Forma-
tion form a mixture of very weak to strong limestones,
sandstones, shales, gypsum deposits and conglomer-
ates (Castor et al. 2000). Colors range from bright
white in the gypsum beds to ocher yellows and deep
reds in the sandstones and shales. Structures of these
units strike en echelon to the northeast and dip steeply
to the southeast (Figs. 1–3). Saddles, valleys and steps
form in the weak rock. Before the Rainbow Gardens
Geologic Preserve was designated as a Preserve, gyp-
sum mining was popular in the valleys because of the
easy access to the deposits. Presently, tourists pay top
dollars for ATV excursions along the 4 × 4 trails in the
Preserve.
Lava Butte is a young Tertiary volcanic cone,
which forms the northeast shoulder of the saddle
through which the power transmission lines traverse
(Fig. 1).
2.2 Regional geology
Castor et al. (2000) describe the regional geology and
structure in the project area. Bedrock units in general
strike to the northeast following the topographic ridges
and dip to the southeast. Rock units, which crop out
Table 1. Rock mass properties exhibited by limestones of
the Rainbow Gardens Member.
Depth Strength
m ft MPa ksi JRC1 RQD2 RMR3 GSI4
0 0 59 8.6 15–20 60 64 64
0–6 0–20 53 8 12–14 9 19 39
6–12 20–40 42 6 12–14 57 31 51
1
JRC: Joint Roughness Coefficient (Barton 1976)
2
RQD: Rock Quality Designation (Deere 1973, Planstrom
1975)
3
RMR: Rock Mass Rating (Bieniawski 1989)
4
GSI: Geologic Strength Index (Hoek & Brown 1997)
in the site vicinity, are primarily Tertiary members of
the Horse Spring Formation and include the Rainbow
Gardens Member, the Thumb Member and a gypsum-
rich sequence of very weak rock. There are no apparent
faults on site.
2.3 Engineering geology & geomechanics
The tower pads and access road rest primarily within
the limestones of the Rainbow Gardens Member.
Table 1 displays geometric mean values of the rock
mass properties exhibited by the limestones.
At the surface, the limestones appeared strong (R4)
and competent. However, just below the surface, core
logs indicated the limestones were highly to moder-
ately fractured and interspersed with some mud zones.
In addition, in the upper slope beneath the competent
limestone we encountered a very weak gypsum zone.
The fractured rock and weak gypsum zones presented
major stability and construction problems.
2.4 Structure
Beds within the onsite rock units strike to the north-
east and dip southeast at approximately 45 degrees
towards the saddle between Lava Butte and the project
site (Figs. 2–3).
To facilitate assessment of the kinematic stabil-
ity of the slope and to aid in our design, we plotted
the orientations of the discontinuities on stereonets
using the computer programs Dips Version 5.0 by
Rocscience and ROCKPACK III by Watts (2001).
Stereonets provide a two-dimensional representation
of the three-dimensional discontinuity data. We plotted
both poles and dip vectors. The poles tend to accentu-
ate the orientation of steeply dipping discontinuities
while the dip vectors lend themselves to perform-
ing Markland analyses. Where the stability of a rock
cut is controlled by the structure of the rock mass, a
Markland analysis is a well documented and widely
881
accepted design tool even though the analysis does
not provide a safety factor relating shear stresses to
shear strength (Hoek & Bray 1981, FHWA 1998).
The information required to perform the analysis are
the design slope dip and dip direction, the orienta-
tion of the discontinuities within the rock mass, and
the friction angle of the lithologies represented in the
rock cut.
The Markland analysis does not consider a cohesion
intercept when modeling the strength of discontinu-
ities. This method also assumes that the discontinuities
are continuous and through going with no “bridg-
ing” within the discontinuity. The effect of “bridging”
would allow a tensional component (or cohesion inter-
cept) of discontinuity strength. The factor of safety
of the slope is estimated by dividing the tangent of
the friction angle by the tangent of the dip of the dis-
continuity or the plunge of the line of intersection of
two discontinuities. Therefore, when the dip of a dis-
continuity or the plunge of the line of intersection is
greater than friction angle, the factor of safety is less
that 1.0. When the dip of a discontinuity or the plunge
of the line of intersection is less than the friction angle,
the factor of safety is greater than 1.0. In either case,
the dip or plunge has to be less than the dip of the slope
face, or the structure will not daylight the slope.
We assumed a friction angle of 34 degrees based on
the detailed geomechanical information that we col-
lected in the field, experience with similar rock types,
and guidance from the Rock Slopes Reference Man-
ual (FHWA 1998). Direct shear tests were completed
following ASTM guidelines on a saw cut rock sample.
The direct shear test provided a basic friction angle
for the rock mass. Because the sample was saw cut,
it does not account for asperities or surface rough-
ness of the discontinuities. The results of the direct
shear test suggested a friction angle for the limestone
of approximately 35 degrees.
Figure 3 displays the kinematic relationship
between the discontinuities. Note the large population
of dip vectors that crop out in the gray crescent moon
of the stereonet. This suggests that the major popu-
lation of discontinuities daylight the slope at angles
greater than the friction angle and less then the slope
angle creating kinematically unstable conditions. In
addition, there is a clear potential for toppling as dis-
played by the population of dip vectors grouped in
the gray triangular area. A major release joint is also
evident in the northwest quadrant of the stereonet. Fur-
thermore, it is clear that sidehill cuts excavated into the
dipslope that exhibit a backwall dipping greater than
the dipslope are unstable in that the blocks will slide
out of the cut face. The adverse structure and unstable
blocks created both construction and design problems.
During excavation of the access road and tower pad,
we observed numerous small translational block slides
into the excavation.

Figure 4. Proposed excavation cut for 24/1 tower pad.
3 STABILIZATION & ROCKFALL CONTROL
3.1 General
At the conclusion of the geologic mapping and the
kinematic analysis of the rock slopes, it was apparent
that the slope would require some type of reinforce-
ment prior to blasting and for the final slopes. The
proximity of the present power transmission line, and
the concern for rockfall damage to the lattice structures
required a design factor of safety of 3.0 on the back-
wall of the tower pad and 1.5 along the access road. In
addition, rockfall developed during construction had
to be controlled with some type of control structure.
3.2 Slope stability block analysis
We followed up our kinematic evaluation using limit
equilibrium analyses to estimate safety factors for
the block geometries that may fail out of slope.
We employed the computer programs RocPlane by
Rocscience® to complete a planar-type geometry anal-
ysis. Peak ground acceleration for this region is
0.10 g based on United States Geologic Survey map-
ping http://eqhazmaps.usgs.gov). We assumed one half
of the peak ground acceleration for our analyses.
We assumed no groundwater was present within the
fractures.
The existing slope is approximately 40–50 degrees.
During our field reconnaissance, we observed trans-
lational failures in the bedding that occurred in slopes
ranging from 40–45 degrees. To achieve the proper
sized pad, a 9.8 m (32 ft) vertical cut backslope was
required (Fig. 4). Initially we assumed the cut slope
of Tower 24/1 pad would be composed of strong
competent limestone. Moreover, the backslope would
mirror the existing slope (dipslope) at about 45 degrees
(1H: 1V) to the top of the ridge (Fig. 4). We assumed
tension fractures would be present in the limestone
882
(release joints as observed in the field and displayed on
the stereonet Fig. 3) and that bedding would daylight
at the base of the constructed slope. Based on these
assumptions the results of our analyses for the pro-
posed vertical cut slope design without reinforcement
suggested a safety factor of 0.85 or unstable.
To increase the factors of safety, we applied active
support anchors, rock bolts, to the backslope limestone
beds and into the cut slope face of the tower pad. The
results of our modeling analysis suggested we could
achieve a safety factor greater than 3.0 with one row of
anchors designed to 142 kN/m (32 kips/ft) in the back-
slope and two rows of anchors designed to 80 kN/m
(18 kips/ft) and 71 kN/m (16 kips/ft) in the cut slope
face. In addition, the back row anchors would reduce
the potential for block sliding during blasting and
ripping.
3.3 Rockfall hazard mitigation & catchment
design
Protecting the existing down slope lattice towers from
rockfall was a major concern. Therefore, as part of
our design, we simulated rockfall that may occur
on the slope below Tower 24/1 during construction
using the computer program Colorado Rockfall Sim-
ulation Program (CRSP III) (Jones et al. 2000). Rocks
on the slope averaged about 0.3 m (1 ft) in diameter
and ranged upwards to about 0.6 m (2 ft) in diameter.
We simulated rolling 500 of each diameter down the
slope.
Based on the CRSP models for existing slope, less
than 10 percent of the 0.3 m (1 ft) diameter rock blocks
reached the base of the existing transmission tower.
However, greater than 10 percent of the 0.6 m (2 ft)
diameter rock blocks reached the base of the existing
transmission tower.
To verify our model, in the field we rolled example
tabular rock blocks of similar dimensions from above
the proposed tower pad. Our observations demon-
strated that the rocks stopped at least 15 m (50 ft) from
the tower base. Moreover, most of the rock blocks
broke into smaller clasts before reaching the talus slope
below the proposed tower pad.
Based on the CRSP simulation, it was clear that
rockfall reaching the tower during construction of
the access road and tower pad was a probability. To
capture the rockfall, we designed a 1.5 m (5 ft) high
soil/colluvium berm 15 m (50 ft) upslope and paral-
lel between the proposed tower pad and the existing
transmission tower. Based on the design and simula-
tion, the berm would reduce the potential for rockfall
reaching the existing transmission tower during con-
struction. Again, the existing slope and the berm was
modeled using CRSP and the results demonstrated that
the berm would indeed stop greater than 99 percent of
the design rock blocks.
Figure 5. Rockfall protection berm upslope of lattice tower.
Note rock in ditch.
4 CONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS
4.1 General
Once the conceptual designs were approved by NPC
and the BLM, a specific Request for Proposals (RFP)
was sent out to prospective contractors. Prior to sub-
mittal of bids from the contractors, a pre-bidding
conference was conducted to describe the geologic
conditions and construction problems associated with
the specific location. The contract was awarded in the
summer of 2005 based on the lowest bid from a firm
that typically constructs high power transmission lines.
Construction of the rockfall barrier, access roads and
tower pads began in January 2006.
4.2 Rockfall protection
A 1.5 m (5 ft) chevron berm comprised of native soil
and rock was constructed 30 m (100 ft) upslope of the
tower. The apex of the chevron shaped berm pointed
up hill to deflect the rock as it rolled from construction
of the access road and pad. Figure 5 displays a photo
of the rockfall protection berm. Throughout construc-
tion the berm worked as designed and rockfall that
originated from the construction site was contained.
4.3 Pioneered construction road
During excavation and construction of the access road
and tower pad 24/1, the contractor elected to pioneer a
construction road above the access road and tower pad.
The reasoning behind this was to facilitate excavation
and installation of the first row of stabilization rock-
bolts. The rock was excavated with a hoe-ram. Because
of the geologic structure, the rock strata resembled a
deck of cards leaning against a wall. With the hoe-ram,
the contractor was able to split and rip the rock from the
883
Figure 6. Construction of upper road, note overhanging rock
and unstable conditions.
face. However, because of the structure, this also cre-
ated large slab failures and unstable overhanging rock.
To reduce the overhanging and toppling problems, the
rock was ripped to were it daylighted the upper natural
bench. This created an unplanned overage of excavated
rock. Figure 6 is a photo taken during construction of
the upper road.
4.4 Rockbolts
After review of the kinematic characteristics and sta-
bility of the rock slope, it was established that ten-
sioned anchors such as rockbolts would be required to
reinforce the slope. Because of the blocks that dipped
out of slope, the design called for installation of a row
of closely spaced rock bolts behind the cut line of the
backwall of the access road and tower pad 24/1 prior to
excavation. The purpose was to stabilize the backwall
during blasting and ripping. In addition, it was part of
the design to achieve a factor of safety of 1.5 for the
access road and 3.0 for the tower pad. The rockbolts
spacing ranged from 0.5 m to 1.5 m (1.5 ft to 5 ft) and
2 m (7 ft) behind the cutline. In total, approximately
1024 m (3360 ft) of rock bolts were installed behind
the backwall (Fig. 7).
Wyllie & Mah (2004) provide an excellent descrip-
tion of tensioned anchors to include rockbolts. Rock-
bolts comprise two parts, a bond length and an
unbonded length. In the bond length, the bolt is bonded
by resin, grout or a mechanical device to the surround-
ing rock. In the unbonded zone, the bolt has no bond
and is free to strain as tension is applied. The bond
zone of the bolt is located below the failure plane in
good rock so that when tension is applied to the bolt it
increases the factor of safety.
Techniques of securing the distal end of the bolt
include resin, cement grout and mechanical devices.
On this project the contractor elected to use resin
Figure 7. Photo shows contractor installing and testing
rockbolts behind the cutline of the access road to Tower
Pad 24/1.
anchors. To install the cartridges, the contractor sim-
ply slides a sufficient number of cartridges into the
drill hole to fill the annular space around the bolt.
Tolerances between the bolt size and the borehole are
critical to the size of cartridge selected for a proper
bond between the rock and bolt when the rockbolt is
spun into the hole to mix the resin. During installation
the rock bolt is spun through the cartridges to mix the
resin and achieve a bond between the rock and bolt.
On the project, the first two rock bolts failed dur-
ing proof testing by the contractor (Fig. 7). Failure
of the rockbolt bond may be attributed the following
potential problems:
1. Resin not setting properly
2. Resin cartridges too small for the annular space
3. Not installing the rockbolt properly per resin spec-
ifications
4. Drill hole widening in the weaker rock material
because of drill bit “wobble”
To find a solution, the contractor first consulted
with the manufacture to insure that the right car-
tridges of resin were being employed. Next tests were
completed on the resin to establish mixing and setup
times. Two test anchors were installed using differ-
ent methods. After trial and error it was established
that the proper cartridges were being used in the hole.
The problem became clearly evident that the annular
space between the rockbolt and the rock was irregu-
lar and wider in some areas. The irregular hole was
created from chatter and wobble of the drill stem in
the weak fractured limestone. The increase in annular
space around the steel did not allow for good contact
between the resin, rock and rockbolt.
884
Figure 8. Photos shows backbreak from presplit blasting
resulting from weak shattered rock and structure dipping
adverse into excavation. Note the partial half casts.
To alleviate the problem, the contractor placed addi-
tional cartridges in the hole and packed the cartridges
in place. When the steel was spun, they achieved a
good bond between the resin, steel and rock. Once this
issue was solved, the rockbolts passed the performance
and proof tests at design loads.
4.5 Blasting overbreak
Wyllie & Mah (2004) have shown that slope instability
is often related to blast damage of the rockslope behind
the face. The damage is often related to overbreak.
Overbreak is excessive rock breakage beyond the exca-
vation limits. Overbreak includes backbreak, which is
breakage behind the last row of shot holes and end-
break that occurs at the end of the shot line.To achieve a
clean stable backwall of the access road and tower pad,
presplit blasting was done 2 m (7 ft) below the first bolt
line. During drilling of the presplit holes, the contrac-
tor observed drill activity (drill speed, drops, etc) that
represented varying geologic conditions at depth. Pre-
split blasting worked as designed along the backwall
of the access road because the limestone was compe-
tent and of good quality. However, presplit blasting did
very poorly in the backwall of the tower pad (Fig. 8).
In this case the backbreak originated because of the
poor quality rock exacerbated by unfavorable struc-
tural geology. The backbreak may have been reduced
if the bolt line was moved downslope closer to the blast
cutline.
4.6 Backwall tower pad 24/1 redesign
In mid-April 2006, the first row of rock bolts was com-
pleted above the cutline for tower pad 24/1 and the
access road.
Excavation of the pad was stopped at a depth of
approximately 3.5 m (12 ft), approximately 6 m (20 ft)
short of the planned depth because of unstable con-
ditions, rockfall and potential hazards to the workers.
The lithology uncovered during excavation was com-
posed of approximately 1.5 m (5 ft) of moderately
fractured, moderately strong limestone underlain by
approximately 2 m (7 ft) of highly to extremely frac-
tured, moderately strong limestone with some weak
gypsum and soil layers.
Some of the loose blocks were stabilized with spot
rock dowels. However, it was concluded that the orig-
inal rockslope design had to be modified to account Figure 9. Application of shotcrete on the backwall of Tower
for the changing conditions. In addition, NPC elected Pad 24/1.
to reduce the design factor of safety to 1.5 because of
the cost to construct the wall.
Before modifying the design, three boreholes were
completed to further characterize the subsurface geol-
ogy below the pad. Based on the weak fractured nature
of the limestone and associated rock in the face, the
following mitigation designs where selected.
1. Cut the back slope at the tower pad as a vertical
slope in the limestone.
2. Install three rows of rock dowels (in three lifts)
in the sidewall and back wall cut slope on a
1.8 m × 1.8 m (6 × 6 ft) pattern for a Factor of
Safety greater than 1.5.
3. Drape the cut slope face and rock dowels in lifts
with 16 mm × 16 mm (4 × 4 in) wire mesh. Figure 10. Tower pad and foundation for Tower 24/1. Note
4. Install 3 m (10 ft) horizontal drains on 6 m (20 ft) finished backwall.
spacing just below the third row of rock dowels
to reduce the potential for hydrostatic pressure to
build behind the shotcrete face.
5. Apply shotcrete to the cut slope face at a thickness
of 76 mm (3 in).
6. Install 111 kN (25 kip) spot rock bolts as needed
in cut slope face along the lower section of the pad
and access road.
Figure 9 displays the contractor applying shotcrete
on the backwall of Tower Pad 24/1. 263 linear meters
(864 ft) of dowels were installed in the backwall of
tower pad 24/1 and access road. Horizontal drains
were reported to work as designed after a severe cloud
burst. Figures 10 and 11 display the completed Tower
24/1 pad with foundations and the monopole structures
installed.

5 LESSONS LEARNED

The issues that occurred during the design and con- Figure 11. Monopole structures for Tower 24/1. Note fin-
struction provided a number of lessons learned. ished backwall and installed transmission lines.

885
Exploratory drilling prior to design and construc-
tion is an important aspect to providing the most
appropriate and cost-effective design options. As dis-
cussed, exploratory drilling was not completed as part
of the investigation because of difficult access and
costs. A boring completed at the 24/1 pad location
would have provided detailed information regarding
the fractured nature of the subsurface lithology.
The poor quality rock mass and the adverse dipping
structure exacerbated the back break along the 24/1
pad and access road. In addition, the rock with alter-
nating zones of competent and incompetent rock had
a negative impact on the blast performance.
There are good and bad points to using resin anchors
and cement anchors. Some of the good points for resin
anchors are:
• Quick setting time
• One visit to install anchor and fill hole
•
Cleaner operation
• Requires less bond zone
As observed during the construction, resin anchors
have some bad points associated with resin:
• Critical hole size for cartridges
• Limited to about 9 m (30 ft)
• Works poorly in bad quality rock
Using a cement-type anchor may have alleviated
some of the issues encountered with resin anchors.
The drill bit “wobble” and hole widening in the weaker
zones would have filled in the bond zone with the use
of cement grout. Some of the good points for grout
anchors are:
• Works well in poor quality rock
• Easier to prestress rock anchors
However, cement-type anchors also have some bad
points associated with the grout:
• Potentially messy operation
• Slow setting
• Two grouting periods required for rock bolts (bond
zone and unbonded zone)
886
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge the following person-
nel for their support on this project: The engineers
and surveyors at NPC for the opportunity to be apart
of this project team and for their support and assis-
tance during design and construction; Mike Hansen,
Kleinfelder – Las Vegas, for his outstanding effort
as the field engineer during construction, and; Ann
Backstrom and David Salter, Kleinfelder – Las Vegas,
for their managerial effort and support with this
project.
REFERENCES
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass Classifica-
tions. John Wiley & Sons, 251 pp.
Castor, S.B., Faulds, J.E., Rowland, S.M. & dePolo, C.M.
2000. Geologic Map of the Frenchman Mountain Quad-
rangle, Clark County, Nevada; Map 127, Nevada Bureau
of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada, Reno.
Deere, D.U. 1973. Technical description of rock cores for
engineering purposes. Felsmechanik und Ingenieugeolo-
gie 1(1): 16–22.
Dips (Version 5.0) 2003. Plotting and Analysis Software for
Geomechanical Structural Data. Toronto: Rocscience Inc.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 1998. Rock Slopes
Reference Manual, FWHA-HI-99-007.
Jones, C., Higgins, J. & Andrew, R. 2000. Colorado Rockfall
Simulation Program, Version 4.0.
Hoek, E. & Bray, J. 1981. Rockslope Engineering. Institution
of Mining and Metallurgy, 357 pp.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mineral Sciences 34(8): 1165–1186.
Planstrom, A. 1975. Karakterisering av Oppsprekningsgrad
og Fjellmassers Kvalild. Internal Report, Ing. A.B. Berdal
A/S, Oslo, Norway, pp. 1–26.
Rocplane (Version 2.0) 2003. Stability Analysis Software for
Translational Failures. Toronto: RocScience Inc.
Slide (Version 5.0) 2003. Stability Analysis Software for Soil
and Rock Slopes. Toronto: RocScience Inc.
Watts, C.F. 2001. Rockpack III, Slope Stability Computerized
Analysis Package Reference Manual, Radford University,
48 pp.
Wyllie, D. & Mah, C.W. 2004. Rock Slope Engineering, 4th
Edition. New York: Spon Press.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Rock fall hazard assessment of Chapmans Peak Drive, Cape Town,

South Africa

P. Schlotfeldt
Golder Associates Ltd. Vancouver, Canada

ABSTRACT: GIS was used as one of the primary analysis tools during a rock fall hazard assessment and
analyses of Chapmans Peak Drive, south of Cape Town. This paper describes the methodology used and the
results of this work. Key methods used included 1) the development of a digital elevation model (DEM) used to
delineate rock fall runout Zones; 2) rating Zones using an adapted version of the Oregon rock fall hazard rating
system (RHRS) in order to determine the relative vulnerability of individual Zones to rock fall; 3) undertaking
rock trajectory analyses to determine the distribution of kinetic energy for identified rock fall runout Zones; and
4) undertaking event tree analyses based on the synthesis of all data in order to establish Zones with the highest
risk of fatalities. The results of this work shows that the vulnerability and risk varies considerably between Zones.
The reasons for these differences are briefly elucidated.

1 INTRODUCTION killed and many more injured as a result of rock falls

Chapmans Peak Drive, located between Hout Bay and
Noordhoek, on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Cape
Peninsula, near Cape Town, South Africa (Fig. 1) is
a favorite tourist route and is famous for its scenic
beauty. The Drive, parts of which hug the near verti-
cal mountainside of Chapmans Peak, is both a major
tourist attraction and an important transportation link
between the southern part of the Cape Peninsula and
the city of Cape Town. At least 10 people have been
along parts of the drive, with the majority of the deaths
or injuries having occurred within the last ten years.
The Drive was closed to traffic in early January
2000 because of a rock fall fatality. Subsequent to the
death, and while the road was still closed, significant
fires swept through the area, further de-stabilizing the
slopes. In an effort to rehabilitate the Drive, a rock
scaling program was initiated shortly after the fires. It
was soon realized, however, that the problems could
not be overcome with scaling alone and this program
was stopped. A design-build-finance-operate (DBFO)
bid was subsequently put out to tender in order to mit-
igate the problems. This paper briefly describes the
methodology used to understand the spatial distribu-
tion and magnitude of the rock fall problem along
the Drive that was conducted as part of the design
phase for the DBFO bid. The study provided key data
required to develop preliminary designs and cost esti-
mates in order to mitigate the rockfall hazard. During
the bidding process (early in 2001), Cape Town expe-
rienced its heaviest rains in approximately 40 years,
which resulted in a record number of rock falls and
mud and debris slides onto the Drive.
The Drive has subsequently been rehabilitated and
was opened to traffic again in 2004.

2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

From a rock fall hazard perspective the Drive was

divided into three distinct sections (Fig. 2); a northern
Figure 1. Location of Chapmans Peak Drive. section (approximately 4 km long), a middle section

887
(approximately 2.6 km long), and a southern section
(approximately 3 km long). The north and south sec-
tions had few rock fall problems or potential rock fall
hazards. The mid-section of the Drive hugs the moun-
tain with shear cliffs extending up to 500 m above the
road and included the locations of all major rock fall
incidents and deaths. The mid-section was considered
to be the most hazardous section of the Drive and this
paper deals only with this part of the Drive (Fig. 2).
The mid-section is referred to as the Drive for the
remainder of this paper.
The mountainous terrain on the Drive is typically
complex and extremely steep. The cliff bands are fre-
quently near vertical to overhanging and are up to
150 m high in places. Unstable blocks and wedges,
some of which were car-sized or bigger, were observed
to be present on most of the cliff bands. The cliff bands
are typically interspersed with boulder strewn scree
slopes with slope angles of between 35◦ and 55◦ . As a
result of the fires, a significant percentage of the scree
slopes had all binding vegetation obliterated. This
exposed boulders of all sizes and shapes, frequently
perched at critical angles of repose, significantly
increasing the potential hazard from these slope facets.
The approach used to assess the potential hazard
and risk as a result of rock fall was multi-faceted and
is briefly described below.
Figure 2. DEM of Chapmans Peak showing rockfall runout
Zones and hazard ratings for each Zone.
888
3 DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL
Before any mitigation measures could be considered, it
was imperative that the spatial distribution and magni-
tude of the problem be understood. With this in mind,
the initial step entailed setting up a digital elevation
model (DEM) using ArcInfo GIS. The DEM model
was then used to delineate rock fall runout Zones.
A rock fall runout Zone is defined as an area above
the road where falling rocks are channeled into gullies
and/or are contained between topographic features.
Topographic features include crests of ridges and spurs
that extend down the mountainside, providing natural
barriers that generally ensure that most falling rocks
do not fall or roll into adjacent Zones. A rock fall
event within a particular rockfall runout Zone may
impact on the Drive or bounce over the road, but this
will likely occur only between restricted lengths on the
Drive of each defined Zone. The predicted boundaries
of major rockfall runout Zones for the Drive are shown
schematically in Figure 2.
Some Zones comprise discrete chutes or gullies
and rock falling from anywhere within the Zone will
be channeled and will have similar fall pathways
for a given block size. Other Zones have similar
topography (similar slope profiles without discrete
gullies) throughout, and rocks falling from similar
height within a Zone will probably have similar rock-
fall trajectories and energy distributions for a given
block size.
To refine these Zones and ensure that the Zone
boundaries were placed in the correct position, the
‘Path of Least Resistance Tool’ in Arc Info 3D spa-
tial analysts was used to determine typical descent
paths or down slope movement within Zones (example
shown in Fig. 2 – Zone 15). Besides confirming bound-
ary positions, ‘paths of least resistance’ were assumed
to simulate, to some degree, the three-dimensional
affect or path of rocks as they bounce or roll down
slope. Using this technique, 21 discrete Zones were
identified, and these were labeled sequentially from
north to south, i.e. with increasing road station num-
bers from north to south (e.g. Zone 14 – Fig. 2). The
station numbers at either end of discrete Zones were
subsequently used to indicate the location of these nat-
ural breaks and these Zones formed the basis of all
subsequent work.
4 ROCK FALL HAZARD ASSESSMENT
In order to understand key factors influencing the rock
fall hazard, it was necessary to undertake some form
of hazard assessment that could be used to assess the
relative hazard level at each rock fall runout Zone iden-
tified using the DEM. This ensured that Zones could be
ranked in order of the potential danger they presented
to the highway user.
 The Oregon State Highway Division’s Rock Fall
Hazard Rating System (RHRS) (Pierson et al. 1990)
was initially considered for use. The system provides
a method of making informed decisions on where and
how to spend construction funds. An exponential scor-
ing graph is used to represent the increase in hazard on
the basis of nine categories; slope height, ditch effec-
tiveness, average vehicle risk, percent of decision site
distance, roadway width, geological character, quan-
tity of rockfall/event, climate and rock fall history. The
resulting total score provided a means of evaluating the
relative risk of rock fall to the traveling public.
For a number of reasons, which are discussed below,
it became necessary to adapt the RHRS system specif-
ically for local conditions on Chapmans Peak Drive.
It is assumed that the reader is familiar with / or will
refer to the Oregon RHRS when reading this section,
since space does not permit a more detailed treatment.
Table 1, which provides an abbreviated version of the
‘Chapmans Peak’ RHRS developed for the project, is
not intended to be directly comparable to the Ore-
gon classification scheme; rather it provided a rational
method of determining key reasons why some Zones
were more hazardous than others, even though the
Zones were often in close proximity.
Weighting Factors were also applied to certain cate-
gories in the final analysis, because it is considered that
some parameters contribute more to the overall hazard
and therefore risk of fatalities than others. Slope height
(increase in potential kinetic energy) and rockfall his-
tory categories were considered to be very important
factors affecting individual Zones. As a result, a factor
of three was applied to the scores assigned to these
categories. Average vehicle risk and % DSD distance
were also considered to have an important influence
on the probability of a fatality occurring and a fac-
tor of two (2) was applied in these cases. Geological
character and block size or volume, while important,
do not change significantly along the Drive, and the
original Oregon RHRS scores are maintained in these
cases, although the criteria had to be adjusted to fit
field conditions.
Ditch width, road width and climate, on the other
hand, were considered to be static and insensitive
parameters on the Drive because they were essentially
uniform throughout, and therefore a factor of 0.5 has
been applied as a means of indicating that these cate-
gories are considered, but that they do not necessarily
influence the vulnerability of Zones in the same way
as other parameters may.

Table 1. Abbreviated rockfall hazard rating system used on Chapman’s Peak Drive.

Criteria

Category 2, 3, 6 or 9 * 5, 9, 18, or 27* 14, 27, 54, or 81* 41, 81, 54, 243*

Slope height 0–100 m [9] 100–00 m [27] 200–300 m [81] >300 m [243]
Ditch effectiveness Good [6] Moderate [18] Limited [54] None [162]
AVR <25% [6] 25–50% [18] 50–150% [54] >150% [162]
% DSD >100% [6] 100% [18] 40–100% [54] <40% [162]
Roadway width 14 m [2] 11 m [5] 9 m [14] 6 m [41]
Geologic character Limited source Some source areas Many source areas Major source areas for
areas for rock fall. for rock fall. Occasional for rock fall. Many rock fall. Major erosion
Few erosion features, erosion features, erosion features, features, extreme
small difference in moderate difference in large difference in difference in erosion
erosion rate [3] erosion rates [9] erosion rates [27] rates [81]
Block size/ 0.3 m diam. blocks 0.6 m diam. blocks 1 m diam. blocks 2 m diam. blocks max.,
quantity of max., or 3 cubic meters max., or 5 cubic max., or 8 cubic meters or 10 cubic meters per
rockfall event per event [3] meters per event [9] per event [27] event [81]
Climate and low to moderate moderate precipitation, no high precipitation, no high precipitation, no
presence of water precipitation, no freezing, intermittent water freezing, frequent water freezing, continual
on slope freezing periods, no on slope [5] on slope [14] water on slope [41]
water on slope [2]
Rockfall history # no damage or rockfalls only one layer [27] two layers intersect [81] all three layers intersect
recorded [9] [243]

*Score used depends on factor used (see text): AVR – Average Vehicle Risk; %DSD – Percent of Decision Sight Distance @ –
Decision sight distance = 20 m; # – Based on intersecting layers of pre- and post-fire, and current rockfall events as determined
by GIS analysis.

889
 Figure 2 also presents the final hazard rating on the
Drive using the results from the adapted hazard rating
system.
4.1 Effective average slope height
The highest effective slope heights encountered
include Zone 9 (411 m), Zone 11 (356 m), and Zone
15 (430 m) respectively. The upper boundary lines of
some Zones (8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 18) do not reach
the true crest of the mountain.
The effective heights of these Zones are the height of
the upper rock fall runout Zone boundary lines (delin-
eated by topographic effects), rather than the actual
height of the mountain.From observation and records
it was known that most rock falls initiated from the
natural slopes above the road and not from cuts, even
though many of the cuts had heights greater than 30 m.
The entire mountain would, therefore, score maximum
points in the Oregon RHRS and this parameter would
be static and insensitive to observable height differ-
ences. Higher threshold slope height criteria were
therefore established, and these and the relative scores
(factor of three applied to the scores normally allo-
cated per criteria) are shown in Table 1. These data
were taken directly off the DEM.
4.2 Average Vehicle Risk (AVR)
300 vehicles per hour was considered to be the aver-
age daily traffic number and was held constant for all
Zones. Slope length was considered to be the cumu-
lative distance that a vehicle was exposed to hazards
within a particular Zone. A constant speed limit of
20 km/h was used to calculate the AVR per Zone.
Posted speed limits were very slow because of poor
line of sight distances.
Zones 1, 3, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, and 17 had the
highest average vehicle risk. Rating points assigned for
various class intervals are indicated in Table 1 (factor
of two applied to the scores normally allocated per
criteria).
4.3 Percent of decision sight distance
According to published guidelines (Hoek 2000), if the
posted speed limit is 20 km/h then a minimum deci-
sion sight distance of 160 m is required. Extremely
tight roadway curves and other obstructions such as
rock cuts severely limited line of site distance on the
Drive. As a result the low design decision site values
normally recommended only occur along limited parts
of the Drive.
In order to produce a result that was meaningful
along the drive,ArcView 3DAnalyst was used to deter-
mine actual line of sight distances along the Drive and
the decision sight distance was taken as a constant 20 m
since this was assumed to be the distance required for
890
a vehicle to come to a complete stop when traveling
at 20 km/h or less. Where segments of road were iden-
tified with less than 100% DSD, it was then possible
to identify curves or bends where less than 20 m of
stopping distance was available for drivers to react.
The results of this work, while not directly com-
parable to other published work, provided a means of
establishing the proportion or length of road within
individual Zones that had poor %DSD and therefore
added to the vulnerability within a Zone. This analysis
showed that Zone 1, 2, 5, 10, 13, and 17 had signifi-
cant proportion of road length with %DSD value that
ranged between 19% and 39%. Actual line of sight dis-
tance on some of the worst-case bends ranges from as
little as 4 m to 8 m. The rating applied to the various
classes or ranges of %DSD are provided in Table 1
(factor of two applied to the scores normally allocated
per criteria).
4.4 Roadway width
The Drive is mostly 6 m in width and therefore most
of the Drive received the maximum high rating for this
criterion −0.5 × 81 points (Table 1).
4.5 Geologic character
The stability of rock cuts and natural rock slopes above
the Drive are generally controlled by sub-horizontal
bedding and sub-vertical joints. This lends itself to
a blocky rock mass, and toppling and parallel cliff
retreat rather than classical planar or wedge provide
the key failure mechanisms. The geological conditions
producing rock fall on the Drive are considered below.
Relatively soft, closely jointed and bedded, erod-
able, Graafwater Formation siltstones and sandstones
of the Table Mountain Group, are often found directly
above the Drive and these are capped above by hard,
widely jointed and bedded, more competent, durable
quartzitic sandstones of the Peninsula Formation. This
difference in strength and erodability of the lower and
upper layers of rocks has resulted in areas of the moun-
tain above the Drive (Graafwater Formation rocks)
where the cliffs are undercut. This results in a source
area of unstable slabs and blocks in the roofs of over-
hanging section of cliffs.The Drive is typically notched
into the steep sides of Chapmans Peak along a sub-
horizontal non-conformity, so that most of the Dive is
underlain by very resistant, hard, poorly jointed Cape
Granite Suite rocks.
The upper capping of resistant Peninsula sandstones
has resulted in some spectacular cliffs. These cliffs
are, however, subject to parallel retreat as blocks of
variable dimensions work themselves loose and top-
ple over time. The largest, and therefore most lethal,
blocks observed lying on the Drive were quartzitic
sandstone blocks and this provided evidence that the
upper Formation also provided a key source of rockfall.
Observation also confirmed that the larger quartzitic
sandstone blocks typically broke up less than the silt-
stone/sandstone blocks during their descent. It was
also frequently observed that numerous blocks were
mobilized (on scree slopes or on less steep cliff) as a
consequence of a single initiating event.
Scree slopes with angles that vary from 35◦ to 55◦
were frequently observed between cliff bands above
the Drive. Boulders of all sizes were perched on the
scree slopes and also provided a potential source of
rock fall, particularly after the fires of 2000. Although
relatively stable in dry conditions, these slopes are also
susceptible to extreme erosion events and debris slides
during heavy rainfall and this was exacerbated by the
heavy rain of 2001.
On the basis of the above observations, descrip-
tors (criteria) were developed that reflects the potential
failure mechanisms within Zones and the relative
vulnerability of Zones as a result of the geological
conditions (Table 1).
Because of the extreme nature of the terrain, the
assessment of conditions frequently required the use of
oblique aerial photographs and in some cases was also
based on observation made while rappelling during the
rock scaling program.
Zones that rated the worst in this category include
Zones 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, and 16 all with 81 points respec-
tively. This was followed by Zones 3, 9, and 14 which
were rated with 27 points respectively.
4.6 Block size or quantity of rockfall per event
Numerous blocks of between 0.5 m 3 and 2 m 3 were
frequently observed lying on the road during the
bid phase investigation work (Fig. 3). Occasionally
blocks of up to 10 m3 were observed on the road.
The largest individual blocks observed on the Drive
were commonly identified as coming from the upper
Peninsula Formation quartzitic sandstones unit. The
scaling program regularly revealed blocks of 8 m3 or
more perched precariously on cliffs or on scree slopes.
Debris sides or slumps were numerous during the
bid phase (up to 30 m3 in single events), but these
Figure 3. Peninsula Sandstone block (2–3 m3 ) at rest on the
Drive.
891
were considered as outliers due to the heavy rain in
early 2001.
Table 2 shows the criteria used and the related score
per descriptive criterion. This table reflects observa-
tions made during the bid phase of work and infor-
mation gleaned from rock fall inventories (see Section
4.9 below). The worst affected areas (highest rating)
include Zones 4, 6, and 7–16.
4.7 Climate and presence of water on slope
Chapmans Peak as a whole has little protection from
winter storms since it faces virtually head-on into
the prevailing NW winds that bring the cold fronts.
Individual Zones probably do not have significantly
differing weather conditions. It is considered that the
Drive generally fits into the second category (Table 1).
That is moderate to high precipitation in winter due to
cold fronts, resulting in intermittent water on the slopes
without freeze and thaw conditions. This results in
a score of 0.5 × 9 points for each Zone. While this
may not provide any sensitivity to compare Zones, this
category was included in this Hazard Rating since it
provides a reminder that this is one of the key factors
that can influence or trigger rockfall events.
4.8 Rockfall history
This information has been gleaned from – albeit poor
– records of known rockfall events on this part of the
Drive. This provided discrete time capsules of infor-
mation on the volume, frequency, and potential spatial
distribution of future rockfalls events. It also provides
a means of comparing the score given to other criteria
(e.g. geology and block size) to see if there were some
correlation between the rockfall history and the vari-
ability assigned to these factors that may influence the
frequency of events.
Three time frames or sets of records of damage and
rockfall events were taken into account, namely:
• Pre-fire damage (to the road surface) and rockfalls
recorded prior to the fire that occurred in January
2000 (volumes and block sizes not known);
• Post-fire damage, i.e., records after the fires and
after the rock scaling program (no volumes were
available); and
• Recent – rockfalls recorded after the road was
cleared of all rock scaling debris and includes mate-
rial that landed on the road during the recent heavy
winter rains (July to September 2001).
ArcView was then used to determine sectors or
lengths on the Drive where the rockfall records from
all three periods described above overlapped in a
spatial sense, providing some indication of the fre-
quency of events. The same was done to determine
localities where two periods overlapped and where
rockfall was recorded only during one of the peri- magnitude of the rock fall problem, rockfall trajectory
ods mentioned above. Table 1 presents the descriptors analyses were undertaken on all Zones shown in Fig-
or criterion applicable to the various scores (factor of ure 2 using a computer simulation program called Roc-
three applied to conventional scores).A range of scores fall (2001) produced by Rocscience Geomechanics
were recorded within individual Zones. This reflected Software and Research, Toronto, Canada.
the fact that certain parts of the road may be more
vulnerable, but the source of rock fall is still within a
discrete Zone. 5.2 Method of assessment
From this work it was concluded that Zones 3, 6,
It was assumed for the analyses that rocks are dis-
7, 8, 9, 10, 15, and 16 had the worst accumulative
lodged from the highest possible points within a
rockfall history over significant length of road within
particular Zone and from a number of other lower
these Zones. Some judgment has to be applied when
points. Typical cross-sections were generated along
reviewing these results, since the record of rockfalls
assumed potential trajectory paths, i.e. one for each
during the scaling operation is indicative of what is
Zone and two in Zone 15, since this Zone covers the
possible, but it also probable that where rock scaling
largest surface area on the mountain (Figs. 2, 4).
was undertaken the hazard level was reduced by some
Cross-sections generated from the DEM provided
factor.
the starting point. The DEM ‘smoothed’ profiles did
not always reflect the reality of this complex terrain.
4.9 Overall hazard rating for zones The Rocfall program is very sensitive to the profile
size. Theoretical barriers were inserted at the first log-
ArcView Spatial Analyst was used to determine the
ical position above the Drive with due regard to access
overall rating along the Drive and these results are
and constructability. This provided a means of com-
summarised in Figure 2. Given the fact that the ratings
paring the reduction in the impact energies or slope
for individual categories can vary within Zone bound-
geometry and the results may be erroneous if based
aries, it is evident that a range of cumulative or overall
on the DEM section alone. For this reason, adjust-
ratings can apply within individual Zones.
ments had to be made to cross-sections, as best as
The results of this work show that Zones 7, 9, 10,
possible, to accommodate the real topography. This
15, and 16 had ratings that are consistently higher than
was achieved by using the DEM smoothed profiles as
600 and are often > 800 for significant lengths within
base sections (since the elevation difference between
these Zones. These Zones were therefore considered
the road and the crest of Zones were correct, as were
to have the highest level of vulnerability to rock fall
the location of the road and the crest of the mountain).
when all the factors were considered and would likely
Then, with the use of oblique aerial photographs and
require major remedial measures to reduce the risk of
field checking, cross-sections were adjusted to include
fatalities. Zones 2, 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 16, and 17 have sec-
visible cliff bands and scree slopes (or slopes vertices
tions of road that have overall ratings that fall in the
in Rocfall). This process, which ultimately resulted in
400 to 600 category. Other Zones (Zones 1, 5, 12, and
x-y co-ordinate pairs, required for input in to Roc-
18 to 21 respectively) had, comparatively, lower rat-
fall, cannot reproduce exact surface profiles but it is
ings and therefore reduced levels of vulnerability, and
contended that the results were a reasonable approxi-
less stringent remedial measure could be considered
mation, given that, with Rocfall, it is possible to build
in these cases.
in some variance for vertices. In order to keep the
These ratings can only provide an indication of
number of iterations down, analyses were restricted by
the inherent hazard and risk (and associated conse-
simulating rockfall for a block of 1 m3 only. This was
quences) and cannot be viewed in isolation from the
a contentious point, but it was the design block desig-
results of more quantitative work required to design
nated by the client. For the simulation two scenarios
actual remedial measures, but the results certainly
were examined; 1) potential worst case impact ener-
identified key Zones and helped elucidate the reasons
gies on the road for individual Zones, for the design
for their significance.
block size, and 2) potential impact energies on strate-
gically placed (some field checking done) barriers for
individual Zones, for the same block size.
5 ROCKFALL TRAJECTORY ANALYSES
These data provided a convenient means to compare
Zones and to compare the feasibility or effectiveness of
5.1 Introduction
barriers (capacity and height requirements). Figure 4
The path that falling rocks can potentially take, the shows one of the profiles generated for Zone 15 and
associated kinetic energy, bounce heights and veloci- the simulated rock fall trajectories. Table 2 summa-
ties are very important factors that influence the risk rizes data for some of the worst case Zones in order to
to road users, particularly when designing mitigation provide an indication of the magnitude of some of the
measures. In order to understand the potential impact energies possible.

892
5.3 Results of trajectory analyses
It should also be noted that a minimum of 50 rocks were
‘seeded’ (in the simulation) from a number of likely
‘event points’ on the cross-sections in order to deter-
mine variability in trajectory, kinetic energy levels, and
velocities.
Factors such as the geometry of the slope profile and
the properties of the various slope segments can influ-
ence the results. Values for slope friction angles and
coefficients of normal and tangential restitution were
typically selected as default values provided within the
program.
5.3.1 Maximum kinetic energy on the road
Zone 9 had possible kinetic energies that range
between 0–700 kJ. Zones 1, 2, 3, and 5 have possi-
ble kinetic energies that range between 700–1000 kJ,
assuming falls from the upper reaches of these slopes.
Zones 7, 10, 18, 19, 20, and 21, on the other hand, have
a possible range of 1000–2000 kJ. Zones 4, 6,13, and
17 have a possible range of 2000–3000 kJ. Zones 8, 11,
12, 14, 15, and 16, however, have the highest possible
Figure 4. Zone 15 rockfall simulation trajectory paths
(insert photograph shows the upper cliff band evident in the
cross-section.
range with energy values falling between 3000 and
6000 kJ.
In conjunction with the hazard rating values, the
assessed potential kinetic energy levels within Zones
provided a powerful means of understanding all the
major factors that can influence the risk and the poten-
tial consequence resulting from a rock fall event within
a Zone. This provided a starting point for conceptu-
alizing possible remedial solutions for the different
Zones.
5.3.2 Energy at theoretical barriers (catch fences)
The second phase of this study involved inserting
‘theoretical barriers’ on cross-section as a method of
comparing the possible reduction in impact energies
per Zone (as a result of a reduction in energy with an
elevated location of a barrier above the road) with those
anticipated on the actual Drive. The Rocfall program
has the ability to insert theoretical barriers at various
positions on slope profiles and from this determine
a range of possible impact energies, bounce heights,
and trajectories for blocks of a given per Zones com-
pared to that possible on the road. These data also
provided basic information required to design catch
fences in Zones where these were considered to be a
feasible alternative.
Table 2 provides examples of the minimum, maxi-
mum, and mean values of bounce height and kinetic
energy on barriers for selected Zones. Space does not
permit a detailed treatment of these results; suffice to
say that Zones 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 still had impact
energies that exceed 3000 kJ and mean bounce heights
of greater than 8 m, which exceeded the upper limits of
certified commercially available rock fall catch fences
at that time.
Finally, an anomaly is evident in Table 2 that needs
clarification. For Zones 11 and 14, the maximum
energy on the road is less than the maximum energy
recorded on the theoretical barriers. This is simply a
function of the ‘theoretical barrier tool’ in the Rocfall

Table 2. Example of summary results of rockfall analyses – Chapmans Peak Drive.

Maximum total Rock bounce height at barrier Total kinetic energy at barrier
Zone kinetic energy
Zone length on road Min. Max. Mean Min. Max. Mean
number (m) (k J) (m) (m) (m) (k J) (k J) (k J)

2 10 705 0 1.95 0.4 103 324 206

3 120 823 0 3.21 0.26 4 724 286
7 220 1974 0 3.04 0.55 236 1210 518
8 90 4623 0.12 52.41 13.85 566 4370 2690
10 110 1243 0 7.62 0.68 45 776 282
11 60 5005 0 43.8 12.1 298 5250 1510
12 20 5252 0 51.3 14.2 931 4840 2720
14 110 3726 0.28 22.7 6.6 360 4470 1370
15 5853 0.92 46.57 14.47 1090 4550 2670
16 50 4985 0.13 97.69 53.2 265 4910 2480

893

Figure 5. Comparison between risks of fatalities due to
rockfall for Zones with published acceptable risk criteria.
program, which records the energy of all rocks that
move past an inserted barrier, irrespective of the trajec-
tory and includes rocks that would ultimately bounce
over the road. This can be different to the maximum
kinetic energy recorded on the road alone, since these
data are taken from the total kinetic energy envelope
(in Rocfall) for falls that land on the road only and the
results do not include rocks that bounce over the road.
6 RISK EVALUATION
The preceding sections dealt with the methods used
to identify rockfall runout Zones and the factors that
affect the hazard level along the Drive as a result
of rock fall. All of these factors need to be consid-
ered when trying to quantify the risk associated with
individual Zones.
6.1 Event tree analysis and the resultant risk
Probability analyses were undertaken for each Zone
and the risk or fatalities due to rockfalls are sum-
marised for selected Zones in Figure 5. Space does
not permit a detailed explanation of the event tree
riskmethod used; suffice to say that it was very similar
to the method described by Hoek (2000).
6.2 Published guidelines for tolerable risk
Figure 5 shows curves of annual probability of occur-
rence with increasing number of fatalities. The bold
lines summarize published and proposed guidelines
for tolerable risk in Canada / Hong Kong (shown as
Hong Kong line in Figure 5), Netherlands, and UK
respectively. Event tree analyses were undertaken for
all Zones on the Drive. For clarity, the results from
only a select number of Zones are shown in Figure 5.
According to Hoek (2000), consensus is now devel-
oping in Canada and other developed nations that the
894
annual probability of 1 in 10,000 (1.00E−4 on the
figure) defines the boundary between voluntary risk
(restricted to the general public) and involuntary risk
(acceptable for the public). From the event tree analy-
sis it turns out that Zones 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16 fell
above the Canada / Hong Kong risk lines, and these
Zones were considered to have an unacceptable risk
profile. Other Zones generally fell below the threshold
risk levels, i.e., had marginal to low risk profile.
7 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Potential exists for a 1.2 km long tunnel route to divert
the traffic away from the most dangerous part of
the Drive. This solution, which was recommended to
the client, would have provided a relatively low risk
solution compared to the most dangerous Zones.
However, the Client wanted to retain the original
alignment and aesthetics on the Drive. The result of the
study outlined above provided a powerful starting point
to developing conceptualized remedial measures, pro-
ducing preliminary designs, and developing schedule
of quantities and cost estimates for individual Zones
on the Drive. These data and designs formed the core
of the design, build, finance, operate bid.
Solutions range from reinforced concrete and fill
covered roadway sections, to half tunnels in rock,
to multiple deflector rock fall catch fences (acting
to deflect and channel falling rocks and to reduce
energy), to a single catch fences (with a range of capac-
ities and heights), to single cantilevered catch fence
(anchored on vertical rock cuts above the Drive). For
existing rock cuts, scaling and the installation of rock
fall protection netting were proposed, depending on
the hazard level present. Selective rock scaling was
also factored into the bid in order to make certain area
safer for construction workers.
In the end the DBFO consortium that the author
worked for did not win the work, but the results
formed a valuable contribution to the knowledge of
the mountain.
REFERENCES
Hoek, E. 2000. Rock Engineering. Chapter 9, pp. 115–136.
Available on www.rocscience.com.
Hungr, O. & Evans, S.G. 1989. Engineering aspects of rock-
fall hazard in Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Open
File 2061, pp. 102.
Pierson, L.A., Davis, S.A. & Van Vickle, R. 1990.
Rockfall Hazard Rating System Implementation Man-
ual. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Report
FHWA-OR-EG-90-01. FHWA, U.S. Department of
Transportation.
RocFall 2001. Instruction manual for RocFall program,
Rocscience Inc. Geomechanics Software and Research
Institute, University of Toronto.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Seismic monitoring of rockfall, Helmet Mountain, British Columbia

J.R. Moore
University of California, Berkeley, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Berkeley, CA, USA

J.W. Sanders & K.M. Cuffey

University of California, Berkeley, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Berkeley, CA, USA

J.R. Haught
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Berkeley, CA, USA

S.D. Glaser
University of California, Berkeley, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Berkeley, CA, USA

ABSTRACT: Seismicity generated by rockfall was monitored intermittently over a 5 week period at the Helmet
Mountain cirque in British Columbia, Canada. To understand the timing and frequency of rockfall, we installed a
seismic monitoring system consisting of two single-component geophones emplaced on the headwall. Two types
of rockfall events were observed: single block fall and surficial talus slide. The seismic response during single
block fall is characterized by multiple bursts of high-frequency energy as the rock strikes the wall periodically
during the fall. A talus slide, on the other hand, has an emergent response and a constant release of seismic energy
as the slide progresses. The timing of seismicity indicated that rockfall activity peaks from 10:00 h to 18:00 h
when melting ice destabilizes loose blocks. The rockfall frequency mimics diurnal air temperature fluctuations,
although the direct cause of rockfall is related to warming of the cliff.

1 INTRODUCTION from high on a cliff strikes the rockwall a number of

Rockfall originating high on a mountain cliff gen-
erates a seismic disturbance as it strikes the wall or
other debris en route to the base of the slope. A few
researchers have described the seismic signature of
rockfall, generally in the context of seismic monitor-
ing of active volcanoes. Tilling et al. (1975) provided
a comprehensive overview of rockfall seismicity from
their observations during a period of intense rockfall
at the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. They observed that
the seismic response during a large rockfall event is
emergent, meaning that the arrival of seismic energy
is gradual, and that high-frequency components atten-
uated rapidly with distance. Other researchers have
observed large rockfall events on regional seismic
networks and were able to triangulate the epicentral
location, finding good agreement with local ground
observations (e.g. Norris & Lester 1996).
Whereas most previous research focused on seis-
micity created by large rockfall, our study focuses on
smaller, localized events. In this work we will dis-
tinguish between two types of rockfall: single block
fall and surficial talus slide. A single block falling
times as it descends, releasing seismic energy with
each strike but leaving intermittent periods of inac-
tivity between strikes. Conversely, a talus slide is a
cascade of rock and debris that releases seismic energy
continuously.
One of the goals of this investigation was to dis-
cover diurnal trends in the timing of rockfall events
to reduce the risk of physical injury to researchers
working throughout the summer at the base of Helmet
Mountain. This work also looks at one aspect of
the larger rock cycle, investigating the role of trans-
port mechanisms in bedrock erosion, in an attempt to
understand the processes sculpting the cirque basins
that are ubiquitous in alpine terrain.
2 EQUIPMENT AND SITE DESCRIPTION
Rockfall seismicity was monitored over a five week
period at the Helmet Mountain cirque in eastern British
Columbia (Fig. 1). This alpine amphitheater is home to
the small West Washmawapta glacier which is actively
undercutting the adjacent cliffs, making rockfall from

895
 N

#2
#1

Base

West Washmawapta British Columbia

Glacier
Helmet
Mountain

Figure 1. Overview of the study area at Helmet Mountain, British Columbia. The West Washmawapta glacier (seen draining
northeast) undercuts the large headwall of Helmet Mountain where heavily jointed meta-sedimentary rocks are prone to
degradation by rockfall. Two geophones were emplaced on the rockwall, separated by about 50 m, as shown in the inset figure.
The star at the toe of the glacier shows the location of the weather station. (Image: DigitalGlobe).

these slopes common. The height of the headwall in
the study area varies from 150–300 m, with a base
elevation of 2640 m. The portion of the cliff under
investigation faces east to southeast. In the sum-
mer months, sunshine hits the wall around 07:00 h;
the study area is in shade by ∼15:00 h. The slope
is composed of fractured Cambrian and Ordovician
meta-sedimentary rocks including slate and shale with
limestone interbeds.
Two single-component 4.5 Hz geophones were
attached to a Nanometrics RD3 digitizer which
recorded data at 60 Hz. Power was supplied to the sys-
tem by a 120 W solar panel and two 110 A-h lead-acid
batteries.
We emplaced the geophones on the rockwall just
above the lip of the glacier, about 50 m apart (Fig. 1).
Each was epoxied to a flat surface and covered with
small rocks to protect it from falling debris.
The system ran intermittently over a 5 week period
from 5-Aug-2006 to 7-Sep-2006. The irregular oper-
ation was caused by overheating failure of a solar
controller. The system recorded a total of 210 hours
of seismic data.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Calibration data
Several times during the study period we were able
to spend a few hours near the seismic system observ-
ing and annotating rockfall activity in the vicinity of
the geophones. These observations and simultaneous
seismic data allowed us to determine the seismic signa-
ture of known events and provided crucial calibration
for future observations. From this calibration data we
were then able to create detection criteria to identify
rockfall events in other data sets.
In general, there were two types of rockfall events:
single block fall and surficial talus slide. Single block
falls originated high on the rockwall and struck the cliff
a number of times during their descent to the glacier.
Block size averaged about 0.3 m, and a typical fall

896
Figure 2. Characteristic high-frequency seismic response during a single block fall (geophone #1). In this particular event
a block with an intermediate axis of ∼0.3 m tumbled down the cliff face some 300 m, striking the wall a number of times en
route. These data, as in Figure 3, are unfiltered.
lasted from 30–120 seconds with about 5–10 audi-
ble impacts before landing on the soft snow of the
upper glacier. The seismic signature of a single block
fall was characterized by a long disturbance made up
of multiple high-frequency spikes (Fig. 2). Our 60 Hz
system probably under-sampled this high-frequency
signal. Single block fall disturbances attenuated
rapidly with distance along the rockwall; commonly
a small block falling near geophone #1 was not
detected ∼50 m away by geophone #2.
The talus slides observed at our field site usually
originated near geophone #2, where a talus slope is
underlain by stagnant glacial ice. As this ice melted
throughout the day, the talus above it shifted and reor-
ganized. Typically, a talus slide encompassed an area
of about 1 m2 . These types of events were frequent
and generally the length of each slide was only a
few meters. The seismic response of a talus slide was
characterized by a more continuous release of energy
compared to the episodic trace of block falls. The sig-
nal was emergent, then decayed over a typical slide
time of ∼10 seconds (Fig. 3).
Rockfall events were monitored by an observer over
a few hours on several days, notably six hours on
27-Aug-2006. In general there was a good match
between personal and seismic observations of rock-
fall and talus reorganization. Nevertheless, there were
a few events in the seismic record that were not iden-
tified by the field observer. These may be caused by
more distant rockfall on the opposite side of the slope,
897
or possibly ice calving at the toe of the glacier (which
happened frequently).
From the calibration data we were able to create
event detection criteria to identify rockfall in the longer
records of August 5–9 and September 1–7. The crite-
ria are based on the amplitude, duration, and shape of
the seismic disturbance. The amplitude must clearly
exceed the background noise level, which was vari-
able. The disturbance must persist for several seconds,
to distinguish real data from intermittent electronic
noise. The form of the response must match the appear-
ance of known types of rockfall events, as illustrated
in Figures 2 and 3.
3.2 Record of rockfall
In this work we analyze the seismic record from
1-Sep-2006 at 12:00 h to 7-Sep-2006 at 06:00 h, a span
of 138 hours. This data set is fairly continuous with a
few notable exceptions: the system was not operational
on 5-Sep-2006 or on the morning of 4-Sep-2006, while
in the early morning hours of 6-Sep-2006 and 7-Sep-
2006 the seismic records were too noisy to interpret.
The data were processed manually in ten-minute
intervals. Using the detection criteria developed from
the calibration data, we identified individual seismic
disturbances, and determined the number of inferred
rockfall events per hour. Figure 4 shows the number
of events per hour over the time period of investiga-
tion. Figure 5 is a histogram of the average number of
Figure 3. A typical emergent seismic response during a small talus slide (geophone #2). Events like these were common in
an area near geophone #2 where talus overlays stagnant glacial ice. As the ice melts throughout the day, the talus above shifts
and reorganizes. Typical slide lengths were on the order of 1 m. The vertical scale is the same as in Figure 2.

14 20

12
15
Number of Events

Temperature (C)
10

8 10

6 5
4
0
2

0 -5
12 18 0 6 12 18 0 6 12 18 0 6 12 18 0 6 12 18 0 6 12 18
Hour
1-Sep 2-Sep 3-Sep 4-Sep 5-Sep 6-Sep

Figure 4. The number of inferred rockfall events per hour for a period of time spanning 1-Sep-2006 at 12:00 h to 7-Sep-2006
at 00:00 h. The event frequency was determined from the seismic record using the detection criteria created from calibration
data. Rockfall activity peaks from 10:00 h to 18:00 h. Missing data are from times the system was not operating or times when
noise overwhelmed the signal. The ambient air temperature record from the weather station at the toe of the glacier is shown
by a solid line.

rockfall events per hour. These results demonstrate that
rockfall activity peaks daily from 10:00 h to 18:00 h,
while activity decreases at night and early morning.
The field site is located in a remote area of the
Canadian Rockies so there is little cultural seismic
background noise. The only sources of noise contam-
ination we are aware of are natural and include wind,
telluric activity, and glacial seismicity. Wind could
affect the record of geophone #1 because the wire
had to span a ∼2 m chasm across the bergschrund.
As a result, data from this geophone were not use-
ful during windy periods. Significant electrical noise
also occurred during times of high telluric activity. We
found that this noise most affected the record of geo-
phone #1, whose wire trended west, while geophone
#2, which had a wire running north, was relatively
unaffected by telluric noise. Temporal variations in tel-
luric activity are monitored by the National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration. These records corre-
spond well with times of high telluric activity inferred

898
 10 to direct observations in the nearby Mt. Rae area by
9 Gardner (1983).
Much of the rockfall activity in our area can be
Average Number of Events

8
attributed to melting of ice-filled discontinuities and
7
consequent destabilization of rock blocks. Conceptu-
6 ally, the stability of a broken rock slope is maintained
5 by both friction at the interface of blocks and the cohe-
4 sion offered by ice-filled discontinuities (Bjerrum &
3 Jorsbad 1968, Davies et al. 2001). When binding ice
2 melts, certain blocks are made free to fall (Matsuoka &
1
Sakai 1999, Gruber et al. 2004). Similarly, in the area
of the slope near geophone #2, loose talus overlays
0
stagnant glacial ice.As this ice melts, individual blocks
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 are freed and can initiate a small avalanche of debris.
Hour A nearby weather station located at the toe of the
glacier (Fig. 1) recorded ambient air temperature every
Figure 5. Average number of rockfall events per hour for the 15 minutes. The daily pattern of sun exposure at this
time period shown in Figure 4. The histogram demonstrates
that rockfall activity increases from about 10:00 h to 18:00 h,
station was similar to that on the instrumented area of
while at night and early morning the frequency of rockfall the rockwall. Air temperature and the number of rock-
is low. fall events per hour is shown in Figure 4, demonstrating
that the frequency of rockfall mimics the diurnal fluc-
from noise in our seismic system. Sources of glacial tuations in air temperature. Rockfall activity increases
seismicity including ice crevassing and sliding; this when the temperature of the slope is warm enough
noise is poorly constrained at this time. Finally, con- to melt the ice binding loose blocks. Our data show
sulting the Canadian National Seismograph Network, that this temperature condition is met simultaneously
we verified that no nearby earthquakes occurred with the rise in ambient air temperature each morn-
during the monitoring period. ing around 10:00 h. To fully understand the cause of
the daily pattern of rockfall activity, the temperature
of the rock slope should be monitored. These data are
4 DISCUSSION
currently unavailable.
Another weather station was located nearby on the
The seismic signatures of two types of rockfall events
glacier surface. The air temperature at this station
were determined by field measurement and simulta-
was modulated by the temperature of the snow, which
neous direct observation. The seismic response of a
decreased the amplitude of the daily fluctuations. We
single block fall was characterized by multiple high-
believe that the air temperature record from the sta-
frequency spikes, as demonstrated in Figure 2. This
tion at the toe of the glacier more accurately reflects
signal attenuated rapidly with distance along the cliff
the conditions on the rockwall, so chose to include
face. Tilling et al. (1975) reported similar findings,
these data in Figure 4.
noting that the seismic disturbance is transmitted pri-
Rockfall from this portion of the Helmet Mountain
marily by surface waves which are prone to attenuation
headwall is relatively frequent, with up to 13 events
as they travel through the broken weathered surface of
observed in one hour. From the diurnal pattern of seis-
a rock face.
micity we can identify portions of the day when it is
For talus slides, or surficial rock avalanches, we
relatively safe for researchers to work at the base of
found that the seismic response was emergent then
this slope. To minimize the risk of injury by rockfall,
decayed over a typical slide time of a few seconds
we suggest that personnel work in this area only in the
(Fig. 3). This type of response is similar to that
early morning, vacating the base of the rockwall by
observed by previous researchers for larger rock slides
10:00 h.
(Tilling et al. 1975, Norris 1995). The slide initiates
Finally, we caution that the conclusions drawn from
as one or more blocks are destabilized and progres-
this study are based solely on climatic conditions dur-
sively loosen adjacent debris, cascading into a rock
ing the study period, and should not be extrapolated to
avalanche. As the slide comes to rest, blocks jostle and
predict rockfall frequencies during any other season.
reorganize for some time.
The timing and frequency of rockfall events was
determined for a time period spanning 138 hours in
early September, 2006. Analysis of the seismic record 5 CONCLUSION
(Figs. 4 and 5) reveals that rockfall activity peaks from
about 10:00 h to 18:00 h and decreases at night and in Rockfall seismicity was monitored intermittently over
the early morning hours. This diurnal pattern is similar a five week period at an alpine cirque in British

899
Columbia, Canada. Unique seismic signatures were
discovered for different types of rockfall events includ-
ing single block fall and surficial talus slide. The
seismic record revealed a strong diurnal pattern in the
frequency of rockfall. Activity peaks around mid-day
to afternoon and decreases significantly at night and
in the early morning hours. We propose that rockfall in
our area was mostly caused by melting of ice-filled dis-
continuities and destabilization of loose rock blocks.
The variation in the frequency of rockfall mimics the
daily air temperature fluctuations, where air tempera-
ture is a proxy for temperature of the cliff. This work
is a step towards better understanding the mechanisms
that sculpt alpine landscapes, and will help eluci-
date the relative importance of glacial and periglacial
processes in the formation of cirque basins.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was made possible by funding from the NSF
EAR-GLD grant #0518608 to Kurt Cuffey.
REFERENCES
Bjerrum, L. & Jorsbad, F. 1968. Stability of rock slopes in
Norway. Norwegian Geotech. Inst., Publication 79: 1–11.
900
Davies, M.C.R., Hamza, O. & Harris, C. 2001. The effect of
rise in mean annual temperature on the stability of rock
slopes containing ice-filled discontinuities. Permafrost
and Periglacial Processes 12: 137–144.
Gardner, J.S. 1983. Rockfall frequency and distribution in
the Highwood Pass area, Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie 27: 311–324.
Gruber, S., Hoelzle, M. & Haeberli, W. 2004. Permafrost
thaw and destabilization of alpine rock walls in the hot
summer of 2003. Geophysical Research Letters 31: doi:
10.1029/2004GL020051.
Matsuoka, N. & Sakai, H. 1999. Rockfall activity from an
alpine cliff during thawing periods. Geomorph. 28: 309–
328.
Norris, R.D. 1995. Seismic detection of debris avalanches at
Mount Rainier and other Cascade volcanoes: successes
and limits. EOS, Trans., American Geophysical Union
76,Fall Meeting Supplement: Abstract V12B-04.
Norris, R.D. & Lester, F.W. 1996. The release and descent
of the July 1996 Happy Isles rockfall, Yosemite National
Park, California, as interpreted from NCSN seismic
data. EOS, Trans., American Geophysical Union 77, Fall
Meeting Supplement: Abstract S31D-03.
Tilling, R.I., Koyanagi, R.Y. & Holcomb, R.T. 1975. Rockfall
seismicity – correlation with field observations, Makaop-
uhi Crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. Journal of Research,
U.S. Geological Survey 3(3): 345–361.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Deformation behavior of deep-seated rockslides in crystalline rock

C. Zangerl
alpS – Centre for Natural Hazard Management, Innsbruck, Austria

E. Eberhardt
Geological Engineering/EOS, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

H. Schönlaub
TIWAG-Tiroler Wasserkraft AG, Innsbruck, Austria

J. Anegg
Geoinformation, Abteilung der Gruppe Bau und Technik, Innsbruck, Austria

ABSTRACT: Slope deformation of deep-seated rock slides in crystalline rock is often characterized by phases
of acceleration and deceleration. In some cases, these phases of low and high activity show a velocity difference
of three orders of magnitude. Yet during periods of high acceleration, sudden rapid failure rarely occurs. Such
slopes appear to present a hazard to inhabitants and infrastructure in the valleys below, but much uncertainty
exists as to the nature of the observed episodic behavior and eventual deceleration and self-stabilization of the
moving mass following periods of high acceleration, and whether such behavior will continue into the future or
whether the potential for a brittle-type, rapid catastrophic failure exists. This paper presents two case studies from
the Austrian Alps where the time-dependent/episodic behavior of two well monitored rockslides is analyzed, and
the possible mechanisms contributing to their ability to re-stabilize are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION onto talus and alluvial deposits located on the valley

Deep-seated rockslides located in Northern Tyrol
(Austria) were investigated to study their kinemat-
ics and deformation behavior. Generally, rockslides
are characterized by deformation along one or sev-
eral shear zones where most of the measured total
slope displacement localizes. Such shear zones con-
tain fault breccias or gouges i.e. material that is newly
formed through cataclasis and fragmentation of the
rock during deformation and shearing, and which pos-
sesses soil-like mechanical properties. In some cases,
rockslide rupture surfaces have been observed to form
through the reactivation of favorably orientated pre-
existing brittle fault zones of tectonic origin. The
tectonically formed fault breccias or gouges in these
cases act to fully or partly reduce the shear strength
along the sliding zone.
Less frequently, case studies have been presented
where a heavily fractured rock slab has slid onto glacial
deposits located on the lower half of the slope, suggest-
ing slip magnitudes of several hundred meters (Brückl
et al. 2004, Tentschert 1998, Lauffer et al. 1967). Sim-
ilar case studies showing slip of a fractured rock mass
floor have also been presented (Leobacher & Liegler
1998). In such cases a sliding zone may evolve along
the contact between the sliding mass and the glacial
deposits and if deformation continuous also within the
glacial deposits (Lauffer et al. 1967).
Whereas some of these slopes have reached a
final stable condition or a phase of very low (non-
detectable) activity, others are still creeping at veloci-
ties of centimeters to meters per year. Accurate surface
deformation data clearly demonstrate that these slopes
often show a relatively linear creep trend superim-
posed by phases of acceleration and deceleration
(Helmstetter 2004, Coe et al. 2003, Weidner 2000,
Crosta & Agliardi 2002). The trigger for such acceler-
ation phases could be manifold: heavy rainfall, snow
melt, fluctuation of reservoir levels at the foot of the
slope, changes in the slope’s equilibrium state due
to antecedent slow creeping processes, changes in
the material behavior within the sliding zone, erosion
along the foot of the slope, etc.. Whereas the role of
these triggers in promoting phases of acceleration are
generally understood, the same can not be said regard-
ing the kinematic and dynamic processes/mechanisms

901
by which the rockslide mass re-stabilizes once the
trigger impetus has been removed.
Nevertheless the fundamental comprehension of
processes that induce slope deceleration or stabiliza-
tion is required to adequately perform hazard assess-
ments related to the temporal evolution of the stability
state of such rockslides. This paper presents prelim-
inary analyses regarding the kinematics and time-
dependent deformation behavior of two prominent
rockslides in Northern Tyrol (Austria).
2 GEOLOGICAL SETTING
The two study sites investigated are located within the
poly-metamorphic Ötztal-Stubai crystalline complex
of the Austroalpine units, which consists mainly of
paragneisses, mica schists, orthogneisses and amphi-
bolites. After deglaciation, several large slope insta-
bilities, with volumes of up to 300 million m3 ,
developed in deeply incised valleys as a result of
debuttressing and stress redistribution. Based on
field measurements, geological models focusing on
key structures/discontinuities and the main structural
anisotropy of the rock mass were developed. These
models clearly show that the orientation of the foliation
in each case does not align with the active poten-
tial rupture surface. Instead, preferentially orientated
meso-scale tensile joints and shear fractures appear
to serve to control the downslope slope deformation.
Favorably striking and dipping brittle fault zones act-
ing as detachment planes were also observed. It has
to be mentioned that the two active rock masses dis-
cussed in this paper are part of large complex rockslide
systems characterized by several active and inactive
sliding masses of different sizes and thicknesses.
3 SLOPE KINEMATICS AND ACTIVITY
3.1 Hochmais-Atemkopf
The first case study examined is called the “Hochmais-
Atemkopf ” gravitational creep rockslide, located in
the Kaunertal (Northern Tyrol, Austria). It covers an
area of 2.82 km2 , with a slope height of about 1000 m.
The slide is located within a heavily foliated and folded
paragneissic rock unit. The importance of this site is
related to a hydro power dam reservoir (140 Mio m3 )
situated at the toe of the mass movements (Tentschert
1998). Several independent surface and subsurface
deformation monitoring systems have been installed to
detect and monitor slope displacements (Fig. 1). These
include: 1) a wire extensometer in an investigation adit
that spans between the active and stable sliding mass;
2) periodic and automatic terrestrial geodetic/total sta-
tion measurements (Brückl et al. 2004); 3) leveling
profiles measured within the investigation adit and
902
along surface roads; 4) Satellite Radar Interferometry
(InSAR, Rott et al. 1999); and 5) borehole inclinome-
ter measurements. Some of these systems have been
in place for up to 40 years, thus providing long-term
slope deformation data.
Data derived from geomorphological observations,
boreholes, exploratory adits, seismic surveys and
InSAR analysis show that the slide can be subdivided
into 4 discrete bodies, bounded by well defined pri-
mary scarps (Figs. 1, 2). It was measured that the slope
activity is highest for the lowermost sliding mass (mass
D, “Hochmais”; Fig. 2) and reduces to a presently
stable condition for the largest mass that reaches to
the summit of the “Atemkopf” (mass A; Fig. 2). The
“Hochmais” sliding slab was activated post-glacially
and has slid over 400 m on top of glacial and talus
deposits along the lower valley walls. During the first
impounding of the reservoir in 1964, reactivation of
the mass was measured (Fig. 1). Within the moraine
deposits intersected at depth by an investigation adit
(Figs 1, 3a), a sliding zone showing a thickness of
about 4 to 5 m was observed. The displacement vec-
tors on the top and at the base of the “Hochmais” mass
are dipping at about 31–35◦ and 32◦ , respectively, to
the E. Measurement of the dip of the displacement
vector at the base of the slide was determined through
a regression analysis based on the elongation of the
wire-extensometer (i.e. horizontal displacement vec-
tor) and the leveling measurements (i.e. the vertical
displacement vector, Fig. 3b) made within the investi-
gation adit. On surface the displacement vectors were
determined from long-term geodetic measurements
since 1966. Leveling measurements within the inves-
tigation adit and on surface along roads that cross
the slide suggest that most of the deformation occurs
within the sliding zone (Fig. 3c). Deformation mea-
surements on surface and within the investigation adit
demonstrate that the “Hochmais” slab represents a
rockslide characterized by negligible minor internal
deformation.
A total mean displacement rate of about 30 to
40 mm/year was determined for the “Hochmais” slab
based on geodetic monitoring carried out between
1966 and 2002. However, the same data for the interval
between 1997 to 2002 shows considerably lower dis-
placement rates of 23 to 26 mm/year. These rates agree
with those acquired through leveling measurements
made within the investigation adit and on surface
for the time interval between 1997 to 2004 – 21 to
25 mm/year, respectively. Thus more recent monitor-
ing suggests a trend that the slope activity has reduced
since monitoring began in 1966.
3.2 Steinlehnen
The second study site, “Steinlehnen”, is located in
Gries in Sellrain, Northern Tyrol, Austria (Figs. 4,
5). The unstable mass consists of paragneisses,
Figure 1. Map of primary and secondary scarps along the “Hochmais-Atemkopf ” slopes, showing displacement vectors
obtained from periodic terrestrial geodetic measurements, the automatic total station monitoring points (auto-servo-theodolite),
and the location of the investigation adit that passes from the stable bedrock into the “Hochmais” slab.

W E
Atemkopf 2792 m

glacial deposits

alluvial deposits (sand, gravel)

C16
debris cone and bolder

fracture and brittle shear zone HM1

stable rock, paragneiss

max. storage
mass A C3 level 1767 m
?

? C11
mass B A3
C16, HM1, C3, C11, A3...boreholes
close to the section line
mass C

mass D, "Hochmais" 500 m

Figure 2. Geological W–E cross section (see Fig. 1 for location A–A’) showing four individual rock mass bodies bounded by
primary scarps with different degrees of activity. The “Hochmais” slab (mass D) is shaded black.

903

Figure 3. a) Schematic cross section through the inves-
tigation adit showing the active sliding zone and
wire-extensometer; b) calculated dip of the displacement
vector based on regression analysis from leveling and
wire-extensometer data; and c) leveling measurement across
the sliding zone.
amphibolites and granodiorite-gneisses; the litholog-
ical contacts dip shallowly into the slope. Again sev-
eral sliding masses bounded by primary scarps and
characterized by different rates of movement can be
observed (Fig. 5). In June/July 2003 acceleration of
a highly active slab occurred and induced a series
of rock fall events. Given that, several boulders trav-
eled and landed close to homes and the federal road, a
monitoring system was deemed necessary.
Initially, the intensive succession of rock fall events
from the highly active slab made the installation of
904
Figure 4. Photo of the “Steinlehnen” landslide. The most
highly active zone of the sliding mass is located in the centre.
surface-mounted geodetic reflectors within the danger
zone too hazardous. Instead, a terrestrial laser scanner
was installed on the opposite slope. Several months
later when slope activity decreased, reflectors for a
total station were installed.
Data from these two deformation measurement
systems were collected and compared. Displacement
vectors for the most active sliding slab show dips of
43˚ in the upper part and 31◦ in the lower part (see
Table 1). The thickness of this mass is between 10
and 20 m representing a slab of heavily fractured and
loosened material with a soil-like (talus) appearance
(Fig. 4). Above this slab, i.e. incorporating the deep-
est most slide bodies, the displacement vectors dip at
about 40◦ . The total thickness of the larger deep-seated
rockslide system may reach about 70 to 100 m.
Displacement monitoring of the deeper-seated
rockslide system in the upper part of the slide (see
Fig. 5, total station reflectors g8, g9, g10, g11) showed
velocities between 200 and 267 mm/year, as measured
between November 2003 and September 2005. Veloc-
ities for the highly active slab (see Fig. 5, total station
reflectors g14, g16, g17, g18, g19) reached between
800 and 1500 mm/year during the same period. Just
prior to this measurement period, between June 2003
and November 2003, a phase of very high slope activ-
ity occurred showing total displacements between 15
to 27 m (Fig. 8a).
It was this apparent re-activation of the slide, and
period of heightened concern regarding the potential
for catastrophic failure, that initiated the beginning
of active monitoring of the slide (beginning with
the laser scanner measurements). As such, there is
no data available regarding longer-term displacement
trends to better understand the nature of the insta-
bility. Nevertheless, historical accounts from the past
few hundred years make mention of phases of higher
activity accompanied by rock fall events.
Figure 5. Aerial view of the landslide "Steinlehnen" showing the three scarp boundaries and the most highly active sliding
mass. Location of geodetic reflectors (g) and terrestrial laser scanner windows (l) are marked.

Table 1. Comparison of displacement dip angles derived per day and a base activity of only 0.01 mm per day, the
from laser scanning data and near-by geodetic reflectors. study site “Steinlehnen” is characterized by an acceler-
ation phase achieving velocity magnitudes of several
Laser Total station metres per day, followed by a phase of deceleration
scanner
◦ down to a few millimetres per day. In attempting to
No. Dip angle ( ) No. Dip angle (◦ )
assess the potential for catastrophic failure based on
13 51◦ g14 43◦ displacement monitoring, it is remarkable to note that
g22 39◦ for the “Steinlehnen” example, slide velocities vary by
16 47◦ g16 37◦ up to a factor of 8000 between low and high periods of
g23 34◦ activity. This is comparable to La Clapière in South-
17 38◦ g17 39◦ ern France, a large mass movement in crystalline rocks,
g18 33◦ which exhibits acceleration phases of up 35 m per year
g25 31◦ (Helmstetter et al. 2004). In none of these cases have
18 46◦ g19 35◦ the investigated slopes showed acceleration to failure
112 55◦ g20 37◦
in the form of a rapid rockslide, despite the differences
in velocity magnitudes between high and low activity
phases.
Permanent wire-extensometer measurements in the
4 TIME-DEPENDENT DEFORMATION investigation adit at “Hochmais” enable the sampling
BEHAVIOUR of the slope displacements with a resolution of 1 mm.
Analysis of this data set shows an annual velocity dif-
Many rockslides are characterized by a deforma- ference of up to a factor of 100 (Fig. 6). Every year an
tion pattern that shows episodically accelerated slope acceleration phase begins between January and March
velocities. Whereas the study site “Hochmais” is char- and lasts to the summer. This interval marks a period
acterized by annual acceleration phases of up to 1 mm where precipitation in the form of rainfall does not

905
Figure 6. Measured extension of the wire-line extensometer
and the differentiated velocity of the “Hochmais” slab.
Figure 7. Time-dependent variation of slope velocity and
reservoir level (Location: “Hochmais”).
occur. Continuous flow monitoring of a spring close
to the “Hochmais” slab shows a decrease in the flow
rate during the same period, confirming that precipita-
tion and groundwater flow has only a minor influence
on slope movement. Instead, a regression analysis of
the data together with that of the reservoir levels show
a good temporal agreement between the slope veloc-
ity and the depletion/lowering of the reservoir (Fig. 7,
Evers 2006). Figure 7 also shows that during the period
1995–1996 and 1996–1997, where very low levels in
the reservoir was reached, higher slope velocities were
observed. During refilling of the reservoir in autumn
and early winter, the slope velocities decrease and
reach their minimum.
Terrestrial laser scanner measurements focused on
the most highly active part of the sliding mass in
“Steinlehnen”, performed in June/July 2003, showed
slope velocities of up to 4 m/day (Fig. 8a). After a one
month crisis accompanied by rock fall events, slope
velocities continuously decreased to about 1 mm/day.
In spring 2004, the slide re-accelerated to 4 cm/day
followed by a period of re-stabilization down to
0.5 mm/day in autumn 2004 (Fig. 8b,c). Long-term
precipitation monitoring since 1970 shows that rainfall
events measured in May/June 2003 were not excep-
tionally high when compared to other years (Fig. 8d).
906
Figure 8. a) Total displacement obtained from laser scanner
measurements of the highly active sliding mass “Steinlehnen”
in the time interval 26.06.2006 to 12.12.2003; b) geode-
tic measurements of the highly active sliding mass between
18.11.2003 and 15.09.2005; c) velocities derived from the
geodetic measurements; and d) daily precipitation near the
rockslide region during the 2003–2006 period.
In addition, the high precipitation rates in August 2005
did not induce re-acceleration of the slope to similar
magnitudes observed in summer 2003 or even those
measured in spring 2004. Thus, unlike “Hochmais”
where a correlation for accelerating slope behavior can
be drawn to the dam reservoir level, no well-defined
trigger for the precursor phase of slope movements
at “Steinlehnen” appears evident. The same behavior
was detected in the upper slope, i.e. coinciding with
the deeper-seated slabs (reflectors g8, g9, g10, g11),
where geodetic measurements for the period Novem-
ber 2003 to October 2004 showed velocities of 268
to 367 mm/year, whereas those for the period October
2004 to September 2005 drop to 136 to 175 mm/year.
In order to better understand the mechanisms that
are responsible for re-stabilisation of the moving rock
slabs, the time dependent variations of the dip angles
of total displacement vectors (derived from the laser
scanner windows and geodetic reflectors) were ana-
lyzed. The laser scanner windows were scanned during
the highly active period from June to December 2003.
The installation of the geodetic monitoring network

Figure 9. Regression analysis to determine the dip angle of
displacement vectors and their change with slip magnitude
obtained from laser scanner windows (l3, 6, 7 and 8).
was initiated in November 2003 i.e. 5 months later
and during a time period where the large deformations
were already abated.
If deceleration of the mass can be largely attributed
to kinematic effects, it would be expected that the dip
angles of the displacement vectors (when fixed to ref-
erence points on the slide surface) would flatten over
time. This was confirmed through comparisons of the
change in dip angle of various fixed points on the slide
surface over time, as monitored through the laser scan-
ning and geodetic systems. Results clearly show that
the dip angles for points located on the highly active
slide mass flattens during the middle of October.
Figure 9 shows a plot of horizontal to vertical dis-
placements representing the dip angle of the total
displacement vector as a function of slip of the slid-
ing mass. A kink in the data pattern can be observed
for laser scanning windows l3, 6, 7 and 12, suggesting
a dip angle flattening at the reference point. In addi-
tion, a comparison of dip vectors obtained from laser
scanner and geodetic measurements show that the dip
vectors obtained subsequently (i.e. November 2003 to
September 2005) are generally less inclined than those
before (see Table 1). Only the dip angles obtained
from l7 and g17 show a similar inclination which is
maybe related to a superposition of movements from
individual blocks and that of the total mass.
In the case of the laser scanner measurements,
it is possible that errors have been introduced due
to atmospheric effects and the method used to trace
fixed points over time. However, the high number of
measurements, regression analysis performed and cor-
relation with results obtained from the total station
measurements suggest that the changes in the dip angle
907
of the total displacement vector are accurate and there-
fore meaningful with respect to drawing conclusions
regarding the nature of the subsurface deformation and
kinematics of the slide mass.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Many deep-seated rockslides, especially those involv-
ing shallow to moderately dipping rupture surfaces,
characteristically demonstrate temporal variations in
their measured slope velocities. Periods of acceleration
are followed by periods of deceleration, both of which
are heavily influenced by a combination of interact-
ing causal and trigger mechanisms. Even though the
variation in velocity between the phases of low and
high slope activity can reach several orders of magni-
tude, sudden and rapid acceleration to failure is rarely
observed.
Two such slopes in the Austrian Alps. “Hochmais”
and “Steinlehnen”, were investigated as part of an
ongoing study to better understand the underlying
nature of such behavior, particularly those involving
crystalline rock masses. Preliminary analysis of the
“Hochmais” case study shows that acceleration and
deceleration of slope movements are primarily con-
trolled by reservoir level fluctuations and not periods
of high and low precipitation. A clear, observable tem-
poral concurrence between reservoir level and slope
velocity was found, where slope acceleration occurs
during lowering of the reservoir level. This suggests a
mechanism that coincides with the concept of “rapid
drowdown” proposed by Terzaghi (1960). Lowering
of the reservoir level increases the hydraulic gradient
within the slope and thus the seepage forces which
results in acceleration of the mass (Schneider-Muntau
et al. 2006). In contrast, filling of the reservoir results
in deceleration of the slide mass and re-stabilization.
In general, the highly active sliding mass of “Stein-
lehnen” shows a similar velocity pattern as that
observed at “Hochmais”, but with much higher veloc-
ity magnitudes and different boundary conditions. The
trigger that induces acceleration of the sliding mass
to magnitudes of up to 4 m/day cannot be clearly
resolved. However there is some evidence which pro-
vides a basis for an understanding of the deceleration
of the slope velocities to rates lower than 1 mm/day.
Laser scanner and geodetic data suggest that during
progressive slip, the dip angle of the displacement
vectors flatten. This may suggest that the dip of the
rupture surface(s) decreases towards to lower heights
of the slope and reduces the active driving forces and
increases the passive resisting forces.
Another case study in crystalline rock that shows
a similar behavior characterized by a long-lasting
acceleration phase (between 1986–1988) followed
by a re-stabilization phase is La Clapière in France
(Helmstetter et al. 2004). Here, in the upper part of the
700-m high slope, velocities of up to 35 m/year were
measured. In lower sections of the slope, velocities of
up to 20 m/year were recorded. The velocity pattern
derived shows large fluctuations correlated with the
river flow in the valley. It has been observed that the
velocity increases in Spring due to snow melting and
in the Fall after heavy rainfall. During the 1986–1988
acceleration period, snow melt and rainfall were not
anomalously high and therefore hydrogeological con-
ditions may not be the sole controlling trigger to slope
accelerations (Sornette et al. 2004). Hence Helmstetter
et al. (2004) propose a model for slope re-stabilization
that is based on a state- and velocity-dependent fric-
tion law (Dieterich 1978, Ruina 1983). In other words,
slope acceleration and stabilization is also affected
by time- and velocity-dependent material properties
within the sliding zone.
Based on the findings from the Austrian case stud-
ies, slope deformation behavior may be related to a
complex interaction of several time-dependent mech-
anisms, as well as geological factors that may have
influenced the evolution and shape of the basal and
any internal slip surfaces. These include: a) boundary
conditions (e.g. reservoir level variations), b) hydro-
geological conditions within the slope, c) kinematical
variations (e.g. flattening of the sliding zone), d) topo-
graphical changes (e.g. erosion on the foot of a slope),
and e) material properties of the sliding zone.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank the Tiroler Wasserkraft AG
(TIWAG), Dibit-Messtechnik, Framsweg 16, A-6020
Innsbruck and Wildbach- und Lawinenverbauung -
Forsttechnischer Dienst, Gebietsbauleitung Mittleres
Inntal, Liebeneggstr 11, A-6010 Innsbruck, for pro-
viding access to their detailed data set for analysis.
Thanks also to ILF-Consulting Engineers, Feldkreuzs-
trasse 3, A-6063 Rum, p+w Baugrund+Wasser GEO-
ZT GmbH, Salvatorgasse 2, A-6060 Hall, alpECON
Wilhelmy KEG - Technisches Büro für Geowis-
senschaften, Nr. 29, A-6165 Telfes, Kplus-FFG and
Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung (all Austria) for supporting
this work.
REFERENCES
Brückl, E., Zangerl, C. & Tentschert, E. 2004. Geometry and
deformation mechanisms of a deep seated gravitational
908
creep in crystalline rocks. In Schubert (ed.), Proceedings
EUROCK 2004 & 53rd Geomechanics Colloquium, pp.
229–230.
Coe, J.A., Ellis, W.L., Godt, J.W., Savage, W.Z., Savage, J.E.,
Michael, J.A., Kibler, J.D., Powers, P.S., Lidke, D.J. &
Debray, S. 2003. Seasonal movement of the Slumgullion
landslide determined from Global Positioning System sur-
veys and field instrumentation, July 1998–March 2002.
Engineering Geology 68: 67–101.
Crosta, G.B. & Aglardi, F. 2002. How to obtain alert velocity
thresholds for large rockslides. Physics and Chemistry of
the Earth 27: 1557–1565.
Dieterich, J. 1978. Time dependent friction and the mechanics
of stick slip. Pure Appl. Geophys. 116: 790–806.
Evers, H. 2006. Geodätisches Monitoring und einfache
statistische Auswertungsmöglichkeiten für Massenbewe-
gungen an Hängen. Master Thesis, HTWK Leipzig,
118 pp.
Helmstetter, A., Sornette, D., Grasso, J.R., Andersen, J.V.,
Gluzman, S. & Pisarenko, V. 2004. Slider block fric-
tion model for landslides: Application to Vaiont and La
Clapière landslides. Journal of Geophysical Research
109(B02409): 1–15.
Lauffer, H., Neuhauser, E. & Schober, W., 1967. Uplift
responsible for the slope movements during the filling
of the Gepatsch reservoir, In ICOLD-Congress, Istanbul,
Turkey.
Leobacher, A. & Liegler, K. 1998. Langzeitkontrolle von
Massenbewegungen der Stauraumhänge des Speichers
Durlaßboden. Felsbau 16(3): 184–193.
Rott, H., Scheuchl, B., Siegel, A. & Grasemann, B., 1999.
Monitoring very slow slope movements by means of SAR
interferometry: A case study from a mass waste above
a reservoir in the Ötztal Alps, Austria. Geophysical Res.
Letters 26(11): 1629–1632.
Ruina, A. 1983. Slip instability and state variable friction
laws. J. Geophys. Res. 88: 10359–10370.
Schneider-Muntau, B., Renk, D., Marcher, T. & Fellin, W.
2006. The importance of laboratory experiments in land-
slide investigation. In Nadim et al. (eds.), Geohazards,
ECI Symposium Series, P7.
Sornette, D., Helmstetter, A., Andersen, J.V., Gluzman, S.,
Grasso, J.R. & Pisarenko, V. 2004. Towards landslide pre-
dictions: two case studies. Physica A: Statistical Mechan-
ics and its Applications 338 (3–4): 605–632.
Tentschert, E. 1998. Das Langzeitverhalten der Sackungs-
hänge im Speicher Gepatsch (Tirol, Österreich). Felsbau
16(3): 194–200.
Terzaghi, K. 1950. Mechanism of landslides. In The Geolog-
ical Society of America, Engineering Geology (Berkey)
Volume, pp. 83–123.
Weidner, S. 2000. Kinematik und Mechanismus tief-
greifender alpiner Hangdeformationen unter besonderer
Berücksichtigung der hydrogeologischen Verhältnisse.
Dissertation Thesis, Friedrich-Alexander Universität
Erlangen-Nürnberg, 246 pp.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Investigation of possible failure mechanisms of the Portillo Rock

Avalanche, Central Andes, Chile

D. Welkner
Geological Engineering/EOS, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada & Geological and
Mining Survey of Chile, Santiago, Chile

E. Eberhardt
Geological Engineering/EOS, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

R.L. Hermanns
Geological Survey of Canada, Vancouver, BC, Canada

ABSTRACT: The Portillo Rock Avalanche is a prehistoric rockslide (Upper Pleistocene) located on the eastern
border of an Eocene-Oligocene volcano-tectonic basin, on the Chilean side of the Andean Cordillera. The primary
source area of the rockslide is along the Caracoles range, and involves a series of volcano-clastic beds dipping
approximately 55◦W. Current estimates of the thickness of the slide mass range from 10 to 50 m, with a total
volume of 65 million m3 . Five different geological models were constructed and tested for their stability response
to varying rock mass and discontinuity strength parameters. Several indicators provided by the distinct element
code UDEC were used in combination with field observations to assess the likely failure mechanism, and identify
the geological model that best reproduced the observed failed state. Elasto-plastic modeling results showed that
the most probable failure mechanism was one involving sliding and shearing along the bedding planes together
with brittle fracturing and shearing through the toe. The distribution of plasticity indicators provided key insights
into the kinematics and possibly staged nature of the Portillo Rock Avalanche that will be used in later stages of
the study to assess the hazard potential of a reoccurring rockslide.

1 INTRODUCTION

Analysis of massive rock slope failure and subsequent

motion of rapid rock avalanches is a challenging task
given the difficulty in reproducing the processes and
circumstances under which failure had occurred. This
task is even more complex when dealing with pre-
historic rock avalanches due to the need of landscape
reconstruction and knowledge of pre-failure condi-
tions. In most cases, only approximations of reality
can be provided, based on judgment and experience,
due to geologic uncertainty and the inherently variable
nature of rock.
In the rugged slopes of the Andean Cordillera
Figure 1. Location of study area outlined by the black box.
of Central Chile a number of large lobate-shaped
diamicton deposits have been misidentified as glacial reveals though, that most of the deposits correspond
deposits. The misidentification occurred because of to catastrophic landslides.
similarities between the partly preserved geomorphic This paper presents the study of the prehistoric Por-
surfaces of landslide deposits and glacial moraines, tillo Rock Avalanche, situated in the Central Andes
and the detrital characteristics of both types of (Fig. 1), and reviews the possible mechanisms of
material. A detailed inspection regarding texture, failure of the slope and the importance of strength
composition, and relations to the geomorphic setting parameters in the overall stability.

909

Figure 2. North-west facing view of the Caracoles range,
source area of the Portillo Rock Avalanche.
Figure 3. Schematic geological cross-section (after Cegarra
& Ramos 1996). Location of study area is outlined by the
black box.
2 BACKGROUND
2.1 Geology and structures
The Portillo Rock Avalanche is located on the east-
ern border of an Eocene-Oligocene volcano-tectonic
basin, on the Chilean side of the Andean Cordillera
(Godoy et al. 1994). The primary source area of
the rockslide is the western flank of the Caracoles
range, and involves a series of volcanoclastic beds
dipping approximately 55◦W (Figs. 2-3). The failed
mass includes partly-weathered and densely fractured
volcanic and volcano-clastic rocks that belong to the
Oligocene Abanico Formation.
The Caracoles range is crosscut by important N-S
structures that are interpreted as initial normal faults
that make up the border of the Eocene-Oligocene
basin, and were lately reversed due to compression
associated with the rising of the Andes during the
Miocene (Godoy et al. 1994). A back-thrust, recog-
nized along the toe of the eastern slope, is inter-
preted as having developed to accommodate deforma-
tion from the steep eastern-slope structural surfaces
(Godoy 2002).
The blocky nature of the rock, evident both at the
slope scale and more detailed rock mass scale, is
formed by three dominant discontinuity sets. These
include persistent bedding plane joints and two almost
orthogonal joint sets perpendicular to bedding. In con-
trast to the overall appearance of the main wall, the
910
sliding surface is largely planar. It rises to 4000 m a.s.l,
and has a vertical relief of 1000 m. The extent of the
failure reaches up to, and follows along the crest of the
range. The failure surface is clearly cut by persistent
discontinuities, suggesting that the slide mass could
have been divided into smaller units. Initial estimates
of the thickness of the failed rock slab range from 10
to 60 m involving an estimated maximum volume of
6.5×107 m3 .
2.2 History of activity
In the proximal sections of the slide deposit, the runout
zone is marked by barren, boulder-covered lobes or
ridges which in some cases vary in lithology and gran-
ulometry, raising questions as to whether the deposits
can be traced back to a single source/rockslide event
or whether multiple events were involved. These will
be discussed in more detail in subsequent sections.
3 AGE DATING
Lobes with overlying rims and levees formed by rock
avalanche deposits have been mapped in piedmont
areas and broad valleys of the NW Argentinean Andes
as belonging to distinct events separated in time (Her-
manns & Strecker 1999). Surface exposures dating of
deposits and/or break away walls have confirmed this
interpretation (Hermanns et al. 2001, 2004). The geo-
morphology at Portillo, however, is more complicated
due to its narrow valley setting, which was glaciated
during the last glacial maximum (LGM), and thus,
deposits were interpreted as being partially deposited
by glaciers and partially by landslides (Godoy et al.
1994). Different lobes were mapped and sampled sys-
tematically for cosmogenic nuclide dating by 36Cl. A
total of 16 samples were taken from the various lobes
and the break away wall. As a preliminary step, six
samples were dated to test whether the lobes belong
to the same event, are partially glacial derived or
represent various landslide events separated in time.
36Cl ages were calculated using the program CHLOE
developed by Phillips & Plummer (1996).
Although the ages derived from the 36Cl results are
preliminary and will be later refined when snow accu-
mulation data is made available, all data show that the
deposits are clearly post glacial and do not belong to a
single event but to two separate events with late Pleis-
tocene and Holocene ages (clustering around 4.5 ka
and 13.5 ka; Fig. 4). Hence, glacial deposits can be
ruled out as the source of the lobes.
The older deposit/event, here called the Portillo
Rock Avalanche, is dated at about 13.5 ka and appears
to follow the paleo-topography which could be com-
parable to that of a glacially molded landform. Abrupt
faces of coarse debris where the valley steepens and
narrows, or plateaus more recently covered by alluvial

Figure 4. Aerial photograph (1:50,000) showing the distri-
bution of the rockslide events and approximate ages.
sediments where the valley floor flattens are common
features along the path of the deposit. At the distal
edge of the deposit, the material takes the form of hum-
mocky terrain. The younger event is dated to 4.5 ka and
has been recognized in two different lobes only in the
upper parts of the glacial valley (Fig. 4). Only the older
deposit can be identified as having a common and char-
acteristic lithology corresponding to reddish andesitic
porphyry, partly hematized, with large (greater than
5 cm) and almost spherical greenish cavities filled with
epidote.
Considering the significant reworking that has
occurred as part of the operations related to a ski resort
located in the upper parts of the glacial valley, and
taking into account that only preliminary data are avail-
able, it is difficult to establish whether the 4.5 ka event
derives entirely from the Caracoles range along the
east side of the valley and/or from the west side of the
valley as well. Because of the uncertainties associated
with the younger and apparently smaller event(s), this
paper will focus only on the older and larger Portillo
Rock Avalanche.
4 FAILURE MECHANISM
Initial assessments based on visual observations sug-
gest that failure occurred primarily along bedding
planes (translational failure), which in turn are sub-
parallel to the alignment of major N-S trending struc-
tures. However, analysis of the post-failure structural
and dynamic conditions of the main slope wall reveals
no daylighting of persistent structures.
Given the steepness of the bedding/slope, one that
likely exceeds the frictional strength along the bedding
911
Figure 5. Schematic cross-section of the Caracoles range.
planes, and in absence of any more recent rockslide
events, kinematic release may have been triggered by
a large earthquake, perhaps aided in part by over-
steepening of the valley walls during glacial advance
and debuttressing during retreat (i.e. after the LGM,
approximately 15 ka). A progressive strength degrada-
tion mechanism may also have contributed to failure,
both in the form of asperity breakdown along the bed-
ding planes and loss of coherence in the stronger units
at the toe of the slope through brittle fracture pro-
cesses. Progressive failure would be augmented by
annual precipitation events (i.e. cyclic fatigue).
Consequently, instead of a simple planar mode of
failure, the geometry and geology of the slope suggest
a bi-planar failure mode in which extensive internal
rock mass deformation occurs leading to toe failure.
5 NUMERICAL MODELLING
5.1 Discontinuum approach
Numerical modeling techniques based on discontin-
uum mechanics present a valuable means to investigate
the role of, and interaction between, geological struc-
tures and internal rock mass deformation of a jointed
rock slope (Eberhardt et al. 2004, Stead et al. 2006).
The distinct element code UDEC (Itasca 2004) was
used in the analysis with the main objective being to
determine the most likely failure mechanism of the
slope for a range of geometries and strength parame-
ters, conforming to the estimated failed volume of the
rock mass.
The Caracoles range is a concave slope in cross
section (Fig. 5), which was simplified to that of a
homocline in the UDEC models (Fig. 6). The topo-
graphic profile was later divided into three regions: an
upper slope that contains the initiation zone, a fault
zone that corresponds with the toe of the slope, and
a base (Fig. 6). The source area of the Portillo Rock
Avalanche was treated as a discontinuous rock mass
 Table 1. Average rock mass and discontinuity properties.

Rock mass
properties Slope Fault zone

Density (kg/m3 ) 2700 2600

Bulk modulus (Pa) 6e9 3.3e9
Shear modulus (Pa) 3.6e9 1.5e9
Friction (◦ ) 30 23
Cohesion (Pa) 4.6e6 2.2e6
Tensile strength (Pa) 1.6e5 0.3e5

Discontinuity Slope Fault zone

properties bedding Cross joints bedding

Figure 6. Simplified model geometry used for UDEC Joint normal

modeling.
and a Mohr-Coulomb elasto-plastic constitutive cri-
terion was adopted to represent block deformation.
Movement along discontinuities was modeled using
an elasto-plastic joint area contact with Coulomb slip
failure, based upon elastic stiffness, frictional, cohe-
sive and tensile strength properties. The far-field base
below the slope was treated as an elastic, continuous
and isotropic material to represent a strong relatively
rigid buttress underlying the fault zone. Near the fault
zone, the base was divided to enable a better element
size gradation between the elasto-plastic zones used
to model the fault material and the linear-elastic base.
The analysis was performed without considering of
pore-water pressures.
5.2 Model description
A simplified model of the slope was constructed using
a bedding plane spacing of 30 m and a spacing of 40
m for the cross-joints. For the fault zone, 20 m spacing
was adopted for the bedding planes to more accurately
represent the fractured nature of the fault rock. The
orientation and spacing of discontinuities was obtained
directly by outcrop mapping, and remotely aided by a
terrestrial-based LiDAR scanner. This geometry was
similar to that used by Benko & Stead (1998) for their
analysis of the Frank slide.
Analysis of the slope started with modeling of an
initial stable equilibrium state. Once this condition
was achieved, the objective was to test the response
of the slope to variations in Mohr-Coulomb strength
properties in order to find the combination of values
that produce a failure surface similar to the actual one
mapped.
For the parametric study, rock mass and discontinu-
ity properties were varied in the upper slope (region 1)
and fault zone (region 2), with five different strength
combinations being tested: (1) weak rock mass, bed-
ding and cross-joints in the upper slope and fault zone;
(2) weak rock mass and bedding in the upper slope and
fault zone, strong cross-joints in the upper slope; (3)
stiffness (Pa/m) 3.5e10 3.5e10 5e9
Joint shear
stiffness (Pa/m) 1.3e9 1.3e9 5e8
Joint friction (◦ ) 30 30–35 23–26
Joint cohesion (Pa) 1e5 0−1e5 0–5.2e4
* When two values appear, the first one corresponds to
model 3 and the second to model 4.
weak rock mass, weak cross-joints and strong bedding
in the upper slope, weak rock mass and bedding in the
fault zone; (4) weak rock mass and strong discontinu-
ities in the upper slope and fault zone; and (5) strong
rock mass and weak discontinuities in the upper slope
and fault zone. The material properties used are shown
in Table 1.
Three groups of behavior were identified varying
from plastic yielding to no plastic yield. The groups
showed substantial differences in performance under
the different strength sequences, with higher values
of displacement, shear, and relative block velocity
(m/timestep) being recorded for the most unstable
group (models 1 and 2), gradually reducing towards
the most stable group (model 5). Figure 7a shows the
accelerating condition of model 1, while Figure 7b
shows deceleration and stabilization for model 5.
5.3 Interpretation of results
In interpreting the results, consideration must be
given to the explicit time-stepping solution proce-
dure employed by UDEC and the diagnostic indicators
available (Itasca 2004). For the modeling of the Portillo
Rock Avalanche the primary indicators used included
the evolution of the unbalanced forces, gridpoint
velocities, plasticity indicators and the displacement
histories at the crest and toe of the slope. Differences
in the results between the five model configurations
revealed the importance of bedding strength in the
slope (model 3) compared to that of the cross-joints
(model 2), and the predominance of strong materi-
als (model 5) over strong discontinuities (model 4) to
ensure the overall stability of the slope.

912

Figure 7. Horizontal displacement history plots for: a)
model 1 and b) model 5.
Shear displacements and plasticity indicators show
a failure mechanism that involves toe failure through
brittle fracture processes and rock mass yielding,
which then allows sliding along the bedding planes in
the upper slope. This failure mechanism was common
to all models, independent of the strength parameters
used. This provided a certain degree of confidence
with respect to model uncertainty, and focus was
shifted to parameter uncertainty and the model that
best reproduced the mapped failure surface along the
Caracoles range. In addition, an overall comparison
between the estimated failure surface and the distri-
bution of the velocity vectors, plasticity indicators,
maximum displacement, and shear displacement were
considered. From this, models 3 and 4 showed the best
agreement with field observations; these two models
are largely similar differing with respect to the joint
friction and cohesion values used (Table 1).
The similarity between these two models points to
the lower significance of the cross joints and bedding
in the fault zone compared to that of the bedding in the
slope, when looking at the shear resistance provided
by the discontinuities and its influence on the transfer-
ence of the active driving forces from the upper slope
to the passive blocks in the toe. Displacements were
913
Figure 8. Maximum displacements parallel to bedding in
the slope and rotating out through continuum failure at the
toe (maximum displacement = 1.7 m).
Figure 9. Model results showing that the maximum shear
strains concentrate at the toe (maximum velocity at the toe is
3.0e−3 m/timestep).
concentrated in the upper slope for a thickness of 60 m
into the slope, gradually increasing from crest to toe
(parallel to bedding) to a maximum depth (Fig. 8). The
plotting of shear strain and relative velocity vectors
shows that the larger magnitudes are found at the toe,
where failure/yield occurs in the intact blocks (Fig. 9).
Shear displacements along the bedding planes in the
slope are shown in Figure 10. Major shearing is con-
centrated close to the fault zone. For the first 60 m into
the slope shearing is not continuous up along bedding,
but for the next 30 m shearing follows along the entire
length of the persistent bedding planes. This particu-
lar feature could correspond to the stepped and blocky
nature of the upper western margin of the Caracoles
range (Fig. 11). Here, cross joints are observed to act as
Figure 10. Shear displacements showing a stepped pattern
in the lower slope moving into and up towards the crest
(maximum line thickness corresponds to 39 cm of shear).
Figure 11. Northwest facing view of the slope showing the
presence of cross joints acting as release surfaces.
surfaces which allow rear kinematic release followed
by motion of the slab.
Plasticity indicators are shown in Figure 12. Bed-
ding plane shearing at the toe indicates the initiation
of the rupture surface. Tensile failure above the fault
zone could be indicative of a staged failure, controlled
in part by a “Prandtl”-like wedge between active and
passive zones (e.g. as shown by Kvapil & Clews 1979).
Under this scenario, development of the Portillo Rock
Avalanche includes yielding in shear of the rock mass
at the toe of the slope. Upward propagation of tensile
damage and brittle fracturing, aided by the cross cut-
ting joints, then enables kinematic release at the toe in
the absence of a cross-cutting discontinuity daylight-
ing and dipping out of the slope face. The failure of
the lower portion of the slope, which provides support
for the upper slope, subsequently allows the rest of the
slope to fail through sliding and shearing along the
914
Figure 12. UDEC results with interpreted slide and internal
shear surface for the failure in the Portillo Rock Avalanche.
bedding planes, aided in part by the development of
tensile failure at the crest of the slope.
Close agreement is achieved with the mapped fail-
ure surface (Fig. 12), although the depth of failure is
slightly overestimated. It is believed that this is due to
assumptions related to the simplification of the con-
cave slope geometry to that of a homocline. Otherwise,
the outline of the modeled slide surface corresponds
fairly well with the actual failure surface.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The use of cosmogenic nuclide dating by 36Cl in con-
junction with detailed geologic and geomorphologic
mapping helped constrain the origin of the deposits
at the toe of the Caracoles range. The chronology
of events set them in a post glacial period. Late
Pleistocene and Holocene ages cluster around 4.5 ka
and 13.5 ka, thus ruling out glacial origins as having
formed any of the lobes. In addition, it is evident, that
the lobes do not belong to a single event but to two
events separated in time by a few thousand years.
The use of discontinuum numerical modeling tech-
niques applied in the analysis of the Portillo Rock
Avalanche helped support the field observations with
respect to the most probable failure mechanism –
shearing of beds through the toe of the slope enabling
sliding of the upper slope along bedding. The model
results also provided new insights into the way the
slide mass failed, suggesting the possibility of a staged
failure through an active-passive Prandtl wedge.
The importance of bedding shear resistance in the
upper slope compared to that of the cross-joints and
bedding in the fault zone was illustrated, as was the role
of strong rock over strong discontinuities to emphasize
the overall stability of the present-day slope. With-
out the presence of daylighting discontinuities dipping
shallowly out of the slope, the unchanging failure
mechanism to variations in rock mass and disconti-
nuity strength parameters strongly suggests a failure
mode controlled by the adverse geometry, with high
and steep dipping bedding planes, combined with back
thrust structures at the toe of the slope.
A conclusive statement regarding the Portillo Rock
Avalanche is not likely given the number of uncer-
tainties inherent with back analyzing a prehistoric
rockslide. However, geological mapping combined
with numerical modeling and engineering judgment
does allow for important insights to be gained connect-
ing the prehistoric failure with the present-day hazard
posed by the slope. Further work in this study will
focus on more realistic representations of the slope
(e.g. concave geometry of bedding), and its sensitiv-
ity to strong triggering mechanisms (e.g. earthquake)
and glacial processes (e.g. undercutting of bedding,
debuttressing of slope walls, etc.).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project was funded in part by the Multi-
Andean project (MAP:GAC), as financed by the Cana-
dian International Development Agency (CIDA), and
through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery grant. Field
work was financed by the Geological and Mining Sur-
vey of Chile. Preliminary ages were calculated by
Courtney Jeremyn of the Geological Survey of Canada
(GSC).
REFERENCES
Benko, B. & Stead, D. 1998. The Frank slide: a reexami-
nation of the failure mechanism. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal,35: 299–311.
Cegarra, M. & Ramos, V. 1996. The Aconcagua fold and
thrust belt. Geology of the Aconcagua region; San Juan
915
and Mendoza provinces, Argentina. Anales – Dirección
Nacional del Servicio Geológico 24: 387–422.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D. & Coggan, J.S. 2004. Numerical anal-
ysis of initiation and progressive failure in natural rock
slopes – the 1991 Randa rockslide. International Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 41: 69–87.
Godoy, E. 2002. Remociones en masa de aspecto Cuater-
nario en el frente tectónico cordillerano de Chile central,
los depósitos de Colon-Coya y Gualtatas, Chile. In Inter-
national Symposium of Environmental Geology for Land
Use Planning, Puerto Varas, vol. 1, pp. 58–61.
Godoy, E., Lara, L. & Ugalde, I. 1994. Derrumbes de cerros
holocenos en los Andes centrales de Chile. In Proceedings
Chilean Geological Congress No. 7◦ , Concepción, vol. 1,
pp. 310–314.
Hermanns, R.L. & Strecker, M.R. 1999. Structural and litho-
logical controls on large Quaternary rock avalanches
(sturzstroms) in arid northwestern Argentina. Geological
Society of America Bulletin 111: 934–948.
Hermanns, R.L., Niedermann, S., Villanueva Garcia, A.,
Sosa Gomez, J. & Strecker, M.R. 2001. Neotectonics
and catstrophic failure of mountain fronts in the south-
ern intra-Andean Puna Plateau, Argentina. Geology 29:
619–623.
Hermanns, R.L., Niedermann, S., Ivy-Ochs, S. & Kubik, P.W.
2004. Rock avalanching into a landslide-dammed lake
causing multiple dam failure in Las Conchas valley (NW
Argentina) - evidence from surface exposure dating and
stratigraphic analyses. Landslides 1: 113–122.
Itasca 2004. Itasca Software Products—FLAC, FLAC3D,
UDEC, 3DEC, PFC, PFC3D. Minneapolis: Itasca Con-
sulting Group Inc.
Kvapil, R. & Clews, K.M. 1979. An examination of the
Prandtl mechanism in large-dimension slope failures.
Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. Sect. A: Mining Industry 88,
A1–A5.
Phillips, F.M. & Plummer, M.A. 1996. CHLOE: A program
for interpreting in situ cosmogenic nuclide data for sur-
face exposure dating and erosion studies. Radiocarbon 38:
98–99.
Stead, D., Eberhardt, E. & Coggan, J.S. 2006. Developments
in the characterization of complex rock slope deforma-
tion and failure using numerical modelling techniques.
Engineering Geology 83(1–3): 217–235.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

A complex rock slope failure investigated by means of numerical modelling

based on laser scanner technique

M. Ghirotti
Dip. Scienze della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali, Alma Mater Università di Bologna, Italy

R. Genevois
Dip. Geologia, Paleontologia e Geofisica, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy

ABSTRACT: On March 12, 2005 in the Scascoli Gorges (Savena Valley, Northern Apennines, Italy) a rock
slope failure involving siltstones and arenites occurred damming the torrent below. The geometry of the collapsed
rock mass was characterized by a failure surface progressively changing from over-steepened at the top to
concave at the bottom. Terrestrial laser scanner technique (TLS) has been applied to obtain high resolution
topography of the rock slope. Mechanism and kinematics of the rock slope failure has been investigated by
distinct-element modelling (UDEC). As distinct element simulations in rock masses largely depends on joint
pattern and orientation, accurate discontinuities orientation, spacing and location of discrete surface features
have been directly gathered from data provided by TLS. This paper describes the stability analyses carried out
on simulating the progressively developing damage of the rock mass by reducing the GSI initial value and using
a Hoek & Brown constitutive model.

1 INTRODUCTION erosion. Approximately 25,000 m3 of rock fell down

Mass movements represent a significant hazard in
the Italian Apennines, where different lithologies out-
crop even in complex structural settings. In such rock
masses, generally characterized by a dense network of
discontinuities producing a blocky structure, simula-
tion of instability processes can be carried out with
discontinuous models by introducing joint systems
into the numerical simulation using finite element
or distinct element approaches (e.g. Goodman et al.
1968). Discontinuous modelling has been developed
and implemented leading to more detailed and reliable
geomechanical models for slope stability analyses,
especially with respect to back-analyses and the verifi-
cation of both the correctness of assumed soil or rock
model parameters and constitutive models. However
weathering affects the shear strength of discontinuities
due to the weakening of the asperities, and the reduc-
tion of the base friction angle as a result of possible
changes in mineralogy. As a consequence, the pro-
gressive failure of rock masses subject to weathering
processes should be carefully investigated.
The 2005 Scascoli Landslide is located on the north-
western side of the Savena Stream Valley (Emilia-
Romagna Region, Northern Apennines, Italy) (Fig.1).
The landslide occurred on March 12, 2005 on an
overhanging and convex cliff, undercut by the stream
from the left steeper side of the valley: large boul-
ders dammed the river, generating a small lake and
destroying the underlying road. The landslide’s pecu-
liar features made it suitable to be investigated by
means of numerical discontinuous modelling based
also on Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) surveys.
1.1 Geological and geomorphological sketch
The Scascoli Gorges are located in a strong asymmet-
ric valley: bedding planes dip less than 25◦ opposite
or conform to the slope respectively on the steeper
north-western (left) and on the gentler south-eastern
(right) slopes. The outcropping formation is formed
by alternating beds of siltstones and arenites of the
lower units of Bismantova Group of middle Miocene
age (Amorosi et al. 1996), characterized by different
grades of weathering. At the landslide site, quaternary
deposits overlay this formation, mainly as a result of
the in situ weathering processes. However, along both
the slopes and in the immediate vicinity, many bodies
of ancient and recent landslides are present. During
the last years, in fact, other landslides occurred on
the left side of the valley (1992, 2002, 2003) involv-
ing the same formations as the 2005 event (Fig. 1):
all of them were typical structurally controlled land-
slides (rock block topples and falls), whose geometry

917
Figure 1. Location of the Scascoli landslides.
and failure mechanism were strictly connected to pre-
existing discontinuities (faults and joints). Besides,
along a significant stretch of the gorge, the toe of a
huge ancient landslide (20 Mm3 volume), still slowly
moving (Landuzzi & Bernagozzi 1998), occupies the
right slope and, probably, part of the valley floor.
The high frequency of instability phenomena
recorded in such a short period can be ascribed mainly
to both anthropic and natural causes: recent enlarge-
ment of the valley bottom road has certainly increased
the natural erosion processes at the toe of the whole
cliff, while weathering processes continued to act
towards weakening the whole rock mass.
1.2 The landslide event
The 2005 Scascoli landslide involved the outcropping
siltstones and arenites with a volume of approximately
25,000 m3 and a maximum width and length of about
80 m and 50 m, respectively.
The geometry of the collapsed rock mass is given
by a solid, limited outwardly by a considerable con-
vexity (Fig. 2A), laterally by two planes corresponding
with almost parallel, sub-vertical faults (Fig. 2B), and
behind by the newly formed failure surface whose
slope progressively decreases from the top, where it is
limited by a small portion of a bedding plane (Fig. 3).
Just after the event, the left flank showed the colour of
918
Figure 2. The overhanging slope before (A) and after (B)
the 2005 Scascoli landslide.
a deeply weathered rock while on the failure surface
the colour was that of fresh broken rock.
The same characteristics were also observed on the
sides of the two major blocks lying at the base of
the scarp. Shear structures or slickensided surfaces
were not found along the observed failure surface. The
fallen rock mass appeared mostly formed by one main
boulder, split in two parts (along a sedimentary con-
tact) after the impact; other smaller blocks are present
in the southern part of the accumulation zone (Fig. 4).
From the in situ observations the rock mass turns out
to have moved as an initial toppling, stopping a few
tens of meters further down, after a short fall. Con-
sequently, the landslide can be considered a massive
toppling/rock fall (Cruden & Varnes 1996).
Analyses of climatic and regional seismic data show
no clear indications of a particular triggering cause.
Records at Loiano station (a few km South of Scas-
coli) stress that a rapid increase of temperature, from
below zero to above zero ◦ C, occurred just the night
before March 12, 2005 after a period of heavy snow-
fall (Fig. 5). Damages linked to freeze and thaw cycles
increase if antecedent moisture conditions are suffi-
ciently high (Matsuoka et al. 1998), but precipitation
records do not indicate such a condition before the
failure.

Figure 3. Photo showing the marked curvature of the failure
surface (on the left) and the left flank of the slide (in front).
The approximate scale is given by the person into the circle.
Figure 4. Detailed map of the 2005 Scascoli landslide.
919
Figure 5. Cumulated rainfall and air temperature at Loiano
station.
In order to investigate both the network of nat-
ural discontinuities existing into the slope and the
mechanism of failure, TLS technique and discontin-
uum (distinct element) numerical modelling have been
applied.
2 TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNER SURVEY
The Scascoli landslide has been observed by long
range terrestrial laser scanner (TLS), using an Optech
ILRIS 3D (Optech 2006, POB 2006). TLS survey has
been performed considering two different viewpoints
located at mean approximate distances of 150 m and
300 m, respectively, obtaining two point clouds with
about 4 and 3 million points. At a distance of 200 m,
the spot spacing has been about 5 cm, with a positional
accuracy of about 2 cm in the single point acquisition.
A 3D triangulate model (Fig. 6 A) has been obtained
from the acquired data, by means of the standard TLS
data processing (Remondino 2003). The two point
clouds have been registered on a common reference
frame by means of a surface matching algorithm (Chen
& Medioni 1992, Bergevin et al. 1996), implemented
in the IMAlign module of PolyWorks (Innovmetric
2006, POB 2006). In order to use all the obtained infor-
mation, the mean size of the triangles of the 3D model
is coherent with the ground spatial sampling, that is
about 5 cm.
Thanks to such a model, the geometry of the
observed surface can be greatly detailed (Fig. 6 B).
The inspection of the 3DTLS-based model provided
important geometrical parameters such as spacing, as
well as the location of discrete surface features. In par-
ticular, a careful observation of the left boundary of the
slide allowed to identify three sets of discontinuities,

Figure 6. A) 3D triangulate model of the landslide; B)
details of the slide surface with its dimension.
Figure 7. An example of discontinuity spacing calculation
in TLS model.
with attitudes conform to the slope but with different
dips. For each of them the true spacing and persistence
have been evaluated using the measure distance option
of Polyworks (Innovmetric 2006) (Fig. 7).
This configuration has been then compared with the
geomechanical data obtained by a conventional sur-
vey carried out in the area before 2005 (Ferro 2003)
and supplemented with new observations (Gambassi
2006). Conventional geomechanical survey identified
only one daylighting set of discontinuities (although
scattered) making the mass failure kinematically fea-
sible (i.e. in a planar or wedge failure mode). TLS
survey has provided indications of a natural network
of discontinuities (at least four sets with trend paral-
lel to the slope). This result underlines the importance
of data collection methodologies for rock slope sta-
bility assessment: if a numerical method is utilized,
920
then appropriate field mapping/investigation tech-
niques should be adopted to match the complexity of
the techniques of analysis (Level II or Level III of
landslide analysis in Stead et al. 2006).
Moreover, from the TLS model, a series of cross
sections has been obtained: the curvature of the failure
surface, cutting fresh and intact rock as observed after
the event, has been detailed with accuracy, showing
the reduction of the dip towards the toe.
Since no TLS observations have been performed
before the landslide, no detailed reference models were
available. For this reason, no other calculations have
been done within the TLS data processing environ-
ment. The geometry of the rock mass used later in the
numerical modelling UDEC (Itasca 2004) was derived
from TLS survey. In particular, true spacing and loca-
tion of bedding planes and joints have been inserted
without any scaling factor.
3 NUMERICAL MODELLING
Although the previous rock slope failures which
occurred in the Gorges (Gottardi et al. 2004), were
structurally controlled and analysable with limit equi-
librium methods (Fig. 8), observations at the 2005
site indicated a non-structurally controlled failure that
suggest to face the stability problem by means of
numerical methods (Hoek et al. 2000).They have pecu-
liar advantage over limit equilibrium models being
able to model progressive failure and displacement as
opposed to a simple factor of safety.
Morphology and characteristics of the failure sur-
face (mainly its marked curvature and unweathering
condition of the rock mass) may be considered mark-
ers of a progressive failure mechanism, involving
processes related to the failure of both intact rock
bridges between existing natural joints and asperities
on interlocked joint surfaces.
The failure mechanism of the 2005 event at the
Scascoli Gorges was investigated using the distinct-
element program UDEC (Itasca 2004) and with a
technique to simulate strength degradation with time
leading to failure (Eberhardt et al. 2004, Brideau et al.
2006, Stead et al. 2006). UDEC (Itasca 2004) is par-
ticularly well suited to problems involving jointed
media and has been used extensively for investigations
of rockslide failure mechanisms (Eberhardt 2006).
It treats the problem domain as an assemblage of
deformable blocks for each of which the dynamic
equation of equilibrium for each block is formulated
and repeatedly solved until the boundary conditions
and the laws of contact and motion are satisfied. The
UDEC method corresponds to a discontinuum analysis
technique, characterized by contacts (joints, bedding
planes and other discontinuities) or interfaces between
discrete units (blocks of intact rock). Numerically, the
model describes the mechanical behaviour of both
 Figure 9. Discontinuities geometry used in UDEC model.

Table 1. Material and discontinuity properties for the Scas-

coli rock mass*

Figure 8. View of the 2002 landslide and the schematic Rock mass Symbol Value
representation of the failure.
Young modulus (GPa) [E] 24
the discontinuities and the rock blocks, determining Poisson’s ratio [ν] 0.33
contact forces and displacements through a series of Density (kg/m3) [γ] 2600
Cohesion (MPa) [c] 1.3
sequential calculations and representing the dynamic
Tensile strength (MPa) [T0 ] 0.17
behaviour of the rock mass by a time-stepping algo- Internal friction (deg) [φ] 55
rithm. Two sets of calculations are performed: first, CS (MPa) 90
Newton’s second law is applied to quantify the veloc- mi 17
ity vector of each block; second, a force-displacement Joint
law is used to establish the contact force across every Normal stiffness (GPa/m) [jkn] 35
discontinuity. The method, thus, accounts for complex Shear stiffness (GPa/m) [jks] 3.5
non-linear interaction between blocks and can also Joint cohesion(MPa) [jcoh] 0.08
model the deformation and the material yielding of Joint tensile strength (MPa) [jten] 0
the joint-bounded intact rock blocks. Joint friction angle (deg) [jfr] 30–36
Pore pressures were not included in the analysis,
considering the climatic condition of the event period, *Properties were derived from laboratory data and from
but their repeated effects will be considered in future RocLab software. Relations proposed from Bandis (1983)
stages of the study. The cross section used was derived were used for joint stiffness.
from a pre-2005 photogrammetric survey. Four joint
systems (bedding planes and three sets) have been
introduced in the geometry. All joints were considered material characteristics of in situ rock masses. RocLab
fully persistent, and actual spacing and location of bed- software (RocScience 2003) provides a simple way
ding planes and joints have been inserted without any to generate properties for rock masses with a limited
scaling factor (Fig. 9). number of inputs. GSI estimated for the Scascoli rock
Representative values of the material and disconti- mass ranges between 53 and 57.
nuities parameters of Scascoli rock mass are listed in Following the initialization of the in situ stress
Table 1. state under gravity loading, a preliminary analysis
was carried out, simply adopting representative rock
mass properties (elastic-plastic Mohr-Coulomb mate-
3.1 Simulation of rock mass failure
rial based on a GSI of 55) and joint friction values
The Geological Strength Index (GSI), originally devel- estimated from Barton criterion. This numerical sim-
oped by Hoek & Brown (1997) and Hoek et al. ulation, that we can call “conventional”, is not able to
(2002), provides a method to correlate geological capture the actual mechanism promoting in-stability,
field observations to the quality of the rock mass. as it gives a clear planar failure on the a discontinu-
This classification is based on the density of jointing ity dipping at an angle of 53◦ out of slope, extending
and amount of weathering/alteration observed in the further back beyond the actual back-scarp (Fig. 10).
rock mass. As part of the Hoek–Brown Failure Crite- The use of RocLab and the Hoek–Brown cri-
rion, GSI can be extended to determine strength and terion, from which the required set of properties

921
Figure 10. Horizontal and shear displacements on joint at
failure from a UDEC “conventional” analysis.

can be obtained, allowed for the simulation of rock

mass degradation by simply reducing the GSI value
(Kinakin & Stead 2005). The analyses were run assign-
ing to the slope materials the Hoek & Brown (H-B)
failure criterion. Initial strength values (c, φ and T0 )
were those of the intact, i.e. unweathered and coherent,
rock mass. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS)
was derived from laboratory tests (Ferro 2003), and
mi (a material constant) from typical values quoted
for sandstones. Figure 11. Evolution of plasticity indicators relative to two
The Hoek & Brown rock mass parameters were, stages of progressive strength degradation.
then, gradually decreased to simulate the progressive
degradation of the rock mass strength according to a
discrete (10 step) reduction of GSI until failure was
reached.

3.2 Results and discussion

Results from H-B modelling show a tensile failure
zone that develops at the base of the overhanging
cliff and propagates, as deformation process occur,
through the intact mass, outlining a curved failure sur-
face (Fig. 11). The failure begins at the base of the
slope when the cohesion is set to 2.3 MPa (GSI = 70)
(Fig. 11A). As strength degradation increases, the col-
lapse state extends towards the topographic surface,
involving the whole mass when the cohesion and
tensile strength reach values of 1.6 Pa and 0.2 MPa,
respectively (GSI = 60) (Fig. 11B). Correspondingly,
shear displacements on joints develop from the top of
the slope generating, at the end, a failure surface sim-
ilar to a multiple step-path failure surface (Eberhardt
et al. 2004) (Fig. 12).
Catastrophic failure, causing a massive top-
pling/rock fall, occurs for GSI lower than 60 as shown
by the velocities of the reference points (Fig. 13).
Examination of the results shows that the calculated
failure surface closely agrees, both for extension and
shape with the slope profile obtained with TLS survey Figure 12. Evolution of shear displacements relative to two
(Fig. 14). stages of progressive strength degradation.

922

Figure 13. Plot of the vertical component of the velocity of
the reference points. The velocity suddenly increases only for
blocks in the failed mass.
Figure 14. Horizontal displacement distribution at failure.
The continuous black line is the failure surface obtained by
TLS. The dotted line is the interpreted failure surface, hidden
by accumulated boulders.
Finally, the numerical simulation of the landslide
suggests that the failure has been controlled by both
brittle fracture propagation through intact rock bridges
and natural discontinuities.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper examines the failure mechanism in a jointed
rock slope using computer numerical simulations and
the results of TLS survey to capture geometry and
structural setting of the rock mass. The distribution
of discontinuities, significantly controlling the rock-
mass stability, determines the failure mechanism, and
the consequent slope evolution through time.
Results based on the use of the Universal Distinct
Element Code (UDEC) show that such assumptions
do not always corresponds to the actual evolution of
the instability process. The good correlation between
the field observations and the results of the analyses
of the 2005 Scascoli (Northern Apennines) landslide
923
suggests that the dominant failure mechanism has been
realistically captured: numerical simulations show, in
fact, that sliding is coupled to a notable toppling
rotation. However, slope instability processes can be
modelled using rock mass and joint parameters values
only if their progressive degradation is considered and
adopted in a sequential mode in the numerical analysis.
To this aim, the progressive reduction of parameters
has been derived directly from an imposed reduction of
the GSI value: the failure has been eventually obtained
with a GSI value of 60 similar to that of the existing
rock mass.
The results of an analysis carried on with a stan-
dard procedure lead, in fact, to a failure mechanism
(plane sliding) quite different from that observed in
the field. A limitation of the used model is given by
the clear 3D nature of the rock mass involved in the
failure, mainly represented by the two faults parallel to
the cross section analysed, and laterally bounding the
mass. Further analyses will be then carried on using
3DEC code (Itasca 2004).
The contribution of the TLS technique has shown
to be relevant, as it gave a detailed and immediate
knowledge of the structural setting of the rock mass,
directly usable in the numerical analysis. In a more
general context, this aspect confirms the benefits of
integrating numerical modelling techniques with site
investigation, laboratory testing and in situ monitoring
campaigns (Stead et al. 2006). It is, however, essential
that quality and quantity of both input and instrumen-
tation data be improved at the same time in order to
provide the required validation. The conclusions are
thus useful in enhancing knowledge of jointed rock
mass failure conditions, and improving understanding
of rock slope evolution.
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank A.R. Bernardi (Emilia-
Romagna Region) for providing topographic infor-
mation, A. Galgaro for technical support during TLS
survey and, overall, G. Teza (University of Padova) for
analyses of TLS data.
REFERENCES
Amorosi, A., Colalongo, M.L. & Vaiani, C.S. 1996. Revisione
litostratigrafia dell’Unità Bismantova (Miocene epilig-
ure, Appennino settentrionale). Boll. Soc. Geol. It. 115:
355–367.
Bandis, S.C., Lumsden, A.C. & Barton, N.R. 1983. Funda-
mentals of rock joint deformation. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 20(6): 249–268.
Bergevin, R., Souci, M, Gagnon, H. & Laurendeau, D. 1996.
Towards a general multi-view registration technique. IEEE
Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelli-
gence 18(5): 540–547.
Brideau, M-A., Stead, D. & Couture R. 2006. Structural and
engineering geology of the East Gate Landslide, Purcell
Mountains, British Columbia, Canada. Eng. Geol. 84:
183–206.
Chen, Y. & Medioni, G. 1992. Object modelling by reg-
istration of multiple range images. Image and Vision
computing. 10(3): 145–155.
Cruden, D.M. & Varnes, D.J. 1996. Landslide types and
processes. In Turner & Schuster (eds.), Landslides: Inves-
tigation and Mitigation. Transportation Research Board
Special Report. 247. Washington, DC: National Academy
Press, pp. 36–75.
Eberhardt, E. 2006. Keynote lecture: From Cause to Effect:
Using Numerical Modelling to Understand Rock Slope
Instability Mechanisms. In Evans et al. (eds), Landslides
from Massive Rock Slope Failure, NATO Science Series, IV
Earth and Environmental Sciences. Springer, pp. 85–101.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D. & Coggan, J.S. 2004. Numerical anal-
ysis of initiation and progressive failure in natural rock
slopes—the 1991 Randa rockslide. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 41: 69–87.
Ferro, S. 2003. La pericolosità per frana nelle Gole di Scas-
coli (Val Savena, Appennino bolognese. M.Sc. Thesis,
Bologna University (in Italian, unpublished).
Gambassi, L. 2006. Modellazione numerica agli Elementi
Distinti della frana in roccia di Scascoli (Valle del Savena,
Bologna). M.Sc. Thesis, Bologna University (in Italian,
unpublished).
Goodman, R.E., Taylor, R.L. & Brekke, T.L. 1968. A model
for the mechanics of jointed rock. Journal of the Soil
Mechanics and Foundations Division ASCE 94(SM3):
637–659.
Gottardi, G., Marchi, G., Landuzzi, A. & Benedetti, G.
2004. On the complex instability processes near the
Scascoli Gorge (northern Apennines, Bologna, Italy. In
10◦ Internationales Symposion INTERPRAEVENT 2004,
Riva/Trento, Italia. Vol. 2, pp. 25–36.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(8):
1165–1186.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek–
Brown failure criterion—2002 Edition. In Proc. NARMS-
TAC Conference, Toronto, vol. 1, pp. 267–273.
924
Hoek, E. 2000. Practical Rock Engineering, 2000 Edi-
tion. http:// www. rocscience. com/ roc /Hoek /Hoeknotes
2000.htm.
Hoek, E., Read, J., Karzulovic, A. & Chen, Z.Y. 2000. Rock
slopes in civil and mining engineering. In Proceedings
of the International Conference on Geotechnical and
Geological Engineering, GeoEng2000, Melbourne, pp.
1–16.
Innovmetric. 2006. PolyWorksTM software technical data.
http://www.innovmetric.com/.
Itasca. 2004. UDEC – Universal Distinct Element Code,
version 4.0. Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Landuzzi A. & Bernagozzi G. 1998. Geologia e geomor-
fologia della frana di Scascoli (Appennino settentrionale,
Bologna, Italia). In Atti V Convegno Nazionale dei Gio-
vani Ricercatori in Geologia Applicata, Cagliari, Italia,
pp. 87–96.
Kinakin, D. & Stead, D. 2005. Analysis of the distributions of
stress in natural ridge forms: implications for the defor-
mation mechanism of rock slopes and the formation of
sackung. Geomorphology 65: 85–100.
Matsuoka N., Hirakawa, K., Watanabe, T., Haeberli, W. &
Keller, F. 1998. The role of diurnal, annual and mil-
lennial freeze-thaw cycles in controlling alpine slope
instability. In Lewkowicz & Allard (eds.), 7th Interna-
tional Permafrost Conference, Yellowknife, Canada, pp.
711–717.
Optech. 2006. Laser scanner ILRIS 3D technical data.
http://www.optech.ca/prodilris.htm.
POB. 2006. Laser scanner hardware and software survey.
http://files.bnpmedia.com/POB/2006/05/Files/PDFs/POB
0506-LaserScanningSurvey.pdf.
Remondino, F. 2003. From point cloud to surface: the mod-
elling and visualization problem. In Gruen et al. (eds.),
Proceedings of ISPRS International Workshop on Visu-
alization and Animation of Reality-based 3D Models;
Tarasp-Vulpera, Switzerland. CD-ROM.
RocScience. 2003. RocLab. Rocscience, Toronto, Ontario.
http://www.rocscience.com.
Stead, D., Eberhardt, E. & Coggan, J.S. 2006. Developments
in the characterization of a complex rock slope deforma-
tion and failure using numerical modelling techniques.
Eng. Geol. 83(1–3): 217–235.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Ground-based and airborne LiDAR for structural mapping of

the Frank Slide

M. Sturzenegger & D. Stead

Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

C. Froese & F. Moreno

Alberta Geological Survey, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

M. Jaboyedoff
Institute of Geomatics and Analysis of Risk (IGAR), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: Turtle Mountain, the site of the 1903 the Frank Slide, has been widely studied. A large database
of structural measurements allows the comparison and testing of recently developed techniques. This paper
commences with a review of recent mapping ofTurtle Mountain.A report on a recent investigation of the mountain
using a combination of airborne and terrestrial laser scanning techniques is then presented. The advantages and
limitations of both methods are highlighted. This study reveals that a combination of methods is required in order
to adequately characterize the structure of such a large landslide. Emphasis is given to the different observation
scales and the information that they can provide. Recommendations for future mapping strategies of similar high
mountain slopes are made based on the results of the Turtle Mountain structural mapping program.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 STRUCTURAL MAPPING OF TURTLE

Turtle Mountain, the site of the 1903 Frank Slide, pro-
vides an ideal site to test a variety of techniques related
to landslide characterization and monitoring and has
been subject to numerous recent studies, as outlined
by Froese & Moreno (2006). In terms of structural
mapping, conventional field-based techniques as well
as modern intrusive and non-intrusive mapping tech-
nologies have been applied (Cruden & Krahn 1973,
Fossey 1986, Couture 1998, Jaboyedoff et al. 2006,
Spratt & Lamb 2005, Theune et al. in press). Struc-
tural mapping is an important step in understanding
the potential kinematics of failure and provide neces-
sary input for stability analysis (Krahn & Morgenstern
1976, Cruden & Krahn 1978, Benko & Stead 1998).
This paper reports some recent field investigations
performed using ground-based and airborne LiDAR
(Light Detection and Ranging) to map the scar of
the Frank Slide. The results obtained with these tech-
niques will be presented and critically reviewed with
regards to other techniques. These comments pro-
vide the basis for a discussion on the applicability
of ground-based and airborne LiDAR for the char-
acterization of large landslides. A review of previous
structural geological investigations on the Frank Slide
will first be presented.
MOUNTAIN
The structure of Turtle Mountain and the the Frank
Slide has been described by Cruden & Krahn (1973).
They showed that the mountain is formed by the Turtle
Mountain Anticline, which is underlain by the Turtle
Mountain thrust fault. Above this fault, they noticed
the presence of a minor thrust fault (Figure 1). The
failure surface of the Frank Slide predominantly fol-
lows bedding planes located to the east of the anticlinal
hinge. At the toe of the slide, the failure surface follows
the minor thrust fault and at the top, it is controlled by
two joint sets perpendicular to bedding. Bedding joints
are persistent over tens to hundreds of meters, while
cross joints are discontinuous.
Fossey (1986) further mapped the area at the south-
ern end of the slide, known as South Peak, where he
undertook a more detailed joint survey using conven-
tional field techniques. He subdivided the South Peak
area into six domains, based on varying attitudes of
the bedding. Scanline surveys were also published by
Couture (1998) and Spratt & Lamb (2005). A selec-
tion of these surveys, performed in different structural
domains, is showed in Figures 2a and 2b. Langenberg
et al. (2006) observed normal faults on the eastern
slope that promote toppling failure of small volumes

925

Figure 1. Cross section through the Frank Slide, Turtle
Mountain (after Cruden & Krahn 1973). 1: Banff Forma-
tion, 2: Livingstone Formation, 3: Mount Head Formation, 6:
Fernie Group, 7: Kootenay Formation, 8: Blairmore Group.
The Turtle Mountain thrust fault and the minor thrust fault
are shown as thick black lines.
Figure 2. a) and b) orientation measurements performed
during scanline surveys in different structural domains at Tur-
tle Mountain by Couture (1998) and Spratt & Lamb (2005),
respectively. c) Orientation data obtained from DEM analysis
by Jaboyedoff et al. (2006). (Lower hemisphere, equal area
projections).
of rock. He also noted the large cracks on the South
Peak that potentially could form the rear release of a
future rock slide from the South Peak.
Other researchers have also used borehole and seis-
mic methods to obtain fracture measurements on the
South Peak. Spratt & Lamb (2005) measured the ori-
entation of discontinuities along a 40.5 meters deep
borehole drilled on the western side of the South Peak.
They recorded 16 major fractures (aperture greater
than 1 cm) and 151 minor fractures (aperture smaller
than 1 cm). Theune et al. (in press) undertook frac-
ture mapping with ground penetrating radar (GPR).
This technique mainly highlighted a system of fracture
representing the bedding and a second minor system.
926
3 LIDAR TECHNIQUES
3.1 Ground-based laser scanner
Significant work has been undertaken in the field of
rock mass characterization using terrestrial laser scan-
ning. Kemeny & Donovan (2005), Monte (2004) and
Slob et al. (2005) present a method, which uses laser
scanner point clouds for automated discontinuity anal-
ysis of rock slope. Feng & Roeshoff (2004) used a
similar approach to create a 3D solid model of frac-
ture planes. These authors showed that the geometric
characteristics of discontinuities, such as orientation,
spacing, persistence and roughness can be obtained
using laser scanning techniques.
The ILRIS-3D laser scanner (Optech Inc.) is a com-
pact, fully portable and highly integrated instrument
with digital image capture. It measures the distance
and direction between the instrument and an object. A
point cloud with coordinate data and reflectance data
(intensity) is produced and allows easier recognition
of the object. The point cloud, through re-construction
software provides a 3D model of a scene, useful for
geotechnical investigation.
The ILRIS-3D laser scanner has a range of 1500
meters, depending on the orientation and reflectiv-
ity of the target. However, 800 meters is usually the
practical limit for scanning of rock faces. Scans are
performed at a rate of 2000 points per second with
range and positional accuracies at 100 m of 7 mm, and
8 mm respectively (Optech Inc.).
Ground-based laser scanning can be expected to
provide a high resolution DEM of selected parts of
Turtle Mountain. Data point resolution (spacing) for
derivation of the Turtle Mountain digital elevation
model (DEM) used by Jaboyedoff et al. (2006) was
2.0 meters. In comparison the average resolution that
can be obtained with a ground-based laser scanning
at a distance of 500 meters is in the order of 10 cm
(Sturzenegger et al. 2007, Lichti 2004). Ground-based
laser scanning allows measurements of inaccessible
steep slopes like the scar of the Frank Slide. Air-based
and field measurements are limited in this type of
environment.
3.2 Airborne laser scanning
The use of airborne LiDAR sensors is becoming an
increasingly common and cost-effective tool. It is
essential for many projects requiring characterization
of relatively large areas and has been applied success-
fully to landslide hazard assessment (Ruiz et al. 2003).
Airborne LiDAR systems consist of a laser mounted
beneath an airplane or helicopter that follows a prede-
fined path. The ground is then scanned by means of
tens of thousands of pulses per second emitted from the
laser. In order to obtain measurements for the horizon-
tal coordinates (x, y) and elevation (z) of the objects
scanned, the position of the aircraft is determined using Table 1. Scan locations and resolutions.
accurate differential GPS measurements and the dis-
tance from the aircraft to the ground calculated (Zang Resolution
Scanner location Scan name (spot spacing in cm)
et al. 2002).
These measurements generate a 3-dimensional North Crest A NCA1 7.1
point cloud with an irregular spacing. Left unfiltered, NCA2 8.7
the model includes treetops, buildings and vehicles. NCA3 26.6
Many of these non-ground features can be removed to North Crest B NCB1 15.2
produce a bare earth DEM. Several algorithms to elim- NCB2 9
inate non-ground objects have been proposed (Kraus NCB3 90
& Pfeifer 1997, Pfeifer et al. 2001, Vosselman 2000). North Peak NP1 12.3
However, erroneous elevation data can be obtained by NP2 3.7
NP3 5.8
removing non-ground points from LiDAR data sets. A
South Peak A SPA1 3.8
detailed description of the sources of error when clas- SPA2 3.5
sifying LiDAR data by any filtering method can be SPA3 4.5
found in Zang et al. (2002). South Peak B SPB1 10.7
SPB2 5.5
SPB3 4.3
4 RESULTS

4.1 Ground-based laser scanning

Fifteen scans have been performed at 5 different loca-
tions on the South Peak, the North Peak and on the
north crest of Turtle Mountain (Table 1 and Fig. 3).
The surveyed area covers most of the upper part of the
failure surface (scar) and part of the back scar, where
the tension cracks are located (Fig. 3). Each scan has
been analyzed with Split FX (Split Engineering 2005).
This software automatically recognizes surfaces that
represent discontinuities. The analysis provided orien-
tation and size measurements of several hundreds of
surfaces. Facility for manual checking and editing of
derived joint surfaces exists.
Figures 4a and b show the orientation measure-
ments for surfaces obtained from scan NCA2. The
results show that most of the poles are concentrated
on one side of the stereonet. This probably results
from orientation bias and occlusion, caused by the
position of the laser scanner relatively to the rock
slope (Fig. 5) (Sturzenegger et al. 2007). This prob-
lem occurred on each data set, which suggests that
an additional approach should be used to complement
measurement of discontinuity characteristics. Further
analysis will focus on the individual characterization
of large structures that can be observed from the point
clouds.
Figures 4c and d show the size measurements of the
surfaces obtained from scan NCA2. These values rep-
resent the measured apparent size and not the true size. Figure 3. Digital elevation model of Turtle Mountain, indi-
They may be subject to both truncation and censoring cating the ground-based laser scanner positions and the area
errors (Sturzenegger et al. 2007). The latter bias occurs covered by ground-baser laser scanning survey.
where surfaces are not completely sampled. Trunca-
tion results from the selected resolution of the scans measured are composite surfaces and not necessarily
wherein surfaces smaller than a certain size will not discrete joint surfaces. This will be discussed in more
be measured (Sturzenegger et al. 2007). In this case detail in section 5.
the resolution of the terrestrial laser scanner was in Figures 6 and 7 show scans of the North Peak and
the order of 10 cm and hence the surfaces that were of details of the tension cracks situated along the crest,

927

Figure 4. Orientation measurements (281 entries) of sur-
faces on scan NCA2. a) Pole plot, lower hemisphere, equal
area projections, b) contour plot, c) size distribution for
cluster 1, d) size distribution for cluster 2.
Figure 5. Point cloud (NCA2) of the South Peak scanned
from the North Peak crest. a) Point cloud of the rock slope
as seen from the laser scanner position, b) point cloud of
the same rock slope rotated, showing a number of occlusion
zones.
north of the North Peak. Figure 7 illustrates the detailed
morphology of the cracks.
4.2 Airborne laser scanning
Airborne Imaging Inc. acquired LiDAR data near the
town of Frank, Alberta, Canada in the summer of 2005.
The Alberta Geological Survey purchased the license
928
Figure 6. Point cloud (SPB2) of the North Peak scanned
from the South Peak. a) Point cloud of the rock slope as seen
from the laser scanner position, b) point cloud of the same
rock slope rotated, showing a number of occlusion zones.
Figure 7. Point cloud (NP2) of area to the north of North
Peak showing details of tension crack morphology.
for an area covering Turtle Mountain and the Frank
Slide. The project covers an area of 33 km2 . (Fig. 8).
An extensive geodetic network was established
in the area including existing government control
and newly established points. The network was held
fixed in three dimensions to Geodetic Survey station
55A105 on the Nad83 CSRS datum. The aircraft posi-
tions were derived from a base station WAT4 located
at the Pincher Creek airport.
The Airborne LiDAR survey was conducted using
an OPTECH 3100 system. Flight line spacing was
designed to provide an overlap of 50% between flight
lines.These strips had a full scan angle of 50◦ (Table 2).
The lines were flown in a North-South direction, with
adjacent lines typically flown in opposing directions.
One mission was required to cover the project area,
and was flown on July 24, 2005.
The raw airborne kinematic data measurements
were blended with the post-processed aircraft trajec-
tory to compute an optimally accurate, best estimate
navigation solution (position and attitude). The aircraft

Figure 8. Location map with project area outlined in black.
Table 2. Flight parameter settings.
Velocity (knots) 150
Full scan angle (degrees) 50
Height above ground (m) 1400
Scan frequency (Hz) 27
Laser pulse repetition (Hz) 50,000
Strip overlap (%) 50
position, attitude, mirror angles and ranges were com-
bined to produce X, Y, Z coordinates with intensity
values. As a means to virtually remove the vegetation
above the ground, a series of algorithms were run to
classify LiDAR points into ground (second return) and
non-ground points (first return).
In order to create a DEM, a surface was interpo-
lated from the triangulated irregular network (TIN)
provided by the LiDAR three-dimensional point cloud.
The mesh size of the grid is 0.5 meters based on a raw
point collection distribution of approximately 1 point
per meter. A natural neighbor interpolation technique
was used due to its efficiency to handle large number
of input points and as other interpolators may have
difficulty with large point datasets.
Jaboyedoff et al. (2006) completed a structural
analysis of Turtle Mountain using the DEM and the
software Coltop-3D (Jaboyedoff & Couture, 2003),
which allows for classification of the topography of the
DEM in terms of dip and dip direction. Discontinuity
sets are then defined through observation of structural
features on the DEM (Fig. 2c). A comparison of the
discontinuity sets obtained on this photogrammetric
DEM with field measurement shows that the DEM
interpretation provides a good assessment of the main
structures present in the area.
Discontinuities that are defined by large areas (i.e.
bedding) can be accurately sampled using the airborne
DEM observation, despite the relatively low resolution
929
Figure 9. Bedding identified on Turtle Mountain using
COLTOP-3D and overlaid on the DEM.
Figure 10. Tension cracks on Turtle Mountain using light-
ening combination on the computer.
(Fig. 9). In contrast when the discontinuities are imper-
sistent and steeply inclined, Jaboyedoff et al. (2006)
note that the discontinuity orientations obtained from
the DEM are less steep than the actual ones. One pos-
sible explanation is that slope angles deduced with this
technique are usually smaller than the relief due to the
mesh size of the DEM. In addition, vertical to near ver-
tical structural features may not be observable when
utilizing an air based platform for DEM generation.
In addition to structural measurement, shaded relief
images of the DEM with different sun directions and
heights can be used to delineate subtle geomorphic fea-
tures such as faults, cracks and lineaments of uncertain
origin. With high resolution DEMs, geologists are not
restricted to sun positions on a given day and can look
at an infinite number of lightening combinations on the
computer. Figure 10 illustrates the LiDAR model on a
lightened version of a shaded relief map. On this map,
low sun angle shaded relief image have the potential
to highlight features like cracks located at the scarp
of the slide. Crack orientation and density can then be
used to study possible mechanisms of failure.
5 DISCUSSION
One remarkable feature about airborne LiDAR is the
capability to remove non-ground objects, that other-
wise would make geomorphic interpretation difficult.
Figure 11 shows the unfiltered and filtered LiDAR
shaded relief maps for an area covering the old mine
workings at the toe of the mountain. In this case,
LiDAR presents a valuable tool to recognize features
that would otherwise remain obscured by vegetation.
In addition, shaded relief images provide a very use-
ful tool to pick out subtle geomorphic features such as
faults, cracks and lineaments of uncertain origin.
It has been shown that the airborne DEM can also
be used to perform structural analysis and preliminary
hazard assessment. The advantage of such a method
is to allow an interpretation at the scale of the slope,
which is not possible while carrying out fieldwork at
the outcrop scale.
The expectation of the ground-based laser scanner
field investigation was to be able to obtain a high res-
olution DEM of the scar of the Frank Slide. Indeed,
Figure 11. a) Details of the digital elevation model of Tur-
tle Mountain. b) and c) shaded relief maps for two grids
generated from unfiltered and filtered data, respectively.
Mine workings subsidence can be easily identified on the
filtered map.
930
the scar area is inaccessible for scanline surveys and
the resolution of the DEM that can be obtained from
airborne techniques is limited by the angle of the slope.
Indeed, airborne LiDAR has a high precision in
height on flat areas and large surfaces, but this pre-
cision decreases with slope due to the decreasing
precision of angular measurements and footprint size
(Fig. 12). Consequently, the surface model is not
appropriate for the representation of overhanging
areas, where a single (x, y) point can have three cor-
responding elevation values, and small vertical walls.
In such cases, ground-based LiDAR can be used. A
high accuracy should be expected because the laser
ray direction could be close to the surface normal.
Combination of aerial and terrestrial LiDAR should
be implemented to obtain a product of better quality
than possible using only one of these techniques.
A comparison between the ground-based laser data
in Figure 4 and the scanline data in Figures 2a and
2b is not a trivial process. The first problem in com-
paring techniques is the variation in measurement
scale. Consequently, there is a possibility that the clus-
ters shown on Figure 4 represent composite surfaces
Figure 12. Perspective view of the 3D surface model.
a) Detail of the South Peak and b) photograph of the area
outlined in black.
instead of actual discontinuities. This emphasizes the
need to use automated surface delineation algorithms
with care. Discrete discontinuity surfaces must be
delineated using manual intervention and checking of
automatically derived orientation data using geologi-
cal principles. Figure 3 illustrates the different scales
that have been applied to Turtle Mountain: the grey
dots represent the area covered by a scanline survey, the
shaded area represents the ground-based LiDAR sur-
vey and the entire map is the area covered by airborne
LiDAR or DEM survey.
Secondly, as mentioned previously the scans are
subject to occlusion and orientation bias. As a result,
some orientations are inevitably omitted. Finally, the
scan shown in Figure 4 represents a large area, which
might be subdivided into several structural domains.
Consequently, comparing these results with the local-
ized scanline measurements shown in Figure 2 may be
inappropriate.
Currently, a major problem in the application of
ground-based LiDAR in the investigation of large
landslides is the limitation of laser scanning range.
Terrestrial LiDAR survey with an ILRIS-3D scanner
was not possible from the toe of the slope necessitat-
ing location of the laser scanner on the crest of Turtle
Mountain itself (this also posed a problem of acces-
sibility!). In addition to not being easily accessible,
such a location however entails very oblique lines of
sight with respect to the slide scar and leads to sig-
nificant occlusion bias. Improvements of terrestrial
LiDAR technology in term of range will no doubt solve
this problem.
The second issue is the resolution of ground-based
LiDAR survey. This study suggests that the discontinu-
ities that can be measured using the laser scanner may
often represent composite surfaces. This type of struc-
tures is important, because failure surfaces of large
landslides are often created by such composite sur-
faces. Further analysis of the Turtle Mountain point
cloud data sets will focus on the characterization of
individual structures that can be observed in the point
cloud.
With the current state of laser scanning technology,
the authors recommend that ground-based laser scan-
ning be used predominantly to characterize selected
outcrops on large landslides thereby complementing
conventional scanline measurements. Careful use of
automatic surface delineation algorithms is required.
Current research is focusing on varying size sam-
ple windows allowing for structural domains so that
scanner bias can be minimized and control ensured.
6 CONCLUSION
A field investigation on Turtle Mountain has been per-
formed using a combination of airborne and terrestrial
931
laser scanning. The objective was to characterize the
structure and morphology of the mountain. It is shown
that airborne LiDAR is extremely useful to observe
feature at the scale of the entire area. It is also proposed
that preliminary hazard assessment can be performed.
Airborne LiDAR is limited in the characterization
of steep slopes, like the scar of the Frank Slide. Con-
sequently, terrestrial LiDAR surveys were undertaken
to complement airborne methods. Preliminary analy-
ses show that, although ground based laser scanning
can sample detailed morphological features in the fail-
ure scar, its use is limited for accurate discontinuity
characterization by both distance and oblique lines of
sight (due to resolution and bias issues). Digital ter-
restrial photogrammetry is being used by the authors
to complement laser scanning technologies in order to
minimize these problems.
Longer range and higher resolution scanners are
also under development and will circumvent many of
the current limitations to some degree. These digital
imaging techniques have significant potential in the
characterization of composite failure surfaces, which
are often of particular interest in large landslides.
The present study shows that it is important to com-
bine various imaging techniques, both airborne and
terrestrial. This allows rock mass characterization at
different scales and the limitations of one method to
be compensated by the advantages of another one.
Indeed, the airborne LiDAR and ground-based
maps each have relative strengths and weaknesses.
Pebbly texture covering parts of the airborne LiDAR
image can be a result of dense brush that does not
allow laser penetration and, unlike trees, cannot be
removed using automated data processing techniques.
In other situations, erosion processes can change the
slope of the main discontinuities, making a difficult
task to investigate these structures. Therefore, it is
imperative to supplement LiDAR image interpretation
with fieldwork, terrestrial LiDAR or aerial photograph
interpretation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge financial fund-
ing provided through an NSERC Discovery grant, an
NSERC Equipment grant and an FRBC Endowment.
REFERENCES
Benko, B. & Stead, D. 1998. The Frank Slide: a reexamination
of the failure mechanism. Can. Geotech. J. 35: 299–311.
Couture, R. 1998. Contributions aux aspects mécaniques et
physiques des écroulements rocheux. PhD Thesis, Laval
University.
Cruden, D.M. & Krahn, J. 1973. A reexamination of the
geology of the Frank Slide. Can. Geotech. J. 10: 581–591.
Cruden, D.M. & Krahn, J. 1978. Frank Rockslide, Alberta,
Canada. In Voight (ed.), Rockslides and Avalanches.
Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 97–112.
Feng, Q.H. & Roeshoff, K. 2004. In-situ mapping and doc-
umentation of rock faces using a full-coverage 3D laser
scanner technique. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41(3): 379.
Fossey, K.W. 1986. Structural geology and slope stability of
the southeast slopes of Turtle Mountain, Alberta. Master
Thesis, University of Alberta.
Froese C. & Moreno, F. 2006. Turtle Mountain field labo-
ratory (TMFL): part 1- concept and research activities.
In Proceedings, Sea to Sky Geotechnique, 59th Canadian
Geotechnical Conference.
Jaboyedoff, M. & Couture, R., 2003. Report on the project
COLTOP3D for March 2003: stay of Michel Jaboyed-
off at GSC-Ottawa. Quanterra administrative document
– Activity report – RA01.
Jaboyedoff, M., Couture, R. & Locat, P. 2007. Structural
analysis of Turtle Mountain (Alberta) using digital ele-
vation model: towards a progressive failure by “toppling”
of gently dipping wedges. Geomorphology: In Press.
Kemeny, J. & Donovan, J. 2005. Rock mass characteriza-
tion using LiDAR and automated point cloud processing.
Ground Engineering 38(11): 26–29.
Krahn, J. & Morgenstern, N.R. 1976. Mechanics of the Frank
Slide. Rock Engineering 2: 309–332.
Kraus, K. & Pfeifer, N. 1997.A new method for surface recon-
struction from laser scanner data. International Archives
of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 32, Part 3-2W3.
Langenberg, C.W., Pana, D., Richards, B.C., Spratt, D.A. &
Lamb, M.A. 2006. Structural geology of Turtle Moun-
tain area near Frank, Alberta. Alberta Energy and Utilities
Board, EUB/AGS Earth.
Lichti, D.D. 2004. A resolution measure for terrestrial laser
scanners. In Proceedings, XXth ISPRS Congress: Interna-
tional Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing
and Spatial Information Sciences, Istanbul.
Monte, J.M. 2004. Rock mass characterization using laser
scanning and digital imaging data collection techniques.
Master of Geological Engineering, University of Arizona.
932
Optech Incorporated. ILRIS-3D webpage http://www.optech.
on.ca/prodilris.htm.
Pfeifer, N., Stadler, P. & Briese, C. 2001. Derivation of digital
terrain models in the SCOP++ environment. In Pro-
ceedings: OEEP Workshop on Airborne Laser Scanning
and Interferometric SAR for Digital Elevation Models,
Stockholm.
Ruiz, A., Kornus, W., Talaya, J. & Colomer, J. 2003. Terrain
modeling in an extremely steep mountain: a combination
of airborne and terrestrial LiDAR. Commission III WG
III/3 Workshop on Airborne Laser Scanning, Dresden.
Slob, S., Van Knapen, B., Hack, R., Turner, K. & Kemeny,
J. 2005. Method for automated discontinuity analysis of
rock slopes with three-dimensional laser scanning. In Pro-
ceedings, Transportation Research Board 84th Annual
Meeting, Washington D.C.
Split Engineering 2005. Split FX, version 1 (beta release),
http://spliteng.com.
Spratt, D.A. & Lamb, M.A. 2005. Borehole data interpreta-
tion and orientations. Turtle Mountain monitoring project,
Report to Alberta Municipal Affairs, Internal Report of
Work Package WP15b.
Sturzenegger, M.,Yan, M., Stead, D. & Elmo, D. 2007. Appli-
cation and limitations of ground-based laser scanning in
rock slope characterization. In Eberhardt et al. (eds.), Pro-
ceedings, 1st Canada-US Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Vancouver, This Volume.
Theune, U., Rokosh, C.D., Sacchi, D.R. & Schmitt, D.R. 2007.
Mapping fractures with GPR: a case study from Turtle
Mountain. Geophysics: In Press.
Vosselman, G. 2000. Slope based filtering of laser altime-
try data. International Archives of Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing 33(B4): 958–964.
Zang, K., Chen, S., Whitman, D., Shyu, M., Yan, J. & Zang,
C. 2002. A progressive morphological filter for remov-
ing non-ground measurements from airborne LiDAR data.
Journal of Latex Class Files 1(8): 1–10.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Geomechanical analysis of the instability phenomena at

Stromboli volcano

P. Tommasi
CNR, Institute for Environmental Geology and Geo-Engineering, Rome, Italy

D. Boldini
Dept. of Chemical, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Bologna,
Bologna, Italy

F. Cignitti
Astaldi S.p.A., Rome, Italy

A. Graziani, A. Lombardi & T. Rotonda

Dept. of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

ABSTRACT: The authors provide an insight into the mechanisms that caused failure phenomena in the sub-
aerial and submerged slope of Stromboli volcano in 2002. Landslide geometry and deformations are described
and then the results of laboratory investigations into the mechanical behaviour of the volcanoclastic mate-
rial are presented. Experimental results contribute to explaining the evolution of instability processes towards
failure in the submerged slope as well as the current evolution of the volcano flank. Finally, a 3D numeri-
cal model of the volcano flank is utilized to investigate the role of intruded magma in initiating instability
phenomena.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 GEOLOGICAL OUTLINES AND

The evolution of most of the volcanic edifices is char-
acterized by a succession of instabilities ranging from
small-scale landslides to deep-seated failures that are
usually triggered by intruded magma. Failures events
often threaten inhabited area either directly or indi-
rectly (e.g. inducing tsunamis or long-runout debris
flows).
Geomechanics plays a key role in understand-
ing instability mechanism and in evaluating hazard.
Unfortunately the extremely impervious and dan-
gerous environments of active volcanoes often limit
collection of geotechnical data.
As a result, analyses of slope evolution and failure
mechanisms are necessarily based on limited geolog-
ical evidence and monitoring data, laboratory tests
only on near-surface materials and schematic numeri-
cal models. This combined approach was applied to the
analysis of the sequence of slope failures that occurred
at Stromboli volcano in December 2002, which gener-
ated two tsunami waves responsible of serious damage
to coastal areas.
INSTABILITIES AT STROMBOLI
VOLCANO
Stromboli Island is located 60 km north of Sicily and
represents the subaerial part of a 4000 m high volcanic
edifice about two-thirds of which is below the sea level.
The subaerial part is a broadly regular cone, slightly
elongated in the SW–NE direction, whose flanks dip at
up to 38◦ . The submerged part is more irregular and is
characterized by less steep slopes (from 33◦ –34◦ near
shore to less than 15◦ off-shore) (Gabbianelli et al.
1993).
The typical Strombolian volcanic activity concen-
trates at the top of the NW flank and is characterized
by an uninterrupted sequence (every few minutes) of
mild explosions which cease only on the occasion of
eruptions, when lava pours out from the craters or outer
vents, and flows down to the coastline. Products have
a basic composition (shoshonitic).
On the SE and NW flanks of the edifice, large
U-shaped scars are recognizable. They were formed
by vertical or lateral volcanic collapses. The largest

933
Figure 1. View of the “Sciara del Fuoco” before the 2002
landslides.
scar borders the “Sciara del Fuoco” depression (Fig. 1)
(hereafter referred to as SdF) extending over the
whole NW subaerial and submerged flank of the
island (Romagnoli et al. 1993). It was produced by
the last lateral collapse occurred 5600 ± 3300 years
B.P. (Tibaldi 2001). At present it is filled by a 200 m
plus thick sequence of volcanoclastic debris layers,
thin lava flows with limited lateral extension and tefra
(especially around the craters) (Tommasi et al. 2004).
The volcanoclastic material is rearranged by contin-
uous slides and flows which spread primary products
of the Volcano (pyroclastic materials from craters and
material of auto-brecciated lava flows) (Fig. 2). Dur-
ing motion, clasts crush and round producing higher
amounts of fines proceeding downslope (Kokelaar &
Romagnoli 1995). Volcanoclastic layers are contin-
uous over wide areas (up to some 105 m2 ) and the
cyclical nature of the depositional process suggests
that volcanic layers with the same continuity, lithol-
ogy and grain size exist at depth, where they constitute
weak horizons and therefore preferable initiation paths
for slip surfaces.
The submarine slope is formed by the basal part
of a series of adjoined volcanoclastic layered debris
fans (apron) which extend uphill on the subaerial slope
(Chiocci et al. 2006). This continuity between the sub-
aerial and submerged parts of the slope suggests that
material from the foot of the subaerial slope can be
representative also of the submarine slope material.
This hypothesis is confirmed by the lithology, texture
and morphology of clasts sampled from the seafloor.
3 THE DECEMBER 2002 LANDSLIDES
On December 28th 2002 a strong eruption started with
a lava flow from the northern crater. Magma main-
tained at a high level in the crater and soon poured
out from a crater breach and at different locations of
the upper NE part of the SdF slope. Two days later,
the NE part of the SdF was devastated by a sequence
934
Figure 2. View of the “Sciara del Fuoco” foot after the
2002 landslides and detail of the volcanoclastic deposit (in
the foreground the front of a major lava flow of the 1985
eruption).
of large subaerial and submarine slides producing two
sets of tsunami waves (Tinti et al. 2005). Reconstruc-
tion of the geometry and the evolution of instability
phenomena as well as their relationships with the vol-
canic activity are described indetail by Tommasi et al.
(2004).
Instability phenomena started several hours before
the catastrophic slides, when a deep-seated movement
(maximum thickness 80 m), named α in the sequence
of Figure 3 and in Figure 4, developed at low veloc-
ity in the whole subaerial slope and in the near shore
portion of the submarine slope. This movement pro-
duced large displacements without evolving into a
destructive slide.
The slide mass α continued to deform at a slow rate
such as to probably maintain drained conditions in the
submarine slope. The slope exhibited intense defor-
mations which progressively evolved into disruptions:
the SW half of the initial slide mass broke away along
a shear plane parallel to the slope and started a stage
of faster deformations.
The progressive increase in displacement rates,
which probably produced undrained conditions in the
submerged slope, was followed by a large subma-
rine slide ( slide in Figs. 3, 4) which subsequently
triggered a subaerial slide (β in Fig. 3).
4 GEOTECHNICAL CHARACTERIZATION
Continuous explosions inhibit access to a large area
around the craters. At lower elevations, incessant rock
falls and small debris avalanches prevent access to a
large part of the SdF slope except for a few minutes at
some selected sites. In these conditions in situ borehole
investigations could not be carried out. Volcanoclastic
materials were therefore sampled from the surface at
the toe of the slope.
 Figure 5. Macrophotograph of the clasts.

Table 1. Main physical and mechanical parameters of the

rock material forming the aggregate measured in laboratory
(<x>, s, CV and N are respectively mean value, standard
deviation, coefficient of variation and number of data).

unit <x> s CV (%) N

ρ Mg/m3 2.34 0.13 5.7 34

φ % 19.4 4.6 23.6 34
VP km/s 2.35 0.15 6.3 45
σt MPa 5.81 1.70 29.3 22
σf MPa 29.3 19.7 67.3 6
Etan,50 GPa 10.7 8.2 76.6 6

Blocks resulting from the disruption of autobrec-

Figure 3. Limits of the major instability phenomena ciated lava flows were cored in the laboratory to
occurred on December 30th 2002 (Tommasi et al., 2004). obtain specimens, having a diameter of 42 mm, for the
mechanical characterisation of the material forming
800 the clasts. Total porosity φ was determined from den-
600 pre-Sciara
sity ρ of the specimens and that of the solid matrix; a
Elevation (m a.s.l.)

400
substratum highly dispersed distribution, with values from 13.4 to
old collapse 32.9%, was obtained. Table 1 summarises the physical
200 scarp
α slide properties of the rock material. Ultrasonic velocities
0
of longitudinal (VP ) and shear (VS ) waves were deter-
-200 Ω slide mined in dry conditions on cylindrical specimens.
-400 The wave velocities are inversely correlated with total
-500 0 500 1000 1500 2000
porosity, as expected for high porosity rocks.
Distance (m) The strength properties of the rock material were
investigated by performing Brazil and uniaxial tests.
Figure 4. Profile of the “Sciara del Fuoco” slope. Slip sur- Both the tensile σt and compressive σf strengths are
faces reconstructed by comparison of pre- and post-slide highly scattered, as are the other parameters. Dur-
morphology are shown. ing uniaxial compression tests axial strain was also
measured and the corresponding Young tangential
modulus Etan,50 at 50% of maximum load was calcu-
4.1 Lithological, physical and mechanical
lated (Table 1). The material forming the clasts can be
properties of the clast-forming material
classified as a rock of very low to medium strength
The clasts present a grain size ranging between gravel with a medium modulus ratio Etan,50 /σf (Fig. 6). The
and sand. From a visual inspection the grains are char- initial tangent and the dynamic Young moduli were in
acterised by a large number of pores (few tenths of good agreement.
millimetres in size), a rough surface and a low spheric- The frame obtained from the laboratory tests indi-
ity (Fig. 5). SEM observations revealed a texture that cates that the strength and Young modulus of the rock
can be schematized by a continuous skeleton formed material are relatively high in comparison with the
by small welded lumps, ranging in size from a few high value of the porosity. Porosity strongly influ-
tenths of millimetres to a few millimetres (Tommasi ences all the mechanical parameters, producing a wide
et al. 2005). dispersion of data.

935
 E D C B
50
30
20
E tan,50 (GPa)
10
5 40
3 SG
2
10 20 30 50 100
σf (MPa)
Figure 6. Uniaxial strength vs tangent Young modulus (at
the 50% of maximum load) from uniaxial tests on rock
material.
4.2 Laboratory investigation on the
volcanoclastic aggregate
Different sets of laboratory tests were conducted in
order to investigate triggering and evolution of the
instability phenomena. Each set was characterized by
deformation levels, initial grain-size distribution, sat-
uration and drainage conditions that characterized the
different stages of slope evolution. Three type of tests
were performed by means of devices suitable for test-
ing large samples of coarse-grained materials: conven-
tional direct shear tests (DS), ring shear tests with pore
pressure measurement (RS) and CU-K0 triaxial tests.
The base of the DS apparatus measures 152.4 mm×
152.4 mm. The RS apparatus is the DPRI-6 devel-
oped at the DPRI of Kyoto University (Sassa 1997).
The sample has an inner diameter of 250 mm, an
outer diameter of 350 mm and a maximum height
of 150 mm. Finally CU-K0 triaxial compression tests
were performed on saturated specimens 101 and
38 mm in diameter.
Slope stability in ordinary conditions and during
the initial stage of deformations (deep-seated α move-
ment) is essentially governed by the behaviour of the
dry material. The subsequent stage corresponds to the
submarine failure, for which undrained (or partially
drained) conditions can be reasonable assumed. The
mechanical behaviour during this phase was studied
through RS tests, with either closed or open drainages,
and CU-K0 tests. At this stage of evolution of the slope,
the material at depth suffered noticeable crushing.
Such condition is well reproduced in RS tests but not
in CU-K0 tests. Therefore a further set of CU-K0 tests
was conducted on a new grain-size distribution repro-
ducing that of the shear zone developing in the RS tests.
The grain size distribution of a typical layer of the
volcanoclastic deposit is shown in Figure 7. In order
to ensure a convenient ratio between maximum grain
A 100
S20
Percentage passing by weight (%)
sample taken
80 from the shear
zone after the
ring shear tests
60
in situ sample
20
200 300
0
0.1 1 10
grain size (mm)
Figure 7. Particle size distribution curves of the in situ and
tested materials (before and after the tests).
size and specimen size, a first set of tests was per-
formed on the fractions passing the 8 mm sieve; the
corresponding grain size distribution (SG in Fig. 7)
was obtained by shifting the in-situ curve parallel to
the grain size. The tested material can be classified as
sand with gravel.
The minimum and maximum void ratios of the
tested material, calculated from densities measured in
the laboratory through the ASTM standard procedure,
are equal to 0.72 and 0.41 respectively.
In situ void ratio was calculated from dry density
determined on the surface material by driving a large
thin walled sampler into the soil. Very different void
ratios were obtained depending on grain-size distribu-
tion of the tested layers. A value of 0.83 was obtained
in a volcanoclastic layer having a particle size distri-
bution that is very similar to that of the SG material
used in the laboratory tests.
Additional triaxial compression tests were per-
formed on a grain size distribution denoted as S20
(Fig. 7), corresponding to that of the shear zone after
the RS test.
All the specimens were prepared with the aim of
obtaining a very loose initial configuration, similar to
that produced by the deposition process at SdF.
Samples were placed into the DS and RS devices
using the dry pluviation method (see e.g. Ishihara
1985). 101 mm-diameter specimens for the triaxial
compression tests were prepared at a water content
of 3% with the aid of a vacuum pump (see e.g. Ishi-
hara 1985); 38 mm-diameter specimens were instead
prepared using a freezing technique.
4.3 Results of the mechanical tests on dry
specimens
Stress-displacement curves obtained in 10 DS tests are
shown in Figure 8. As the normal stress increases, a
936
 1000 The results of the RS tests, performed with a torque-
controlled procedure, are described in detail by Boldini
800 et al. (2006). At a normal applied stress of 600 kPa,
shear resistance increases up to a peak value corre-
sponding to an instantaneous friction angle of 40◦ .
τ (kPa)

600
After peak, the shear strength decreases down to a
400
value corresponding to an instantaneous friction angle
σn(kPa)= of 34◦ , which is constant for the remaining part of
200 the test.
200
400 The results obtained with the two types of test are
600 in good agreement and indicate that the average dip of
0
-0.5
800 the subaerial slope (35◦ ) is significantly lower than the
1000
peak friction angle of the volcanoclastic material in dry
0
δ v (mm)

conditions and is close to the residual friction angle.

0.5 The compressibility of the material was investi-
1
gated by means of oedometer compression tests in
the apparatus used for the DS tests. The compress-
1.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 ibility curve displays a continuous curvature as the
h (mm) vertical stress increases up to 1.6 MPa, while the
unloading curve is almost linear and shows a very stiff
Figure 8. Results of the direct shear tests on the dry material behaviour (CS = 0.004). Oedometer compression tests
SG: shear stress (up) and vertical displacement (down) as a also reveal a marked time-dependent behaviour which
function of the horizontal displacement. is more remarkable as the applied stress increases.

1000
ϕ2= 26˚ 4.4 Results of the mechanical tests on
peak values fully-saturated specimens
800 post-peak values In the second group of tests attention was focused on
the SG material in fully-saturated conditions, which
ϕ1 = 42˚ reasonably apply to the submarine volcanoclastic
τ (kPa)

600
400
ϕ = 42˚
200
0
0 400
ϕn (kPa)
Figure 9. Results of the direct shear tests on the dry material
SG: peak and post-peak shear resistance.
more marked softening behaviour is observed which
is associated with a prevailing contractive behaviour.
Conversely, dilatancy prevails at low normal stress.
This result can be explained by considering the high
crushability of the Stromboli clasts that, especially at
high stresses, can result in a significant reduction in
shear strength.
Peak strength does not increase linearly with the
applied normal stress (Fig. 9), as typically observed for
other coarse-grained and rockfill-like materials (e.g.,
Marsal 1973, Indraratna et al. 1993). Linear regression
of the data provides peak and post-peak friction angles
of 42◦ and 36◦ , respectively.
material.
ϕ = 36˚
Saturated specimens in both drained and undrained
conditions can be tested by measuring pore-water pres-
sure by means of two transducers located 2 mm above
the shear surface. In all tests, saturation was obtained
by exposing the sample to a CO2 flux followed by a
de-aired water flux for a time (generally more than
800 1200 12 hours) sufficient to obtain a value of Skempton’s
pore pressure parameter B higher than 0.95. A detailed
description of the results obtained in the RS tests is
reported by Boldini et al. (2006).
In undrained tests, conducted at a normal stress
of 230 kPa, the volcanoclastic material experiences
liquefaction, evidenced by an abrupt increase in pore-
water pressure up to values higher than 200 kPa and a
corresponding drop of the shear resistance down to
a few kilopascals. Grains of the Stromboli volcan-
oclastic deposit revealed to be highly crushable under
the applied testing conditions. Grain crushing induced
by the shearing process is apparent both in a photo-
graph of the shear zone (Fig. 10) and in its grain size
distribution (Fig. 7).
In a second test conducted with drainages open at
the specimen top, shear resistance after peak suddenly
drops for some seconds (a minimum apparent friction
angle of 18◦ was reached) and subsequently increases
again to values corresponding to a residual friction

937

Figure 10. Results of the undrained ring shear test on the
fully-saturated material SG: view on the shear surface at the
end of the test (Boldini et al. 2006).
700
peak shear resistance 38.4˚
600
500
K0 slope
400
q (kPa)
300
p'c= 69 kPa
200
p'c= 102 kPa
p'c= 192 kPa
100
p'c= 315 kPa
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
p' (kPa)
Figure 11. Results of the undrained triaxial compression
tests on the fully-saturated material SG: effective stress paths.
angle of 34◦ . The drop in shear strength (below the
dynamic residual friction angle) is likely to be a con-
sequence of local excess pore-water pressures within
the shear zone, which can temporarily build-up due to
the high crushability of the material.
In order to have a more controlled state of stress
and deformation rate, undrained tests were repeated in
triaxial conditions on K0 -anisotropically consolidated
samples. Effective stress paths obtained with samples
having SG and S20 grain size distributions are shown
in Figures 11 and 12, respectively. The coarser SG
specimens display only partial liquefaction, probably
due to the limited level of deformation that can be
reached in the triaxial apparatus. On the contrary, the
S20 specimens, consolidated at the same initial state
and characterized by the same initial void ratio, exhibit
complete liquefaction for all the investigated consoli-
dation pressures, reaching very low strength values.
500
K0 slope
400
300
q (kPa)
p'c= 69 kPa
200
p'c= 102 kPa
p'c= 192 kPa
100
p'c= 315 kPa
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
p' (kPa)
Figure 12. Results of the undrained triaxial compression
tests on the fully-saturated material S20: effective stress
paths.
5 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF THE INITIAL
DEEP-SEATED MOVEMENT
The numerical modelling focuses on the analysis of
the initial movements which started the sequence of
instability phenomena. The numerical simulations can
be seen as a tool to verify whether the assumptions
related to the schematisation of magma thrusts (depth
and magnitude of pressure distribution), the internal
structure of the slope and the mechanical behaviour of
the volcanoclastic materials are compatible with the
available observations of the deformation pattern and
failure mechanism.
700 The stress–strain analysis of the slope was per-
formed by means of a 3D finite difference model
(FLAC 3D, Itasca 2005), in which almost half of the
Stromboli volcanic edifice was represented, includ-
ing the NE flank with the whole infilling deposit of
SdF down to a depth of −1000 m, where the base
of the model is located. The upper boundary of the
model consists of a vertical plane with SW–NE direc-
tion, which cuts the volcano into two almost symmetric
parts.
The domain was discretized by 8-node prismatic
elements (more than 300’000), with a square base of
variable size (from a minimum of 12.5 m inside the
SdF to 100 m towards the outer boundaries). Grid-
point displacements were fixed at the base and along
the sides of the model.
While the surface morphology of the slope was
accurately reproduced, based on the pre–failure DTM
(Baldi et al. 2005, Chiocci et al. 2006), the stratigra-
phy was crudely schematized by distinguishing only
two materials: the volcanic edifice is therefore simply
formed by the volcanoclastic material of SdF which
overlays a substratum mainly composed of lava flows.
The SdF deposit fills a large depression in the NE
flank which represents the remnants of an ancient
938
Figure 13. Flac 3D grid of the volcano flank and scheme of magma thrust.
sector collapse. The bed of the SdF deposit was there-
fore given the typical “armchair” shape, as observed
in other volcanoes (Voight & Elsworth 1997), which
is almost flat in its lower part and becomes very
steep moving uphill and towards the lateral boundaries.
The thickness of the volcanoclastic deposit reaches a
maximum of about 500 m near the shoreline (Fig. 13).
Further basic hypotheses concern the schematiza-
tion of the magma thrust, which is deemed to have per-
turbed the initial equilibrium of the slope, producing
relevant deformations in the pre-failure stage.
According to the literature indication, the magma
intrusion was schematised as a vertical plate (dyke).
On the two opposite faces of the dyke a normal pres-
sure distribution was applied, with magnitude linearly
increasing with depth (vertical gradient γm,eq ).
Because of the variable elevation along the top of the
dyke, the thrust “wedge” (Fig. 13) of magma exhibits
also a horizontal gradient. Furthermore it is assumed
that pressures act down to a depth that roughly cor-
responds to the contact between the volcanoclastic
deposit and the substratum. After a careful survey of
the position of the vents exposed inside the scarps of
the β slide, the base of the thrust “wedge” was located
at 500 m a.s.l.
The analysis consists of two main stages: i) a pre-
liminary phase in which the initial equilibrium is
calculated after gravity is switched on; ii) a load-
ing phase in which the magma pressure gradient
is progressively increased starting from the “hydro-
static” value (γm = 27 kN/m3 ) up to a maximum
γ*m,eq = 102 kN/m3 , corresponding to plastic col-
lapse. The higher values of the gradient simulate the
case of a relatively viscous magma which flows within
a “channel” characterized by considerable head loss.
The analyses were performed by assuming drained
conditions, with a stationary hydrostatic pore pressure
distribution acting below the sea level.
For the substratum, an elastic material model
was adopted, whose parameters have been estimated
by laboratory compression tests from scoriaceous
939
Table 2. Mechanical parameters of the volcanoclastic mate-
rial of SdF.
ρ E c1 ϕ1 c2 ϕ2 cj ϕj
(kg/m3 ) (GPa) ν (kPa) (◦ ) (kPa) (◦ ) (kPa) (◦ )
1370–1760 0.2–2.8 0.3 20 44 350 26 0 35
lava blocks (saturated density ρ = 2200 kg/m3 ,
E = 12 GPa, ν = 0.25).
The mechanical behaviour of the volcanoclastic
deposit was represented by ideal elasto-plastic mod-
els. Density ρ and Young modulus E increase with
depth between the two limit values displayed inTable 2,
which correspond respectively to a reference depth of
50 and 550 m. The yield criterion is the same for the
whole deposit: a first model (“matrix only”) is charac-
terized by isotropic behaviour with a bi-linear strength
envelope, while a second model (“matrix + joints”) is
anisotropic, due to a set of ubiquitous joints dipping
parallel to the slope at 35◦ . The matrix is again charac-
terized by a bi-linear strength criterion (parameters c1 ,
φ1 and c2 , ϕ2 ), which represents the typical behaviour
of the coarser volcanoclastic materials, more dif-
fused within the deposit, while the ubiquitous joints
(parameters cj , ϕj ) simulate the effect of the thin but
continuous layer of finer materials of lower strength,
frequently observed in the outcrops. Dilatancy and
tensile strength are null for all the materials.
A first finding of the analyses is that the overall
response of the “matrix only” and “matrix + joints”
models is similar: in both cases, stable solutions are
obtained up to a pressure gradient γm,eq = 74 kN/m3 ,
while for γm,eq = 102 kN/m3 a collapse mechanism is
obtained, in which a plastic wedge in passive limit
stress conditions develops at the downslope face of
the dyke. The collapse mechanism seems therefore
restricted to a small zone at the top of the slope.
The deformation response of the model is summa-
rized in Figure 14, which shows the distribution of

Figure 14. Section through the dyke with contours of hori-
zontal displacements δy (a), plastic shear strain of the matrix
pl pl
εs (b) and of the ubiquitous joints εsj (c).
horizontal displacements δy and plastic shear strains
pl pl
of either the matrix εs and the joints εsj , in the case of
γm,eq = 74 kN/m3 .
The following points can be highlighted:
• The displacements reach a maximum close to the
dyke and quickly decrease moving downhill and
towards the sides, due to the diffusion effect of the
magma thrust; at the shoreline the displacement is
only 0.4 m.
940
• Apart from the zone of the plastic wedge, the dis-
placement vectors dip parallel to the slope and
become negligible at a depth of 150 ÷ 200 m: the
displacements therefore exhibit the typical pattern
of a translational movement.
• The sliding mass is bounded at the base by a thick
shear band mainly due to the plastic strains of the
matrix, while the joints contribute only to local slid-
ing phenomena restricted to the shallower layers
(maximum depth 30 ÷ 40 m).
The depth of the sliding zone predicted by the
model is higher than that reconstructed from changes
in slope morphology. This discrepancy may be due
to stratigraphic details (e.g. a weak layer at lower
depths) and magma pressure distribution, which are
not represented in the model.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Even though the analysis of the Stromboli December
2002 instabilities is based on limited geomechanical
and monitoring data, numerical modelling and inves-
tigations on the mechanic behaviour of slope materials
can be useful in defining possible failure/deformation
mechanisms and hence instability scenarios for civil
defence purposes.
The relatively high shear strength of the dry mate-
rial accounts for the overall stability of the slope in
the ordinary state of stress and in the initial stages
of deformation, when displacement rates are low and
conditions in the submarine slope can be assumed as
being drained.
The key role of the magma intrusion in trigger-
ing slope deformation is supported by stress-strain
analyses. The pattern of calculated displacements
is in keeping with in situ and aerial photographs:
large deformations were confined to the upper part
of the slope and rapidly faded away moving down-
hill. Furthermore displacements vanish in the near-
shore portion of the submarine slope according to the
reconstruction based on bathymetric surveys.
The subsequent submarine failure can be explained
in the light of the shear behaviour of the saturated vol-
canoclastic material. The generation of the tsunami
implies a sudden failure of the submerged slope which
can be produced only by an abrupt decrease in shear
strength as, for instance, after static liquefaction. Such
a mechanism was observed in undrained laboratory
tests given that the material experiences pre-failure
deformations such as to determine significant grain
crushing with production of fines. Actually a sud-
den temporary drop in strength is observed also in
ring-shear tests with open drainages, suggesting that
even when drainage exists at the soil mass boundaries,
undrained conditions can locally be established within
the shear zone.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Italian Department for Civil Defence (DPCI)
founded the research and supported activities for in
situ investigations. In particular, the research was car-
ried out within the 2004–2006 INGV-DPCI Research
Project V1_5 and Project #15 of 2000–2002 pro-
gramme of the National Group for Volcanology
(GNV) (F.L. Chiocci coordinator). Pre- and Post-
slide morphology are based on DTMs derived from
aerophotogrammetric and bathymetric surveys con-
ducted within Project #15 and #13 (M. Marsella
coordinator) of 2000–2002 GNV programme. Mr.
Roberto D’Inverno (CNR-IGAG) co-operated in lab-
oratory investigations. Volcanologic guide M. Zaia
gave assistance to the Authors for in situ sampling
and surveying. One of the Authors (A. Lombardi) was
supported by a CNR-IGAG grant.
REFERENCES
Baldi, P., Fabris, M., Marsella, M. & Monticelli, R. 2005.
Monitoring the morphological evolution of the Sciara del
Fuoco during the 2002–2003 Stromboli eruption using
multi-temporal photogrammetry. Journal of Photogram-
metry and Remote Sensing 59(4): 199–211.
Boldini, D., Wang, F., Sassa, K. & Tommasi, P. 2006. Appli-
cation of large-scale ring-shear tests to the analysis of
tsunamogenic landslides at Stromboli. Géotechnique: In
Review.
Chiocci, F.L., Romagnoli, C., Tommasi, P. & Bosman, A.
2006. The Stromboli 2002 tsunamigenic submarine slide:
characters and failure mechanisms. Journal of Geophysi-
cal Research: In review.
Gabbianelli, G., Romagnoli, C., Rossi, P.L. & Calanchi,
N. 1993. Marine geology of the Panarea-Stromboli area
(Aeolian Archipelago, Southeastern Tyrrhenian sea). Acta
Vulcanologica 3: 11–20.
941
Indraratna, B., Wijewardena, L.S.S. & Balasubramaniam,
A.S. 1993. Large-scale triaxial testing of greywacke
rockfill. Géotechnique 43(1): 37–51.
Ishihara, K. 1985. Stability of Natural Deposits During Earth-
quakes. In Proceeding of the XI ICSMFE, Theme Lecture
2, pp. 321–376.
Itasca 2005. FLAC 3D User’s manuals. Minneapolis.
Kokelaar, P. & Romagnoli, C. 1995. Sector collapse, sedimen-
tation and clast population evolution at an active island-arc
volcano: Stromboli, Italy. Bulletin of Volcanology 57:
240–262.
Marsal, R.J. 1973. Mechanical properties of rockfill.
Embankment-Dam Engineering. Casagrande volume:
109–200.
Romagnoli, C., Kokelaar, P., Rossi, P.L. & Sodi, A. 1993.
The submarine extension of Sciara del Fuoco feature
(Stromboli isl.): morphologic characterization. Acta Vul-
canologica 3: 91–98.
Sassa, K. 1997. A new intelligent type dynamic loading ring-
shear apparatus. Landslide News 10: 1–33.
Tibaldi, A. 2001. Multiple sector collapses at Stromboli vol-
cano, Italy: how they work. Bulletin of Volcanology 63:
112–125.
Tinti, S., Manucci, A., Pagnoni, G., Armigliato, A. & Zani-
boni, F. 2005. The 30 December 2002 landslide-induced
tsunami in Stromboli: sequence of the events recon-
structed from the eyewitness accounts. Natural Hazards
and Earth System Sciences 5: 763–775.
Tommasi, P., Chiocci, F., Marsella, M., Coltelli, M. & Pom-
pilio, M. 2004. Preliminary analysis of the December 2002
instability phenomena at Stromboli volcano. In Picarelli
(ed.), Occurrence and Mechanisms of Flows in Natural
Slopes and Earth Fills, Proc. Int. Workshop, Sorrento.
Bologna: Patron, pp. 297–306.
Tommasi, P., Boldini, D. & Rotonda, T. 2005. Preliminary
characterization of the volcanoclastic material involved in
the 2002 landslides at Stromboli. In Bilsel & Nalbantoðlu
(eds.), Problematic Soils, Proc. Int. Conf., Famagusta, pp.
1093–1101.
Voight, B. & Elsworth D. 1997. Failure of volcano slopes.
Geotechnique 47(1): 1–31.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Characterization and back analysis of a complex slope deformation:

San Bartolo Cliff

S. D’Ambra
Golder Associates Ltd., Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT: The San Bartolo Cliff extends along the Italian Adriatic coast for about 12 km in a WNW
direction between Pesaro and Gabicce. The coastal relief mainly consists of marine sediments composed of
weakly interbedded cemented sandstones and marls. The sea cliff is subjected to localized complex instability
phenomena causing issues with buildings and infrastructure close to the slope crest. A study of the temporal
evolution of displacements based on aerial photographs was performed. Slope movements on a cross section of
the sea cliff were back-analysed using the finite difference code FLAC. The rock mass parameter assessment
was made in accordance with the Geological Strength Index classification for heterogeneous rock mass and the
Hoek-Brown failure criterion was implemented in the computer code.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 GEOLOGICAL SETTING

The Colle San Bartolo Cliff extends along the Adriatic
coast for about 12 km in a WNW direction between
Pesaro and Gabicce (Italy). This is the first stretch
of cliffs along the Adriatic coastline south of Tri-
este. It reaches its maximum heights at the towns
of Casteldimezzo (195 m a.s.l.) and Fiorenzuola di
Focara (186 m a.s.l.).
This area is the location of the San Bartolo Regional
Nature Park, a protected area with many natural attrac-
tions such as rare animal and plant species. According
to the Directive 79/409/CEE (Preservation of wild
birds), the Colle San Bartolo Cliff has also been
identified as a Zone of Special Protection (ZPS).
The sea cliff was formed in sedimentary rocks of
Neogene age. The sediments consist of pelitic layers
alternated with lapideous (calcareous and arenaceous)
components. The complex structure of the deformed
bedrock has been modeled by diastrophism: folds are
cut by faults and discontinuities, from the smaller to
the larger scales, are clearly visible along the slopes.
Alternating strata with contrasting geomechanical
properties characterize the slope. The main causes of
instability include appreciable thicknesses of marly-
clay soils, relatively high bedding dips into the slope
and active coastal erosion. For the most part, the insta-
bilities are fault controlled landslides: faults divide
the parent rock mass into large rock blocks which
slide with rotational and translational components of
movement. Moreover, debris slides or debris flows and
mudslides result from the build up and mobilization of
detrital overburden on the steep slopes.
The slopes are mainly composed of marine sediments
of Neogene and Quaternary age (Bodesan. et al. 1988)
in addition to alluvial, deltaic and littoral deposits.
Schlier is the oldest Unit and it comprises alter-
nating layers of marl and calcareous marl whose
thicknesses ranges between 50 and 300 m (Tramontana
et al. 1994). The Gypsiferous-Sulfurous Formation
(maximum 20 m thick) and Flysch sequences (San
Donato and Colombacci Formations) belong to Upper
Miocene (Messinian). Two lithofacies compose the
Pliocene unit: pelitic-arenaceous and arenaceous-
pelitic turbidites, with thickness varying between
200 m and 300 m. The Pliocene sequence ends with
sandy-gravel littoral deposits.
The outcropping sedimentary sequence is com-
posed from the bottom up of:
1. Bedded layers of marl and argillaceous-marl with,
subordinate marls and fine grained detrital marly-
limestones of the Schlier Formation, Tortonian-
Helvetian age, (Tramontana et al. 1994). The
maximum thickness is approximately 30 m.
2. Tripoli marl with intercalations of gypsiferous
sandstone (Tripoli formation). This constitutes the
basal part of the Gypsiferous-Sulphurous Forma-
tion (Lower Messinian).
3. Bituminous marl composed of fetid marl and silty
marl, with thin silt intercalations. The thickness of
this formation is about 10 m.
4. Interbedded silty marl and thin fine grained
sandstone layers (San Donato Formation, Middle

943
 Messinian). The latter thin upward from a thickness was difficult to apply to very poor quality rock masses,
of meters in magnitude at the base to a few centime- opening the road to further extensions of the GSI sys-
ters at the top. This formation in some areas reaches tem to extremely poor quality schistose rock masses
the top of the cliff and has a maximum thickness of (Hoek et al. 1998). Finally in 2001 a new GSI chart for
about 150 m. heterogeneous weak rock masses, such as flysch and
5. Thickly bedded coarse grained sandstones with molasses, was introduced (Marinos & Hoek 2001) and
typical “cogoli” (i.e. calcareous lumps) and subor- for the first time the properties of very weak rocks are
dinate pelitic alternations. In the upper part there addressed in detail. According to this chart, the GSI
are decimeters scale white carbonate intercala- value, of the “flysch” sediments outcropping at Santa
tions called “colombacci” (Colombacci Formation, Marina site, ranges between 25 and 34.
Upper Messinian). In some stretches the whole
cliff slope is formed by this formation which has
a maximum thickness of about 160 m. 3 GEOTECHNICAL CHARACTERIZATION
The tectonic style is characterized by two wide
Investigation plans for the Santa Marina site began in
NW-SE trending anticlines separated by a narrow syn-
the 1990s, involving the whole stretch of coast between
cline with parallel fold axes. The outermost anticline,
Pesaro and Gabicce. This investigation consisted of 18
whose north-eastern side has been partially destroyed
vertical boreholes, 14 borehole inclinometers, 11 wells
by marine erosion, has a fold axe located in theAdriatic
for Cross Hole Tests and standpipe piezometers. In
sea at a distance of 2–3 km from the coast; only at the
order to better understand the causes of failure and to
north-western side of Pesaro this axe extends inland up
propose remedial measures for the San Bartolo Cliff,
to the Santa Marina village. Also the parallel syncline
this subsurface investigation was implemented in 2001
partially lies in sea, but this is conspicuous inland up
by the ProvincialAuthority with an aerial photographic
to Rio Vallugola. The formations are highly tectonized
and a geomorphological survey.
with faults and folds having a NW-SE trend, parallel
Two boreholes were drilled at this site. At the end
to the main axes.
of drilling and sample collection, 50 m long borehole
inclinometers. were installed. About 10 m from the
2.1 Lithological and geomechanical features of the inclinometers 2 wells were also drilled, for cross-hole
Santa Marina site tests.
The structural geology survey revealed two discon-
In the vicinity of the village of Santa Marina outcrops
tinuity sets 27◦ /058◦ and 17◦ /038◦ (dip/dip dir), while
mainly consist of pelitic and arenaceous turbiditic
the slope average attitude is 23◦ /046◦ (dip/dip dir).
rocks belonging to the San Donato Formation. Owing
The anticlinal structure and the bedding planes dipping
to their genesis Flysch formations are composed of
out of slope are the characteristic geomorphological
materials with distinct character: a pelitic component,
elements at this site.
of poor mechanical strength, is associated with a lithic
Inclinometer readings showed only slow movements
component, of high resistance. These rocks can be
of about 5 mm over about two years. The movements
classified as lithologically and structurally complex
are fairly constant with depth probably indicating that
rocks (Esu 1977). “Complexity” is due both to the
the instruments were not long enough to intersect the
difference in the mechanical properties of the two com-
failure surface. This also confirms the geostructural
ponent lithotypes and to the secondary diagenetic and
survey that revealed a large block movement with
tectonic structures. Moreover, these outcrops are heav-
translation of a portion of the slope along the bedding
ily weathered making it difficult to ascribe them either
planes (Nesci 2003). This slide led to the opening of a
to soils or to competent rocks.
fault parallel to the coast in which a rill now lies.
The geomechanical characterization of structurally
Meteorological records have been obtained from
complex formations is challenging. Up to 2001 all
the weather station of Pesaro (Osservatorio Meteo-
the rock mass classification systems, such as the
Sismico Valerio). The average yearly cumulative rain-
RMR (Rock Mass Rating) classification by Bieni-
fall record, over a time period of 55 years, from
awski (1973, 1989), or the Rock Quality Index by
1951 to 2005, is 773 mm/year. The rainfall regimen
Barton et al. (1974), were derived from the analysis
shows a very flat average monthly cumulative rain-
of case histories in substantially homogeneous rock
fall record with an average value of 64 mm/month, a
types. They are therefore applicable with difficulty
minimum of 47 mm/month in July and a maximum, of
to non-complex rock masses and not useful for the
90 mm/month in November.
characterization of Flysch deposits as the San Donato
Formation. In 1994–95 the Geological Strength Index,
3.1 Laboratory test results
(GSI), was introduced by Hoek (1994) and Hoek et al.
(1995) as a complement to their Hoek-Brown strength A number of laboratory tests have been carried out on
criteria. The GSI replaced Bieniawski’s RMR, which samples collected from the boreholes. Three of these

944
are soil samples and comprise clayey silt or silty clay.
All the other samples were collected from marl and
sandstone layers.
The bulk unit weight (γ) values are quite differ-
ent and range between 19.2 kN/m3 and 25.6 kN/m3 .
A similar difference, can be observed in the values of
the dry unit weight (γd ), which varies between 17 and
23 kN/m3 reflecting the different lithotypes. Consid-
ering all the samples, the average values of the bulk
and dry unit weights are 22.3 kN/m3 and 20.2 kN/m3
respectively. The water content (w) decreases slightly
with depth ranging from 12% to 7%. The porosity (n)
ranges from 17% to 29%. The calcium carbonate con-
tent (CaCO3 ) ranges between 16% and 41% with an
average of 33%.
One ring shear test was carried out on a recon-
stituted sample giving a residual strength with zero
cohesion and a friction angle of 34◦ . An additional
direct shear test was also carried out on a collected
sample. The peak values of cohesion and friction angle
measured were 130 kPa and 23.5◦ respectively.
Six uniaxial compression tests were carried out on
the core samples of intact rock collected from the
two boreholes. The uniaxial compressive strength val-
ues (σc ) range from 0.34 to 4.8 MPa with an average
value of about 2 MPa. The results of the uniaxial com-
pression tests show appreciable scatter mainly due
to the intrinsic heterogeneity of this formation, with
alternating of lapideous and pelitic layers.
4 BACK-ANALYSIS OF SLOPE MOVEMENT
The results of laboratory testing performed on the
samples collected at this site were compared and com-
bined with the laboratory tests carried out on samples
from other sites along the San Barolo Cliff from the
same formation. All these tests are characterized by
a large scatter in the results, which is an intrinsic
element of Flysch deposits, such as San Donato Forma-
tion, that are composed of layers of different lithology
and strength. For such sediments, the selection of
the mechanical parameters to use in slope stability
numerical analyses is problematic.
Analytical methods for the analysis of slope stability
are based on the hypothesis that the material compos-
ing the slope is either homogeneous or is formed by a
number of different layers each comprising homoge-
nous material.Also analysis of the rock slopes assumes
homogeneous blocks delimited by discontinuities.
The San Donato Formation is comprises interbed-
ded silty marl and sandstone layers of variable thick-
ness and so the analytical methods can not be applied
in this case. The numerical methods are more versatile,
allowing simulation of deformations and development
of critical surfaces. The software FLAC 5.0 was chosen
to perform a back-analysis of the slope movements.
945
4.1 Analysis of aerial photographs
Aerial photographs of the Colle San Bartolo Cliff have
been collected and analysed by means of a Geographi-
cal Information System (GIS). The aerial photographs
date back to 1943. In that year there was no evidence
of landslides and along the fault, that is now open, lay a
road that led down from the town to the beach (Fig. 1).
Digital terrain models (DTM) obtained from the
aerial photographs were used to reconstruct the tem-
poral evolution of the slope. Figure 2 shows the slope
section, represented in Figure 1, in the years 1955,
1973, 1985 and 2001. The sliding of a large portion of
the slope along the bedding planes led the opening of
a fault parallel to the coast.
4.2 Numerical analyses
For the modeling, FLAC version 5.0 (Fast Lagrangian
Analysis of Continua; Itasca 2005) was chosen as
the most suitable software for analysing the behav-
ior of the stratified slope. This code provides several
built-in stress-strain constitutive models such as Mohr-
Coulomb or Hoek-Brown, but for the latter criterion,
FLAC adopts the 1983 version (Hoek 1983), in which
the parameter a was fixed and equal to 0.5.
In order to overcome this limitation the last version
of the Hoek & Brown criterion (Hoek et al. 2002) has
been implemented in FLAC 5.0.
In the numerical simulations the alternation of lay-
ers with contrasting characteristics (pelitic/lapideous)
was modeled as an equivalent homogenous material.
The geotechnical properties of the equivalent mate-
rial were chosen according to the Marinos & Hoek
(2001) classification for heterogeneous rock masses
(summarized in Tables 1 and 2).
Weathering was recognized to be one of the main
causes of instability. Rain infiltrating into the tec-
tonised subsoil through fractures and discontinuities,
promotes the alteration of the whole rock mass. The
weathered overburden slides down along the slope to
the cliff toe, but its stabilizing effect does not last long
since it is rapidly removed by wave erosion. The com-
bined effect of weathering and coast erosion led the
cliff to a continual state of instability.
In the numerical analyses the effect of atmo-
spheric agents was taken into account by modelling
a superficial layer of the slope as a soil with high
permeability (Table 2). For this overburden material
a Mohr-Coulomb model was chosen to simulate its
plastic behaviour.
The presence of a fault was also simulated in the
FLAC model. This fault actually strikes SE-NW, but
from the aerial photographs of 1943 there is no evi-
dence of its presence. The fault is now open, but in the
‘40s there was a road on its crest leading down from
the town to the beach at the cliff toe.
 Analyzed section

Fault

Figure 1. Plan position of the analysed section on orthophograph IT2000.

Table 2. Geotechnical parameters.

γ E c φ k
◦
kN/m3 n MPa kPa m/s

Flysch 22 0.2 1000 5E-11

Overburden 22 0.3 30 20 25 1E-9
Figure 2. Temporal evolution of the analysed slope’s Fault 21 0.3 300 0 25 5E-10
section.

Table 1. Hoek & Brown criteria parameters.

4.2.1 Temporal displacements evolution analyses
σci (MPa) GSI mi mb s a The temporal evolution of the slope movement was
back-analysed starting from the configuration of the
15 28 11 0.841 3.4E-04 0.526 cross section in 1955 (Figs. 2–3). When the equi-
librium is reached under the gravitational load and
the steady state condition of the phreatic surface are
A phreatic surface was modelled according to the achieved, then the effective stresses are updated. At
piezometric data obtained from the site investigations. this point the weathering is simulated by changing the
Effective stress analyses were made, but because material properties of the overburden layer and satu-
the interest was focused on the long term condi- rating it. As a result of the weathering, shear strains
tions (steady state) and not on the transient behaviour, develop in a small zone beneath the fault (Fig. 4).
uncoupled analyses were performed computing the To simulate the evolution of the slope between 1973
variation of stress and of pore pressure at different and 1985 the upper boundary of the mesh is modified
time steps. in order to match the configuration of the slope in

946
1973. Starting from the stress–strain state reached at
the end of the analysis for the period 1955–1973, a
further weathering of the overburden is simulated. In
this case large strains develop in the zones beneath
the fault (Fig. 5). The creation of a sliding surface is
also confirmed by the plasticity indicators illustrated
in Figure 6. This slide along the bedding planes may
have led to the opening of the fault.
For the modelling of the evolution of the slope
between 1985 and 2001 the upper boundary of the
Figure 3. FLAC section modeled for 1955–1973 evolution
analysis.
Figure 4. Contour level of shear strain increment and displacement vectors for 1955–1973 evolution analysis.
947
mesh is modified again in order to match the con-
figuration of the slope in 1985. Starting from the
stress–strain state reached at the end of the previous
analysis, a further weathering of the overburden is sim-
ulated. In this case there are two zones where the yield
stresses are reached and large deformations occur: a
thin layer of overburden above the fault and thicker
one below (Fig. 7).
The results of the numerical analyses (Figs. 4–7)
are in good agreement with the evolution of the slope
ensuing from the aerial photographs (Fig. 2). The back-
analysis well points out the type of movements that led
the section from the configuration in one year to the
following one.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Analytical methods treat the rock mass as a discontin-
uous material and in case of rock slopes the strength
and deformation parameters of both the intact rock and
discontinuities can be assessed with laboratory tests.
On the contrary, the characterization of the bed-
ding planes of Flysch deposits is quite difficult. Owing
their genesis the bedding planes of Turbidite are not
well defined. Moreover the material composing the
Figure 5. Contour level of shear strain increment and displacement vectors for 1973–1985 evolution analysis.

Figure 6. State of material for 1973–1985 evolution analysis.

948
Figure 7. Contour level of shear strain increment and displacement vectors for 1985–2001 evolution analysis.
turbidite strata is characterized by high anisotropy and
heterogeneity.
Numerical modelling proved to be effective in
analysing the stability of slopes in Flysch deposits.
Numerical methods allow visualization of deforma-
tions and development of critical failure surfaces and
not just locate them as in the analytical methods.
The rock mass can be idealized as a homoge-
neous material, in which the effect of discontinuities
is distributed in the whole rock mass volume, and
the geomechanical parameters can be evaluated with
empirical formulae.
These formulae relate the properties of the intact
rock components to those of the overall rock mass and
provide systems for estimating the reduction in rock
mass strength for different geological conditions as
identified by field observation. In particular, the GSI
allows estimation of the strength parameters according
to the Hoek-Brown failure criterion for heterogeneous
rock masses such as Flysch.
REFERENCES
Bodesan, M., Elmi, C., Nesci, O., Dal Cin, R. & Veggiani, A.
1988. Guida alle escursioni. Riunione annuale: Riccione-
Delta del Po. Gruppo Nazionale di Geografia Fisica e
Geomorfologia.
949
Esu, F. 1977. Behaviour of slopes in structurally complex
formations. In Geotechnics of Structurally Complex For-
mations, Proc. Intern. Symp., Capri, vol. II, pp. 292–304.
Hoek, E. 1983. 23rd Rankine Lecture: Strength of rock and
rock masses. Geotéechnique 33(3): 187–223.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion – 2002 Edition. In Proc. 5th North
American Rock Mech. Symp., Toronto, pp. 267–273.
Itasca Consulting Group 2005. FLAC (Fast Lagrangian
Analysis of Continua). Minneapolis.
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2001. Estimating the geotechnical
properties of heterogeneous rock masses such as flysch.
Bullettin of Eng. Geol. and Env. 60(2): 85–92.
Nesci, O. 2003. Evoluzione geomorfologica della falesia
costiera del Monte San Bartolo. In Verso la gestione inte-
grata della costa del Monte San Bartolo: risultati di
un progetto pilota. Quaderni del centro di geobiologia
Università degli Studi di Urbino 1: 41–53.
Tramontana, M., Veneri, F. & Wezel, F.C. 1994. Itinerario
n.1 Da Urbino a Pesaro – Le successioni nell’area nord-
marchigiana. In Societa’ Geologica Italiana (ed.), Guide
geologiche regionali – Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano.
Milano: BE-MA.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Affect of shear strength criteria selection in probabilistic rock slope stability

analyses: A case study for a jointed rock slope in Norway

H.S.B. Düzgün
Mining Eng. Dept., Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

R.K. Bhasin
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway

ABSTRACT: Probabilistic rock slope stability analyses are essential to risk assessments, as risk is defined by
the probability of occurrence of an instability multiplied by the consequences of the failure. Usually, probabilistic
rock slope stability problems are modeled using the Coulomb failure criterion since it is linear, providing simple
modeling algorithms. It is acknowledged widely that rock slope stability problems may exhibit non-linear failure
behavior, leading to consideration of non-linear limit equilibrium failure function generation in probabilistic
analyses. In this paper two probabilistic models for the problem of plane failure are formulated by considering
the Coulomb and Barton-Bandis failure criteria. The models are implemented for the stability evaluation of a
734 m high jointed rock slope called ‘Oppstadhornet’ in the west of Norway. It is observed that for the same
rock slope conditions, the reliability index and the associated probability of failure (i.e. the safety indices for
the probabilistic methods) give different values depending on the failure criterion adopted for the analysis. The
Coulomb failure criterion gives probability values that are one order of magnitude higher than the Barton-Bandis
failure criteria. Correspondingly, the reliability index values for the Barton-Bandis criteria are higher than the
Coulomb criteria. The differences in the safety indices between the two criteria become more pronounced when
the friction angle of discontinuities decreases.

1 INTRODUCTON (MCS) and Reliability-based methods, namely first-

Risk assessment due to rock slides require probabilis-
tic assessment of stability, as risk is basically defined
by the multiplication of probability of occurrence of
rock slide and consequences of the failure. More-
over, since rock slope stability problems contain many
uncertainties due to inadequate information about site
characteristics, inherent variability and measurement
errors in the geological and geotechnical parameters,
probabilistic modeling of rock slope stability prob-
lems allow systematic treatment of these uncertainties.
The probabilistic approaches for assessing the stabil-
ity of rock slopes mostly use linear failure criteria.
(e.g. McMahon 1971, Piteau & Martin 1977, Baecher
& Einstein 1978, Priest & Brown 1983, Chowdhury
1986, Muralha & Trunk 1993, Queck & Leung 1995,
Low 1996, Feng & Lajtai 1998, Park & West 2001,
Düzgün et al. 2003, Park et al. 2005), especially the
Coulomb criteria as it is relatively easier to formulate
probabilistic models.
Probabilistic models for rock slope stability can
be classified into two as Monte Carlo Simulation
order second moment (FOSM), and first-order reli-
ability method (FORM). Nadim et al. (2005) give an
overview of probabilistic stability analyses for soil and
rock slopes.
Rock slope stability problems are mostly governed
by rock discontinuities, where failure is controlled
by shear strength of the discontinuities. It is widely
acknowledged that shear failure along rock disconti-
nuities have non-linear behavior (Barton 1976). Hence
limit equilibrium failure function used in probabilistic
analyses should be formulated in the form of non-
linear function. In this paper plane failure problem is
formulated by considering the Coulomb and Barton-
Bandis shear failure criteria within the framework of
MCS. The models are implemented for the stability
evaluation of a 734 m high jointed rock slope called
‘Oppstadhornet’ in the west of Norway.
1.1 Oppstadhornet rock slope
The Oppstadhornet rock slope (Fig. 1) is located on
the west coast of Norway. The Geological Survey of

951
 that the slope, which is 734 m high and several km wide
stretching from near shore to the top of the slope, is
potentially unstable (Blikra et al. 2001). Large blocks
of several tens of cubic meters show internal fracturing
and down-slope sliding both along the foliation joints
and on the cross-joints.
The slope has an average slope angle of 36◦ between
Slide Area Observed the top of the slope and the road at the foot of the
slope. However, different sections of the slope have
much steeper or shallower slope angles. The major
Figure 1. The picture of the slope (Bhasin & Kaynia 2004). joints along the foliations are cross cut by joints strik-
ing NW-SE, which divide the rock mass into various
sized rock blocks ranging from several cubic meters
to several tens of cubic meters. At some places rock
blocks with size of several hundred cubic meters exist.
The discontinuities are mostly characterized as
rough and undulating with non-softening imperme-
able filling. Some of the foliation joints are persistent
in nature and could be followed for hundreds of meters,
though the majority of them are discontinuous in
nature.
The thickness of the potentially unstable mass has
been estimated to 50–75 m in the upper part and 25 m
in the lower part of the slope. Based on mapping car-
ried out in the field and aerial photos, three possible
shear surfaces have been indicated in Figure 2.The pre-
dicted age of the movements are less than 11,500 years
by NGU (i.e. after deglaciation) since the area shows
no indication of being affected by processes related to
permafrost condition (Robinson et al. 1997, Braathen
et al. 2004). The recent site investigations by NGU
reveal some indications of recent movements, but no
measurements of movements have been carried out.

1.2 Data collection

The data for probabilistic stability analysis of Oppstad-
Figure 2. Aerial photo and cross-section of the slope with hornet is obtained from previously performed studies
the foliation surfaces and observed block movements. The on the slope, which are mainly numerical stability anal-
cross-section line (BA) is shown on aerial photo (Blikra et al. yses (Bhasin & Kaynia 2004, Bhasin et al. 2004, Dahle
2001). 2004). The collected data from field investigations
involve geological mapping of the slope, matching of
joint roughness profiles, Schmidt hammer testing and
Norway (NGU) has investigated the slope to detect any
characterizing the exposed joint walls in the slope. The
recent movements and identify large-scale unstable
E-modulus, basic friction angle (φb ), Poisson’s ratio (ν)
blocks that could collapse into the fjord and result in
and uniaxial compressive strength (σc ) parameters are
the generation of high waves or tsunamis (ICG 2004).
obtained by laboratory testing. The joint input param-
Figure 2 shows the cross-section of the slope with the
eters to be used in the Barton Bandis shear failure
observed block movements. Since a tsunami caused
criterion and the mechanical properties of the intact
by slope failure in Oppstadhornet can have an adverse
rock used for numerical modeling studies are shown
effect on developed areas and new development
in Table 1.
projects along the coastlines of the fjords, slope stabil-
The scale correction for in situ block sizes (Ln ) is
ity evaluation is essential to assess the associated risk.
derived using the following scale correction equations
The slope area is composed of granitoid gneiss with
(Barton & Bandis 1990):
zones of schist. The rock discontinuities in the area are
well developed foliation planes with strike of ENE-
WSW and dip moderate to steep to the south (Bhasin
et al. 2004). The site investigations by NGU indicate

952
Table 1. Barton-Bandis joint parameters and intact rock Table 2. Summary statistics for shear failure parameters.
parameters assumed for the numerical simulations.
Variable Min. Max. Mean SD Sample
Parameters Values
JRC 0 6.0 20.0 11.9 4.1 29
Joint roughness coefficient JRC o 10 JRC n 4.5 7.9 6.5 1.0 29
Joint compressive strength JCS o (MPa) 80 JCS 0 (MPa) 16.0 190.0 88.8 50.3 91
Laboratory scale length Lo (m) 0.1 JCS n (MPa) 7.02 83.3 38.8 22.0 91
In situ block size Ln (m) 1.0 φr (◦ ) 22.0 34.0 28.0 2.2 26
Residual friction angle φr (◦ ) 30 ccaseI (MPa) 0.06 0.17 0.11 – –
Uniaxial compressive strength σc (MPa) 100 ccaseII (MPa) 0.01 0.03 0.02 – –
Density ρ (kN/m3 ) 27.5 φcaseI (◦ ) 23.0 44.0 34.0 – –
Poisson’s ratio υ 0.25 φcaseII (◦ ) 25.5 48.0 37.5 – –
Deformation modulus Ed (GPa) 40

Barton & Choubey (1977) postulated that a reduc-

tion in JCS-values due to scale effect roughly corre-
sponds to the reduction of σc with increasing sample
size. Furthermore, they have concluded that there is
a significant scale effect on JRC. The larger the base
length considered, the less steep the asperities which
result in reduced JRC-values. For the present case a
JRC o value of 10 when corrected to full scale (Ln ) gives
a JRC n value of 6.3. Likewise a JCS o value of 100
MPa when corrected to full scale gives a JCS n value
of 50 MPa. In probabilistic analyses, scale corrected
values are taken into account.
In addition, probabilistic modeling of rock slopes
requires information about mean and variance of the
basic variables as well as their probability distri-
butions. Mainly two types of basic variables exist:
strength variables and geometrical parameters. In this
study, the shear strength parameters which are treated
as random variables are JRC, JCS and φr for the
Barton-Bandis shear failure criterion and cohesion (c)
and friction angle (φ) for the Coulomb failure criterion.
The previous numerical studies for the Oppstad-
hornet slope contain data for the Barton-Bandis shear
strength criterion. In this paper the raw data collected
for JRC, JCS and φr (Barton & Bandis 1990) are ana-
lyzed statistically and distribution fitting tests using
BestFit (2005) are carried out to determine appro-
priate probability distributions. Since the Coulomb
parameters were not considered in the previous studies,
the Barton-Bandis shear strength parameters are con-
verted to equivalent Coulomb parameters. However, as
this conversion requires the estimation of normal stress
on the critical joints of the slope, medium (1–2 MPa:
‘Case I’) and low (0.1–1 MPa: ‘Case II’) normal stress
ranges are considered due to the fact that slope failures
occur at low normal stress levels compared to those
relevant for underground structures. For each normal
stress range the conversion is performed for the mean,
Figure 3. Slope geometry and potentially unstable blocks.
minimum and maximum values of the Barton-Bandis
parameters so that uncertainty in the Coulomb param-
eters can be estimated. Table 2 provides statistics for
the shear strength parameters.
Geometrical parameters involve slope height (H ),
width (W ) and angle (βf ) as well as the discontinu-
ity dip (βs ). The discontinuity dip and slope angle are
considered to be random variables. Since the slope
height and width contain relatively less uncertainty
than slope angle and discontinuity dip, they are taken
as deterministic variables.
Previous studies of the Oppstadhornet slope indi-
cate that there are three layers of rock which could slide
(Fig. 3). The first and the third layers are in the form
of single rock blocks (Block 1 and Block 3, respec-
tively). The second layer is composed of two blocks
such as Block 2.1 and Block 2.2. The slope geome-
try given in Figure 3 indicates a plane failure mode.
Therefore, probabilistic models are developed for the
plane failure case.
2 PROBABILISTIC MODELING OF PLANE
FAILURE BY MCS
The implementation of the MCS method to the plane
failure requires the understanding of the basic mech-
anism of plane failure, which involves the descrip-
tion of resisting and driving forces, identification of

953
 Table 3. Forces acting on the sliding block shown in
Figure 3.

Force Parallel component Normal component

G GP = G sin βs GN = G cos βs
U Up = 0 UN = −U
V VP = V sin (βc − βs ) VN = −V cos (βc − βs )

The description of the forces listed in Table 3 is as

follows:
G = weight of the sliding block
U = water pressure on the sliding plane
V = water pressure in the tension crack
For MCS modeling a performance function (failure
function) or a limit state equation should be for-
mulated. In the plane failure case, the performance
Figure 4. Geometry of plane failure (after Priest 1993).
function, g(x), is defined as the difference of the
resisting forces, Rf and the driving forces, Df :
the probabilistic and deterministic parameters and
characterization of the geometry.
where x = vector of basic variables and

2.1 Basic mechanism of plane failure

The basic mechanism of plane failure is best expressed Where:
by a sliding mass on an inclined plane. The mechani- Gp = shear component of G
cal principles state that sliding occurs when resisting Up = shear component of U
forces, which are forces normal to the inclined plane Vp = shear component of V
multiplied by shear strength, is smaller than the driv- The formulation of Rf differs slightly for the
ing forces that are parallel to the sliding plane. The Barton-Bandis and Coulomb failure criteria. For the
mechanical principle of sliding is basically due to grav- Coulomb criterion it is given as:
itational loading on an inclined plane. The analysis
of this failure mechanism has two stages; the first
is essentially geometrical and the second deals with
the analysis of forces. Geometrical analysis is usu- where:
ally the most complicated aspect. The method given by c = cohesion
Priest (1993) is adapted here, since it is more amenable φ = discontinuity friction angle
to computer programming and analysis. Figure 4 LAD = length of sliding plane
illustrates the geometry of a typical plane failure case. GN = normal component of G
In the analysis of the system of forces, the stability UN = normal component of U
of a unit slice of rock, measured normal to the plane of VN = normal component of V
the cross-section in Figure 4, is considered. Although Rf for the Barton-Bandis criterion is defined by:
the block may be extensive along the crest of the slope,
it is assumed that vertical discontinuities facilitate the
release of the block and allow it to slide along the plane
AD, without significant lateral constraints. Hence, it where τp = peak shear strength of the foliation joint.
is convenient to analyze the forces G, U and V in This value is computed based on the Barton-Bandis
terms of their components that lie parallel to the slid- non-linear shear failure criteria:
ing plane, which form the driving forces, and that are
normal to the sliding plane, which contribute to the
resisting shear strength. The parallel and normal force
components are listed in Table 3. Forces that tend to
activate sliding or compress the sliding plane are taken where:
as positive. The details of this formulation are given σn = normal stress (MPa)
by Priest (1993). JRC = joint roughness coefficient

954

Table 4. Fitted distribution for the basic variables.
Fitted (f ) and assumed (a ) distributions
Basic Decreasing degree of fit
variable −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−→
JRC f
Triangular, f Beta, f Uniform
JCS f
Beta, f Triangular, f Uniform,
f
Weibull, f Gamma, f Lognormal
φr f
Triangular, f Uniform
c a
Uniform
φ a
Uniform
a
ψs Unifrom
a
ψd Uniform
JCS = joint wall compressive strength (MPa)
φr = residual friction angle (◦ )
i = = angle of asperities (◦ )
2.2 Probability distributions of basic variables
The selection of appropriate probability distributions
for basic variables is important in probabilistic mod-
eling. The raw data collected for JRC, JCS, and φ for
several research projects at NGI are analyzed statisti-
cally and distribution fitting tests are carried out using
Bestfit (2005). The results of distribution fitting anal-
yses are given in Table 4. For the parameters where
the data is insufficient to fit a probability distribution,
assumptions are made. As the possible values for the
parameters c, φψs , and ψd , are known inside a range,
the uniform distribution is found to be most suitable.
As can be seen from Table 4, most of the strength
parameters fit to the family of uniform distributions.
This finding is also intuitively plausible as the values
of strength parameters lies in a range. JRC is defined
between 0–20. The theoretical value for φr is between
0◦ and 90◦ . Although theoretically JCS can have val-
ues between zero and infinity, it takes values between
a range for rock discontinuities. The same analogy
applies for the basic variables of βs (inclination of
sliding plane) and βf (slope angle).
3 PROBABILISTIC ANALYSIS OF
OPPSTADHORNET ROCK SLOPE
The probabilistic analyses for Oppstadhornet rock
slope are performed in two stages. In the fist step,
for specified failure criteria and using MCS method,
the likelihoods of various block failure alternatives are
evaluated (called step I). Then, for one of the most
favorable rock blocks for sliding, MCS models for
Barton-Bandis and Coulomb failure criteria are com-
pared (step II). All the computations are made for
955
three different possible values of φr (28◦ , 25◦ and 20◦ )
to be consistent with the reported numerical analy-
ses (Bhasin & Kaynia 2004, Bhasin et al. 2004). It
is to be noted that as the data collected for φr yield
a mean value of 28◦ and the results of probabilistic
computations for φr of 30◦ are not much different than
28◦ , φr of 28◦ is used for the probabilistic evaluations.
Since there is no water pressure measurement in the
slope, it is assumed that the effect of water on stability
emerges through a decrease in frictional properties of
the discontinuities. Hence Pf and β are calculated for
φr values of 28◦ , 25◦ and 20◦ . Furthermore, equivalent
Coulomb parameters are computed for these three φr
values.
3.1 Step I – Evaluation of instability alternatives
The potentially unstable blocks in Figure 3 can fail in
various ways:
– Alternative 1 (AI): All the blocks (1, 2.1, 2.2
and 3) fail at the same time as a single block,
(1 + 2.1 + 2.2 + 3). Failure is on discontinuity
plane 3.
– Alternative II (AII): Only Block 1 fails and the rest
are stable, (1). Failure is on plane 1.
– Alternative III (AIII): Blocks 1, 2.1 and 2.2 fail at
the same time as a single block, Block 3 remains
stable (1, 2.1, 2.2). Failure is on plane 2.
– Alternative IV (AIV): First Block 1 fails, then
Blocks 2.1 and 2.2 fail at the same time (1,
2.1 + 2.2). Failure is first on plane 1 then on plane 2.
– Alternative V (AV): First Block 1, then Blocks 2.1,
2.2 and 3 fail sequentially (1, 2.1, 2.2, 3). First,
second and third failures are on planes 1, 2, and 3,
respectively.
The Pf and β for the alternatives AI – AV are com-
puted using the MCS technique for Barton-Bandis
shear failure criterion in RocPlane software.
Among the five possible slope instability alterna-
tives, Pf for AI – AIII is the direct calculation of the
slope failure probability. The alternatives AIV and AV
on the other hand, require the formulation of Pf based
on the conditional probabilities, since the occurrence
of these alternatives are conditioned on previous block
failures. The Pf for the alternatives AIV – AV are given
in Equations 9 and 10, respectively:
Table 5 provides the calculated Pf for the three φr
values from the five alternatives. The highest Pf value
 Table 5. Pf for individual blocks and the four alternatives.

Individual block Pf Alternative Pf

Block or
◦ ◦ ◦
alternative φr = 28 φr = 25 φr = 20 φr = 28◦ φr = 25◦ φr = 20◦

1 5*10−3 3*10−2 2*10−1

2.1 4*10−4 2*10−3 3*10−2
2.2 9*10−5 8*10−4 2*10−1
2.1+2.2 6*10−5 7*10−4 2*10−2
3 3*10−7 4*10−6 9*10−4
I 1*10−3 7*10−3 1*10−1
II 5*10−3 3*10−2 2*10−1
III 7*10−5 8*10−4 2*10−2
IV 3*10−7 2*10−5 4*10−3
V 5*10−17 2*10−13 1*10−7

is obtained for AII, which involves the failure of only Table 6. β and Pf values obtained using the two failure
Block 1. AI has the second highest Pf value indicat- criteria.
ing failure of all blocks. The Pf for AV has the lowest
Coulomb Coulomb
value. Therefore, it is recommended that in the Opp- Barton-Bandis Case I* Case II**
stadhornet rock slope the potential failure of Block 1
and the failure of the slope as a whole should be con- φr (◦ ) β Pf β Pf β Pf
sidered for the evaluation of landslide risk. As can be
seen from Table 5, there is approximately one order 28 3.10 1.0*10−3 2.21 1.4*10−2 2.31 1.1*10−2
of magnitude difference between the Pf values com- 25 2.44 7.4*10−3 2.07 1.9*10−2 2.22 1.3*10−2
puted for φr of 28◦ , 25◦ and 20◦ , respectively. Hence 20 1.30 9.8*10−2 0.69 2.5*10−1 0.84 2.0*10−1
this suggests that a potential decrease in the frictional
properties of the discontinuities due to the effect of *Stress range of Case I – 1.0–2.0 MPa.
water or weathering should be investigated carefully. **Stress range of Case II – 0.1–1.0 MPa.

become more pronounced when φr decreases. Here it

3.2 Step II – Comparison of results from the
Barton-Bandis and Mohr-Coulomb failure
criteria
This section investigates the effect of different failure
criteria on the Pf of the slope. The stability problem
is formulated within the MCS framework using the
Barton-Bandis and the Coulomb failure criteria. The
first alternative (AI) described in the previous section
is considered since it has the second highest Pf value
among the possible alternatives and could result in the
most severe consequences due to the fact that AI has
the largest volume of sliding rock. In addition, similar
to calculations in the previous section, Pf and β values
forAI are evaluated for φr of 28◦ , 25◦ and 20◦ (Table 6).
The Barton-Bandis shear failure criterion results
in one order of magnitude lower Pf values than the
Coulomb criterion (Table 6). Accordingly, the corre-
sponding β values are higher for the Barton-Bandis
than the Coulomb failure criteria. For φr of 28◦ , 25◦
and 20◦ , β values from Barton-Bandis are 40, 18, and
88 % higher than those from Coulomb- Case I. They
are 34, 10, and 55 % higher than the β values from
Coulomb-Case II. Moreover, Coulomb-Case I yields
slightly higher Pf than Coulomb-Case II. The differ-
ences in the Pf and β values for Coulomb- Cases I and II
is to be noted that as in this study the Coulomb param-
eters are derived from the Barton-Bandis parameters
for different stress ranges, the computed difference in
Pf values of the two failure criteria depends on the way
that the parameters are predicted. The obtained results
for the Pf from the Coulomb and the Barton-Bandis
criteria show that the choice of failure criterion may
indicate different safety levels.
The assessment of the slope safety requires compar-
ison of computed Pf and β values with “acceptable”
values. Although there is limited work on the accept-
able values of Pf for rock slopes, the studies of Hoek
(1991), Chowdhury & Flentje (2003), Düzgün et al.
(2003), Park et al. (2005) suggest an acceptable level
of Pf within the range of 0.10 and 0.15. Hence Block
1 in Figure 3 for φr less than 25◦ can be considered as
unsafe.
4 CONCLUSONS
Probabilistic evaluation of rock slope safety is an
essential part of risk assessment framework. The com-
puted failure probabilities should be interpreted as a
measure of hazard to be used in risk assessment and

956
not as a measure of risk unless they are associated with
the consequences of the failure. The computed Pf of
a slope provides much more information about the
effects of the uncertainties involved in the calculation
than the factor of safety from a deterministic analysis.
Hazard is defined as the probability of a rock slide
for a given time. Therefore, hazard should contain a
time component in probability definitions. This can be
done by either considering the time dependent behav-
ior of the basic variables in the probabilistic models
or associating the computed Pf with frequency of the
failures in the region. Hence computed Pf values from
probabilistic modeling of kinetic safety of rock slope
should be further processed to obtain time dependent
Pf values when used in risk assessment.
In addition, for the same slope conditions, formulat-
ing the stability problem based on the Barton-Bandis
and Coulomb failure criteria results in different Pf val-
ues. Pf computed based on the Barton-Bandis criterion
is one order of magnitude smaller than Pf based on the
Coulomb criterion. Thus, there is a need for research
on acceptable Pf evaluated based on existing shear
failure criteria.
REFERENCES
Baecher, G.B. & Einstein, H.H. 1978. Slope stability models
in pit optimization. In Proc. 16th APCOM Symp., Tucson,
Arizona, pp. 501–512.
Barton, N. 1976. The shear strength of rock and rock joints.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 13: 255–279.
Barton, N. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mech and Rock Eng.
10(1-2): 1–54.
Barton, N. & Bandis, S. 1990. Review of predictive capabil-
ities of JRC-JCS model in engineering practice. In Proc.
Int. Symp. on Rock Joints, Loen, Norway, pp. 603–610.
BestFit 2005. Probability distribution fitting for windows,
Version 4.5.5. Palisade Corporation, Newfield, NY.
Bhasin, R. & Kaynia, A.M. 2004. Static and dynamic simula-
tion of a 700-m high rock slope in western Norway. Eng.
Geol. 71: 213–226.
Bhasin, R., Kaynia, A., Blikra L.H. & Braathen A. 2004.
Insights into the deformation mechanisms of a jointed rock
slope subjected to dynamic loading. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. . 41(supp. 1): 587–592.
Blikra, L.H., Braaten, A. & Skurtveit E. 2001. Hazard eval-
uation of rock avalanches; the Baraldsnes – Oterøya area.
Geological Survey of Norway, Report 2001.108, 33 pp.
Braathen, A., Blikra, L.H., Berg, S.S. & Karlsen, F. 2004.
Rock-slope failures of Norway; type, geometry and haz-
ard. Norwegian Journal of Geology 84: 67–88.
Chowdhury, R.N. 1986. Geomechanics risk model for multi-
ple failures along rock discontinuities. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. 23(5): 337–346.
957
Chowdhury, R. & Flentje, P. 2003. Role of slope reliability
analysis in landslide risk management. Bull. Eng. Geol.
and the Environment 62: 41–46.
Dahle, H. 2004. Slope stability analysis for Oppstadhor-
net. M.Sc. Thesis, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, Trondheim, Norway. (In Norwegian)
Düzgün, H.S.B., Yücemen, M.S. & Karpuz, C. 2003. A
methodology for reliability-based design of rock slopes.
Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 36: 95–120.
Feng, P. & Lajtai, E.Z. 1998. Probabilistic treatment of the
sliding wedge with EzSlide. Eng. Geol. 50: 153–163.
Hoek, E. 1991. When is a design in rock engineering
acceptable? In Proc. 7th ISRM Cong. Rock Mechanics 3:
1435–1497.
ICG (International Center for Geohazards) 2004. Rock slope
failures-models and risks, modelling the Oppstadhornet
slope with Plaxis. ICG Report 20031093-2, 73 pp.
Low, B.K. 1996. Practical probabilistic approach using
spreadsheet. In ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication,
58, Proc. of Uncertainty in Geologic Environment From
Theory to Practice, Madison, Wisconsin, 2: 1284–1302.
McMahon, M.K., 1971. A statistical method for the design of
rock slopes. In Proc. 2nd Australian-New Zealand Conf.
on Geomechanics, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 308–314.
Muralha, J. & Trunk, U. 1993. Stability of rock slopes-
evaluation of failure probabilities by the Monte Carlo
and first order reliability methods. In Proc. of Int. Symp.
Assessment and Prevention of Failure Phenomena in Rock
Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey, pp. 759–765.
Nadim, F., Einstein, H.H. & Roberds, W. 2005. Probabilistic
stability analysis for individual slopes in soil and rock. In
Proc. Landslide Risk Management, Vancouver, Canada,
pp. 63–98.
Park, H. & West, T.R. 2001. Development of a probabilistic
approach for wedge failure. Eng. Geol. 59: 233–251.
Park, H.J., West, T.R. & Woo, I. 2005. Probabilistic analysis
of rock slope stability and random properties of discon-
tinuity parameters, Interstate Highway 40, Western North
Carolina, USA. Eng. Geol. 79: 230–250.
Piteau, D.R. & Martin, D.C. 1977. Slope stability analysis and
design based on probability techniques at Cassiar mine.
Bull. Can. Inst. Min. Metall. 70: 139–150.
Priest, S.D. & Brown, E.T. 1983. Probabilistic stability anal-
ysis of variable rock slopes. Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. A.
92: 1–12.
Priest, S.D. 1993. Discontinuity Analysis for Rock Engineer-
ing. London: Chapman & Hall.
Queck, S.T. & Leung, C.F. 1995. Reliability-based stability
analysis of rock excavations. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
Geomech. Abstr. 32(6): 617–620.
Robinson, P., Tveten, E. & Blikra, L.H. 1997. A post-
glacial bedrock failure at Oppstadhornet, Oteroya, More
og Romsdal: a potential major rock avalanche. NGU Bull.
433: 46–47.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Dynamic rock fragmentation causes low rock-on-rock friction

T.R. Davies
Dept of Geological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

M.J. McSaveney
GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

A.M. Deganutti
IRPI, CNR, Padua, Italy

ABSTRACT: The low frictional resistance to rock-on-rock sliding reported in large blockslides, in coseismic
fault rupture and in laboratory-scale rock friction tests has been attributed to a variety of causes. Herein we propose
a mechanical explanation for the reduced friction, which seems likely to be universally relevant to complement
other mechanisms. Rock-on-rock sliding of intact brittle rocks always generates a layer of comminuted debris.
Rock must fail in order to form and further comminute debris; at local strain rates >>100 s−1 , recycling of
elastic strain energy stored in accomplishing fragmentation generates instantaneous, local, GPa-range isotropic
pressures similar to the rock’s Hugoniot elastic limit (Q). Under rapid strain, simultaneously fragmenting grains
deliver large normal forces to the boundaries of the comminuting layer, reducing the confining stress on the debris
(and hence its resistance to shear), thus lowering the frictional resistance to slip. This behaviour corresponds
quantitatively to published laboratory data on granite friction; to the dynamics of low-angle blocksliding and
faulting; and to our data on rapid shearing of fragmenting dry coal.

1 INTRODUCTION Herein we explore a mechanism capable of reduc-

Anomalously low frictional resistance to the motion
of rock masses has been reported or inferred from
time to time in a number of geological situations.
Lower-than-normal resistance to rock-on-rock slip is
widely inferred in fault motion (e.g. Scholz 2002, Par-
sons 2002, Townend & Zoback 2004), which involves
shear in comminuted rock debris. Rapid, low-angle
motion of large intact blockslides generates commin-
uted material at the sliding surface (Anders et al. 2000)
and unequivocally requires low basal friction (Davies
et al. 2006). Reduced slip resistance is also reported
in laboratory-scale rock-on-rock sliding (Kilgore et al.
1993, Byerlee 1978, Di Toro et al. 2004, Goldsby &
Tullis 2002).
Explanations of these phenomena have focussed on
particular environments. For example, Di Toro et al.
(2004) attribute their dramatically low friction data
to formation of weak silica gel in the presence of
moisture on the laboratory rock surface, which is dif-
ficult to apply to the much larger-scale situation of
blocksliding. Reduced resistance to slip in faulting
is often explained (Lachenbruch 1980, Sibson 1994)
with high-pressure pore water, which likewise cannot
apply to the laboratory result.
ing slip resistance in these situations; the intense local
pressure generated by dynamic failure of brittle rock
reduces frictional resistance to motion by reducing the
effective stress between the sliding surfaces, under a
normal coefficient of friction.
2 DYNAMIC ROCK FRAGMENTATION
2.1 General description
In brittle rock sliding, wear of the sliding surfaces
always occurs (Scholz 2002); rock fragments accu-
mulate between the sliding surfaces and further com-
minute, forming a debris layer. Rapid breakage of
intact (i.e. unjointed) rock – (“dynamic fragmenta-
tion”: Grady & Kipp (1987) – requires that the rock is
stressed beyond its dynamic (or Hugoniot) elastic limit
(Q – the temperature-, strain-rate- and confinement-
stress-related value of the compressive strength).
When a particle deforms rapidly in a shear field, its
internal elastic-strain energy increases; this energy is
extracted locally from the surrounding kinetic energy
field. The stress state of the deforming particle rapidly
approaches, and then exceeds, its strength. It suddenly

959
fails, breaking on newly-generated fracture surfaces
defining smaller sub-fragments (Sagy et al. 2001,
Zhang et al. 2000, 2004).
2.2 Energy transformations in fragmentation
As an intact clast subjected to compressional and con-
fining stresses initially deforms elastically, the internal
stress approaches the elastic limit Q of the intact rock
material; this is a function of strain rate and confining
stress. Immediately before Q is reached (somewhere
in the clast), the elastic strain energy stored by the clast
is SE1 . When Q is exceeded somewhere in the clast,
a set of cracks appears defining a set of sub-clasts a1 ,
a 2 , an .
Development of a crack requires inter-molecular
bonds to be broken; by definition this takes place at the
stress Q, which is the areally-averaged strength of the
bonds. The genesis of the crack is the crack walls mov-
ing apart by a perpendicular distance δy, so the work
done in generating the crack = Qδy. This is exactly the
same as the work that would be done in further strain-
ing the clast by δy in the absence of crack development,
because it is done at the same stress. The total work
done to cause failure of the clast from a previously-
defined state is exactly the work done in straining it
from that previous stress state.
Momentarily, each subclast has almost the same
shape as their corresponding mass had prior to crack-
ing; some energy may be used during the creation
of the cracks, so the elastic strain energy is reduced
a little. Hence SE1 ∼ SEa ; the elastic strain energy
stored in the mass is only slightly reduced by crack
appearance.
Once through-going cracks exist, subclasts can
move relative to each other under the applied stress
field. Instantly, much remaining elastic strain energy
converts to kinetic energy. The total released elastic
strain energy is close to Q2 /2E per unit volume (Her
get 1988). Displacement of subclasts generates fric-
tional resistance to their relative motions, dissipating
some of the kinetic energy.
The above is still valid if (more realistically) the
cracks develop pro- gressively through the clast from
the point of initial failure; in this case strain energy
converts to kinetic energy progressively through the
clast. Li et al. (2005) show that duration of fragmenta-
tion of a 70 mm granite clast is of the order of 100 µs
at strain rates of 20–60 s−1 .
This process can be represented by Figure 1. The ini-
tial strain of the clast is linear (O-a); prior to failure, in
general, some plastic strain occurs in the curved path
between b and c, the extent of which is determined by
the material properties and strain rate. In the case of
a brittle solid strained rapidly, the difference between
the elastic limit Qe and the ultimate or plastic limit Qp
will be very small. The total work done in stressing
the clast to failure is the sum of the dotted and shaded
960
Figure 1. Stress-strain curve for failing solid.
areas in Figure 1. The release of elastic strain energy
on failure causes the curve to fall along b-c, and the
energy thus released is that of the dotted area. In the
case of brittle failure under rapid strain, the plastic
strain δsp is very small, and the energy dissipated dur-
ing failure – the shaded area – is also small. Hence
most of the work done in brittle failure of a clast is
transformed into kinetic energy of the sub-clasts. This
is the “explosive fragmentation” reported by Wawersik
& Fairhurst (1971) and Li et al. (2005). The strain rate
needed to cause dynamic fragmentation is ∼100 s−1
(Melosh et al. 1992).
Note that the energy expended is the work done
in deforming the rock mass; little if any of it is lost
in breaking the rock or to energy associated with the
newly created fragment surfaces. Note also that in
the above the only elasticity involved is that of the
clast. The elasticity of the environment applying the
stress is unspecified; in effect it is subsumed into Q.
It is often supposed that explosive fragmentation in a
laboratory situation is caused entirely by the elastic-
ity of the testing machine, but this is clearly untrue;
machine elasticity has some influence, but in princi-
ple the machine could have the same elasticity as the
clast – deep-mine rockbursts are exactly this case, as
are dynamic fragmentations in shearing granular rock
masses. The only situation in which brittle fragmen-
tation is not explosive is in a servo-controlled testing
machine that reduces stress as soon as strain occurs –
which is in effect operating the machine with negative
elasticity numerically equal to that of the clast so that
the total elasticity is always zero (Hazzard et al. 2000,
Fig. 12). This situation does not occur in nature.
The elastic-strain energy released at failure thus
converts mostly to kinetic energy of sub-fragments
moving away from the original centre of mass at
velocities >10 ms−1 for common rock types (Herget
1988, Bergstrom 1963), with some loss to heat in the

Figure 2. Development of shear localization in comminu-
tion on a new failure surface.
imperfectly elastic strain and release processes. The
sum of fragment momenta with respect to the original
particle centre of mass is zero. In tightly-packed debris,
the travel distance of the high-velocity sub-fragments
is very small, and their effect on the surroundings is
that of a short-lived local dispersive pressure.
2.3 Effects of dynamic fragmentation
Crack propagation in rapid failure of brittle rock takes
place as high-speed (typically ∼ km s−1 ) expansion
of a “failure front” through the particle (Espinoza &
Xu 1997). The shear strength of the fragmenting mate-
rial is very low (e.g. Benz & Ausphaug 1995), hence
the resulting dispersive pressure is isotropic. Since the
pressure in the vicinity of the failure front is slightly
above Q (Espinoza & Xu 1997, Reches & Dewers
2005), the magnitude of the dispersive pressure on the
surrounding grains is similar to Q. Q for crustal rocks
at high shear rates is ∼2–4 GPa (Sharpton et al. 1996),
so instantaneous local isotropic dispersive pressures of
this order result from rapid compressive grain failure
(Reches & Dewers 2005).
A single layer of fragments sheared and commin-
uted between two rock surfaces delivers this dispersive
pressure directly to the surfaces, opposing the external
confining stress. This is likely to be the situation early
in a rock-on-rock friction experiment, or a rupture
in re-agglomerated fault gouge, or a first-time block-
slide; very large local forces are applied to the intact
rock surfaces by fragmenting grains, reducing the
effective stress on the fragment layer and thus reduc-
ing the frictional resistance to motion that the layer can
develop with a friction coefficient in the usual range
0.5–0.7. As shearing and fragmentation continue, the
single layer of fragments develops into a granular mass
comprising many layers of smaller fragments (Fig. 2);
while new large fragments are introduced by continued
failure of the intact boundaries. Grain flow
961
2.4 Shear localisation
Shear bands, indicating localisation of shear strain
and comprised of fine, highly-comminuted debris,
are frequently reported from fault motion (Sibson
2003) and blockslides (Anders et al. 2000). Laboratory
experiments show that shear localisation occurs pref-
erentially under high confining stresses in association
with comminution (Aharonov & Sparks 2006, Mair
et al. 2001), and that the inclination of the shear band
to the direction of shear reduces from ∼12◦ − 20◦ to a
very low value as the rate of strain increases (Morrow
& Byerlee 1989).
Shear bands reported in non-fragmenting granu-
lar materials are ∼10 grain diameters deep (François
et al. 2002); frictional resistance within such bands is
somewhat lower than in deeper layers Siavoshi et al.
2006).
If confining pressures are significant, the shear rate
in the shear band may become sufficient to cause
grain fragmentation to occur as a result of compressive
stress in a grain bridge (see below). When the ratio of
debris thickness to grain diameter exceeds ∼10, shear
localisation will begin to occur (Fig. 2). Shear band-
ing has the effect of substantially increasing the local
strain rate.
2.5 Grain bridges and fragmentation
Shearing of a non-fragmenting grain mass is dom-
inated by stresses in short-lived, quasi-linear grain
columns brought into compressive contact by shear
strain. These have been called force chains or grain
bridges (Anthony & Marone 2005). Forming in the
direction of maximum local compressive strain, grain
bridges transmit normal and resisting stresses between
the boundaries; the many grains not instantaneously
part of a bridge carry lower stresses than those in
bridges. In three dimensional, widely graded debris
with irregularly-shaped particles (Hazzard & Mair
2003), the bridges are possibly somewhat diffuse and
irregular, nevertheless they retain their function. Grain
bridges can fail and become shorter by buckling, or by
grain fragmentation under compressive stress; when
the latter happens the failed bridge shortens imme-
diately, transferring stress to adjacent grains which
immediately form other bridges.
Once assembled, a grain bridge in a shear field is
advected so that its inclination to the shear direction
increases; this causes it to shorten, and the compressive
stresses in it increase rapidly (at a rate dependent on
the end conditions). At the same time the shear stress
tending to cause grain slip increases as the inclination
of the bridge increases, but much more slowly than
the increase in compressive stress, for rock of nor-
mal elasticity. Advection therefore rapidly increases
the available frictional resistance to intergranular slid-
ing or slip. Hence, once a bridge is assembled with
compressive stresses between all grains, failure by
slipping is unlikely. This conclusion corresponds to
the observation in two-dimensional computer simu-
lations of shearing, that bridge failure by slip is rare
(Kuhn 1999). In a natural shear zone with highly non-
spherical comminuted grains, the possibility of failure
by grain rolling is also slight. The most likely grain-
bridge failure mode is therefore that of buckling (King
& Sammis 1992).
Confining pressure of surrounding material signif-
icantly increases the ability of the column to resist
buckling failure (Toakley 1965, Battacharya et al. Figure 3. Diagram for derivation of PE .
2004). A grain bridge in a low confining pressure is
thus able to fail by buckling before the compressive value, assuming conventional friction in the shearing
strength of a constituent grain is reached. With higher grain mass. The reduced frictional resistance to rela-
confining pressure, it is more likely that bridge failure tive motion of the rock boundaries is partly offset by
will occur by grain crushing. This corresponds to the energy abstracted from the boundary motion to cause
common observation of a surface “carapace” of less- fragmentations (Bergstrom 1963); however this is a
fragmented rock above the pervasively-fragmented small proportion of the total frictional energy dissipa-
interior of many large rock avalanche deposits (e.g. tion, and so does not greatly affect friction (Tarantino
Dunning 2004), and indicates that the confining pres- & Hyde 2005).
sure needed to cause fragmentation is that at the base
of the carapace.
Assessment of the confining pressure causing grain 2.7 Fragmentation stress in a shear band
bridges to fail by crushing rather than buckling is Consider a thin granular, shearing fragmenting stra-
presently beyond our capability: details of bridge tum between a deep moving non-fragmenting layer
geometry and end conditions affect any calculation, and a stationary base (Fig. 3): in which POB is the over-
and appear unknowable; and the passive resistance able burden pressure at top of the fragmenting layer, PF is
to be mobilised by the surrounding fractally-graded the average fragmentation pressure in the fragment-
granular material, and the strain needed to mobilise it, ing layer and PE is the effective intergranular direct
are also imponderables. stress in the fragmenting layer.All stresses are assumed
Grain bridges must span the width of an active shear time-invariant, as is strain rate.
zone, and shear bands are usually ∼10 grains wide Applying a vertical stress balance at the top of the
(François et al. 2002), hence grain bridges are ∼15 fragmenting layer:
grains long. Both grain and bridge strengths increase
with shear rate (Biegel et al. 1989, Marone & Kil-
gore 1993). These considerations suggest that stronger
bridges more likely to fail by fragmentation occur: Each fragmenting grain generates a pressure = Q, so
1. in the shear zones associated with shear localisation
at high shear rates, which are required for dynamic
grain fragmentation, and are also typical of fault
rupture and blocksliding; and where Ff = proportion of grains fragmenting simulta-
2. under high confining stresses. neously; k1 = Q ∼109 Pa.
It seems reasonable to expect that the proportion of
grains fragmenting simultaneously (at a given shear
2.6 Effects of fragmentation stresses rate) will depend on the amount by which the effective
A fragmenting grain loses most of its shear strength intergranular direct stress PE exceeds the minimum
(e.g. Benz & Ausphaug 1995), so little frictional resis- value needed to cause fragmentation PC :
tance to slip can be transferred between the boundaries
through a failing bridge. The effect of this on frictional
resistance can be demonstrated by considering a gouge
comprising comminuting grains with Q = 1 GPa and assuming the dependency is linear; k2 is a constant.
applied normal stress of 100 MPa; a single grain frag- In the Falling Mountain simulation (Davies &
menting simultaneously in each of as few as 2% of McSaveney 2002), fragmentation occupied >80% of
grain bridges reduces the effective normal stress on the (unconfined) flow depth and no shear banding
the debris by 2% of ∼1 GPa to ∼80 MPa, and the was apparent. The mean fragmentation stress explain-
frictional resistance to ∼80% of its non-fragmenting ing runout distance was ∼2.5 MPa, which required

962
Ff ∼ 0.01. The mean overburden pressure resulting
in this stress was ∼0.75 MPa. The minimum stress
required to cause fragmentation (PC ) was that at the
base of a relatively unfragmented carapace, ∼0.3 MPa,
or 10−3 times the ambient Q.
Applying these empirical data to (3), 0.01 = k2 ×
0.45 × 106 and k2 = 2 × 10−8 . From (1), (2) & (3):
Hence:
Thus any rock shear whose motion is dominated by
a fragmenting layer will experience a frictional resis-
tance to motion (µ × PE ) of the order of that given
by (6).
3 APPLICATIONS
3.1 Blockslides – Waikaremoana and Heart
Mountain
We have modelled the dynamics of the Waikaremoana
blockslide in New Zealand (Davies et al. 2006). About
2200 years ago this 1.4 km3 intact sandstone block
slid ∼2 km on a basal slope of the same rock inclined
at ∼7◦ , accelerating from rest to about 40 ms−1 . A
∼300 mm deep stratum of fine sand-sized rock debris
has been found in the loca-tion of the inferred slid-
ing surface, suggesting an overall shear rate ∼130
s−1 (but clearly much higher in narrow shear bands);
such strata are common in large low-angle block-
slides (Anders et al. 2000). Geostatic stress due to
the weight of the 275-m deep block is about 6.6 MPa,
and the value of Q at the ambient conditions is of
the order of 0.2 GPa. Applying (6) to this situation,
the frictional retarding stress in shear bands should be
∼ 0.05 × 6.6 × .95 × 0.2 = 0.52 MPa. The net downs-
lope stress (gravity component minus friction) is then
6.6sin7◦ − 0.52 = 0.28 MPa. Since the mass of the
block per unit base area is 0.69 ktm−2 , this stress would
cause the intact block to accelerate at 0.4 ms−2 . Two
kilometres of travel at this acceleration would develop
a velocity of about 40 ms−1 , which is close to that sug-
gested in-dependently by Davies et al. (2006) on the
basis of physical modelling.
The ∼3500 km3 Heart Mountain blockslide in
Wyoming/Montana, USA had an intial thickness of
several km, and travelled 45 km on a basal slope of
∼2◦ (e.g. Beutner & Gerbi 2006). The mechanics
of its low-friction travel have remained a puzzle
for over half a century. If we apply Eq. (6) to the
963
situation, assuming normal rock density, Q = 1 GPa
and PC = 1 MPa, we find that the basal friction angle
(tan−1 (µ PE /POB )) = 1.8◦ , indicating that basal layer
fragmentation can allow the block to accelerate on a
basal slope of 2◦ .
3.2 Fault rupture
Low apparent friction coefficients (µa = 0.1–0.3) are
often inferred in the motion of large strike-slip faults
(e.g. Freed & Lin 2002, Townend & Zoback 2004).
Townend & Zoback (2004) infer that the San Andreas
fault ruptures locally with a friction coefficient as low
as 0.06. Along the San Francisco peninsula, for exam-
ple, the direct shear stress at rupture is ∼180 MPa,
while the shear stress is ∼10 MPa. If we apply Eq. (6)
to rupture at 15-km depth, with a confining stress of
400 MPa and Q = 1 GPa we obtain PE ∼ 20 MPa and
the resisting stress is ∼0.6 × 20 = 12 MPa; close to
the stress needed to rupture the San Andreas fault
(Townend & Zoback 2004).
3.3 Laboratory data
In a laboratory experiment measuring rock-on-rock
friction of Arkansas novaculite (a very hard metased-
imentary quartz rock), Di Toro et al. (2004) found
frictional resistance reduced to about 30% of normal
at high shear rates (∼100 s−1 ) and normal stresses of
5 MPa, accompanied by extrusion of rock gouge. They
tentatively attribute the reduced friction to develop-
ment of a silica-gel layer. We explain it differently —
the gouge-forming rock fragmentation developed dis-
persive pressure, reducing the effective normal stress
on the sliding surfaces. If we apply Eq (6), assuming Q
∼1 GPa at the quoted shear rate gives Pc = 1 MPa, and
PE = 5/20 × 1 = 1.25 MPa. If µ = 0.6, Pf is 0.75 MPa
and the apparent friction coefficient is 0.75/5 = 0.15,
compared with their quoted 0.2.
That dynamic fragmentation is needed to signif-
icantly lower friction is indicated by the fact that
only very minor friction variations from normal are
reported at shear rates <<1 s−1 , even at high normal
stress (Kilgore et al. 1993, Byerlee 1978, Mair et al.
2001, Beeler et al. 1996).
3.4 Rheometer tests
We have used a 300 mm diameter cone-and-plate
rheometer (Davies et al. 2005) to measure the stresses
generated by shearing ∼1 litre of dry granular coal
at strain rates ∼50 s−1 and confining pressures up to
0.3 MPa, sufficient to cause pervasive grain fragmen-
tation. Coal is a weak, brittle material with Q ∼10 MPa
and crushing behaviour characteristics similar to those
of quartz (Charles 1957). With grains of chosen size
in the sample space, the sample bowl was rotated at

Unloaded dynamic friction
angle = 41°
Figure 4. Rheometer test (raw data) from fragmenting coal
granules (4–8 mm sieve fraction) shearing under 250 kPa
normal load. Shear rate ∼50 s−1 .
0.01
Grain diameter m
0.005
0 known to be associated with and generated by dynamic
0 0.002 0.004
Time sec
Figure 5. Comminution of 10 mm grains in a shear band
under fault rupture conditions; duration of shear band ∼1/250
sec. Low-friction fault motion of 0.1 sec requires 25 shear
bands to act sequentially.
a chosen rate and a chosen direct stress applied. Typ-
ical output data are shown in Figure 4; using 4–8 mm
grains, friction was initially very low and increased
with strain as grains comminuted by fragmentation.
At the conclusion of the test (total strain ∼400) the
sample was intensely comminuted, particularly against
the roof, and because of the lack of new material
being supplied the voids ratio of the sample became
very small and comminution ceased. The behaviour
shown in Figure 5 requires a reduction of about 15%
(or 0.04 MPa) in the normal stress on the sample; this
would be provided by coal grains fragmenting simulta-
neously in about 1/500 grain bridges, or 1/5000 grains.
If we apply Eq (6), assuming PC = 10−3 × Q = 10 kPa,
then PE = 0.05 × 125 + 0.95 × 10 = 15.75 kPa, com-
pared with the measured 12.5 kPa.
4 RATE OF COMMINUTION
Continuing re-fragmentation of grains causes an
increasingly rapid reduction in grain-size with time;
but it cannot cause grain-size to reduce to zero. In
the situations considered above, new fragments are
recruited from the rock boundaries of the shearing
964
debris when shear bands are adjacent to them, off-
setting to some extent the net reduction in average
grain-size. Initial fragment sizes (Grady & Kipp 1987,
Zhang et al. 2004) of ∼10–100 mm have been noted
at strain rates ∼100 s−1 . Further complications arise
from the wide variety of fragment sizes and fragment
numbers resulting from individual fragmentations.
However, order-of-magnitude spreadsheet simulations
using average conditions and uniformly time-varying
grain size (for example, that for comminution in a deep
fault rupture with confining stress ∼200 GPa is illus-
trated in Fig. 5) suggest that with realistically-sized
initial fragments, fragmentation pressures in the GPa
range, shear localisation with ∼10 grains per bridge,
and fresh fragments being recruited, a fragmenting
shear band can persist long enough for fault motion
to be realistic without creating zero-sized gouge. A
similar exercise for block sliding reaches the same
conclusion.
5 COMMENTS
The mechanism we propose is based on the stresses
rock fracture, and requires only conventional friction
coefficients; it also requires that a signifi- cant pro-
portion of the strain energy applied to fragmentation
is recovered as kinetic energy of the fragments. The
latter requirement is met in reality.
Other situations that seem likely to involve the
fragmentation-induced reduction of granular fric-
tional resistance include rock avalanches (Davies &
McSaveney 2002); large submarine landslides (Gee
et al. 2006); and landslides and ejecta sheets on the
Moon (Tyree 1988) and Mars (Barnouin-Jha et al.
2005).
While the kinematics and dynamics of three-
dimensional fragmenting grain flows comprising
widely-graded, angular grains are as yet poorly known
(and difficult to study with real materials), the
behaviour of simpler granular flows is compatible
with the proposed mechanism by allowing trans-fer of
stresses from fragmenting grains through grain bridges
to the boundaries of the shear bands in which most of
the motion is taking place.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Rapid fragmentation of intact rock under high confin-
ing stress generates dispersive pressures of the order of
GPa on the surrounding rocks. These pressures result
from recovery of much of the strain energy developed
in rock failure, in the form of kinetic energy. Frag-
mentation in a thin band of localised shear opposes
the confining stress and reduces the effective stress in
the shear band, correspondingly reducing the available
frictional resistance to shear. The residual frictional
resistance is approximated by Eq. (6); it quantitatively
explains the motion of the Waikaremoana and Heart
Mountain blockslides. This mechanism also success-
fully explains the reduced friction inferred in coseis-
mic fault rupture and measured in laboratory rock-
on-rock friction tests. The ability of fragmentation-
derived pressure to explain reduced frictional resis-
tance to rock sliding hitherto seems likely to be signif-
icant either as a complement to, or as a replacement for,
other mechanisms involving high pore water pressures,
rock melting or high-pressure metamorphosis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by the New Zealand Foun-
dation for Research, Science and Technology, through
the Public Good Science Fund. We thank Rick Diehl
for designing and constructing the rheometer, and
Mike Evans for assisting with experimental work.
Ze’ev Reches drew our attention to the need to consider
the grain comminution rate.
REFERENCES
Aharonov, E. & Sparks, D. 2006, Shear profiles and localisa-
tion in simulations of granular materials. Physical Review
E 65: 051302 1–12.
Anders, M.H, Aharonov, E. & Walsh, J.J. 2000. Stratified
granular media beneath large slide blocks; implications
for mode of emplacement. Geology 28: 971–974.
Anthony J.L. & Marone, C. 2005. Influence of particle char-
acteristics on granular friction. Journal of Geophysical
Research 110: B08409, doi: 10.1029/2004JB003399.
Barnouin-Jha, O.S., Baloga, S. & Glaze, L. 2005. Comparing
landslides to fluidised crater ejecta on Mars. J. Geophys.
Res. 110: E04010, doi:10.1029/2003JE002214.
Battacharya, S., Madabhushi, S.P.G. & Bolton, M.D. 2004.
An alternative mechanism of pile failure in liquefiable
deposits during earthquakes. Géotechnique 54: 203–213.
Beeler, N.M., Tullis, T.E., Blanpied, M.L. & Weeks, J.D. 1996.
Frictional behaviour of large displacement faults. Journal
of Geophysical Research 101: 8697–8715.
Bergstrom, C.H. 1963. Energy and size distribution aspects
of single particle crushing. In Fairhurst (ed.), Rock
Mechanics, Proceedings of the 5th Symposium on Rock
Mechanics, New York: Pergamon Press, pp. 155–172.
Benz, W. & Ausphaug, E. 1995. Simulations of brittle solids
using smooth particle hydrodynamics. Computer Phys.
Comm. 87: 253–265.
Beutner, E.C. & Gerbi, G.P. 2006. Catastrophic emplace-
ment of the Heart Mountain blockslide, Wyoming
and Montana, USA. GSA Bulletin 117: 724–735, doi:
10.1130/B25451.1.
Biegel, R.L., Sammis, C.G. & Dieterich, J.H. 1989. Fric-
tional properties of simulated debris. Journal of Structural
Geology 11: 827–846.
Byerlee, J. 1978. Friction of rocks. Pure and Applied Geo-
physics 116(4–5): 615–626.
965
Charles, R.J. 1957. Energy-size relationships in comminu-
tion. Mining Engineering, Trans. AIME: 80–88.
Davies, T.R.H & McSaveney, M.J. 2002, Dynamic simulation
of the motion of fragmenting rock avalanches. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 39: 789–798.
Davies, T.R., Deganutti, A.M. & McSaveney, M.J. 2005. A
high-stress rheometer for fragmenting rock. In Picarelli
(ed.), Proceedings, international conference on fast
slope movements, Naples. Bologna: Patron Editore,
pp. 139–141.
Davies, T.R., McSaveney, M.J. & Beetham, R. 2006.
Rapid block glides – slide-surface fragmentation in
New Zealand’s Waikaremoana landslide. Quarterly Jour-
nal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 39:
115–129.
Di Toro, G., Goldsby, G.L. & Tullis, T.E. 2004. Friction falls
towards zero in quartz rock as slip velocity approaches
seismic rates. Nature 227: 436–430.
Dunning, S.A. 2004. Rock avalanches in high mountains –
A sedimentological approach. PhD Thesis. University of
Luton, U.K.
Espinoza H.D. & Xu, Y. 1997. Micromechanics of failure
waves in glass 1, experiments. Journal of the American
Ceramics Society 80: 2061–2073.
François, B., Lancombe, F. & Hermann, H.J. 2002. Finite
width shear zones. Physical Review E 65: 031311 1–7.
Freed, A.M. & Lin, J. 2002. Accelerated stress buildup on
the southern San Andreas fault and surrounding regions
caused by Mojave Desert earthquakes. Geology 30:
571–574.
Gee, M.J.R., Gawthorpe, R.L. & Friedmann, S.J. 2006. Trig-
gering and evolution of a giant submarine landslide,
offshore Angola, revealed by 3d seismic stratigraphy and
geomorphology. Jour. Sed. Res. 76: 9–19.
Goldsby, D.L. & Tullis, T.E. 2002. Low frictional strength
of quartz rocks at subseismic slip rates. Geophysical
Research Letters 29: 1844.
Grady, D.E. & Kipp M.E. 1987. Dynamic rock fragmentation.
In Fracture Mechanics of Rock. London: Academic Press,
pp. 429–475.
Hazzard, J.F. & Mair, K. 2003. The importance of the
third dimension in granular shear. Geophysical Research
Letters 30: doi: 10.1029/ 2003GL017534
Hazzard, J.F., Young, R.P & Maxwell, S.C. 2000. Microme-
chanical modeling of cracking and failure in brittle rocks.
Journal of Geophysical Research 105: 16638–16697.
Herget, G. 1988. Stresses in Rock. Rotterdam: Balkema, 179
pp.
Kilgore, B.D., Blanpied, M.L. & Dieterich, J.H. 1993. Veloc-
ity dependent friction of granite over a wide range of
conditions. Geophysical Research Letters 20: 903–906.
King, G.C.P. & Sammis, C.G. 1992. The mechanism of finite
brittle strain. Pure and Applied Geophysics 138: 611–640
Kuhn, M.R. 1999. Structured deformation in granular mate-
rials. Mechanics of Materials 31: 407–429.
Lachenbruch, A.H. 1980. Frictional heating, fluid pressure
and the resistance to fault motion. Journal of Geophysical
Research 85: 6249–6272.
Li, X.B., Lok, T.S. & Zhao, J. 2005. Dynamic characteristics
of granite subjected to intermediate loading rate. Rock
Mechanics and Rock Engineering 38: 21–39.
Mair, K., Frye, K.M. & Marone, C. 2001. Influence of
grain characteristics on the friction of granular shear
 zones. Journal of Geophysical Research 107: 2219, doi:
10.1029/2001 BJ000516.
Marone, C. & Kilgore, B. 1993. Scaling of the critical slip dis-
tance for seismic faulting with shear strain in fault zones.
Nature 362: 618–621.
Melosh, H.J., Ryan, E.V. & Ausphaug, E. 1992. Dynamic
fragmentation in impactsp hydrocode simulation of lab-
oratory impacts. Journal of Geophysical Research 97:
14,735–14,759.
Morrow, C.A. & Byerlee, J.D. 1989. Experimental studies
of compaction and dilatancy during frictional sliding on
faults containing gouge. Journal of Structural Geology
11: 815–825.
Parsons, T. 2002. Nearly frictionless faulting by unclamping
in long-term interaction models. Geology 30: 1063–1066.
Reches, Z. & Dewers, T.A.2005. Debris formation by
dynamic pulverization during earthquake rupture. Earth
and Planetary Science Letters 235: 361–374.
Sagy, A., Reches, Z. & Roman, I. 2001. Dynamic fracturing
field and experimental observations. Journal of Structural
Geology 23: 1223–1239.
Scholz, C.H. 2002. The Mechanics of Earthquakes and
Faulting (2nd Ed.). Cambridge University Press, 469 pp.
Sharpton, V.L., Dressler, B.O., Herrick, R.R., Schneiders, B.
& Scott, J. 1996. New constraints on the Slate Islands
impact structure, Ontario, Canada. Geology 24: 851–854.
Siavoshi, S., Orpe, A.V. & Kudrolli, A. 2006.Friction of a
slider on a granular layer:Nonmonotonic thickness depen-
dence and effect of boundary conditions. Phys. Rev. E 73:
010301.
966
Sibson, R.H. 1994. An assessment of field evidence for
“Byerlee” friction. Pure and Applied Geophysics 142:
645–662.
Sibson, R. 2003. Thickness of seismic slip zone. Bulletin,
Seismological Society of America 93: 1169–1178, doi:
10.1785/012002 0061.
Tarantino, A. & Hyde, A.F.L. 2005. An experimental inves-
tigation of work dissipation in crushable materials.
Géotechnique 55: 575–584.
Toakley, A.R. 1965. Buckling loads for elastically supported
struts. Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division,
ASCE 91: 205–231.
Townend, J. & Zoback, M.D. 2004. Regional tectonic stress
near the San Andreas fault in central and southern Cal-
ifornia. Geophysical Research Letters 31: L15S11, doi:
10.1029/2003 GL018918.
Tyrie, A 1988. A description of the crater Tsiolkovsky on the
lunar far side. Earth, Moon, and Planets 42: 265–275.
Wawersik, W.F. and Fairhurst, C. 1971. A study of brittle rock
fracture in laboratory compression experiments. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences.
(7): 561–575.
Zhang, Z.H., Kou, S.Q., Liang, L.G. & Lindqvist, P.-A. 2000.
Effects of loading rate on rock fracture: fracture charac-
teristics and energy partitioning. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Science 37: 745–762.
Zhang, Y.-Q., Lu, Y. & Hao, H. 2004. Analysis of fragment
size and ejection velocity at high strain rate. International
Journal of Mechanical Sciences 46: 27–34.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Geotechnical challenges facing infrastructure development in

western China

D.H. Zou
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada & Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards
and Land Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment,
Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu, China

P. Cui & Y.Y. Zhu

Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Land Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards
and Environment, Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu, China

ABSTRACT: Under China’s great plan to develop the western part of the country, infrastructure development
is booming in the region and numerous construction projects have sprung up everywhere. Geotechnical work
thus requires special attention in the region. This paper presents an overall account of the recent development
in Western China and the challenges and opportunities existing in the country. The paper also reviews the
geotechnical conditions in the mountainous region, the planned and on-going engineering projects on various
scales, and the geotechnical challenges facing these projects. Particular references are given to the southwest
provinces of China, which are the tributaries to the Yangtze River. The focus will be on the unique topography
of the high mountains and steep narrow valleys, the variety of rock structures, and the geotechnical challenges
in design and construction. Typical past geohazard events will be presented and concerns related to engineering
projects will be discussed.

1 OVERVIEW OF TOPOGRAPHY AND
GEOLOGY IN WESTERN CHINA
1.1 China’s topography
China has a vast land. Its topography varies widely,
overall sloping from west to east. It can generally be
divided into three giant steps as shown in Figure 1. The
Qing-Zhang highland plateau with an average eleva-
tion of 4500–5000 m, covering southwest China, most
of Qinghai, Tibet and part of Sichuan Provinces, the
low land along the east coast with an average elevation
less than 100 m and the intermediate step covering the
rest of the county.
The Qing-Zhang highland plateau is the highest of
the steps. This region is in sharp contrast with its sur-
rounding areas. In the north, its elevation drops by
nearly 4000 m in a short distance. In the south-west,
within a few hundred meters of horizontal distance,
the elevation rises rapidly from less than 100 m in
India to over 6000 m in the Himalaya Mountain ridge,
with the Everest Peak at 8848 m. In the east, the eleva-
tion drops by approximately 3000 m to 300–400 m in
the Sichuan Basin. In the eastern part of this plateau,
the topography varies dramatically with deep valleys,
high mountains and well-developed rivers systems as
shown in Figure 2. TheYangtze River, the longest river
in China and the third longest in the world originates
in this region. Figure 3 illustrates the major mountain
systems in China and their orientations.

1.2 Regional geology in western China

Western China is located near the border zone
Figure 1. Topography of China. between the Indian Continent and the Asian-European

967
 Figure 4. China’s major fault zones (after Li 2003).

Figure 2. Twin river intersection on Daduhe River (photo

by D.H. Zou).

Figure 5. China’s major earthquake zones (after Li 2003).

Figure 3. China’s major mountain systems.

continent. It is believed (Shu et al. 2002) that in the

recent geological time, the Indian Continent pushed
strongly towards the Asia-European continent. This
thrust caused severe horizontal movement in the east
and southeast direction (Deng 2003) and multiple
faulting (Fig. 4), resulting in continuous rise of the
Qing-Zhang highland plateau. As a result, this region
has very complex geological structures and a wide
variation in tectonic stresses. This mountain region
is also the most active earthquake zone as shown in
Figure 5 (Li 2003).
The rock structures in this region vary widely. In
some areas relatively soft sedimentary rocks or highly Figure 6. Varying rock structures in southwest China (photo
by D.H. Zou).
weathered rocks dominate, while in other areas shale,
limestone or hard sandstone prevail. The rock bed-
ding orientations may change from nearly horizontal
to nearly vertical, varying from place to place as shown valleys with steep gradient rivers. Some will pass
in Figure 6. through very difficult geological zones posing serious
Many of the planned infrastructure projects will geotechnical challenges, such as large-scale landslides
pass through these steep mountains and deep-valleys. and debris flows. More details are discussed later for
Numerous hydropower stations are to be built in the a specific project.

968
2 INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
2.1 The Great Plan for western China development
Over the last two decades, China has gone through dra-
matic politic and socioeconomic changes and made
impressive achievements since it adopted open door
and economic development policies. One important
change is the rapid economic growth in recent years.
Most of the economic activities took place along the
coastline, near the major cities and the special eco-
nomic zones in the south near Hong Kong. At the
turn of the 21st century, China initiated a great plan to
develop the vast western region. It is aimed at speed-
ing up infrastructure development and improving the
poor and mountainous areas while protecting the envi-
ronment and ecosystem. In recent years, China has
made huge investments in this program, averaging
US$25 billion per year. A number of major engineer-
ing projects have started. They include the south-west
transportation trunk lines, major hydro power stations
(e.g. The Three Gorges hydro project) and oil/gas
pipelines. From 1978 to 2000, the number of large-
sized cities with a population of one million or more
has grown from 193 to 663 and the number of smaller
towns has increased from 2173 to 20,312, with a total
urban population of 456 million, growing by 180%
in the 22 year period. Accompanying these changes
are the many highways connecting the major cities.
Anyone returning to China to travel would see huge
differences in transportation, living and housing.
However, this is only the beginning. Many more
projects are planned. Cross country highways and
railways, east-west gas pipelines, north-south water
diversion facilities and large capacity multiple stage
hydro power stations will become the principal types
of major engineering projects in the 21st century
in China. For example, several major hydro projects
started before the completion of the Three Gorges
project.
2.2 Highways and railways
China’s road construction has grown rapidly in recent
years. With the rapid growth of urban cities, high-
ways connecting these cities are gradually forming
a highway network. At present, there are a total of
1,930,000 km of road and 74,000 km of railway in
China, ranking third in the world.
One example is the construction of the 1118 km
long Qing-Zhang railway connecting Ge-er-mu of
Qinghai province and Lasa of Tibet, which was com-
missioned in the summer of 2006. It passes through
permafrost areas for more than 600 km and is above
4000 m elevation for a distance of 960 km. It will be
the world’s longest railway built on the highest plateau.
By 2020, China’s road mileage will reach
3,000,000 km and railways will reach 100,000 km
969
Figure 7. North-south water diversion routes.
forming a network connecting neighboring countries.
Within 30 years, China will build a total of 85,000 km
of national highway network connecting all cities with
a population of 200,000 or more serving a total of one
billion people. There will be 7 highways radiating from
the national capital Beijing, 9 north-south and 18 east-
west highways, forming the so-called China’s “7918”
highway network. Some 70% of these routes will pass
through the mountainous regions, facing the risk of
debris flows and landslides.
2.3 East-west oil/gas pipelines
Another of China’s developing infrastructure is the
cross-country oil and gas pipelines. China has rich
resources of oil and gas in the west and needs to
transport them to the east where the national econ-
omy is centered. The gas trunk lines, totalling 4200 km
long, will deliver natural gas from the Dalimu Basin
of Xinjiang Uigur Autonomic Region in the far west
to Shanghai in the far east passing through seven
provinces, with branches from north China to Beijing
and from Chongqing to Wuhan. The total investment in
the first phase of the project is approximately US$15
billion.
The oil pipelines will deliver oil from Lanzhou
to Chengdu and then Chongqing, and another from
Guangxi to Guizhou in southwest China.
2.4 North-south water diversion facilities
China has a water shortage problem in the north while
abundant water resources exist in the south. The plan
for the western route of the water diversion project is
to deliver water to the north from the upper reaches of
the Yangtze River tributaries: mostly from the Jingsha
River, the Yalong River and the Daduhe River. This
project is divided into three phases (Fig. 7): Phase
I will divert 4 billion m3 of water annually from a
branch of the Yalong River to a branch of the Yellow
River, Phase II will divert 5 billion m3 of water from
the Yalong River to a branch of the Yellow River, and
Phase III will divert 8 billion m3 of water from the Jing-
sha River and Yalong River to a branch of the Yellow
River (Zheng & Duan 2006).
The plan for the west route is to build dams at
suitable locations along the source rivers creating
reservoirs, and pump water to diversion tunnels to be
built through the mountains. The water will flow into
the upper reach of the Yellow River and eventually
to northern China. The total capacity of the reser-
voirs will be approximately 31 billion m3 . Phase I of
the project is located at the north-east corner of the
Qing-Zhang highland plateau, with an average eleva-
tion of 3000–4500 m, passing through three provinces:
Sichuan, Qinghai and Ganshu (Lu & Zuo 2006).
The west water route is within a geological block Figure 8. Distribution of major hydro power regions in
called the “Bayan Kela block”, around which there has China (from CCIHP 2003).
been severe tectonic movement and faulting. However,
within the block there was much less tectonic activ-
ity. Ran et al. (2005) indicated that along the proposed
tunnel route, the recent dislocation rate of faulting was
about 0.18 mm/year and there was no record of earth-
quakes above magnitude 6 within a 25 km range on
both sides of the route. This suggests that the project
lies within a geologically stable zone. However, others
(Chen et al. 2005) have warned that GPS monitor-
ing showed differential horizontal movement among
some of the geological bocks. The project is located in
a stress concentration zone with more than 25 earth-
quakes above magnitude 5 on record. Therefore, they
may have a significant impact on the project. Chai et al.
(2005) through ETM satellite photos and field inves-
tigation presented similar warnings and the potential Figure 9. Illustration of planned hydro power stations along
for underground water in-rush during tunneling. Jingsha River (from CCIHP 2003).

Jingsha River, 9 major hydro power stations are

2.5 Major hydro power projects
China has very rich water resources, over 80% of
which is located in western China. More than 50%
of China’s water resource is distributed in major
rivers, again most of which are in southwestern China.
By 2001, China’s hydro power capacity had reached
83,000 million watts per year, ranking the 2nd in
the world. This capacity is expected to surpass any
other country soon. However the completed and the
on-going hydro projects account for less than 20% of
the total available hydro power resource. There is still
a huge potential for further development.
In 1989, the Ministry of Energy and the Min-
istry of Hydro Power officially launched the 12 major
hydro power regions (Fig. 8) in order to further boost
the development of China’s hydro power resource
(CCIHP 2003). A significant portion of the hydro
power resource of the 12 regions is located in west-
ern China, including the Jingsha River, Yalong River,
Daduhe River, Lanchangjiang River, Wu-jiang River,
Yangtze River (upper reach). For example, on the
planned, along the river as illustrated in Figure 9,
with a total power generation capacity of 50,000 mil-
lion watts per year, far exceeding the capacity of the
Three Gorges hydro power project. Jingsha River is
the largest hydro power region in China and the back-
bone for delivering electric power to the eastern region.
However, the resource has not yet been developed.
Feasibility studies for the phase I project including
two stations was completed in 1996. Construction is
planned right after the completion of the Three Gorges
project.
Within the next three five-year plans, there will be
construction of 49 new large hydro power stations. By
2020, the annual power delivery to eastern China will
reach 83,100 million watts. Figure 10 shows a typical
construction site for a hydro project, where the fore-
ground is the dam location and on the left a new access
road is routed to a higher location.
It is important to note that most of the hydro power
projects are located in the western region, where com-
plex geological and topographical conditions exist.

970
Figure 10. Construction site for a hydro project on
Mingjiang River (photo by D.H. Zou).
Some of the dams are over 300 m high, far exceed-
ing the height of the Three Gorges project. All these
factors will present challenges to the construction and
maintenance of the dams and related facilities.
3 PAST GEOHAZARD EVENTS
3.1 Overview
Due to the complex geological, topographical and cli-
matic conditions in western China, there have been a
number of geohazard events on various scales in the
region in the past. Because of the amount of mate-
rial involved each time, a relatively small event can
be detrimental and may have significant impact on the
vicinity. Often, it can destroy any surface structures on
site and cause casualties.
Past geohazard events included flooding, debris
flows and landslides. They can occur in reservoirs
causing economic loss, along big rivers blocking and
altering water routes, along roads and railways dam-
aging the infrastructure, near residential areas causing
property damage and fatalities. They often occurred in
deep valleys, along steep hills and in soft ground. In the
following, several examples are discussed to demon-
strate the seriousness and some of the challenges
facing the construction industry.
3.2 Debris flows
3.2.1 Debris flows in Dongchuan district
Dongchuan, located in Yunnan province near the bor-
der of Sichuan province, has the most active debris
flows in the world. It has the reputation as the “world’s
natural museum of debris flows”. The Observation &
Research Station of the Chengdu Institute of Moun-
tain Hazards and Environment (IMHE) of Chinese
Academy of Science has operated for over 40 years
971
Figure 11. Debris flows in Jiangjia Gou (photo by
D.H. Zou).
and has collected a tremendous amount of data about
debris flows in the area. Figure 11 shows a typical site
in the area where the valley bed has risen by more
than 30 m over the four decades. This river flows into
the Xiaojiang River which then feeds into the Jingsha
River.
There has been extensive monitoring and research
on debris flows in this area by IMHE and several inter-
national conferences and workshops have been held to
discuss the issues and find remedy approaches, attract-
ing scholars from all over the world. More information
can be found at http:// www.imhe.com.
3.2.2 Debris flow disaster in Beauty Valley
In the summer of 2003, an unexpected disastrous event
occurred at Beauty Valley in the Gandhi district of
western Sichuan province. Along the Daduhe River,
at the entrance of one of the deep valleys there was
once a resort, which attracted many tourists from var-
ious parts of the county. In one rainy evening, when
everyone was having fun in the dancing hall, a huge
debris flow suddenly rushed down the valley, tem-
porarily damming the flow in the Daduhe River. The
flow carried an immeasurable amount of debris, soil
and giant boulders, several of which weighed more
than 2000 tons (see Fig. 12). It destroyed everything
in its path including the resort property and forced the
river to change its route.
3.3 Landslides
Landslides have occurred frequently on various scales
in the western mountainous region, usually along
riverbanks and hillsides. Some took place as sim-
ple translational slides along relatively shallow slopes
and some as collapses and rotational movement along
steeper slopes. The latter is most dangerous and
poses the highest risk to property and human life.

Figure 12. Debris flow deposits and damage at Beauty
Valley, Sichuan province (photo by D.H. Zou).
Figure 13. Typical landslide on a steep riverbank of the
Daduhe River (photo by D.H. Zou).
Figure 13 shows a typical sliding failure along the
riverbank on the Daduhe River.
Surveys indicate that in the lower reach of Jingsha
River, there have been over 550 landslides involving
4.4 billion m3 of material.The main causes of the slides
were rainstorms and earthquakes. These slide failures
occurred mostly in shale and mudstone, often accom-
panying storm floods, and clustered in geological
zones where faults and fractures are extensive.
Similar slide failures have occurred along other
major rivers as well. In some cases, a large scale land-
slide could alter the course of the river and cause
tremendous damage and economic loss. Several such
events occurred in the southwest region of China. For
example, on June 8, 1967, a large slide occurred at
8 am along the Yalong River dislocating 68 million m3
of material, forming a dam over 300 m high. It blocked
the river forming a large reservoir stretching over
53 km long. By June 17, the reservoir was full holding
670 million m3 of water and the dam showed signs
of failure at 8:30 am. The failure of the dam reached
972
its peak at 2:30 pm with water rushing out at over
50 m of head. The process finished at 8:00 pm. This
dam failure flood caused tremendous loss for 1700 km
downstream. The water level downstream rose 17–
40 m and the riverbed in the vicinity of the landslide
dam rose 28 m, a very large but rare event in the world.
A number of similar events on different scales occurred
on other rivers, icluding the Jingsha and the Daduhe.
3.4 Geohazards in Three Gorges reservoir and the
upper streams
In Three Gorges Reservoir area, geohazards also
occurred frequently. Based on geological surveys,
there have been 780 such events including sliding, top-
pling and debris flows, involving a total of 3 billion m3
of material. More than 10,000 km2 of land area has a
high potential of geohazards.
Several major rivers flow into the Yangtze River
in the upper reaches. They occupy steep mountainous
valleys with complex geological structures and fre-
quent earthquakes. The stability of the riverbanks and
mountains in the area is susceptible, and various types
of geohazards may occur. For example, the Jingsha
River has already had 553 debris flows and 640 slides.
The Yalong River has had 750 debris flows and 189
slides. On the Daduhe River, one dam was designed
to hold 345 million m3 of water in the reservoir. In
only 20 years, the reservoir capacity is reduced to only
85 million m3 due to accumulation of sediments.
These types of geohazard post serious threats to the
region. Over the past several years, huge amounts of
money have been invested by Chinese governments in
research and damage control in the region.
4 GEOTECHNICAL CONCERNS
Due to the complex topographical and geological con-
ditions in the western region, geohazards are some-
times unavoidable. They will present serious threat to
the new infrastructures and other facilities on various
scales. From observation of past events, geohazards
may occur primarily in the form of debris flows and
landslides. Analysis of the collected data indicates that
weak ground (weathered, faulted and fractured rocks,
soft soils, etc), complex geological structures, earth-
quakes and storm-floods are the major natural causes
of these failures. In addition, some human factors,
such as, poor practice during construction (excavation,
filling, waste dumping, etc.), inadequate engineering
design and site selection may increase the risk if they
are not done properly.
The impact of these geohazards may vary widely
depending on the location and the project affected. For
example, a large landslide on a highway may interrupt
the traffic and cause property damage. If it takes place

Figure 14. Construction waste on river bank (photo by
D.H. Zou).
in a steep narrow valley with a hydro station down-
stream, it can form a temporary unstable dam blocking
the river, which may fail shortly afterwards, causing
significant flooding and jeopardizing the hydro facil-
ities. Site selection, design and construction of the
infrastructure and realty buildings are often limited
by the actual topographical and geological conditions.
These projects may in turn affect the environment if
they are not designed and constructed properly. For
example, severe undercutting of a slope and damage
of vegetation cover may cause negative impacts on
the stability of the ground concerned. Improper man-
agement of waste dumps from construction, as shown
in Figure 14 where the waste rock from construction
was dumped into the MingJiang River, may affect the
environment downstream.
In order to reduce the potential of geotechnical
failures and damages, it is important to understand
the potential impacts of various natural factors and
the effects of human factors. In general, geotechnical
concerns can be considered collectively under the fol-
lowing categories: linear structures, reservoirs, rivers,
tunnels and buildings.
4.1 Concerns for linear structures
Linear structures refer to those infrastructures stretch-
ing for hundreds, even thousands of kilometers, such
as, highways, railways, pipelines and water diversions.
They often become the lifeline of the regional and
national economy. The route of a linear structure usu-
ally follows the natural contour on the surface once the
start and end points are finalized. It would inevitably
pass through difficult ground with complex topo-
graphical and geological conditions. A linear structure
will function normally only when the entire line is
in working condition. Any interruption along the line
may paralyze part of or the entire system.
973
In southwest China, a linear structure may
encounter the following conditions: high mountains,
steep narrow valleys, complex geological structures,
high in situ stresses, earthquakes, long and deep tun-
nelling, landslides and permafrost. There are a variety
of geotechnical problems associated with those condi-
tions. Debris flows and landslides will be the primary
concern on the surface as noted before. Experience
has indicated that thorough investigation of the field
conditions and anticipation of potential geotechnical
problems will assist in reducing costs in dealing with
unexpected problems.
However, for long and deep tunnels for the water
diversion projects, geotechnical problems associated
with the highly faulted and fractured ground under
high in situ stresses will require special attention as
well. Solving these problems will need competent
engineering design, proper ground support and consid-
erations of ground movement and earthquake impacts.
Knowledge and experience from underground excava-
tions in deep mines will be very useful.
4.2 Concerns for reservoirs
Many hydro power projects require construction of
dams, which are sometimes over 300 m high, forming
reservoirs in the upper river reaches. Construction of a
high dam and storage of very large volumes of water in
the incised valley between steep mountain slopes may
change the natural conditions. The mechanical prop-
erties and physico-chemical properties of the “dry”
ground may be changed due to increased water infil-
tration and saturation due to raised groundwater levels,
affecting stability and inducing landslides. Debris
flows, landslides and floods may transport excessive
amounts of sediment into the reservoir and raise the
base elevation, eventually prematurely incapacitating
the reservoir. Construction of a number of hydro dams
in stages in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is
expected to reduce the sedimentation in the reservoir
of the Three Gorges project and to prolong its ser-
vice life. However, those hydro projects in the upper
reaches themselves may face the same problem. The
challenge is how to reduce the build-up of sediments
in the various reservoirs.
Construction of a high dam itself is a geotechnical
challenge in the steep mountain valleys. Selection of
suitable sites will be the prerequisite. Competent engi-
neering design and good practice in construction will
be the key to ensuring dam stability.
4.3 Concerns for rivers
The common feature of the rivers in western China is
that they are narrow with steep gradients and rapid cur-
rents between steep high mountain slopes. Geotechni-
cal failures, such as debris flows and landslides, may

Figure 15. The single street of the small town of Danba
County (photo by D.H. Zou).
Figure 16. Rebuilding on ruins damaged by a previous
landslide (photo by D.H. Zou).
occur on various scales. A large failure may dam the
entire river and alter its course. It may form an uncon-
solidated dam holding water in a temporary reservoir.
Such a dam will eventually fail under water pressure
and overtopping erosion, and the failure may take place
suddenly, as indicated in the example given earlier. The
damage from such an event to the downstream is some-
times unimaginable, and often disastrous. It requires
careful risk management and failure assessment to
determine the potential consequences of failure.
4.4 Concerns for buildings
Since the inception of the western development pro-
gram, there has been a trend for the rural population
to migrate to larger towns and bigger cities. In the
mountainous areas, it is often difficult to find a flat
site (such as terraces, colluvial fans, old debris flow
fans, lake deltas, etc) sufficiently large to build a town.
The flat space is often so limited that a whole town-
ship can only be built on one to two streets along a
974
very long narrow river bank or terrace between steep
slopes. Figure 15 shows the one street in the town of
Danba County on the Daduhe River bank in western
Sichuan. As the buildings are sometimes right against
the hillside, a landslide on any scale can be disastrous
as shown in Figure 16, where a new house is to be
rebuilt on the ruin of a house previously destroyed by
a landslide. There are over 1000 towns sited on areas at
high risk of being impacted by debris flows in western
China (Cui et al. 2003). In this situation, reinforcement
by rock bolting combined with screens and shotcrete
becomes an effective method to ensure the stability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is partially supported by the Natural Sci-
ence & Engineering Council of Canada and the
Chinese Academy of Science. The authors appreci-
ate those who provided valuable information and data
during their investigations.
REFERENCES
CCIHP (China Central Institute for Hydropower Planning)
2003. Introduction to China’s hydro-power planning.
Internal report (in Chinese).
Chai, J.F., Wu, F.Q., Chang, Z.H. & Tao, B. 2005. Engineering
assessment of the geological faults along the west route
of the north-south water diversion project. J. Jilin Univ.
(Earth Science Edition) 35(1): 64–69 (in Chinese).
Chen, Z.L., Liu, Y.P., Sun, Z.M., Zhao, J.X., Tang, W.Q.,
Zhang, Q.Z. & Pan, Z.X. 2005. Crustal activities along
the west route of the north-south water diversion project.
J. Mountain Science 23(6): 641–650 (in Chinese).
Cui, P., Wei, F.Q. & Xie, H. 2003. Debris flow and dis-
aster reduction strategies in Western China. Quaternary
Sciences 23(2): 142–151(in Chinese).
Deng, W.M. 2003. Recent times volcanic activities in western
China and the earth crust formation background – the for-
mation mechanism of the volcanic rocks in Qing-Zhang
district and the vicinity. Earth Science Frontier 10(2):
471–478 (in Chinese).
Li, X.G. 2003. Introduction to new structural movement in
China[m]. Beijing: Earthquake Press, 3 (in Chinese).
Lu, X.J. & Zuo, D.H. 2006. Research on the 1st stage of
the West line of the north-south water diversion project.
Research of Soil & Water Conservation, 13(2): 189–192
(in Chinese).
Ran, Y.K., Li, J.B., Min, W., Han, Z.J. & Chen, L.C. 2005.
Tectonic movement along the west route and the vicinity of
the north-south water diversion project. J. Rock Mechanics
and Eng. 24(20): 3664–3672 (in Chinese).
Shu, S.R., Huang, R.Q. & Wang, S.T. 2002. Effects of the
fault structure on the stress field and its engineering
application. Beijing: Science Press, 33 (in Chinese).
Zheng, W.M. & Duan, L.P. 2006. Risk analysis of the geologi-
cal hazards along the western route project for transferring
water from southern to northern China, J. Sedimentary
Geology & Tethyan Geology 26(2): 101–105 (in Chinese).
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Construction of a landslide susceptibility map using SINMAP technique and

its validation: A case study

U. Jeong, S.I. Park, C.W. Lee, J-T. Lee, W.S. Yoon, J.W. Choi & H. Hong
Nexgeo Inc., Seoul, South Korea

K.J. Kwan
SK Engineering & Construction, Seoul, South Korea

ABSTRACT: We constructed a landslide susceptibility map of a specific dam site in Korea using GIS technique.
Pack’s (1995) Stability INdex MAPping (SINMAP) technique, a stability index approach to terrain stability
hazard mapping based upon the infinite slope stability model, is applied to construct a stability index map.
Strength parameters such as cohesion (C) and internal friction angle () of various types of cover soils were
analyzed from the laboratory and in-situ testing. Hydro-geological parameters to determine the wetness index
were also calculated from simple laboratory and field tests. Statistical analysis was performed to improve the
reliability of the field data. The result shows that the main triggering factors of landslides are geomorphologic and
geological conditions (i.e. lithology and geological structures). Detailed field survey was carried out to evaluate
the accuracy of the result. Many landslide events were observed in the SINMAP-predicted unstable zone.

1 INTRODUCTION

SINMAP is an objective terrain stability mapping

method (Pack 1995) that takes advantage of GIS (Geo-
graphic Information System) technology to quantify
geographic attributes about slope instability and land-
slide hazard, and to express patterns of instability
at the scale of the DEM (Digital Elevation Model).
The method is applied to shallow transitional debris
landslides controlled by sub-surface groundwater.
In this paper, we evaluate the slope instability and
construct a landslide susceptibility map of a specific
damsite (Buhang dam) located in Kimcheon-si, South
Korea, using SINMAP software.
In order to calibrate input parameters during the
modeling process and examine the accuracy of the
modeling result, detailed field survey is carried out.
Through the direct verification, the reliability of the
SINMAP approach would be validated.
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF
SINMAP APPROACH
The method is based upon the infinite slope stability
model (Fig. 1) with the steady state hydraulic model
(Hammond et al. 1992, Montgomery & Dietrich 1994)
that balances the destabilizing (gravity) and restoring
Figure 1. Schematic diagram showing the infinite slope
stability model.
(friction, cohesion) components. The required param-
eters for terrain stability hazard mapping include
topographic slopes, specific catchment areas, strength
properties and climate/hydro-geological properties.
The topographic variables, such as slope and catch-
ment area, are automatically computed from DEM
data. By contrast, the other parameters are inserted in
terms of the upper and lower bounds for their possible
ranges.
The primary output of SINMAP modeling is a sta-
bility index (SI), defined as the probability that a
location is stable, assuming uniform distributions of
the parameters over the ranges (Pack 1995, Pack et al.

975
Table 1. Stability class definition.

Predicted
Condition Class state Parameter range

SI > 1.5 1 Stable slope Range cannot model

zone instability
1.5 > SI > 1.25 2 Moderately Range cannot model
stable zone instability
1.25 > SI > 1.0 3 Quasi-stable Range cannot model
slope zone instability
1.0 > SI > 0.5 4 Lower Pessimistic half of
threshold range required for
slope zone instability
0.5 > SI > 0.0 5 Upper Optimistic half of
threshold range required for
slope zone
stability
0.0 > SI 6 Defended Range cannot model Figure 2. Slope angle distribution around the Buhang
slope zone stability dam site.

Class Possible influence of factors not modeled

1 Significant destabilizing factors are

required for instability
2 Moderate destabilizing factors are required
for instability
3 Minor destabilizing factors could lead to
instability
4 Destabilizing factors are not required for
instability
5 Stabilizing factors may be responsible for
instability
6 Stabilizing factors are required for stability

1998). The SI value ranges between 0 and 1, meaning

most unstable and least unstable, respectively. Where
the situation of the most destabilizing set of parameters
still results in stability, the stability index is defined as
the factor of safety. In this case, the factor of safety
is greater than 1. Pack (1995) and Pack et al. (1998)
suggest six broad stability classes, defined in terms
of the stability index. Table 1 shows the stability class
definition.
Because the numerical calculation and output
expression rely on a grid-based data structure, the
accuracy of the modeling result is highly controlled
by the accuracy of the DEM data input. Moreover, the
accurate detection of pre-existing landslide initiation
points is essential to obtain reliable output. Therefore
it is important to make an effort to construct accu-
rate DEM and survey pre-existing landslides before
running the SINMAP model.
3 SITE AREA CHARACTERIZATION
We accessed and evaluated the slope instability and
landslide hazard at a specific dam site, the Buhang
Figure 3. Slope direction distribution around the Buhang
dam site.
multipurpose dam site located in Kimcheon-si, South
Korea, using SINMAP modeling.
The geology around the site is characterized by a
Precambrian gneiss complex and Jurassic granitoid
rocks, deformed by NNE-SSW/WNW-ESE ductile
shear zones and fault zones. The weathering grade and
topsoil thickness of the granitoid rocks is higher and
deeper than that of the gneiss complex, giving a higher
probability of landslide occurrence in the granitoid
domain.
According to the result of GIS analysis (Figs. 2
and 3), east and southeast-ward slopes having angles
of inclination of 25◦ ∼35◦ are dominant in the study
area.
The geological and geographic characteristics
may be the primary factors influencing the SINMAP
modeling result.

976
Figure 4. Flow direction angle distribution.
Figure 5. Specific catchment area distribution.
4 MODELING INPUT DATA
For detailed hazard mapping, we constructed a
2-meter grid DEM, using a 5-meter contour geo-
graphic map. The topographic variables are auto-
matically computed through the DEM data (Figs. 4
and 5). The strength and hydro-geological parameters
were determined from the laboratory and in-situ tests
(C:0∼0.25, :36∼43, R/T:1000∼2000). In addition,
the previous landslide inventory, obtained by detailed
field survey, was overlaid on DEM to calibrate the
input parameters.
5 ANALYTICAL RESULT
Using the DEM and landslide inventory, SINMAP
is used to obtain a stability index map. The land-
slide susceptibility map and analytic results, defined
as slope-area plot, are shown in Figures 6 and 7.
The statistical summary of the analysis, shown
in Table 2, indicates that the lower threshold
(1.0 > SI > 1.0), is the most widespread (30.9% of
total area) and the very unstable area (defended and
upper threshold area) covers 26.2% of the total area.
977
Figure 6. Stability index plot in Slope-Contributing area
plane.
Figure 7. Stability index map. Dotted ellipse mean landslide
location.
6 VERIFICATION
A detailed field survey was carried out to evalu-
ate the accuracy of this result. Many past landslide
events were observed in the predicted unstable zone
(upper threshold and defended zone). A total of 13
pre-existing landslide points was detected (Fig. 6). The
defended zone includes 11 landslides or 84.6% of the
total landslide inventory. The other two landslides are
included in the upper threshold zone (Table 2).
7 CONCLUSION
In this study, we evaluated slope instability and land-
slide hazard and constructed a landslide susceptibility
map for a specific dam site in Korea using SINMAP
methods. According to the analytical result, the lower
threshold (1.0 > SI > 1.0) is the most widespread
(30.9% of total area) and the very unstable area
(defended and upper threshold area) covers 26.2% of
the total area.
In a detailed field survey, carried out to evaluate
the accuracy of the result, many past landslide events
 Table 2. Statistical summary of analytical result.

Moder. Quasi- Lower Upper

Region Stable stable stable thresh. Thresh. Defended Total

Area (km2 ) 12.1 2.4 5 14.1 8.6 3.3 45.6

% of 26.6 5.3 11.0 30.9 19.0 7.2 100
region
# of slides 0 0 0 0 2 11 13
% of 0 0 0 0 15.4 84.6 100
landslide
Landslide 0 0 0 0 0.2 3.4 0.3
density
(#/km2 )

were observed in the predicted unstable zone. The
result shows that the main triggering factors of land-
slides are geomorphologic and geological conditions
(i.e. lithology and geological structures), which is the
basic concept of the SINMAP approach.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by the Center for National
Hazards Mitigation Research (NEMA-06-NH-05),
of the National Emergency Management Agency
of Korea.
General Technical Report INT-285, USDA Forest Service
Intermountain Research Station.
Montgomery, D.R. & Dietrich, W.E. 1994. A physically based
model for the topographic control on shallow landsliding.
Water Resources Research 30: 1153-1171.
Pack, R.T. 1995. Statistically-based terrain stability map-
ping methodology for the Kamloops Forest Region,
British Columbia. In Proceedings of the 48th Cana-
dian Geotechnical Conference, Canadian Geotechnical
Society, Vancouver.
Pack, R.T., Tarboton, D.G. & Goodwin, C.N. 1998. Terrain
Stability Mapping with SINMAP, technical description
and users guide for version 1.00. Report Number 4114-0,
Terratech Consulting Ltd., Salmon Arm, B.C., Canada
(www.tclbc.com).

REFERENCES
Hammond, C., Hall, D., Miller, S. & Swetik, P. 1992. Level I
Stability Analysis (LISA) Documentation for Version 2.0.

978
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Stability analysis of the slope of debris-flow fan under artificial rainfall

Y-Y. Zhu & P. Cui

Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Surface Process, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China

D.H.S. Zou
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Surface Process, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China &
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

ABSTRACT: The slope failure of debris flow fans is distinct from common rock and soil slope failures due
to the unique geotechnical features of debris flow sediment. This type of failure was not comprehensively and
systematically studied in the past. In our recent research, based on the unique characteristics of debris flow fans,
the Spencer slicing method with varying side force inclination is used to search for the possible critical slip
surface, and the seepage force acting on the slip surface is considered in the calculation. This is done using
spreadsheet-automated constraint optimization. A practical subroutine is developed to interpret the stability of
a slope with varying physical parameters along the slope depth by using Visual Basic Application embedded in
Microsoft Excel. To simulate the observed behavior of the slope failure, a series of triaxial tests was conducted
to seek the varying physical parameters of in-situ debris flow sediment. The results of calculation are then
compared with the actual slip surface observed in the field experiment. Significant findings result, regarding
the mechanism of slope failure in debris flow fans.

1 INTRODUCTION

Numerous active debris flows on different scales exist

across the mountainous areas of southwestern China,
forming debris flow fans, as a result of local intense
tectonic movement, changing climate and topography.
When these debris flow fans are chosen as construc-
tion sites for buildings and roads, they pose a danger
if failure occurs owing to different triggering factors.
Such slope failures are distinct from those common
with rock and soil slopes in terms of their features of
composition, physical properties and deposition con-
stitution. This type of failure was originally defined as
“gravel slope landslide” (Hu et al. 2002). However, it
was not comprehensively and systematically studied in Figure 1. Experiment site: Wan House in the upper reaches
of the Duozhao Gully – left feeder gully of the Dongchuan
the past. In our recent research, a practical subroutine Debris Flow Observation and Research Station.
was developed to interpret the stability of slopes with
varying physical parameters at depth by using a Visual parameters of debris flow sediment. The calculation
Basic application embedded in Microsoft Excel. The was then compared with the slip surface observed
Spencer method of slices with varying side force incli- during in-situ field experiments.
nation was used to search for the noncircular critical
slip surface. Seepage forces are considered an impor-
tant factor in the stability analysis. This is done using 2 RESEARCH SITE
spreadsheet-automated constrained optimization. To
simulate the observed behavior of debris flow fan In-situ experiments on the failure of debris flow
failures, a series of triaxial tests and in-situ field fans with delaminated coarse compositions was per-
experiments, using artificial rainfall to trigger fail- formed at the Wan House in the upper reaches of
ure, were conducted to seek out the varying physical Duozhao Gully (Fig. 1), the left feeder gully of the

979
 Table 1. Shear strength under UU tests.

Coefficients
Dry of strength
density Water Degree of Void
3 ∗
No (g/cm ) content saturation ratio (e) cuu φuu

1 2.0 13.6 101.9 0.346 8.02 3.80

2 2.0 13.1 98.3 0.346 19.30 5.30
3 2.0 12.3 91.7 0.365 31.50 5.10
4 2.0 13.3 99.3 0.367 16.50 5.20
5 2.0 13.0 97.7 0.363 20.09 3.92
6 2.1 13.7 104.0 0.361 9.26 3.52
mean 2.02 13.17 98.82 0.358 17.45 4.47
∗
The data obtained after the end of artificial rainfall (%)

Figure 2. Jiangjia Gully, Xiaojiang Ravine, Yunnan certain gravels and clay content unchanged and to keep
Province. the finer particles close to the original state of the
debris flow sediments. According to the specifications
of the triaxial test instrument, an equivalent substitute
Original grain compostion curve
method was adopted to replace gravels in the samples
Equivalent subsitute grain compositon curve with grain size in excess of 5 mm with identical-weight
gravel soil with grain size between 5 and 2 mm. In the
Percent finer by

100
meantime, grain compositions under 2 mm size were
80
weight(%)

kept intact as in the original condition of the sediment.

60
40
20
0 to the in-situ debris flow sediments first underwent
1000 100 10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001
Grain size (mm)
Figure 3. Grain size distributions of sediments.
Dongchuan Debris Flow Observation and Research
Station, Dongchuan City, Yunnan Province (Fig. 2).
3 LABORATORY TEST AND IN-SITU
EXPERIMENT
Sediment samples from the slopes of the debris flow
fan were taken for geotechnical laboratory testing.
A soil sizer and densometer were used to examine
the grain composition. The in-situ sediments could be
classified as gravel in the Unified Soil Classification
System (USCS) in accordance with the grain size dis-
tribution as shown in Figure 3. The gravel is in the form
of a subround breccia with a maximum grain size of
60 mm. Gravel content is 43.2% and clay content 4.7%.
The uniformity coefficient is 972.4, indicating nonuni-
formity as a major characteristic of the gravel soil in
the debris flow sediments.
Strain-controlled, triaxial, static unconsolidated and
undrained (UU) tests were carried out on the gravel
soil sample. An equivalent substitute method for spec-
imen preparation was applied during sampling to keep
Prior to the UU testing, six groups of samples with
the same water content (10%) and density (2.0), close
thorough vacuum saturation for 48 hours, followed by
anti-pressure saturation, using a triaxial test instrument
to force the samples to a fully saturated state. Triaxial
UU tests were then carried out on all samples with
consolidation stresses of 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500
and 600 kPa, respectively. The results are presented in
Table 1.
As seen in Table 1, the mean value of the strength
coefficients for these samples is 4.47 and is incon-
sistent with the established knowledge that clay with
100% degree of saturation under the UU test should
have a coefficient of strength close to zero (Lambe
1979). It is speculated that the grain composition and
the low clay content contributed to this difference but
this needs more tests to verify it. In consideration of
the uniformity of the strength coefficients φuu and cuu
in nature, the strength coefficients of static triaxial
tests were derived using an axial strain of 5% as the
failure criterion, because the behavior of gravel soil
exhibits no obvious brittleness and phase transforma-
tion (change from contractive to dilative behavior at
large strains) like loose sand, which was discovered by
Lambe (1979).
Tests for the permeability coefficient of the gravel
soil were carried out on a TST-70 model permeability
testing machine. The average permeability coefficient
for six samples was 0.006 cm/s (Table 2), close to
that for fine sand (0.001 cm/s–0.006 cm/s). It could
be inferred that the actual permeability of gravel soil

980
Table 2. The osmotic coefficient of a debris flow fan.
Coefficients of
permeability 0.005 0.01∗ 0.005 0.008 0.005 0.004
Mean 0.005
Frequency 5 9:06
Standard 0.002
deviation
Coefficient 0.302
of variation
Figure 4. Artificial rainfall experiment at the Wan House in
the upper reaches of the Duozhao Gully in 2002.
is a little higher than that resulting from laboratory
testing because the in-situ porosity of debris flow sed-
iments is supposed to be higher than that of the test
specimens, owing to the sampling procedure inherent
in the equivalent substitute method.
The artificial rainfall experiment on slope fail-
ure was designed to observe the real-time surface
movement of the slope so as to verify the numeri-
cal analysis results (Fig. 4). The experiment procedure
is shown in Table 3; the experiment itself is shown
in Figure 5. Experimental equipment consisted of an
artificial rainfall device and data collection setups.
Water content measurement was measured by the Time
Domain Moisture Instrument TRASE TDR. Shallow-
based sliding occurred after a surface flow appeared on
the free face of the slope as a result of intense artificial
rainfall in a short period of time.
981
Table 3. Experiment procedure and observation.
Time Phenomenon
8:38 Start of artificial rainfall
8:43 Development of surface flow along the slope
Rain rill formed in the middle of the slope
9:16 Formation of a gully on the upside of the slope
above sensor
9:39 Suspension of artificial rainfall to adjust spray
head of devices due to wind direction
9:47 Resumption of artificial rainfall
10:06 Formation of a minor collapse at the toe of the
free face of the slope above the sensor
10:20 Collapse of 20 cm × 20 cm × 10 cm at the same
place
11:02 Collapse through whole body of slope
11:07 Artificial rainfall stopped
Figure 5. Allocation of sensors by different soil horizons of
slope.
As observed from the in-situ field experiment, the
earth surface of the slope was full of water with seep-
age parallel to the slope as listed in Table 3. The data
from field monitoring confirmed that the water con-
tent hardly varied at 50 cm depth beneath the ground
surface, and no obvious tension crack was generated
on the rear face of the slope. As a case of steady seep-
age along the slope, it could be inferred that the flow
net consists of straight lines with the flow lines parallel
to the slope and the equipotential lines perpendicular
to the slope.
Two gauging tanks were placed separately on the
top and the toe of the slope to monitor the actual
precipitation. In a period of 141 minutes of artificial
rainfall, 140.9 mm and 142.6 mm were received at the
gauging tanks, respectively. The average intensity of
precipitation was 60.3 mm/hour.
 Table 4. Volume water content of different slope soil horizon.

Depth beneath
ground surface (m) H1 < 0.2 m H2 = 0.2 m–0.5 m H3 > 0.5 m

Volume >8 8.9 8.7 8.5

water 8−4 8.3 11.7 8.8
content 4 − 1.5 14.7 14.7 10.8
<1.5 25.7 23.7 11.0

Measurement of topographical features on the slope where, F denotes the safety factor, Ei−1 denotes the
surface and sampling of gravel soil were undertaken coefficient of lateral thrust.
immediately after the rainfall. It was found that the
groove on the slope surface had a gradient between
45◦ and 46.5◦ ; the gradient near the crest of the slope
is 81.5◦ . The observed thickness of the sliding layer
was 27 cm, 24 cm and 17 cm, at the top, middle and
toe of the slope, respectively. Table 4 lists the values
of the volumetric water content in accordance with
both depth of sensors and their position on the slope.
The curve of the actual slip surface in Figure 6 repre-
sents the general depiction of the slip surface by field
measurement. The total equilibrium equations are:

4 ANALYSIS OF SLOPE FAILURE WITH

SPENCER’S METHOD OF SLICES

To analyze the mechanism of slope failure in the

debris flow fan, a practical spreadsheet approach was
developed to search for both circular and noncircu-
lar slip surfaces with minimal factors of safety, using
geotechnical parameters gained by laboratory testing
and in-situ experiments. This was followed by a com-
parison with the actual observed slip surfaces, in order
to deduce the nature of the slope failure.
By comparing the column: “Water content after
testing” in Table 1 with the column: “Volume water
content” in Table 4, it may be noticed that the water
content within 1.5 m depth beneath the slope surface
is up to 25.7. It was assumed that the saturation level
would be reached 50 cm below the slope surface; hence
the total weight (soil plus water) of a slice of this slope
was used in the calculation. The equation of Spencer’s
(1973) method of slices was used in consideration of
the seepage face on the slip surface for analyzing the
stability of the slope. A basic equilibrium equation
was derived in terms of the balance of loads in the
horizontal direction, together with the Mohr-Coulomb
strength criteria, as follows:
where PW is the water thrust in a water-filled tension
crack on the rear of the slope; MW is the overturning
moment due to PW . This study leaves water thrust out
of consideration because no crack was observed in the
artificial rainfall experiment on the in-situ slope.
The following formulae are used to calculate the
components of the horizontal and vertical forces with
respect to an arbitrary slip surface centroid:
The total head is constant along the equipotential
line on the slope. Since the pressure head is zero at any
point on the surface of the slope, the pressure head at
a point below the slope surface must equal the differ-
ence in elevation between any point A and B along the
equipotential. According to Lambe (1976), the proce-
dure used to determine the boundary pore pressure at
the failure surface is:

982
Figure 6. Calculation of the best possible slip surface in Microsoft Excel.

983
Figure 7. Excel Solver settings to search for circular slip
surfaces.
5 SEARCH FOR CIRCULAR AND
NONCIRCULAR SLIP SURFACES
Based on this spreadsheet, Low (1997, 1998) presented
a practical approach to optimize the search for possi-
ble slip surfaces. An improved Spencer Subroutine,
programmed by VBA, extended from this approach
to carry out the interpolation and iterative analysis.
For the sliced soil weight, intensity index and water
content, with respect to positions and depths of slip
surfaces, such calculation coefficients arise directly
from the measured data from laboratory tests and field
experiments.
Initially: xc = 0, yc = 4, R = 4, in cells B11:D11, and
λa = 0.7, F = 1 in cells S4:T4. Next, Microsoft Excel’s
built-in Planning Solver was invoked to set targets as
shown in Figure 7. In the meantime, the Solver option
“UseAutomatic Scaling” was selected.The critical slip
surface and safety factor F = 0.9, coefficient of side
force λa = 1.1 were obtained automatically within only
seconds by the Solver. This is only partly consistent
with the observed behaviors of the slope under the
effects of artificial rainfall.
Based on a current initial circular slip surface with
xc = 0, yc = 5, R = 6 (Fig. 9), the most probable non-
circular slip surface could be searched for by using
Solver with constraints (Fig. 8):
D20:D44 ≤ C20:C44
D44 = 0
O22:O44 ≥ 0
S7:T7 = 0
F≤2
F≥0
and by changing cells:
$S$4:$T$4, $B$20, $B$44, $D$21:$D$44,
the target cell remaining intact as shown in Figure 6.
The safety factor for the critical noncircular slip
984
Figure 8. Use Solver from three initial circular slip surfaces
to search for slip surface.
Figure 9. Use of Solver from the initial circular slip surfaces
to search for the critical noncircular slip surface.
surface was F = 1.7, smaller than the one for a circu-
lar surface. The most probable noncircular slip surface
occurred in a position more than 1 m beneath the
ground surface as shown in Figure 9.
The curve of the noncircular slip surface presented
in Figure 9, marked “calculated slip surface” is signif-
icantly in agreement with experimental observations
where the slope surface sheared over the toe of the
slope, but only if the constraints (shear outlet of slope)
in Solver were restricted to the toe, namely X = 0.
However, the height of the slope slice, (K21:K44),
maximum 3.31 m, minimum 0.16 m, was not consis-
tent with the actual data from observation as seen in
Figure 9.
Figure 8 also demonstrates the robustness of search-
ing for noncircular slip surfaces by using Solver
from three arbitrary initial circular slip surfaces. The
final noncircular critical surfaces are close enough
to the observed practical slip surface in the body
of the debris flow fan, as indicated in Figure 9,
and the behavior listed in Table 3 at time 10:06,
though not identical. The solution is stable and
convincing.
 Table 5. Relationship between the height of
soil and factor of safety.
Depth of slip
surface (cm) λa F
70 1.8 2.7
60 1.9 3.0
50 1.8 4.0
40 2.4 4.8
30 1.8 6.1
20 1.9 9.2
6 ACTUAL STABILITY ANALYSIS OF A SLIP
SURFACE PARALLEL TO THE FREE FACE
OF A SLOPE
At 11.02 AM a slide finally occurred on the top layer of
the gravel soil slope beneath the ground surface down
to a depth of 40 cm, whereas the only calculated slip
surface sufficient to meet all constraints and optimiza-
tions extended to at 1 m in depth beneath the ground
surface as shown in Figure 9.
With the reduction of the given height of the slip
surface, the shear forces parallel to the free face of
the slope were incapable of overcoming soil resistance
to initiate soil slip, although the water content above
the slip surface increased as well as the soil moisture
weight. Accordingly, the factor of safety for the slope
gradually increased with the decrease in depth of the
surface slip. Different values of the factor of safety
were calculated with regard to the depth of the slip
surface, as listed in Table 5.
7 CONCLUSIONS
From this experiment, stability analysis and discus-
sions presented above, the following conclusions can
be reached for the slope failure of debris flow fans:
1) Using the slice method to perform slope stability
analysis for investigating the slope failure of debris
flow fans, a solution satisfying all constraints can
be found near the toe of the gravel slope, which is
generally in agreement with field observations.
2) It may be concluded that the seepage force on both
vertical sides of the slice induced by the hydraulic
gradient probably plays a considerable role in slope
failures of debris flow fans.
3) The observed slope failure at the final stage
occurred within 50 cm depth beneath the ground
surface. There is thus a difference between the cal-
culated slip surface and the observed slip surface,
in that the calculated slip surface could be found
985
at the toe of the gravel slope by the spreadsheet-
automated constrained optimization, using the pro-
posed subroutine. However, the calculated sliding
was in agreement with the observed behavior at the
early stage of artificial rainfall.
The following needs to be pointed out:
1) As mentioned above, the shear strength used in the
study actually represented the remoulded gravel
soil whose grain composition above 5 mm size
was replaced by way of the equivalent substitu-
tion method. However, no further investigation was
made in this study about the in-situ shear strength
of debris flow sediments, although it is not known
to what degree this may have affected the analysis
results.
2) The slope failure of a debris flow fan probably
depends upon the micro-structure of the weakly
consolidated and unsaturated sediments. There-
fore, research on the shear strength of gravel soil
with wide gradation ranges and in a weak state of
consolidation deserves more attention.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by Knowledge Innovation
Project of The Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant
No. KZCX2-YW-302). The authors are very grate-
ful to Dr. B. K. Low, Nanyang Technology Univer-
sity, Singapore, for his help in debugging the VBA
subroutine.
REFERENCES
Cui, P., Yang, K. & Zhu, Y.Y. 2004. Debris flow hazards
and prevention along highway in the area of west China.
Mountain Journal 3: 326–331.
Cui, Z.J. 1996. Debris Flow Deposition and Environment.
Beijing: Ocean Press.
Guo, Z.S., Tian, L.Q., Guo, S.W. & Xiao, F. 1996. The
dynamics model for the initiation of soil-mechanics-type
debris flow in Jiangjia Gully. In Du (ed.), Debris Flow
Observation and Research. Beijing: Science Press.
Hu, M.J., Zhang, P.C. & Wang R. 2002. Cause of fre-
quent occurrence of gravel slope landslide and experiment
simulation. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 12: 1831–1834.
Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS 1989.
The Research and Prevention for Debris Flow, 94-10.
Chengdu, China: Sichuan Science and Technology Press.
Iverson, R.M. 1997. The physics of debris flows. Reviews of
Geophysics 35(3): 245–296.
Iverson, R.M., Reid, M.E. & LaHusen, R.G. 1997. Debris-
flow Mobilization from landslides. Annual. Review of
Earth and Planetary Sciences 25: 85–138.
Li, S.D. 1998. The formative mechanism for the landslide
type of debris flow (Natural Science Edition). Beijing
University Journal 4: 519–522.
Li, T.C., Zhang, S.C. & Kang, Z.C. 1984. Landslide-type
debris flow. In Memoirs of Lanzhou Institute of Glaciol-
ogy and Cryopedology (No.4), Lanzhou. Beijing: The
Sciences Press, pp. 171–177.
Low, B.K., Gilbert, R.B. & Wright, S.G. 1998. Slope reliabil-
ity analysis using generalized method of slices. Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 124(4):
350–362.
Low, B.K. & Wilson, H.T. 1997. Efficient reliability evalua-
tion using spreadsheet. Journal of Engineering Mechanics
123: 749–752.
Spencer, E. 1973. The line criterion in embankment stability
analysis. Geotechnique 23: 85–100.
986
Lambe, T.W. & Whitman, R.V. 1979. Soil Mechanics, SI
Version. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Tian, F.D. & Tian, L.Q. 1996. The primitive research on
landslide at the location of headstream of debris flow in
JiangJia Gully. In Tian (ed.), Debris Flow Observation
and Research. Beijing: Science Press, pp. 64–65.
Tian, L.Q., Wu, J.S. & Kang, Z.C. 1993. The Erosion,
Transportation and Deposition of Debris Flow. Chengdu,
China: Chengdu Map Press.
Wu, J.S. 1981. The structure of debris flow. In Memoirs
of Debris Flow, Chengdu. Chongqin: China Chongqin
Branch of Science Technology Press, pp. 58–66.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Probabilities of casualties on Al-Baha mountain road, Saudi Arabia

B.H. Sadagah
Engineering and Environmental Geology Department, Faculty of Earth Sciences,
King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT: A 30 km portion of a mountain road that lies along Al-Baha descent suffers from frequent rock
failures, mainly in rainy seasons. Failures in both natural and man-made rock slopes are formed mainly of
wedge, planar, and toppling failures, and rockfalls. Slope stability analyses were performed to identify the
stability/instability zones. Probability analyses of casualties along the road have been performed using the
rock slopes factor of safety and probability of failure analyses. Areas of high probability of failure have high
probabilities of casualties. The probability of a vehicle running into a landslide is calculated at rush hours. The
results indicate that an increase of support measures will decrease the likelihood of failure and casualties in the
areas that are prone to failure. The highest risk sections along the road are those characterized by the lowest
factor of safety, and lowest support measures, particularly at rush hours on rainy days.

1 INTRODUCTION

Landslides occur frequently on mountain roads, in

rugged terrains. One of the most difficult terrains in
western Saudi Arabia is Al-Baha descent, which is
characterized by sharp cliffs and elevations that reach
above 2000 m a.s.l. The descent lies between longi-
tudes 41◦ 25 E and 41◦ 29 E and latitudes 19◦ 47 N and
20◦ 01 N (Fig. 1). The Al-Baha escarpment 50 km-road
starts southwest of Al-Baha city, and runs through
Al-Baha descent. The road connects the highlands
where Al-Baha city is located with the lowlands at
Al-Mukhwah town. Along this distance, natural slopes
in addition to many man-made slopes and engineering
structures are located.
Al-Baha descent includes three distinct geomor-
phologic terrains: a dissected upper plateau of low
mountains and hills, a precipitous escarpment, and a
low-lying coastal plain (Fig. 2). The most prominent
of these features is the northwesterly trending Asir or
Tihama escarpment, a structure that is traceable for
some 1500 km.
The geologic history indicates that the escarpment
resulted from a 3000 m lowering of Tihama Coastal
Plain during the Tertiary opening of the Red Sea.
The Al-Baha descent road is contained almost entirely Figure 1. Location of the study area.
within a structurally-controlled narrow valley, called
Wadi Rash. Steep tributaries start from the escarp-
ment ridge, and radiate from the wadi head cutting intermediate extrusive, intrusive and pyroclastic rocks
deeply into the valley sides and escarpment face. with minor intercalations from clastics and metasedi-
Al-Baha region is underlain predominantly by a north- ments (Prinz 1983, Sadagah et al. 2005). The majority
south trending belt of Precambrian schistose rocks of the rocks have been subjected to greenschist facies
comprised predominantly of fine grained mafic to metamorphism.

987
Figure 2. Image of Al-Baha descent area (after Google).
2 STABILITY OF ROCK SLOPES
The mountains, structural complexity, and steep slopes
at the study area cause numerous landslides and rock-
falls. Many of these slopes are dangerous and unsafe
due to rockfalls and rockslides especially during rainy
seasons that occur September to March. Sadagah
(2004) and Sadagah et al. (2005) discussed rockslides
and rockfalls in the study area.
Along Al-Baha descent road the rock slope failures
are i) rock slope slides formed of plane, wedge, top-
pling and combination of them, and ii) rockfalls due
to toppling and loose blocks (Fig. 3).
Engineering properties are required before com-
mencing the rock slope stability analyses. The shear
strength parameters of discontinuities were obtained
using a portable Hoek shear box PHI-10. The joint
roughness coefficient (JRC) was determined accord-
ing to Barton & Choubey (1977). The values of
inclination angle, i, were obtained from the relation-
ship proposed by Barton (1973). For each rock type
at each station, the residual friction angle, φr , was
determined by the tilt test that was carried out in
the laboratory on saw-cut rock cores. The peak fric-
tion angle, φp = φr + i for the above-mentioned area
ranges from 23◦ to 41◦ (Sadagah et al. 2005, Sadagah
2006).
The stability analysis of natural and man-made rock
slopes was carried out by Sadagah et al. (2005) uti-
lizing the stereographic projection technique based
on Hoek and Bray (1981) using DIPS/W Version 4.0
computer software produced by Rocscience Ltd., and
the Geographic Information System (GIS), ArcView
Version 3.2 computer software program.
The GIS technique was applied to define stability
conditions from km 8 to 12 along the study area and to
plot slope stability maps. Details are given by Sadagah
(2006).
988
Figure 3. Plane, wedge and toppling failures experienced at
km 11,200 to 11,300, where remedial measures to the road
are not continuous. Notice the expected failure(s) at higher
elevations at the background, above rockbolts.
3 PROBABILITY OF FAILURE
Probability theory was applied to the rock slope sta-
bility results in problematic parts along the descent
road, in order to define areas of highest probability of
failure (Sadagah 2006). The method of calculating the
probability of factor of safety (f s) varies according to
the type of failure. The obtained group of factor of
safety values for planar, wedge and toppling failures
at each station are treated separately to indicate the
probability of failure (likelihood of instability) at each
station (Şen 2005, Sadagah 2006). Results from the
probability of failure analyses are given by Sadagah
(2006). Further, some stations show no P value. This
indicates the absence of that particular type of failure
in the stability analyses.
The probability of an event is associated with one or
more sample points or simple events, and since these
simple events are mutually exclusive by the construc-
tion of the sample space, the probability of an event
is the sum of the probabilities assigned to the sample
points with which it is associated (Benjamin & Cornell
1970). In this study, types of failure occur indepen-
dently; accordingly the total probability of failure is
calculated by the following equation:
where Ptotal = total probability; Pplane = probability of
plane failure; Pwedge = probability of wedge failure;
and Ptoppling = probability of toppling failure. It is very
likely, mathematically, that the Ptotal could be >1.
Accordingly, the total probability as a sum of
P-values ranges from 0 to >1.0, and is classified
arbitrarily into four categories: green, violet, sky blue
and navy blue, namely low (P = 0 to 0.25), medium
(P = 0.26 to 0.5), high (P = 0.51 to 0.75), and very
high (P = 0.76 to >1.0), respectively. The total proba-
bility categories of failure likelihood are shown along
the descent road alignment (Sadagah 2006).
4 PROBABILITIES OF CASUALTIES
For ‘n’ vehicles traveling per day, the probability of
first encounter, P1−n , by any one vehicle according to
Ko Ko et al. (2003) is:
The total number of vehicles using the descent road
each day is almost 4300. The maximum number of
vehicles cruising on the descent road (back and forth)
is 310 at rush hour (11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.), while
the minimum number of vehicles is 48 at 1:00 a.m.
(Sadagah 2004).
Considering the spatial and temporal variation a
landslide could occur on any single day. Ko Ko et al.
(2003) used the annual probability of a threshold rain-
fall based on 109 years of rainfall measurement. In this
research, probability of failure is calculated accord-
ing to Equation 1, and based on uncertainty in the
slope geometry and strength and stress parameters
used in the stability analysis is called Ptotal . Accord-
ingly annual probabilities of landsliding, Pf , can be
estimated by the following equation, as suggested by
Ko Ko et al. (2003):
The vehicles may arrive before or after landslide
occurrence. Assuming that the two possibilities are
equally likely, a factor of 0.5 should be applied to the
calculation of probability (Ko Ko et al. 2003). Thus
the probability P of a vehicle running into a landslide
is calculated as follows:
where Pr is the probability that a vehicle runs on a par-
ticular day. This value equals 1 as the traffic is flowing
all year.
4.1 Probabilities of casualties at areas of
maximum probability of failure
According to the Ptotal values given in and using
Equation 3, the annual very high probability of
989
failure is Pf = 1.62 × (1/365.25) = 0.0044. Using
Equation 4, the probability of any vehicle run-
ning into a landslide is calculated at rush hours as
Pf = 0.0044 × 0.5 = 0.0022. Using Equation 2, the
calculated probability of casualties at rush hour,
Pmaxhr , and at minimum traffic, Pminhr , that one of
the 310 and 48 vehicles will run into a landslide is
Pmaxhr = 0.51 and Pminhr = 0.1, respectively.
4.2 Probabilities of casualties at areas of
minimum probability of failure
According to Ptotal values given by Sadagah (2006)
and using Equation 3, the annual low probabil-
ity of failure is Pf = 0.14 × (1/365.25) = 0.000383.
Using Equation 4, the probability of any vehicle run-
ning into a landslide is calculated at rush hours as
Pf = 0.00038 × 0.5 = 0.0001915. Using Equation 2,
the calculated probability of casualties at rush hour,
Pmaxhr , and at minimum traffic, Pminhr , that one of the
310 and 48 vehicles will run into a landslide is 0.0296
and 0.00534, respectively.
5 EVENT TREE ANALYSIS
Bunce (1994) and Hoek (2001) used event tree anal-
ysis to calculate the probability of rockfalls. Event
tree analysis was used to consider the annual prob-
ability of occurrence of one, two and three or more
fatalities in a single accident. The analysis was done
for both rainy and dry seasons. Assuming that the
rainy seasons extend for seven months per year, as the
highest elevation is about 2200 m a.s.l., then accord-
ingly the rock failures increase. Figures 4–5 show the
results of the analysis. As the worst case the number
of vehicles at rush hour is 310 along a road length of
30 km, the average distance between two successive
vehicles is 97 m. As each station length along the road
is about 150 m between km 8 and km 12, accordingly
97/(150 m × 2) = 0.32 vehicles could be present and
1–0.32 not present at the station, at the moment of
failure. These values are expressed as 32% and 68%
respectively (Figs. 4–5).
6 DISCUSSION
The values of probabilities are plotted in Figure 6. This
shows that the areas of maximum probability of fail-
ure had the highest values of probability of casualties;
such probabilities lie in the unacceptable region, as
they range from 0.1 to 0.5. While the areas of min-
imum probability of failure had the lowest values of
probability of casualties, as they range from 0.0296 to
0.00534, and lie in the acceptable region.
The event tree analysis indicates that the probabil-
ities of casualties during rainy seasons are generally
higher than those in dry seasons. This is true for the
 Initiating Rock Vehicle Impact Annual probability Potential number Annual probability
event (annual) failure behind failure significant of failure of fatalities of fatalities
7/12 No 40% 0.23 0
Yes 60% No 68% 0.24 0
Yes 32%
No 50% 5.6x10-2
Yes 50% 5.6x10-2 one 50% 2.8x10-2
two 33% 1.85x10-2
>three 17% 9.52x10-3

Figure 4. Event tree for example in which rainy season extends for 7 months per year, keeping the traffic flowing.

Initiating Rock Vehicle Impact Annual probability Potential number Annual probability
event (annual) failure behind significant of failure of fatalities of fatalities
failure

5/12 No 60% 0.25 0

Yes 40% No 68% 0.11 0
Yes 32%
No 50% 2.7x10-2
Yes 50% 2.7x10-2 one 50% 1.33x10-2
two 33% 8.8x10-3
>three 17% 4.5x10-3

Figure 5. Event tree for example in which dry season extends for 5 months per year, keeping the traffic flowing.

1 7 CONCLUSIONS
Max. prob. of
Annual probability of occurrence

0.1
0.01
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
1 10
Number of fatalities
Figure 6. Plot of probabilities of failure (modified after
Nielsen et al. 1994 and Hoek 2001). Triangles and squares are
for the areas of max. and min. probabilities of failure, respec-
tively. White and black diamonds are for 7 and 5 months of
rainfall per year, respectively.
number of casualties ranging from one to more than
three fatalities. The values of probabilities of casualties
close to 10−2 are on the edge between the accept-
able and unacceptable regions of fatalities (Fig. 6)
representing one potential fatality.
failure
The maximum probability of casualties occurs at the
Min. prob. of time of rush hour. The worst case of casualties is asso-
failure ciated with the areas of highest probability of failure
linked with rush hours in addition to the rainy season,
Prob. of
casualties,
and vise versa. Rainy seasons raise the values of prob-
rainy seasons abilities of casualties close to 1, at both cases of areas
Prob. of of max. or min. probability of failure. The potential
casualties, dry number of fatalities of one person is higher than that
seasons
for 3 or more persons.
100 1000 10000
The high value of probability of casualties close to
one, necessitate installing more remedial measures at
such segment of the road. This indicates how the prob-
abilistic analysis could help in securing commuters.
The highest risk sections along the road are those
characterized by lowest factor of safety, and lowest
number of support measures, particularly at rush hours
in rainy days.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to express his gratitude to
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

990
(KACST), Riyadh, for supporting and funding this
research project (Grant No. ARP-19-33). The author
would like to express his cordial gratitude to Prof.
Zekai Şen for guidance in probability techniques.
REFERENCES
Barton, N. 1973. Review of a new shear-strength criterion for
rock joints. Engineering Geology 7(3): 287–332.
Barton, N.R. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics 10(1): 1–54.
Benjamin, J.R. & Cornell, C.A. 1970. Probability, Statistics,
and Decision for Civil Engineers. New York: McGraw-
Hill Book Co.
Bunce, C.M. 1994. Risk analysis for rock fall on highways.
M.Sc. thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, University
of Alberta, Canada, 129 pp.
Hoek, E. & Bray, J.W. 1981. Rock Slope Engineering.
London: Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Hoek, E. 2001. Rock Engineering. Internet edition, 313 pp.
Ko Ko, C., Flentje, P. & Chowdhury, R. 2003. Quantitative
landslide hazard and risk assessment: a case study. Quar-
terly J. Eng. Geol. and Hydrogeology 36(3): 261–272.
991
Nielsen, N.M., Hartford, D.N.D. & MacDonald, T. 1994.
Selection of tolerable risk criteria for dam safety decision
making. In Proc. 1994 Canadian Dam Safety Conference,
Winnipeg. Vancouver: BiTech Publishers, pp. 355–369.
Prinz, W.C. 1983. Geologic map of the Al Qunfuhah quad-
rangle, sheet 19E, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ministry
of Petroleum and Minerals Resources, Deputy Ministry
for Mineral Resources. Geologic Map GM-70C, scale
1:100,000, p. 19.
Sadagah, B.H. 2004. Application of the rockfall hazard rating
system at parts along a mountain road, Al-Baha, Saudi
Arabia. In International Conference of the Geology of the
Arabian World (GAW-7), Cairo, Egypt.
Sadagah, B.H. 2006. The Probabilities of Rock Slope Fail-
ures Along Parts of a Mountain Road, Al-Baha, Saudi
Arabia. In Proceedings of the 4th Asian Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Singapore, p. 450.
Sadagah, B.H., Gouth-Ali, A.R., Qari, M.H., Abo-Seadah,
Y.E. & Aazam, M.S. 2005. Landslides: investigation,
mitigation, monitoring and safety measures of Al-Baha
descent. Project No. AT-19-33. Final technical report,
7 volumes, p. 1458.
Şen, Z. 2005. Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Pers. comm.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Evaluating the slope instability of the Amiya slide

T.N. Singh & A.K. Verma

Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a comparative study used for the analysis of the stability of slopes of the
Amiya area, near Kathgodam Nainital, Uttaranchal, based on assumptions that the rock mass follows the Mohr-
Coulomb failure criterion. An extensive field study has been carried out. Laboratory experiments have been
conducted to calculate the various mechanical properties of the rock mass. These properties have been used
as input parameters for the numerical simulation. The computed finite element deformations and the stress
distribution, along the failure surface, have been compared with the field measurements and are found to be in
good agreement. The study shows that the slope is perilously unstable.

1 INTRODUCTION FEM code PLAXIS2D has been used. Here a case

The stability of large rock slopes which are vulner-
able to rock mass (rotational) failures can be ana-
lyzed by traditional limit equilibrium methods such
as Bishop’s method (Bishop 1955), Janbu’s simplified
method (Janbu 1954) or the later improved sophisti-
cated method (Janbu 1957, Spencer 1967) based on
assumptions regarding the inclination and location of
the interslice forces. For many cases, the limit equilib-
rium methods established have given relatively reliable
results despite their limitations. However, they tend
to give conservative values of factor of safety, since
the full shear strength is assumed to be mobilized
simultaneously along the failure surface.
Duncan (1996) and Griffiths & Lane (1999) sum-
marized the results of a survey on slope stability anal-
ysis using FEM based on the shear strength reduction
technique and provided a number of valuable lessons
concerning the advantage and disadvantage of FEM
for use in practical slope engineering problems. DEM
(Cundall & Strack 1979) and discontinuous defor-
mation analysis (DDA) (Chihsen & Bernard 1996)
can be used to simulate large block movements in
complex geological media consisting of many blocks
which can break on presumed fracture planes during
the calculation process without any external inter-
vention. However, precise block geometry and more
experience are required for a reasonable simulation. A
recently developed numerical tool, the Particle Flow
Code (Itasca 1999a,b), which is able to model both
intact rock and joints, has shown its power in solving
problems related to jointed rock masses.
This paper deals with the application of the Finite
element method. For this, a commercially available
study of several landslide areas on the flanks of
the Gaula river, near Nainital, Uttaranchal, has been
selected.
2 THE STUDY AREA
The frequency of landslides and rock falls in the outer
Kumaun Himalaya varies from area to area, depend-
ing on underlying rock structure and neo-tectonic
activity along various geological structures. As a con-
sequence, large landslides and rock falls occur, par-
ticularly in the zones of neotectonically active faults
and boundary thrusts (Valdiya 1988, 1995, Bartarya
& Valdiya 1989, Pant & Luirei 1999). The study area
is bounded between Amritpur to Jamrani (Latitudes
29◦ 16 –29◦ 19 N and Longitudes 79◦ 33 –79◦ 38 E)
in the lower ridges of the Gaula, catchment, 4 km
downstream of the proposed Jamrani Dam. It is about
10 km from Kathgodam which is the nearest railhead
connected with Delhi. Continuous slide activity has
caused harming of agricultural and forest land and life,
but has also provided a unique opportunity to study the
progressive stages of landsliding.
The area under study is nearest to the Amiya vil-
lage. A geological map of the area has been given in
Figure 1. The soils and rock types within the landslide
zone are highly weathered and fragile, continuing on
both sides of the river bank. A nalla is flowing through
the landslide zone from nearest the hillock and con-
verges with the Gaula River. Due to the landslide, in
1997 a huge lake was formed due to blockage of the
river, which flooded the upstream.

993

Figure 1. Location map of the area.
3 NUMERICAL MODELING FOR STABILITY
ANALYSIS
3.1 PLAXIS2D (Finite element method)
The finite element technique, being the most rigor-
ous method, has been chosen here to investigate the
stability of slopes of the Amiya area under gravity
loading. Here, all the geometrical and geotechnical
parameters used were determined in the laboratory as
well as field. Figure 2 shows the geometry of the slope
with height H = 430.0 m and slope angle varying from
38–58◦ . The calculations performed involve the appli-
cation of gravity loading followed by plastic analysis
until convergence cannot be achieved in the finite ele-
ment analysis. An elasto–plastic constitutive law i.e.
Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion has been used. It is
pointed out at this stage that tight convergence crite-
ria, suitable element formulations and a sufficiently
fine mesh are required for these analyses. 2D plane
strain analyses have been performed. 623 15-noded
triangular elements were used to discretise the slope.
Average element size was 24.6 m. The size of zone has
a great influence on the computational results. Gener-
ally, a finer mesh size yields higher accuracy. But at the
same time, having too fine a mesh will consume more
994
Figure 2. Geometry used for slope stability analysis.
computer memory and computation time, whereas too
course a mesh will decrease the computational accu-
racy. The properties used for the analysis are listed in
Table 1.
3.2 Consolidation analysis
Consolidation analyses have been selected because it
is necessary to analyze the development and dissipa-
tion of excess pore pressures in a water-saturated rock
slope. In this paper, a true elasto-plastic consolidation
analyses was performed. A critical time step has been
chosen. When the calculation runs smoothly, resulting
in a few iterations per step, then a larger time step was
chosen. When the calculation used many iterations due
to increasing plasticity, then a smaller time step was
chosen.
Attention has been given to the boundary conditions
for consolidation analysis. The vertical boundary and
the right sloping boundary has been modelled as closed
because there is no free outflow at that boundary.
A consolidation analysis introduces the dimension of
time in the calculations and consolidate until all excess
pore pressures in the geometry have been reduced to a
predefined minimum value (minimum pore pressure)
which is 1.0 KN/m2 in this case.
Since, uplift situation is being modeled here, which
is quite sensitive to the degree of refinement of the
mesh, 623 elements have been used to discritize
the whole slope. In addition, larger displacement is
expected to occur at the right hand slope near the toe.
In order to model that part of the geometry more accu-
rately, the element size around the slope toe has been
modified to half the average element size.
3.3 Safety analysis
It is clear from the output results of the consolidation
analysis that a failure mechanism starts to develop
(Fig. 3). In structural engineering, the safety factor
is usually defined as the ratio of the collapse load
to the working load. For rock structures, however,
Table 1. Material properties for the FEM model.

Parameter Name Layer1 (Up-per) Layer 2 Layer3 Layer4 Unit

Material model Model MC MC MC MC –

Type of behaviour Type Undrained Undrained Undrained Undrained –
Rock unit weight γunsat 19.250 19.250 19.300 19.300 KN/m3
Rock unit weight γsat 21.000 21.000 21.000 21.000 KN/m3
Horizontal permeability Kx 1.000E−03 1.000E−03 1.000E−03 1.000E−03 m/day
Vertical permeability Ky 1.000E−03 1.000E−03 1.000E−03 1.000E−03 m/day
Young’s modulus Eref 9.400E+04 9.400E+04 4.550E+04 4.550E+04 KN/m2
Poisson’s ratio ν 0.240 0.240 0.255 0.255 –
Tensile Strength σt 3282 3282 124.0 124.0 KN/m2
Cohesion cref 5400.000 5400.000 120.000 120.000 KN/m2
Friction angle ϕ 41.430 41.430 37.00 37.00 –
Dilatancy angle ψ 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 –
Slope angle θ 39.94 32.89 52.79 55.81 –

In this approach, the cohesion and the tangent of

the friction angle are reduced in the same proportion:

The reduction of parameters is controlled by the

Figure 3. Shear strains along the slope.
this definition is not always valid and therefore an
appropriate definition of the factor of safety is:
where, S represents the shear strength. By introduc-
ing the standard Mohr’s-Coulomb condition, the safety
factor is obtained:
where C and ϕ are input strength parameters and σn
is the acting normal stress component. The parame-
ters Cr and ϕr are reduced strength parameters that are
just large enough to maintain equilibrium. The prin-
cipal described above is the basis for Phi-C reduction
method used here to calculate global safety factor.
total multiplier:
Msf
This parameter is increased in a step-by-step procedure
until failure occurs. The safety factor is then defined as
the value of Msf at failure, provided that at failure,
a more or less constant value is obtained for a number
of successive load steps.
While calculating FOS by the finite element-
strength reduction technique, the critical equilibrium
state of the slope is defined as the moment at which
there is a band such that all elements in the band are in
the plastic state and the band goes through the whole
slope from the toe to the top. In order to bring the slope
into such a state, the load-controlled method has been
used.
Figure 2 shows the geometry of the model used
for the analysis with all the selected points. Figure 3
depicts the extreme shear strain which is 128.79%.
This clearly, shows the development of shear band
with shear strain localisation. It can be concluded that
a plastic band encompassed by the contour lines has
gone through the toe to the top of the bottom benches
of slope.
Figure 4 shows plasticity points and tension cut off
points. Tension cracks have been formed at the toe of
the bottom two benches. This may be due to develop-
ment of tensile stresses and less burden in detached
mass. This result is consistent with field observations.
Excess pore pressure with time has been plotted
in Figure 5. This became constant over long periods
of time. This indicates that the consolidation analyses

995
Figure 4. Mohr-Coulomb plasticity points and tension
cracks.

Figure 6. FLAC/SLOPE grid generation.

Figure 5. Variation of excess pore pressure with time.

have successfully reached its convergence criteria and

the calculation is stable.

Figure 7. Development of tension cracks and plastic points.

4 FLAC/SLOPE (FINITE DIFFERENCE
METHOD)

In the present study, the explicit two-dimensional

finite difference program FLAC/SLOPE version 5.0
(Cundall 1976, Itasca 1995) has been used for the
analysis. A 40*19 grid have been used (Fig. 6). No hor-
izontal displacement was allowed on the left vertical
boundary while the bottom boundary was completely
fixed in both vertical and horizontal directions. A
Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model has been assigned
to all zones with same properties as used for FEM
analysis. The geometry of the model is exactly the
same as used in which is slightly more than obtained in Figure 8. Tension cracks in the field.
PLAXIS 2D. As indicated by the plasticity points the
bottom two benches completely fail (Fig 7). Tension The failure mechanism can be seen from the shear
cracks form at the toe of the bottom two benches. This strain rate contours shown in Figure 9. Most of the
may be due to development of tensile stresses and low shear strain zone has been developed along the sloping
burden in detached mass (Fig. 8). face of the third bench (Figs. 7, 9).

996

Figure 9. Magnified view of failure surface of the slope.
1.20E-03
Shear Strain Rate
1.00E-03
8.00E-04
6.00E-04
4.00E-04
2.00E-04
0.00E+00
0 50 100 150
Height
Figure 10. Variation of shear strain rate with slope height
for the given slope section.
The direction of the velocity vectors show that the
material moves towards the river, shearing along the
slip surface. This is in most important conformity with
field observation. Tension cracks have been developed
which is shown by the open circles (Fig. 9). These ten-
sion cracks are due to the inclusion of water in the
rock mass from the top surface of the slope, which may
cause the hydrostatic pressure and widen the tension
crack. This tension crack further migrates downward
through the yielded/detached mass which initiates a
new tension crack just behind the crest. This corre-
sponds to the progressive failure in the area. Figure 10
shows the variation of shear strain rate along the ver-
tical section of the slope. Shear strain rate increases as
the height of the slope increases. The maximum strain
rate was 1.0*10−3 at a height of 150 m for that spe-
cific cross-sectional through the slope (Fig. 10).The
increase in strain rate further accelerates the slide
which was already vulnerable due to the development
of the tension crack. The slide may follow that of a
translatory shear failure mode.
5 CONCLUSION
In this paper, numerical modelling of a rock slope
has been simulated by PLAXIS2D and FLAC/SLOPE.
The results obtained by the two methods have been
analysed and the numerical results have been found
to be in good agreement with the monitored results
at the site. The results show that the global fac-
tor of safety calculated by finite difference method
(FLAC/SLOPE) is 1.57 which is slightly more
than the 1.12 calculated by finite element method
(PLAXIS2D). This is probably due to the assump-
tions used in the FDM that failure only occurs at the
interface of rigid bodies, which imposes supplemen-
tary restraints and consequently increases the safety
factors. Also, at the slice interfaces the shear strength
should be reached, and sometimes even be exceeded,
which means that more energy is required to yield
the whole slip body during the failure movement.
Consequently, the calculated safety factors will be
increased. However, FOS calculated by both methods
indicates that the slope is barely stable, and any small
local/global disturbance may further reduce the FOS
and cause failure.
It is observed that the failure surface and locations
estimated by the two numerical methods match with
the field observation and records. Similarly, it has been
observed that upper benches are stable whereas the
200 lower two benches are continuously under high stress
and under hydrostatic conditions which leads to pro-
gressive failure. The tension cracks observed in the
field can be found in almost all benches, but the promi-
nent cracks are present only in the lower benches which
open in a scissor-like manner and widen due to the
accumulation of stress (Fig. 8). This migrates deeper
and deeper, and once it finds a free surface ahead,
slides down. The failure surface is near circular in
nature which is in agreement with the field findings.
Assessment of slope stability and slide risk requires
reliable geotechnical models with respect to topogra-
phy, stratification, stress conditions and soil param-
eters. This was a challenge for the planning and
execution of the investigation programs as well as
during interpretation, and geotechnical modeling.
It required strong interaction between the geo-
disciplines with integration of geophysical data, geo-
logical and geotechnical, interpretation and modeling
and with more or less continuous updating and refine-
ment during the investigation programme carried out
during the last three years.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are thankful to the Department of Science
and Technology, New Delhi, for providing financial
assistance to complete the work.
REFERENCES
Bartarya, S.K. & Valdiya, K.S. 1989. Landslides and ero-
sion in the catchments of The Gaula river, Kumaun Lesser
997
 Himalaya, India. Mountain Research and Development
9: 405–419.
Bishop, A.W. 1955. The use of the slip circles in the stability
analysis of slopes. Geotechnique 1: 7–17.
Chihsen, T.L. & Bernard, A. 1996. Extensions of discontin-
uous deformation analysis for jointed rock masses. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Miner. Sci. 33(7): 671–694.
Cundall, P.A. 1976. Explicit finite difference methods in
geomechanics. In Proceedings of the Second International
Conference Num. Meth. Geomech., Blacksburg, Virginia,
vol. I, pp. 132–150.
Cundall, P.A. & Strack, O.D.L. 1979. A discrete numerical
model for granular assemblies. Geotechnique 29: 47–65.
Duncan, J.M. 1996. State of the art, limit equilibrium and
finite-element analysis of slopes. J. Geotech. Eng, ASCE
122(7): 577–596.
Griffiths, D.V. 1982. Computation of bearing capacity factors
using finite elements. Geotechnique 32(3): 195–202.
Griffiths, D.V. & Lane, P.A. 1999. Slope stability analysis by
finite elements. Geotechnique 49(3): 387–403.
ISRM 1979. Suggested method for determining water con-
tent, porosity, density, absorption and related properties
and swelling and durability index properties. Int. J. Rock
Mech. 16(2): 141–156.
ISRM 1980. Suggested methods for determination of com-
pressive strength. Int. Soc. Rock Mech. Comm. Lab.
Tests.
Itasca Consulting Group Inc. 1999a. PFC2D (Particle Flow
code in 2-Dimensions), vers. 1.1. Minneapolis: ICG.
Itasca Consulting Group Inc. 1999b. PFC3D (Particle Flow
Code in 3 Dimensions), version 1.1. Minneapolis: ICG.
998
Itasca Consulting Group Inc. 1995. FLAC/SLOPE, version
5.0. Minneapolis: ICG.
Janbu, N. 1954. Application of composite slip surfaces for
stability analysis. In Eur. Conf. Stability of Earth Slopes,
vol. 3, pp. 43–49.
Janbu, N. 1957. Earth pressure and bearing capacity by gen-
eralized procedure of slices. In Proceedings of the Fourth
International Conference on Soil Mechanics, vol. 2.
pp. 207–212.
Pant, P.D. & Luirei, K. 1999. Malpa rockfalls of 18th august
1998 in the northeastern Kumaun Himalaya. Geol. Soc.
India 54: 415–420.
PLAXIS 2006. http://www.plaxis.nl
Shukla, U.K. & Pant, C.C. 1996. Facies analysis of the
Late Proterozoic Nagthat Formation, Nainital Hills,
Kumaun Lesser Himalaya. Geological Society of India 47:
431–445.
Singh, T.N., Verma, A.K., Verma, V. & Sahu, A. 2004. Slake
durability study of shaly rock and it’s predictions. Int. J.
Environmental Geology 47: 246–252.
Spencer, E. 1967. A method of analysis of the stabil-
ity of embankments assuming parallel interslice forces.
Geotechnique 17(1): 11–26.
Valdiya, K.S. 1988. Geology and natural environment of
Nainital hills. Gyanodaya Prakashan, Nainital, 300 pp.
Valdiya, K.S. 1995. Accelerated erosion and landslides prone
zones in the Himalayan region. Gyanodaya Prakashan,
Nainital, pp. 39–53.
Dams & Hydroelectric Projects
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
A hydroelectric utility client’s view of rock engineering consultants

B.D. Ripley
BC Hydro, British Columbia, Canada

D.P. Moore
Consulting Engineer, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

A.D. Watson
BC Hydro, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT: BC Hydro is an electric utility located in mountainous terrain with a broad range of valuable
assets built in a variety of rock masses ranging from massive granite to weak shale. Examples of significant rock
structures that are vital to BC Hydro’s operations include dam foundations, underground powerhouses, land-
slides, power and diversion tunnels, open cut excavations, canals, and foundations for powerhouses, penstocks,
and transmission towers. Rock engineering processes include site characterization, monitoring, modeling and
interpretation, design, construction, long-term surveillance and maintenance. These processes typically span
decades and even a relatively young utility like BC Hydro maintains facilities that are almost 100 years old.
With a significant rock-related workload, BC Hydro is well-experienced with a variety of rock engineering con-
sultants. The paper explores this experience and presents characteristics of a great rock engineering consultant,
from a hydroelectric utility client’s perspective.

1 HYDRO ROCK ASSETS

BC Hydro is a public owned electric utility serving

customers in British Columbia, Canada. It has over
10 GW of generating capacity of which about 90% is
hydroelectric, over 18,000 km of 60 to 500 kV trans-
mission lines and substations that are managed and
operated by BC Transmission Corporation, and over
55,000 km of distribution lines and substations.
British Columbia has a geographic area of 95 mil-
lion hectares and is approximately 1,400 km long and
650 km wide, with very diverse topography (Fig. 1).
The western, coastal areas are mountainous with rain-
forests, fjords and glaciers. Inland and mid-province,
there are dry, desert-like valleys and plateaus. To the
east are mountain ranges including the Rocky Moun-
tains and in the northeast corner are rolling hills and
plains similar to the Prairies. BC was glaciated several
times, yielding complex surficial geology and com- Figure 1. Satellite image of British Columbia.
monly, over steepened rock slopes. Climate ranges
from temperate in the southern coastal area with mean BC Hydro has many rock assets. It has over 30 dams
monthly temperature typically ranging from 18 to including concrete gravity, concrete multiple arch,
4◦ C between summer and winter months, to severe concrete gravity arch, earthfill, rockfill, and shotcrete-
in the northeast with seasonal mean monthly temper- faced rockfill, ranging in height from 6 to 242 m. The
atures ranging from about 16 to −15◦ C. Precipitation larger dams such as Bennett, Mica, Revelstoke (Fig. 2),
also varies greatly, often over short distances due to Peace Canyon, Seven Mile and Terzaghi were designed
orthographic effects. and constructed in the 1950’s to 1980’s. Many of the

1001
Figure 2. Revelstoke dam.
Figure 3. Checkerboard Creek rock slope.
smaller to medium-sized dams such as Alouette, Stave
Falls, Ruskin and Whatshan were constructed in the
1910’s to 1950’s by private electricity companies that
preceded the formation of BC Hydro.
BC Hydro’s reservoirs and facilities are impacted by
many large landslides such as Downie, Checkerboard
Creek (Fig. 3), Dutchman’s Ridge, Little Chief, The
Barrier, and Wahleach. These slides range in volume
from 2 Mm3 to 1500 Mm3 . Dutchman’s and Downie
have been stabilized using drainage systems.
Two of the generating facilities have large under-
ground powerhouses, GM Shrum located at Bennett
Dam, and Mica. GM Shrum powerhouse has a span of
20 m and includes ten 273 MW units. Mica has a span
of 25 m and includes four 435 MW units, with space
for an additional 2 future units. These underground
powerhouses also include pressure, tailrace, access,
ventilation, drainage, and cable tunnels and shafts.
1002
Figure 4. Stave Falls pressure tunnel shotcrete lined for
hydraulic efficiency.
Eighteen of the generating facilities have pressure
tunnels and shafts, ranging in size from 2 to 7 m
width, and head from 12 to 500 m. Tunnel lining types
include unlined, shotcrete (Fig. 4), concrete, concrete-
backfilled steel, and free-standing steel penstocks
within atmospheric tunnels.
Other significant rock assets include tunnel and
drillhole drainage systems for dams and landslides;
open cut excavations for spillways, intakes and access
roads; powerhouse foundations; penstock foundations;
canals; and transmission tower foundations.
These rock assets are located in a variety of rock
mass conditions. Igneous rock ranges from massive
to moderately jointed at Seven Mile, Whatshan and
at depth at Wahleach, to micro-fractured and soil-
like at surface at Wahleach, to recent volcanics at
Cheakamus. Metamorphic rock ranges from massive
to moderately jointed gneiss at Mica to highly foli-
ated and sheared gneiss and mica schist at Revelstoke.
Sedimentary rock ranges from thickly bedded, mod-
erately strong sandstones and shales at GM Shrum, to
thinly bedded and weak shales at Peace Canyon and
Site C, which is being considered for future devel-
opment. Major fault zones are present at many sites,
including the Columbia River fault in the foundation
of Revelstoke Dam. Groundwater conditions are usu-
ally complex with large pressure differences across
geological structures and can include both very high
heads and flows.
BC Hydro is an electric utility with highly valuable
rock assets, located in geologically diverse mountain-
ous terrain, which provides many challenges for rock
engineering.
2 HYDROELECTRIC ROCK ENGINEERING staff, experienced with the site and capable of making
ISSUES sound, timely decisions.
Although construction of new electricity genera-
The hydroelectric industry is one of the most conser- tion, transmission and distribution systems is very
vative in our society, and for good reason. The assets active in the developing world and some independent
are very expensive to design and construct, and even power projects are being developed in BC, for BC
more expensive to replace. The asset lifetimes are very Hydro, the current and foreseeable focus will be on the
long, being many tens to well over one-hundred years. assessment and maintenance of existing assets, with a
A licence is required for the operation of reservoirs limited amount of redevelopment and new assets.
with the expectation that the dam safety risk is very
low as a result of the often extreme consequences of
dam failure to life and property. The importance of
3 CONSULTANT ROLES
a reliable electricity supply to our economy is also
great, which usually justifies a conservative approach
BC Hydro has a large in-house engineering capacity
to design and operation of non-dam facilities. Almost
and significant expertise in rock engineering. There is
all electric utilities are regulated and face detailed
more work than people however, and in 2006 approx-
scrutiny of decisions.
imately 100 person-years of engineering work were
Thus, there is a need for greater certainty in an
performed for BC Hydro by consultants, for all types of
electric utility’s operation compared to most other
work including rock engineering. Clearly, engineering
industries. Rock engineering, however, is most often
consultants are important to BC Hydro, and BC Hydro
highly uncertain because of complex and variable geo-
is well-experienced with working with consultants.
logic conditions. The challenge becomes how to be
Rock engineering consultants are often hired as
conservative yet flexible and adaptive. This challenge
exploration, design and construction resources, both
is met by investing in a detailed understanding of the
as consulting firms taking on a large portion of a
site and its performance, and utilizing the best pos-
project and as individuals to supplement a BC Hydro
sible resources to assess problems and develop and
team. Specialists are extensively used to supplement
review solutions. For complex rock problems, engi-
project teams and provide particular expertise such
neering judgement always plays a pivotal role in final
as geologic mapping, drilling, instrumentation design,
solutions.
numerical analysis, construction inspection, blasting
All rock engineering starts with site exploration
and shotcrete.
and characterization, including surface and under-
Review boards and advisory boards are used, par-
ground mapping, drilling, test excavations, sampling,
ticularly for dam safety and construction projects.
laboratory testing and geophysics. Extensive use is
Review board work tends to focus on technical ade-
made of instrumentation such as survey monuments,
quacy, while advisory board work tends to focus on
piezometers, weirs, inclinometers and extensometers
policy and standards, and they share a common inter-
to develop an understanding of conditions to verify
est in ensuring that risks are properly identified and
assumptions and to detect deteriorating conditions.
are well mitigated.
Design related work includes dam foundations, under-
Consultants are also retained for BC Hydro work by
ground excavations, open-cut excavations, drainage
regulators such as the Provincial Controller of Water
systems, rock mass support, and monitoring systems.
Rights, the engineering firms described above, gen-
Often, because of changing seismic withstand
eral construction contractors, specialty subcontractors
criteria, evolving engineering tools or unexpected
such as drilling and excavation, specialty material sup-
behaviour, decisions made during design and construc-
pliers such as shotcrete and grouting, and specialty
tion could be repeatedly re-evaluated many years later.
equipment suppliers such as instrumentation and rock
Therefore, design, construction, monitoring, inspec-
anchors.
tion and maintenance records are detailed and are
long term project assets. They are used throughout the
asset lifetime by generations of engineers and technol-
ogists for understanding specific design details and 4 GREAT ROCK ENGINEERING
performance, and to develop a “feel” for the spe- CONSULTANTS
cific behaviour of the site and for the thinking and
engineering judgement applied. Rock engineers, unlike most other engineers, face
Continuous monitoring of instruments and alarm specific challenges including the profound under-
thresholds for large landslides and some dam founda- sampling and uncertainty of geological knowledge
tions is conducted on a 24 hour per day, 7 days per in nature, the highly site specific nature of their
week basis for the long lifetime of the asset. This engineering solutions, and the need to have reliable
requires the ongoing availability of knowledgeable results, despite these limitations (Hutchinson et al.

1003
2004). The highly variable geologic, climatic and topo-
graphic nature of BC means that most rock engineering
projects are complex. For this reason, among others,
BC Hydro tends to weigh the experience, unique skills
and knowledge of rock engineering consultants more
heavily than typically considered in other engineering
disciplines. It is our experience that the following char-
acteristics are the foundation for a great experience and
relationship in working with consultants. It is recog-
nized that this relationship can only be achieved if the
client has a complementary set of characteristics.
1) The rock engineering consultant has technical
excellence founded in education and experience
for both the individuals and company as a whole.
The consultant knows the bounds and limitations
of their expertise and does not work outside those
bounds.
2) The rock engineering consultant strives to under-
stand the requirements of the many engineering,
environmental and other disciplines involved in
the project and responds appropriately to these
requirements.
3) Project deliverables such as reports, drawings and
specifications are on scope, on schedule and pro-
fessional. Work products are checked, reviewed
by senior practitioners and documented quality
assurance processes are used.
4) There is frequent, clear, friendly, open and two-
way communication, both formal and informal.
Both consultant and client are very busy and it is
vital that they keep each other up to date on their
progress so their work supports each other.
5) The consultant is very curious and asks questions
that help to define the problems, the approaches
and the solutions. Curiosity promotes learning and
deepens understanding for both organizations.
6) Our thinking and direction as a client is politely
and respectfully challenged. The consultant tells
us what we need to hear, not what it thinks we
want to hear, and in doing so provides straight-up
advice without understatement or exaggeration.
7) The consultant invests in learning the history of
our sites, practices, people, and our operations
and maintenance needs. Our history is filled with
unique stories that provide clues and lessons about
what is important, what works and what doesn’t
work, and why.
8) The consultant seeks to understand our perfor-
mance criteria so they can be met and also so
they can be challenged and improved. The consul-
tant understands our need for a robust design and
that overly aggressive solutions can often be ques-
tioned in the long-term and can lead to reworking
of solutions and design.
9) The consultant provides the best people possi-
ble and keeps them on the project, ensuring their
1004
availability to respond to both day-to-day and
urgent requests. If the availability of key people
is restricted, the consultant clearly communicates
that availability without overstating it.
10) We respect and leverage each other’s knowledge
and experience. We take advantage of teamwork
and draw on each others strengths – our detailed
knowledge of our assets and operating experience
and the consultant’s broad experience.
11) The consultant brings experience from other
projects, other clients, other industries – the more
the better. Utility organizations can be insular
because they are so focused on their own asset
base. Consultants can provide a welcome and
needed breath of fresh thinking.
12) The consultant knows leading edge technology,
when to use it and when not to use it. Great con-
sultants show us and tell us about their own and
others innovations and help us decide if we want
to try it out. This includes both field and office
applications.
13) The consultant strikes the right balance between
theoretical knowledge and practical experience.
Both are highly valuable and both contribute
significantly to sound engineering judgement.
14) The consultant provides alternatives with pros and
cons and recommended solutions. We broaden
each others thinking by developing and evaluating
a range of options and providing choice. The best
solutions are often at the periphery of the obvious.
15) Recognition by the consultant that they are part
of a much larger team and are part of one phase
in long term, multi-phase asset development and
management.
16) The consulting services are provided at reasonable
cost. If the above characteristics are provided, then
good value will be provided.
5 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following are papers selected to illustrate some of
the cooperative efforts between BC Hydro and rock
engineering consultants.
REFERENCES
Charlwood, R.G., Little, T.E. & Lou, J.K. 2000. A review of
the performance of two large substations and eight large
dams during the Chi Chi Taiwan earthquake. Institute
for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, ICLR Research Paper
Series – No. 6, 44 pp.
Hanna, A. & Little, T.E. 1992. Studies of rebound charac-
teristics of the Shaftesbury Shales at a damsite in British
Columbia. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 29: 375–392.
Hoek, E. & Imrie,A.S. 1995. Consulting Boards for large civil
engineering projects. Water Power and Dam Construction
47(8): 33–34.
Hutchinson, D.J., Harrap, R., Ball, D., Diederichs, M. &
Kjelland, N. 2004. Development of geotechnical sensor
network analysis capabilities for slope stability moni-
toring, within a GIS based decision support system. In
Lacerda et al. (eds.), Landslides: Evaluation and Sta-
bilization, Proc. 9th Int. Symp. on Landslides, Rio de
Janeiro. Leiden: Balkema, pp. 759–765.
Imrie, A.S. & Jory, L.T. 1968. Behaviour of the underground
powerhouse arch at the WAC Bennett dam during exca-
vation. In Proceedings 5th Canadian Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Toronto.
Imrie, A.S. & Campbell, D.D. 1976. Engineering geol-
ogy of the Mica Underground Powerplant. In Pro-
ceedings, Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conference,
Las Vegas.
1005
Little, T.E., VanDine, D.F. & Sutherland-Brown, A. 1992. An
airphoto study to locate ground surface rupture caused
by the 1946 earthquake on Vancouver Island, British
Columbia. In Proc. GeoHazards ’92, Geotechnique and
Natural Hazards Conference, Vancouver, pp. 183–192.
Patton, F.D. 2006.The role of the Downie Slide in the develop-
ment of 3D groundwater instrumentation. In Proceedings,
59th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Vancouver.
Ripley, B.D., Rapp, P.A. & Morgan, D.R. 1998. Shotcrete
design, construction and quality control for the Stave Falls
tunnels. Journal of the Tunnelling Association of Canada,
September 1998.
Watson, A.D., Martin, C.D., Moore, D.P., Stewart, T.W.G. &
Lorig, L.J. 2006. Integration of geology, monitoring and
modelling to assess rockslide risk. Felsbau 24(3): 50–58.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Estimating rock mass strength for a concrete dam founded on good rock:
Blind Slough Dam, British Columbia, Canada

M.S. Lawrence
BC Hydro Engineering, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

C.D. Martin
Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT: Blind Slough Dam, an 18 m high concrete gravity dam was constructed in 1922 and has performed
satisfactorily since construction. In 1995, as part of BC Hydro’s dam safety program the dam was reviewed for
the maximum design earthquake ground motions. Based on the results of dynamic structural stability analysis it
was determined that anchoring the dam to the rock foundations was the optimal means of increasing the seismic
withstand of the facility for current predicted ground motions. An investigation program including detailed
mapping of exposures in the immediate vicinity of the dam, in-situ borehole testing, down-the-hole geophysics,
and core drilling was carried out to supplement limited construction, historic drilling and instrumentation records.
The rock mass strength parameters and the shear strengths on large undulating through-going discontinuities,
were based on the geology and tectonic setting, detailed mapping of the dominant geological structures and
data obtained from field joint-mapping and borehole testing. A carefully developed geological model based on
detailed field mapping and investigations allowed realistic strengths to be selected for input to the seismic design
(including earthquake and post-earthquake stability analyses) and to minimize the number and length of anchors
required to achieve the desired seismic withstand.

1 INTRODUCTION to fill information gaps and retrieve fresh core for

Many dam structures around the world are reaching
an age where out of necessity structural, seismic and
flood withstand capabilities have been or are being
reassessed. This is due in part to improved understand-
ing of seismic and flood hazards (embodied in modern
design codes, guidelines and/or standards) and in part
to deterioration of the concrete structures. For existing
dams approaching 50 or more years old, incomplete
or limited construction records require various inves-
tigative methods to characterise the foundation and
arrive at realistic failure modes and rock strengths for
remedial designs.
Invariably, the foundation beneath the dam being
evaluated is no longer visible, and opportunities to
inspect the foundation geology may be limited to expo-
sures downstream of existing structures. Mapping of
limited exposed rock has to be reconciled with incom-
plete construction records, historic drilling records
and perhaps construction photographs. Any previous
core drilling may be limited in quality compared with
modern drilling techniques and logging procedures. In
most cases additional investigation holes are drilled
evaluation.
Rock mass quality is often assessed from avail-
able drill core using empirical classification meth-
ods, namely RMR76 (Bienawski 1988) and Q-System
(Barton 1988). The RMR76 and Q-System methods
were originally developed to estimate support require-
ments for underground rock excavations, often using
information collected from drill core. The limitations
of such systems in estimating rock mass behaviour and
strength have been discussed by Stille & Palmstrom
(2003) and Riedmüller & Schubert (1999). Estimat-
ing the strength of dam foundations in hard rock is
particularly challenging because of the low confin-
ing stress and interlocking that is often found in such
foundations. Marinos & Hoek (2000) introduced the
Geological Strength Index (GSI) for characterising
rock mass behaviour, and Hoek et al. (2002) provided
a methodology for linking GSI to rock mass strength
that is particularly applicable to areally exposed rock
such as in dam foundations.
This paper describes some of the challenges
encountered in understanding the foundation geology,
classifying the foundation rock mass and estimating

1007
Figure 1. Location map.

rock mass strength parameters for an 80 year old

concrete dam in BC Hydro’s hydro-electric system.

2 BLIND SLOUGH DAM

Figure 2. Blind Slough Dam and spillway channel showing
plunge pool and extent of exposed rock.
Blind Slough Dam was built in 1922, and is located
near Mission in the Lower Mainland region of south
western British Columbia, Canada, approximately
65 km east of Vancouver (Fig. 1). The dam is a spill-
way facility of the Stave Falls Project consisting of
an 18 m high concrete-gravity structure including two
non-overflow sections, four tainter gate spillway bays
and ten sluiceway gate bays (Fig. 2). Blind Slough Dam
is one of three dams in the Ruskin-Stave Falls system
impounding two reservoirs covering 3,500 Ha with a
combined generating capacity of 196 MW.
The dam has performed satisfactorily since con-
struction, but as part of BC Hydro’s dam safety
program, the dam was found to have insufficient
withstand for the current predicted maximum design Figure 3. Typical section through spillway gate pier.
earthquake ground motions. The results of dynamic
structural stability analyses determined that anchoring various piezometer installations (in 1981 and 1983)
the dam to the rock foundations was the optimal means and geological mapping in 1995 were available.
of increasing the seismic withstand of the facility. In To supplement limited construction records, a site
order to optimise the remedial design it was neces- investigation program was completed in 2004. It con-
sary to characterise the rock foundation and arrive at sisted of detailed structural geological field mapping,
realistic failure modes and rock mass properties. This regional geological review, HQ (TT) diamond core
was achieved by developing an engineering geological drilling (8 drillholes with 245 m of 61 mm diameter
model of the foundation that carefully considered the core), down-the-hole geophysical (optical televiewer,
site-specific geological conditions within the context caliper and full-wave sonic) logging, in-situ pres-
of the regional geological setting. suremeter testing, laboratory core testing and LIDAR
Construction records were limited to exploratory topographic surveying.
drilling between 1911 and 1924 (with few details)
and drawings showing the configuration and sequence
3 ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL MODEL
of concrete lifts. From these, sections were con-
structed through the dam and the foundation rock
3.1 Geological setting
profile (Fig. 3). Photographs taken during construc-
tion show some of the rock excavations prior to Blind Slough Dam is located on a faulted sequence of
placing concrete. As well, drill core and logs from early Jurassic to late Cretaceous crystalline plutonic

1008
Figure 4. Geological map and rock mass zones showing mapped shears and extent of investigation drilling.
rocks of the Western Coast Belt. The foundation rock
is a hard, hornblende-bearing quartz diorite belonging
to the Mt. Jasper Suite (187–145 Ma). The rock is
massive with variable chlorite, epidote and lesser
serpentinite alteration.
Regionally the geological structure is dominated by
late Cretaceous to early-Tertiary (94–64 Ma) northeast
trending thrust and high angle reverse faults (Coast
Belt Thrust System). At the dam a suite of northwest
trending structures comprises the 30 to 35 m wide
Bazooka Shear Zone and underlies the tainter gate
spillway section (Fig. 4). This zone is thought to be a
possible continuation or a footwall splay of the Ashlu
Creek Fault; a network of steeply dipping, ductile and
brittle-ductile, shear zones (pers. comm. Journeay).
The Bazooka Shear Zone consists of five distinct fault
or shear strands, which are well exposed downstream
of the dam in the spillway channel and were success-
fully intercepted in the drill core. The shears generally
dip 75◦ –85◦ to the southwest. Some of the shears are
associated with hydrothermally altered felsic dykes
(Fig. 4).
Based on detailed mapping, the shears appear
to be brittle-ductile deformation zones with initial
high-angle reverse displacement and later strike-slip
displacements (pers. comm. Journeay). They are con-
cluded to be small strain structures on the order of
several 10’s of metres as suggested by thin (mm
scale) silty and sandy gouges and breccias. This is in
1009
contrast to major fault structures where displacements
of 100’s to 1000’s of metres would typically generate
thick, continuous and often clay-bound gouge and fine
crushed-rock breccias.
3.2 Rock mass zones
The engineering geological model for the foundation
rock beneath Blind Slough Dam was based on subdi-
viding the foundation into four distinct zones based on
rock mass characteristics and with boundaries along
major geological structures (Fig. 4). The rock mass
characteristics are summarized for each zone in Table 1
and an example of the drill core quality is shown
in Figure 5. Rock mass classifications were deter-
mined using the Q-system (Barton 1988), and RMR76
(Bienawski 1988). For Q , neutral ratings were adopted
for groundwater and discontinuity orientation. The
GSI was applied largely based on mapping of the
exposed rock; the distinction between the Bazooka
Shear Zone (rock mass zone BSZ) and the other zones
is very clear.
Intact rock strengths were obtained on laboratory
core tests and over 100 point load tests. The normalised
point load strengths (Is50 ) were corrected to equivalent
unconfined compressive strengths (UCS) using a fac-
tor of 23 as determined by correlation with laboratory
strength tests (Table 1).
Table 1. Rock mass classifications.

UCS
Zone RQD (MPa) Q RMR76 GSI

RAZ 32–50 50–230 1.5–5.3 54–66 55–65

BSZ 10–38 15–140 0.4–2.4 39–49 40–50
TZ 20–60 50–275 1.6–5.0 47–52 50–60
SGZ 22–44 75–305 1.4–8.3 55–65 55–65

Notes: Range of RQD values is mean ± 1 s.d.; RAZ =

Right Abutment Zone; BSZ = Bazooka Shear Zone;
TZ = Transition Zone; SGZ = Sluiceway Gate Zone.

Figure 6. Sheared felsic dyke forms the left boundary of the

Bazooka Shear Zone (tainter gate spillway in background).

Figure 5. Typical drill core quality

.

The Bazooka Shear Zone dominates the geology at

the dam and is distinctive in forming the deeper part of
the foundation at the old river channel. The margins of
the zone are very well defined by major shears (Fig. 4).
The weaker rock comprising the shears and altered fel-
sic dykes is susceptible to weathering and erosion, and
pronounced notches have formed along some of the
shears (Fig. 6). Notably, in the shear zone immediately
downstream of the spillway, the rock profile plunges
some 10 m below normal tailwater level due in part to
scouring of the weaker rock during spills (Figs. 2, 4).
The rock in this zone is well jointed with anastamosing
and undulating rough joints and feldspar veins, which
define interlocking blocks of varying sizes and shapes.
Even though the exposed weathered rock surface
is readily broken by hand or by gentle hammer blows
and the veins can be crushed by a single blow from
a rock hammer, the rock mass is tightly interlocked
(Fig. 7). It is particularly evident that the veins, which
show small shear displacements, are well healed and
are offset by many cross-cuts. Within this zone there is
a wide range of intact rock strengths (Table 1) largely
related to variations in joint/vein spacing, and because
veining is on a scale smaller than the UCS sample
size. In some of the drillholes with higher RQD values
less intense veining is associated with higher strengths
approaching 100 MPa or more.
Figure 7. Vein structure observed in the Bazooka Shear
Zone, resulting in a tightly interlocked rock mass.
The best quality rock is found in the abutments and
beneath the sluiceway gate section of the dam (Fig. 4),
with the higher RQD and GSI values consistent with
blocky rock in good surface condition (Table 1). Veins
are noticeably less prevalent in the rock away from the
Bazooka Shear Zone. Most of the jointing is closely to
moderately spaced, mainly steeply dipping and largely
discontinuous.
There is a noted difference between measured RQD
values in some of the 2004 drill core when compared
with the 1983 drillholes, and this posed a challenge
when determining rock mass classifications. This is
likely due to differences in logging procedures, in that
in 2004 the weakly cemented veins were included as
natural breaks whereas they may have been less con-
servatively excluded in earlier investigations. As well,

1010
Table 2. Mohr-Coulomb rock mass strengths. Table 3. Major structural trends.

Rock mass zone Cohesion (MPa) Friction (◦ ) Discontinuity Dip direction/dip*

RAZ 0.6–1.5 60–66 Set Optical Field

BSZ 0.3–0.9 42–61 (trend) Type televiewer mapping
TZ 0.5–1.7 55–67
SGZ 0.7–2.5 60–68 Set 1 Joints & 206/02 134/05
(flat-lying) veins
Note: The strength ranges reflect variations in RQD and GSI. Set 2 Joints, veins 206/85 206/80
(WNW) dykes & shears
Set 3 Joints & 103/80 110/80
(N-S) veins
although similar drilling methods were used in both
investigations, differences in drill rigs, equipment and Note: *Major pole to contoured pole cluster.
driller’s operations may also account for some differ-
ences in the measured RQD values. Unfortunately, it
was not possible to quantify and make allowances for
the latter.

4 ROCK MASS STRENGTHS

Rock mass strengths for the foundation zones were

estimated using the GSI values and the Hoek-
Brown Criterion for determining non-linear strength
envelopes for rock masses (Hoek et. al. 2002). In this
case, a value of 25 for the material constant, mi was
selected as being typical for medium grained dior-
ite, downgraded from 28 for coarse diorite (Hoek &
Brown 1997). This was further reduced to 20 for the
Bazooka Shear Zone to reflect the effect of alteration
and shearing.
It was considered appropriate that some allowance
should be made for the effects of excavation dam-
age. Obviously, the foundation surface could not be
inspected, so reliance was placed on construction pho-
tographs. These were limited and did not show much
detail. However, a disturbance factor (D) of 0.25 (see
Hoek et. al. 2002) was selected to represent small-scale
damage typical of localised spot-blasting techniques in
the 1920’s, while recognising that the excavated sur-
faces would have been carefully cleaned of loose open
jointed rock. As the anchor design was being anal-
ysed using rigid-block stability methods, equivalent
linear strength (Mohr-Coulomb) envelope parameters;
i.e. cohesion and friction values were selected from
the non-linear envelopes based on the predicted stress
range (0 to 1.0 MPa) for the dam structure (Table 2).
5 DISCONTINUITIES AND FAILURE MODES
The rock mass at Blind Slough Dam is well jointed and
veined, with three dominant orthogonal discontinuity
sets (Table 3). Optical televiewer (OTV) logging in the
2004 drillholes collected high quality oriented discon-
tinuity data and supplemented the data collected by
field mapping. As the data indicates there is excellent
Figure 8. Flat-lying exfoliation joints downstream of the
dam in the left bank.
agreement between the OTV and the field mapping
measurements. Many of the joints are of relatively
short persistence and measure only a few metres and
are generally medium to widely spaced. The majority
of joints are fresh or slightly weathered, tight and clean
with no infills.
A number of near flat-lying exfoliation or “sheet-
ing” joints were mapped immediately downstream
of the dam (Fig. 8). These joints are generally very
widely spaced at 3 to 3.5 m and were traced in the
upstream-downstream direction over distances up to
30 m. Locally, they are more closely spaced at around
1 m but are much less persistent, being only a few
metres long. The joints are variably oriented being sub-
parallel to the topographic surface with dips ranging
from 16◦ upstream to 18◦ downstream, and a mean
inclination at the dam of 5◦ downstream. By compar-
ison, the drillhole data suggests a dominant upstream
dip of just 2◦ .
Near the surface, the exfoliation joints are locally
weathered and iron stained, open where scoured by
water flow, undulating and rough to very rough, but
at depth they are essentially tight with no infilling. In

1011
some instances the joints are characterised by a zone
up to 150 mm thick of very closely spaced joints with
chloritic alteration, but thinning rapidly to a clean tight
joint and then into intact rock within a few metres. At
first appearance, some of the joints may be mistaken
for thin chloritic shears or breccias and may account for
the “possible shears” interpreted in earlier drill cores.
Previously it had been thought that no extensive
flat-lying exfoliation joints were expected below the
dam. The 2004 field mapping confirmed at least 4 con-
tinuous (>10 m scale) joints at various elevations
immediately below the dam foundation including a
prominent joint at the apron toe. Given the profile
of the dam foundation based on construction draw-
ings and drillhole intercepts it was assumed that two
or more exfoliation joints could extend beneath the
dam as shown in Figure 3. These joints provided kine-
matically feasible failure surfaces that were included
in the stability analysis.
In 1983, a flat-lying “shear” consisting of 100 mm
breccia with minor gouge was mapped beneath the
sluiceway gate section. It was exposed beneath an
eroding section of concrete apron, but is now con-
cealed beneath a concrete patch that was installed in
1985, and is no longer visible for inspection. In four
nearby drillholes, no flat-lying shear-like features were
encountered; instead only narrow clean open joints
or tight broken rock zones, similar to that seen in
the exposed exfoliation joints, were intercepted. Con-
struction photos were inspected for evidence of visible
flat-lying shears or joints. The flat-lying “shear” could
not be traced with any certainty and was concluded
to be either impersistent having been removed by
excavation for the dam foundation or a discontinuous
exfoliation-type joint containing pseudo-brecciated
rock. The flat-lying exfoliation joints were consid-
ered to be the most likely kinematically feasible failure
mechanism beneath part of the sluiceway gate section;
there being none beneath the deeper founded tainter
gate spillway.
Veins are present throughout the foundation rock.
They are generally less than 2 mm wide with a weak,
occasionally iron-stained, chloritic altered feldspar
and quartz infill. In weathered exposures the weak
infillings are easily scraped with a knife and can be
readily broken in the drill core. Indeed 30% of the
point load tests were rejected due to failure along the
pre-existing weak veins.
The steeply dipping shears in the Bazooka Shear
Zone typically range in thickness between 100 and
200 mm, and consist of partially healed, tight, crushed
rock and breccia with a thin soft rusty chloritic altered
silty/sandy gouge (5 to 50 mm wide) as seen in
Figure 9. Some of the shears are associated with a
1.2 to 3 m wide chloritic altered felsic dykes, which
are also sheared. The steep shears are considered to
be the least likely failure mechanism due to horizontal
1012
Figure 9. Typical shear showing 200 mm of healed crushed
rock with a thin chloritic silty gouge.
confinement and the compact tight nature of all the dis-
continuities. Significantly more plunge pool erosion
downstream of the tainter gate spillway is required to
undermine the dam toe and increase the potential for
daylighting of the shear planes.
6 DISCONTINUITY STRENGTHS
The strengths of the major discontinuities in the
rock foundation were estimated using Barton’s Shear
Strength Criterion (Barton & Bandis 1991). The basic
friction angle (øb ) was measured on dry core samples
using the Stimpson (1981) tilt table test, and the results
corrected for submerged rock conditions by subtract-
ing 3◦ (based on tabulated data in Barton & Choubey
1977) to obtain basic wet friction angles. From 20 tests
a narrow range of angles (35◦ to 41◦ ) was measured,
and a mean of 39◦ was selected. It has been shown that
Stimpson’s test method can lead to an overestimate of
the basic friction angle when compared to direct shear
testing (Wines & Lilley 2003). This is thought to be
due to the difference between relatively uneven core
surfaces compared to saw cut surfaces or natural joint
surfaces used in direct shear tests. Based on the results
of their work an equivalent wet direct shear friction
angle of 36◦ was adopted.
Joint roughness was measured in the field, but
instead of relying on the conventional joint roughness
coefficient (JRC) originally designed for joints on a
scale of 10 to 500 cm in length, a scale factor nomi-
nally set at 10 m was necessary and appropriate for the
scale of the dam. For the flat-lying exfoliation joints,
with amplitudes of 50 to 250 mm, this has the effect of
reducing the estimated shear strength compared with
that obtained for shorter joint lengths. Given the rough-
ness of the joints, their orientation and the low normal
stress (0.5 to 0.l5 MPa) from the dam and relatively
limited effects of weathering a peak strength on these
joints of c = 120 kPa, ø = 56◦ (or ø = 60◦ for c = 0)
was used in the anchor design.
In early structural analyses the contact between the
concrete at the base of the dam and the rock founda-
tion had been treated as a uniform dipping plane from
the heel of the dam to the toe. Re-interpreted sections
of the dam, based on construction records (such as
that shown in Fig. 3) show considerable rock-surface
topography. The estimated shear strength along the
concrete-rock interface was based on an assumed fully
unbonded contact (i.e. c = 0), a basic friction angle
estimated at 37◦ (from Lo et. al., 1991) and a roughness
(i) that ranged from 10 to 20◦ based on the interpreted
sections. For design purposes, ø = 52◦ was selected for
the concrete-rock interface, although it was realised
that failure along the just the concrete-rock contact was
kinematically unlikely. This resulted in a reinterpreta-
tion of the assumed geometry for stability analyses
based on the likely failure mode involving exfoliation
joints.
The foregoing strengths are estimated peak
strengths used in the design for the earthquake load
case and assume that some displacement occurs during
the earthquake for peak strengths to be mobilised (i.e.
about 1% of the joint length, Barton & Choubey 1977).
For the post-earthquake load case it was assumed that
displacements in the range of 50 mm or so might occur
(i.e. approximately 2% strain), and that friction angles
could be reduced by 2 or 3◦ .
7 DISCUSSION
The foundation rock mass at Blind Slough Dam
consists of generally strong to very strong, quartz
diorite; but it is well jointed and contains through-
going subvertical shears associated with weathered
and hydrothermally altered dykes with brecciated
gouges. The subvertical Bazooka Shear Zone is a very
prominent feature underlying the main part of the dam;
the weak to moderately strong rock is criss-crossed
with a dense network of veins with relatively weak
altered infills.
During the investigation of the rock foundation a
number of important observations were significant
in arriving at realistic decisions regarding potential
failure modes and selection of strength parameters.
1. Drilling in 1922 reported loose sand in the dykes
underlying two of the piers in the tainter gate spill-
way (Fig. 4) and required additional excavation
during construction. This was a concern to the
design team. The recent drilling recovered intact
core in this area using modern drilling methods.
Although weaker strengths were measured, the rock
at depth was concluded to be of similar quality to
that seen in the surface exposures.
1013
2. A clear understanding of the ductile-brittle defor-
mation history of the major subvertical shears
and their characterisation as relatively small dis-
placement structures allowed for the selection of
relatively higher strengths. Along with an improved
definition of the configuration of the spillway chan-
nel (by LIDAR survey) and the plunge pool (by
bathymteric survey), an assessment of the geome-
try of the major shear planes and consideration of
cross-valley confinement eliminated these geolog-
ical structures as possible failure mechanisms.
3. The rock in the Bazooka Shear Zone is heavily
jointed and veined and has reduced rock mass
strengths due to the close joint/vein spacing, and
the weakening effects of hydrothermal alteration
and more advanced weathering. However, the rock
as seen in surface exposures is tight and interlocked
and was in better condition than would be expected
from the drill core RQD values.
4. In the various drilling investigations the measure-
ment of RQD has been challenging. The treatment
of the weakly-cemented veins has not been consis-
tent. Drill core breaks are common along the veins,
but in the surface exposures the veins are commonly
intact, and field estimates of RQD were noticeably
higher than in the core, particularly in the left bank
(Fig. 8). This illustrates the importance of verifying
rock quality determined from drill core with field
observations where available.
5. Field mapping was important in defining the extent
of through-going flat-lying exfoliation joints and
their characteristics. Many of these joints had been
removed by excavation for the dam foundation or
by scour erosion during spills. The joints exposed
downstream of the dam provided a means to obtain
high quality data, including roughness measure-
ments, for estimating realistic strengths. However,
flat-lying joints were difficult to identify in the
drill cores and the OTV logs. There were several
sub-horizontal joints logged but it was not possi-
ble to correlate between holes or with the exposed
joints with certainty. This is due in large part to
their undulatory nature and to limited continuity.
Consequently, there was sufficient justification to
assume they were likely present beneath the dam
and typical joint configurations represented as sim-
ple horizontal planes (as shown in Fig. 3) were
incorporated in the stability analyses as potential
failure mechanisms.
6. It was possible to select higher strengths for the
concrete-rock interface based on recognising the
topography of the rock surface. The base of the
dam has a very irregular profile (Fig. 3). For many
sections through the dam simple sliding along
the concrete-rock interface is kinematically not
possible. As Figure 3 illustrates, for sliding failure
to occur along the base of the dam a kinematically
 feasible failure surface would have to form in
part along the concrete-rock contact and along
an exfoliation joint. Proportionally blending the
concrete-rock contact shear strength with that for
the exfoliation joint provided a shear strength of
c = 0, ø = 57◦ for this potential failure surface. For
many of the piers in the dam the lift joints at higher
elevations in the structure are more likely to form
critical failure surfaces during seismic loading.
7. For most sections of the dam failure from heel
to toe would involve a short section of the dam
base, and the rest through jointed rock, possibly
on a combination of flat joints and near verti-
cal risers through intact rock. This was a poten-
tial failure mechanism that had been considered
in early anchor designs. A blended strength was
used proportional to the length along the concrete-
rock and the length through the jointed rock mass
(c = 300 kPa, ø = 60◦ ). Consequently, this was no
longer considered a potential failure mechanism.
8 CONCLUSIONS
The selection of appropriate design strengths for the
remediation of Blind Slough Dam for the design
earthquake relied on a complete understanding of the
engineering geological model and the likely mode(s)
of failure. Detailed field mapping and a thorough
review of construction records as well as drilling inves-
tigation results enabled a complete model of the rock
foundation to be developed.
Despite the sheared, heavily jointed and veined
appearance of the rock in the Bazooka Shear Zone, the
rock mass was determined to be of good quality due to
the healed nature of the veins and shears and the cross-
cutting nature of many of the veins. The confinement
of the rock mass and the tight condition, geometry and
relatively high strength of the major shears meant that
kinematically feasible failure mechanisms could not
be attributed to these dominant subvertical features.
Analysis of the geology and potential failure sur-
faces and the selection of shear strengths that reflected
the roughness of the dam base and through-going
joints led to economical decisions on the anchor
design. Whereas three anchors in each pier were
required to tie each of the sluiceway gate piers to the
dam base, only one of these anchors was required to
penetrate the dam base and provide additional sliding
resistance at the concrete-rock contact.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the detailed core logging and
field joint measurements by J. Rotzien (consultant),
1014
and the detailed review of the site geology by M.
Journeay of the Geological Survey of Canada. The
preparation of this paper was assisted by; R. Wong,
who drafted the figures; S. Cheng, who formatted
the document; and T. Little, who provided technical
review. The authors also thank BC Hydro - Genera-
tion Engineering for their support and permission to
publish this material.
REFERENCES
Barton N.R. 1988. Rock mass classification and tunnel rein-
forcement selection using the Q-system. In Kirkaldie
(ed.), Rock Classification Systems for Engineering Pur-
poses, ASTM STP984. Philadelphia: American Society
of Testing and Materials, pp. 59–88.
Barton, N. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics (10): 1–54.
Barton, N.R. & Bandis, S. 1991. Review of predictive
capabilities of JRC-JCS model in engineering practices.
Publication No. 1982, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute,
Oslo, Norway, 8 pp.
Bienawski, Z.T. 1988. The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) system
(geomechanics classification) in engineering practices. In
Kirkaldie (ed.), Rock Classification Systems for Engineer-
ing Purposes, ASTM STP984 Philadelphia: American
Society of Testing and Materials, pp. 17–34.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences (34): 1165–1186.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion – 2002 Edition. In Hammah et al.
(eds.), Proceedings of 5th North American Rock Mechan-
ics Symposium and 17thTunnellingAssociation of Canada
Conference, Toronto. University of Toronto Press, vol. 1,
pp. 267–273.
Lo, K.Y., Ogawa, T., Lukajic, B., Smith, G.F. & Tang, J.H.K.
1991. The evaluation of stabilty of existing concrete dams
on rock foundations and remedial measures. Commission
Internationale des Grandes Barrages, Vienne, pp. 963–
990.
Marinos P. & Hoek E. 2000. GSI: A geological friendly tool
for rock mass strength estimation. In Proceedings of Geo-
Eng2000, An International Conference on Geotechnical
Engineering, Melbourne, vol. 1, pp. 1422–1440.
Riedmuller, G. & Schubert, W. 1999. Critical comments
on quantitative rock mass classifications. Felsbau 17(3):
164–167.
Stille, H. & Palmström, A. 2003. Classification as a tool
in rock engineering Tunnelling and Underground Space
Technology 18: 331–345.
Stimpson, B. 1981. A suggested technique for determining
the basic friction angle of rock surfaces using core. Inter-
national Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
& Geomechanical Abstracts (18): 63–65.
Wines, D.R. & Lilly, P.A. 2003 Estimates of rock joint shear
strength in part of the Fimiston open pit operation in West-
ern Australia. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences (40): 929–937.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Investigations and monitoring of rock slopes at Checkerboard

Creek and Little Chief Slide

A.D. Watson
BC Hydro, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

D.P. Moore
Consulting Engineer, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

T.W. Stewart
BC Hydro, Revelstoke Dam, British Columbia, Canada

J. F. Psutka
BC Hydro, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT: Development of the Revelstoke and Mica hydroelectric projects on the Columbia River in British
Columbia resulted in raising water levels along the toes of nearly 1000 km of steep mountain slopes. Dozens of
large, potential or existing, rock slides have been identified and investigated to varying degrees. Two recent rock
slope investigations which are at different stages of BC Hydro’s assessment process are presented. Investigations
at Checkerboard Creek Rock Slope (∼3 Mm3 ), located just upstream of Revelstoke Dam, were concluded in
2005 with the testing of various slide scenarios in a scaled physical hydraulic model. Long-term monitoring
at Checkerboard Creek Rock Slope was essential for the stability assessment and will continue indefinitely so
as to provide a check on assumptions made and provide warning of any change in behaviour. The second case
history, Little Chief Slide (∼900 Mm3 ), located just upstream of Mica Dam, was first investigated in 1968/69
prior to reservoir filling. After over 30 years of monitoring slope performance, additional investigations were
carried out in 2004/05 when BC Hydro recognized that there was insufficient understanding of the slide to
confidently predict its future behaviour, especially during an earthquake. These investigations illustrate the need
for deep, subsurface drilling, installation of automated instrumentation, and long-term monitoring to develop
reliable geological and geo-hydrological interpretations.

1 INTRODUCTION
Development of the Revelstoke and Mica hydro-
electric projects on the Columbia River in British
Columbia (Fig. 1) resulted in raising water levels along
the toes of nearly 1000 km of mountain slopes. The
stability of these slopes has been a design or reser-
voir operation requirement since before 1961 (Mylrea
1978). The most intensively investigated slopes are
Checkerboard Creek (Watson et al. 2006), Downie
Slide (Imrie et al. 1992), Dutchman’s Ridge (Moore
1999) and Little Chief Slide. Both Downie Slide
and Dutchman’s Ridge have been stabilized using
drainage tunnels and drain holes. After a particular
rock slope has been singled out for hazard assessment,
BC Hydro’s assessment process, as illustrated by the
Checkerboard Creek project for example (Watson et al.
2006), is as follows:
• Develop reliable geological and geo-hydrological
models through investigations and monitoring.
• Use case histories and mathematical models to assist
the development of various slide scenarios and their
likelihood.
• Use case histories and mathematical and physical
models to help determine direct impacts and slide
generated wave impacts.
• Determine whether or not to accept the risk.
• If the risk is unacceptable, develop various risk
mitigations.
• Select and implement the appropriate mitigation.

1015
Figure 1. Location of Checkerboard Creek and Little Chief
Slide Rock Slope Investigations on Columbia River System.
Figure 2. Plan view of the Checkerboard Creek Rock Slope.
For Section A-A, see Figure 3.
• Monitor to identify any miss-interpretations or
changing conditions.
Two recent rock slope investigations following this
process are those at Checkerboard Creek and Little
Chief Slide (Figure 1).
2 INVESTIGATIONS AT CHECKERBOARD
CREEK ROCK SLOPE
2.1 Background
In 1984, shortly after the completion of the Revel-
stoke Dam, a network of tension cracks and older
linear ridge/trough features, was discovered 1.5 km
upstream of the dam on the eastern slope of the pre-
viously glaciated Columbia River Valley. The area is
called the Checkerboard Creek Rock Slope (Fig. 2).
1016
Figure 3. Cross Section A-A of Checkerboard Creek show-
ing the limits of the current displacements, interpreted water
table, major shears and faults and the depth of weathering.
Surface evidence indicated that a potential slide
with a volume in the order of 30 Mm3 could be moving
towards the reservoir. An investigation and monitoring
program was initiated to assess the impact of a rapid
acceleration of this moving mass on the Revelstoke
Dam project.
2.2 Morphology and geology of Checkerboard
Creek
The bedrock of the slope is comprised of massive
to weakly foliated granodiorite. These rocks over-
lie the easterly dipping Columbia River Fault which
has developed a broad regional zone of altered and
mechanically deformed rock. Steep inward and out-
of-slope dipping shears and joints are identified and
typically dip at 60◦ to 90◦ from horizontal. There is no
evidence of a downslope dipping base of sliding.
Rock mass quality is highly variable, ranging from
very strong, fresh, undisturbed and blocky rock, to
highly weathered and altered, weak and disturbed rock,
containing frequent sheared and crushed zones. Typi-
cally, the poor quality rock is localised within 60 m of
the slope surface, where the active displacements have
been monitored. The underlying rock is generally fair
to good in quality, with localised zones of poor rock
along shear zones and sub-vertical joints.
The slope is steeper at the toe (45◦ ) than it is above
the toe (25◦ ) and is crossed by linear ridge-trough
couplets and tension cracks localised along the steep
shears and joints, which roughly parallel the surface
contours (Fig. 3).
2.3 Monitoring at Checkerboard Creek
Installation of an extensive slope instrumentation net-
work occurred between 1984 and 2000, including deep
Figure 4. Correlation of water levels, displacements and near surface bedrock temperature.
inclinometers, multi-port (MP) piezometers, surface
cable extensometers, borehole extensometers and sur-
face monuments (Watson et al. 2006). Monitoring of
the slope has revealed a persistent annual displacement
cycle, dominated by an active phase with displace-
ments occurring in early autumn to late winter, and a
relatively inactive phase with limited to no displace-
ments during the spring to early autumn period (Fig. 4).
The nature of the monitored slope displacements
are as follows:
• Up to 3 Mm3 of rock is moving down slope and out
of slope at between 0.5 and 13 mm/year;
• The displacements are greatest at the surface and
progressively diminish with depth to a point where
none are detected (about 55 m);
• In some areas, the displacements are widely dis-
tributed suggesting they are occurring on a myriad
of individual features. However, there are zones
1017
where deformations are either more concentrated
or absent. Concentrated displacements have not
been associated with downslope dipping geological
features;
• Horizontal strain rates in the rock mass are typ-
ically greatest (up to 0.06% per year) between
depths of 10 and 27 m based on differential displace-
ment between the multipoint borehole extensometer
anchors;
• The annual displacement cycle each year is repeat-
able regardless of the amount of precipitation, and
therefore the displacement over multiple years fol-
lows a linear trend. This pattern of displacement has
been consistent since the first multipoint borehole
extensometer was installed in 1993;
• Geomorphic evidence (mainly tension cracks) indi-
cates there has been a very long history of displace-
ment amounting to a total surface displacement of
10 metres or more.
 Piezometric profiling and piezometric records indi-
cate that saturated conditions exist 50 to 80 m below
the slope surface, and reveal numerous discrete pres-
sure breaks of up to 40 m of head across short lengths of
the boreholes. This indicates that the groundwater con-
ditions are not hydrostatic and that the observed ‘com-
partmentalized’ pressure distribution is very complex.
Generally, the piezometric data suggest that a downs-
lope pressure gradient with a downward component
exists, with the main source of recharge occurring
from infiltration. It is interpreted that low perme-
ability gouge associated with inwardly dipping shears
are key factors controlling the groundwater flow in
the slope.
Piezometric monitoring indicates that seasonal
piezometric variations of up to 20 m occur just below
the base of the deforming mass. One of the piezome-
ters installed in the unsaturated zone has only very
rarely detected transient water pressures (up to 3 m
head) in the deforming mass. The other two continu-
ously monitored piezometers in the unsaturated zone
have not detected any transient water pressures. Hence,
it is likely that transient water pressures are limited in
space as well as time.
Accelerated displacements are sometimes triggered
during periods of increasing water pressure in the
slope as would be expected; however the correlation
with piezometric level and/or rate of change of piezo-
metric level is not consistent. After over 12 years of
monitoring and analysis of the data it was concluded
that the controlling mechanism for the annual dis-
placement cycle is the annual air temperature cycle.
Evidence for this includes the fact that the displace-
ments can be predicted to an accuracy of a fraction
of 1 mm by the preceding temperature cycles (Watson
et al. 2006).
2.4 Analysis at Checkerboard Creek
The detailed site investigation and assessment of long
term monitoring data concluded that the actively dis-
placing rock is limited to about 2 to 3 Mm3 . The
results of monitoring indicates that the cyclical nature
of the displacement pattern is controlled by the
thermal response of the rock mass to annual tem-
perature changes in the upper 10 m of the ground
surface.
Numerical modelling studies were completed using
UDEC (Itasca 2003) which was based on the geo-
logical and geo-hydrological models and included the
significant sub-vertical joints and shear zones explic-
itly in the model. Two phases of numerical analysis
were completed (Watson et al. 2006). The first phase
investigated the annual displacement patterns and the
stability of slope during a 1 in 10,000 year earthquake.
The second phase investigated the runout potential
of a limited rock volume at the toe. The numerical
1018
Figure 5. Wave generation by 375,000 m3 slide in the 1:200
scale wave model.
analysis indicates that the deformation mechanism
can be explained in terms of thermally-induced slip
and movement along subvertical joints which often
combined to form wedges. The geological investiga-
tion and monitoring support this deformation style
which is not consistent with either pure flexural or
block toppling since that deformation is primarily the
rotation of parallel columns of rock. While some rota-
tion likely occurs, the general deformation pattern is
complex and occurring on a myriad of shears and
joints, which dip steeply into and out of the slope
and which separate the rock mass into deformable
blocks. Under gravitational loading these blocks slip
relative to each other resulting in down dropping and
out of slope dilation similar to that observed in the
UDEC model.
No through-going basal failure surface has been
detected from the site investigation nor is it indicated
by the measured displacements in the vertical incli-
nometers.The numerical analyses were used to support
engineering judgement which concluded that there is
a large reserve of rock mass strength against sudden
collapse of the entire moving slope under both static
and seismic conditions and confirmed that a sudden
single collapse larger than about 0.5 Mm3 is almost
impossible.
Estimates of potential slide generated wave heights
at Revelstoke Dam calculated from empirical formu-
lations were not accurate enough to estimate the risk
for overtopping. A 1:200 scaled physical hydraulic
model was constructed to accurately model the gener-
ation, propagation and runup of slide generated waves
(Fig. 5). The results of the physical wave studies con-
firmed that only negligible overtopping of the earthfill
dam occurred for even the most severe forecasted slide
conditions.
Figure 6. Cross Section B-B and C-C of Little Chief Slide showing the current displacements, descriptions of rock quality,
measured water pressures and interpreted detachment surfaces. See plan map in Figure 7.
3 INVESTIGATIONS AT LITTLE CHIEF SLIDE
3.1 Background
Little Chief Slide (∼900 Mm3 ), located just 3 km
upstream of Mica Dam (Fig. 1), was first investigated
in 1968/69 prior to reservoir filling. Neither the exis-
tence of the slide nor the small movements detected
later were of much concern as it was widely assumed
at the time that existing landslides, having under-
gone large movements would be at residual strength.
Substantial doubt was cast on this assumption when
Hendron & Patton (1985) concluded that Vaiont Slide
had already slid once before its catastrophic acceler-
ation during reservoir filling in 1963. Other exam-
ples of rapid reactivation have been documented by
Glastonbury et al. 2000.
During and following reservoir filling, monitor-
ing of the slide continued and minor instrumentation
upgrades and investigations were undertaken. The
movements remained small and steady and monitored
continuously from 1969 to 2004.
Although the movements remained small and steady
BC Hydro concluded that there was insufficient under-
standing of the slide to confidently predict its future
behaviour, especially during an earthquake. In addi-
tion, the monitoring system was in need of an upgrade.
In view of the importance and location of Mica Dam,
1019
an investigation and instrumentation program was
carried out in 2004/05 to develop geological and geo-
hydrological models and to improve the monitoring
system.
3.2 Morphology and geology of Little
Chief Slide
Little Chief Slide is on the northwest side of the
Columbia Valley in the Monashee Mountains. The val-
ley slopes rise at about 30◦ from the former Columbia
River near elevation 575 m to ridge crests near eleva-
tion 2000 m (Figs. 6, 7).
The bedrock is mainly mica gneiss, mica schist and
hornblende gneiss with lesser amounts of pegmatite.
On surface, the trend of the foliation of lithological
units is generally very consistent: striking about 115◦
and dipping about 65◦ SW which is almost parallel
to the northeast side scarp. Much less commonly, the
units dip steeply NE.
The head scarp of Little Chief Slide, northeast
scarp and southwest scarp are defined by their surface
expressions. The geologic controls of the head scarp
are not known although the major fault which crosses it
has considerable offset and could have determined the
uphill limit of the slide. The geological control of the
basal detachment is not known. Down slope dipping

Figure 7. Plan view of Little Chief Slide. For Sections B-B
and C-C see Figure 6.
tectonic faults have not been identified in the drill core
nor have any been observed on the surface.
The northeast scarp is parallel to the foliation. Geo-
logic or topographic controls of the southwest scarp
and the downstream limit of the Slide are not known.
The surface expression of the toe of the slide is defined
by the bulge into the (pre-reservoir) Columbia River
valley.
The toe of Little Chief Slide overrode Quaternary
deposits of glacial till and sand and gravel. In one drill
hole there were two intersections of glacial till with
a 22 m thick layer of rockslide debris between them.
The depth of the overridden till below the present val-
ley floor and its position directly on bedrock convinced
investigators that it was from a glaciation which ended
some 60,000 years ago rather than the most recent
glaciation which ended 11,000 years ago (Clague et al.
1989). At this time the valley floor was about 75 m
deeper than present. In addition, trenching and map-
ping of tephra deposits in the linear ridge-trough cou-
plets on and above the slide indicate they have not been
greatly disturbed by movement for at least 7700 years.
3.3 Groundwater monitoring at Little Chief Slide
Like Checkerboard Creek, the Little Chief Slide is in
a climatic zone characterized by relatively dry sum-
mers, fall rains, heavy winter snow and spring rainfall
1020
Inclinometer DH901 and Reservoir Water Level Elevation (m)
Inclinometer DH906 Water Level Elevation (m)
850 1000
Midslope Hole (DH906)
800 950
750 Shoreline Hole (DH901)
900
700 850
Reservoir Level
650 800
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
Figure 8. Water levels from leaky inclinometers vs reser-
voir levels from 1970 along with additional data from recent
piezometers suggests that the reservoir raising did not have
a significant influence on water pressures above the surface
elevation of the reservoir.
and snowmelt. As a result, groundwater flows and
pressures at depth within the slide exhibit a very pro-
nounced annual cycle: lowest following the winter
and highest in the early summer following the spring
snowmelt.
The reservoir follows a similar annual cycle usu-
ally reaching a high about August and a low about
late April. This cycle is largely controlled by reservoir
inflow but is modified by the operation of Mica power
plant. The annual reservoir fluctuation can be as much
as about 47 m but averages about 22 m.
Prior to 2004/05, groundwater information on the
Slide consisted of water levels and drilling fluid losses
during drilling and water levels after drilling in leaky
inclinometer casings in three drill holes: two near
the reservoir shoreline and one midway up the slope.
In addition, one drill hole remained artesian. During
reservoir filling, water levels were measured several
times per year. The two holes at the shoreline showed
no effect until the reservoir closely approached the pre-
existing water level in the hole. For higher reservoir
levels the water levels tracked the reservoir. There was
no apparent time lag. The hole midway up the slope
appeared unaffected by reservoir operation (Fig. 8).
Three multiple piezometer (MP) monitoring holes
were instrumented with a total of 66 (piezometer)
zones during 2004/05: one hole near the shoreline,
one part way up the slope and one high on the slope.
In addition, piezometric profiles were obtained in six
holes by periodically sealing off the bottom portion
of the hole using a packer inserted through the drill
bit. The MP installations and the piezometric profiles
revealed groundwater pressure compartments sepa-
rated by soft clayey zones which include the basal
detachment. Pressure differentials of up to 75 m were
 500 775 The inclinometer casings installed in 1968/69 were
450 750
aluminium casings partially backfilled by washing
Horizontal Displacement (mm)

400 725
700 sand down the annulus from the collar. They were con-

Reservoir Elevation (m)

350
675
300 650
sidered among the deepest installed at that time (up
Reservoir Filling .

250 625 to 259 m). One additional inclinometer was installed

200 600
575
in 1985 and five new ones were installed in 2005 to
150
100 550 depths from about 265 to about 380 m.
50
525 Movement zones have been identified in the two
500
0 475 new inclinometers in the upper portion of the slide.
-50 450 The movement rates appear to be generally consistent
-100 425
with those lower down the slope but this will have to be
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Inclinometer DH906: 232 to 249m Inclinometer DH901: 125 to 165m
confirmed by additional readings from the inclinome-
Monument M23 Monument M07 ters and GPS surveys in the coming years. The periodic
Reservoir Elevation
GPS surveys are not accurate enough to confidently
detect these slow movements for the new monuments.
Figure 9. Inclinometer, Survey Monument Displacement
and Reservoir Elevation. The 1969 inclinometer DH901 at
One of the earlier monuments is located about mid-
reservoir level was only recording ∼1/2 the displacement way up the slope. This monument moved at the same
measured nearby on the surface, Monument M23. rate as the toe monuments but the vertical angle is
about −30◦ compared to a surface slope of about 28◦
measured between compartments separated by a sin- and an interpreted basal detachment dip transitioning
gle 1.5 m packer. Pressure differentials were initially from 36◦ to about 22◦ .
used to help interpret geological conditions: large dif- Movement of the lower portion of the slide has been
ferentials are thought to be associated with extensive at a consistent rate of 14 mm/year in a direction within
low permeability shear zones. 10◦ of Azimuth 144◦ which is essentially directly down
All 66 monitoring zones in the MP’s are read several slope.
times a year and automatic data acquisition has been Two distinct movement zones have been detected in
installed in piezometers representative of about eleven the two recent inclinometers installed near the reser-
pressure compartments. voir shoreline. Prior to 2005 drilling, it was observed
It is tentatively concluded from the initial observa- that the deeper of the two 1969 inclinometers showed
tions of the 2004/5 piezometers that the reservoir has movement equal to the adjacent surface movement but
little effect on water pressures above the surface level the other shallower hole near the toeshowed only half
of the reservoir. Monitoring is to continue during sub- of the movement of the adjacent monument (Fig. 9). As
sequent reservoir cycles and could reveal additional a result a deeper detachment surface was predicted for
behaviour patterns. the toe of the slope. Based on this, one of the 2005 holes
was drilled through over 100 m of good quality rock
(which was almost indistinguishable from the under-
3.4 Movement monitoring at Little Chief Slide
lying bedrock) to a lower detachment surface about
Movement of Little Chief Slide has been monitored 200 m below the upper one.
since 1969 using various forms of tiltmeters, surface In-place inclinometers (IPI) were installed in 2002
surveys, and inclinometers. crossing known movement zones in two holes and
Initially, surface movement was monitored by mea- readings were obtained continuously via automatic
suring the offsets of monuments from two straight data acquisition system. In 2005/06 additional IPIs
survey lines cut across the slope. This technique was were installed across known movement zones bringing
replaced by EDM surveys and then by GPS surveys. the total to ten. The IPI’s have not been installed for a
In 2004/06 the number of monuments on and adjacent long enough period for any annual cycles or correla-
to the slide was increased from 5 in the toe area, to 25 tions of movement with water levels to be established
to include the main body and perimeter of the slide. should they exist and/or be detectable.
A review of the inclinometer data in 1982 concluded Current interpretation on Section A-A is a bipla-
that there was probably no recorded movement by the nar basal detachment formed by 36◦ (uphill) and 22◦
four readings taken prior to reservoir filling, but that (downslope) dipping surfaces. Geological evidence in
movement had been recorded since then. However, four holes and movement in an inclinometer in one
small movements like those occurring today might not of these holes suggest a second detachment surface at
have been detected in the first four readings because the toe of the slope up to about 100 m above the basal
of the changing measurement methods at the time and detachment. The second surface dips about 16◦ .
the adjusting annular space between the inclinometer The basal detachment at the toe on Section B-B is
casing and the slide debris. Therefore it is not known about 200 m deeper than previously thought (Fig. 6).
if the reservoir induced the movements (Fig. 9). The basal detachment surface higher on the slope is

1021
interpreted to be the 36◦ dipping surface. It is very
uncertain as to how this might connect to the detach-
ments at the toe. Similarly, there are a number of ways
the toe detachment could be drawn to the ground sur-
face.A higher movement zone has also been monitored
at the toe of Section B-B.
The geological interpretation depicted on cross Sec-
tion C-C (Fig. 6) is based on the assumption that
the detachment surfaces should dip in the direction
of slide movement (i.e. approximately horizontal on
Section CC). Using this assumption, neither the basal
detachments nor the internal movement zones can be
connected between sections in a simple manner. The
reason for this is not yet currently known, but may be
a function of additional internal detachment surfaces.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Both Little Chief Slide and Checkerboard Creek pro-
vide excellent examples of the fundamental impor-
tance of surface geological investigations, deep sub-
surface drilling and long-term monitoring in order
to develop reliable geological and geo-hydrological
interpretations.
At Checkerboard Creek the stages of detailed inves-
tigation and monitoring were essential in determin-
ing that there is almost no risk of a sudden single
event rockslide larger than about 0.5 Mm3 and the
hydraulic model showed the wave from such a slide
would not overtop the Revelstoke Dam. Monitoring
at Checkerboard Creek will continue indefinitely as a
check on the assumptions made in the stability assess-
ment phases and to provide warning of deteriorating
conditions.
For Little Chief Slide, interpreted volumes have
ranged from 375 to 900 Mm3 and basal detachment
surfaces dipping from 16◦ to 36◦ depending upon
the subsurface geological and monitoring information
available at the time.
The hazard assessment at Little Chief Slide is
nearing the end of the first stage of the hazard assess-
ment process followed by BC Hydro: the development
of reliable geological and geo-hydrological models.
Ongoing monitoring to check the current interpreta-
tions is planned followed by mathematical modelling
prior to reaching any firm conclusions regarding the
potential for a reactivation of all or a portion of Little
Chief Slide.
1022
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Checkerboard Creek physical model studies were
conducted by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Inc.,
North Vancouver. We would like to recognize the Dam
Safety Office at BC Hydro and all the contractors,
consultants and BCHydro employees involved in the
different aspects of these projects.
REFERENCES
Clague, J.J. 1989. Quaternary Geology of the Canadian
Cordillera. In Fulton (ed.), Quaternary Geology of
Canada and Greenland. Geological Survey of Canada,
Geology of Canada, vol. 1, pp. 14–95.
Glastonbury, J. & Fell, R. 2000. Report on the analysis of rapid
natural rock slope failures. UNICIV Report No. R-390.
The University of New South Wales, Sidney, Australia.
Hendron, A.J. Jr. & Patton, F.D. 1985. The Vaiont Slide,
A Geotechnical Analysis Based on New Observations of
the Failure Surface. Technical Report GL-85-3, Depart-
ment of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers.
Imrie, A.S., Moore, D.P. & Enegren, E.G. 1992. Perfor-
mance and maintenance of the drainage system at Downie
Slide. In Proceedings, Sixth International Symposium on
Landslides, Christchurch.
Itasca Consulting Group 2003. UDEC (Universal Distinct
Element Code), version 3.3. Minneapolis: ICG.
Moore, D.P. & Imrie, A.S. 1992. Stabilization of Dutchman’s
Ridge, In Proceedings, Sixth International Symposium on
Landslides, Christchurch.
Moore, D.P. 1999. Rock slopes and reservoirs – Lessons
learned. In Slope Stability and Landslides, Proceed-
ings of the 13th Annual Vancouver Geotechnical Society
Symposium.
Moore, D.P., Ripley, B.D. & Stewart, T.W. 2001. Mountains-
lope movements at Wahleach and Checkerboard Creek,
B.C. Canada. In Kuhne et al. (eds.), Proceedings, Inter-
national Conference on Landslides, Causes, Impacts and
Countermeasures, Davos. United Engineering Founda-
tion, pp. 65–73.
Mylrea, F.H., Dick, R.C. & Hay, D. 1978. Stability of reser-
voir slopes. In Proceedings of the North American Power
Conference, Paper No. 5.
Watson, A.D., Martin, C.D., Moore, D.P., Stewart, T.W. &
Lorig, L.J. 2006. Integration of geology, monitoring and
modelling to assess rockslide risk. Felsbau 24(3).
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Engineering geology, glacial preconditioning, and rockmass response to

large scale underground excavations in the Niagara Region

M.A. Perras
Hatch Energy, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

M.S. Diederichs
GeoEngineering Centre at Queen’s – RMC, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: A new 10.3 km by 14.44 m diameter TBM-driven tunnel is to be constructed under the Canadian
city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, descending through the entire stratigraphy of the Niagara Escarpment, including
dolomites, limestones, sandstones, and shales. The tunnel will run for much of its length through the Queenston
Formation and will encounter mixed face conditions, blocky ground, horizontal and inclined shear surfaces, and
high horizontal stresses, as well as, unique challenges such as swelling, vertically variable hydrological conditions
and topographic effects beneath a buried gorge. This large project provides the backdrop for a study of large scale
heterogeneity and anisotropy in geology, material properties and stress conditions and the impact on excavation
performance and rock–support interaction. An understanding of the digenesis, glacial preconditioning, erosion
and structural development of the existing rock mass will help in reconstructing the complex stress regime, includ-
ing vertically discontinuous lateral stresses and macro-structural components, including laterally extensive shear
lamellae and inclined shear structures in the vicinity of topographic extremes. This paper will discuss the geolog-
ical origins of these features through by numerically modelling past glaciations and subsequent erosion in highly
heterogeneous laminated ground. It is the relationship between this complex stress history and the general exca-
vation response which is of interest. Stepping through the geological history of the Niagara Region, from glacial
loading in the Pleistocene to post glacial erosion, using numerical models will allow for a better understanding
of the mechanics involved in fracture formation under these loading and unloading conditions. The model results
indicate that deformations can extend out from the gorge up to 1000 m in some of the geological formations.

1 INTRODUCTION largest hydro power station (of that time), commonly

1.1 Engineering geology and forensic modeling
A simplified version of a complex geological history,
including multi-staged glacial loading and unloading,
glacial and fluvial erosion, and glaciofluvial backfill-
ing has been modeled to determine how the stress
field has developed, what effects the evolution has had
on the sedimentary units and the relative origin and
lateral extent of the geological structures which are
found to exist. Understanding the evolution of stresses
and calibrating to sparse measurements allows inter-
polation and extrapolation of pre-excavation stresses
and prediction of distributed macrostructure within the
near-gorge Niagara Region.
1.2 Geotechnical engineering projects
Hydropower has been generated in the city of Nia-
gara Falls for over a century. The power of the Niagara
River was first harnessed for power generation on
the Canadian side in 1892 (OPG 2006). In 1925 the
know as the Sir Adam Beck I, was brought into ser-
vice and in 1954 a second power station, Sir Adam
Beck II (OPG 2006) and two tunnels were constructed.
Recent upgrades at the Sir Adam Beck complex have
increased the efficiency and allowed for the new Nia-
gara Tunnel Project to proceed into the construction
phase, see Figure 1.
Numerous sewer and nuclear reactor cooling tun-
nels have been excavated in rocks on the foreland of the
Niagara Escarpment (Hawlader 2005). Future excava-
tions at greater depths mandate an understanding of
the geological past and stress development.
1.3 Niagara Tunnel Project
The new tunnel will divert an additional 500 m3 /s
of water to the existing Sir Adam Beck generating
facility (OPG 2006). The new tunnel will pass under
the buried St. David’s Gorge, at roughly 150 m below
surface, while previous tunnels had surfaced prior
to this gorge. The majority of the tunnel will be

1023
 Approx.

Group
Age Formation Brief Description Thickness Symbol
(m)

16.8
Grey crystalline dolomitic

Albemarle
Lockport –
Limestone
20.3

Middle Silurian
Decew Crystalline dolomite & grey mudstone 2.1 – 4.0

Dark grey calcareous shale 17.7

Rochester
dolomite interbedded

Clinton
Irondequoit Grey to reddish dolomitic limestone 1.2 – 3.1
Reynales Light grey crystalline dolomite 3.6
Neahga Green shale 1.8
Thorold White sandstone 2.4

Green, irregularly bedded

Grimsby sandstone with red shale 16
interbeds

Lower Silurian

Cataract Power Grey shale to white

11.5
Glen calcareous sandstone

Light grey crossbedded 3.6 –

Whirlpool
sandstone 7.6
Ordov- Red shale and argillaceous
Queenston 335
Figure 1. Map of the Niagara River Gorge, St. David’s ician limestone

Buried Gorge and the Niagara Escarpment. Model sections

are labelled A to D. Lower map modified from Novakowski &
Lapcevic (1988) and inset from Mazurek (2004). Upper right
image shows TBM ready for launch.
constructed in the Queenston Formation, which is a
prominent rock for engineering projects. The Nia-
gara Tunnel Project presents a unique opportunity to
observe the behaviour of the Niagara sedimentary
strata and allow for a more detailed understanding of
the geological behaviour and interaction of the hetero-
geneous rock units down and into the Queenston.
2 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY
2.1 Paleogeography and stratigraphy
The Ordovician and Silurian strata of the Niagara
Region were influenced by the Appalachian Basin
and the Algonquin Arch during deposition. The
Appalachian Orogen provided clastic sediments and
variations in sea levels controlled the depositional
environment (Mazurek 2004); consequently the strata
in the Niagara Region vary between dolomites, lime-
stones, sandstones, shales and interbedded zones of
these rock types (Fig. 2). To the northwest the Algo-
nquin Arch, a Precambrian basement high, remained
a positive structure throughout most of Paleozoic time
causing the sedimentary beds to on lap and overlaps
this structure (Currice & Mackasey 1978). In the Nia-
gara Region the strata gently dips south at 6 m/km
(Yuen 1992).
Figure 2. Geological stratigraphy after Telford (1978) and
Carmicheal et al. (1978).
The Queenston Formation is Late Ordovician in
age and is part of a compound deltaic, shallowing
upward sequence (Stearn et al. 1979). The Formation is
a red argillaceous mudstone with occasional siltstone
interbeds (Rigbey 1992) and when exposed to fresh
water has significant swelling potential (Yuen et al.
1992). Above the Queenston Formation, the sedimen-
tary units of the Niagara Region have been divided into
two depositional sequences, the Cataract Group and
the Clinton Group. Overlying the Clinton Group is the
Decew, Lockport and Guelph Formations (Currice &
Mackasey 1978).
The Cataract Group is Lower Silurian in age and was
deposited in deltaic and shallow marine environments
(Currice & Mackasey 1978). It includes the Whirlpool,
Power Glen and Grimsby Formations. The Whirlpool
sandstone, which unconformably over lies the Queen-
ston (Mazurek, 2004), represents a transgressional
state of a sea which washed and rounded quartz sand
grains (Stearn 1979). With minor fluctuations in the
sea level the depositional material alternated between
sand, clay and calcareous shell fragments forming
the Power Glen and Grimsby Formations (Winder &
Sanford 1972).
The Clinton Group is Middle Silurian in age and
comprised of the Thorold, Neahga, Reynales, Ironde-
quoit and Rochester Formations, which were deposited
in a shelf edge environment (Winder & Sanford 1972).

1024
Table 1. Rockmass properties used in the numerical mod- Erosional estimates reported by Mazurek (2004),
els; The Salina to Precambrian properties were derived as an after Cercone & Pollack (1991) indicate that multi-
aggregate of the particular rock units and based on engineer- ple unconformities represent <100 m each. For the
ing judgement. The Guelph properties come from Mazurek purposes of modelling, 300 m of additional sedimen-
(2004) and the remaining come from the GDR (OPG 2005).
GSI (Marinos & Hoek 2000) is equal to RMR with orientation
tary rock was added to the current topography. This
and water corrections removed. material is presumed to be mostly eroded by the
pre-Wisconsin glacial stages.
UCS Em Spencer’s work from 1907 confirmed observations
Formation RMR/GSI (MPa) (GPa) mb s by Lyell (1845) that a buried gorge existed between
the current Whirlpool and the village of St. David’s.
Salina n/a 100 38 3.09 0.100 Detailed sediment descriptions by Abidi et al. (1992)
Guelph n/a 120 45 3.25 0.125 confirm that glacial advances occurred many times
Lockport 70/80 151 67 3.68 0.135
during the filling of the gorge as marked by the
Decew 69/79 128 51 3.31 0.097
Rochester 64/77 42 31 4.40 0.078 interbedded glacial till. Constraining the erosion of the
Irondequoit 72/82 106 60 3.68 0.135 St. David’s Gorge is somewhat more difficult. Karrow
Reynales 67/77 95 33 3.08 0.078 & Terasmae (1970) reported that erosion occurred dur-
Neagha 56/66 14 4 2.97 0.023 ing the Port Talbot interstidal of the Early Wisconsin,
Thorold 78/83 163 53 8.17 0.151 or the interglacial Sangamonian period prior to the
Grimsby 70/75 100 34 4.10 0.062 advance of the first Wisconsin ice.
Power Glen 63/68 100 20 3.19 0.029 The Niagara River Gorge was formed by erosion
Whirlpool 85/87 216 82 9.43 0.236 from the Niagara River. The start of erosion at Lewis-
Queenston 65 40 14 1.86 0.021
ton is estimated at 12,600 BP in Pengelly’s 1996 paper
Georgian Bay n/a 36 20 1.68 0.012
Precambrian n/a 70 15 2.58 0.021 and is post-Wisconsin.
The depositional environment, orogenic tectonic
influences and most notably the glacial erosion and
fluvial erosion have been key factors in shaping the
The Thorold Sandstone was formed by reworked geological environment of the Niagara Region. The
Grimsby detritus as sea levels increased. With con- influence of these events has been considered in
tinuing sea level changes in a intertidal and lagoonal the numerical modelling presented in this paper, in an
environment the Neahga & Reynales Formations were attempt to model the stress and structural development
deposited (Winder & Sanford 1972). The Irondequoit of the Niagara Region.
Formation is a crinoidal dolostone and the Rochester
Formation is a dolomitic shale (Winder & Sanford
1972). 3 ENGINEERING CONSIDERATION
Patch reefs forming the lower Lockport Forma-
tion and regional reefs forming the upper Lockport 3.1 Rock mass properties
and Guelph Formations (Tesmer 1981), completely During the investigation and planning period for the
surrounded the Michigan Basin and allowed for the Niagara Tunnel Project much was learned about the
precipitation of evaporates of the Salina Formation in-situ stress field, swelling properties of the various
(Sanford 1968). units, squeezing ground conditions, rock mass strength
These Formations were used in the numerical mod- and deformation properties.The Unconfined compres-
elling presented in this paper. Rock units below sive strength (UCS), the rock mass Young’s Modulus
the Queenston Formation have been represented by (Em) and the Hoek–Brown (1998) failure parameters,
the conglomerate rock mass properties denoted as the mb and s, used in the numerical modeling have been
Georgian Bay Formation and Precambrian in Table 1. summarized in Table 1. The Grimsby and Power Glen
Formations are interbedded sequences. The weaker
2.2 Continental glaciation and subsequent layers are “reinforced” by the stronger ones and as
erosion such the values from the GDR (OPG 2005) for the
individual rock type layers have been average to give
There were four major continental glacial stages dur- those listed in Table 1.
ing the Pleistocene, Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoian and
Wisconsin, from, oldest to youngest. The most recog- 3.2 High horizontal stresses
nizable stage is the Wisconsin, as tills from this stage
are relatively un-weathered and almost un-modified Throughout Southern Ontario high in situ horizontal
(Hough 1958). The pre-Wisconsin ice sheets are esti- stresses exist in the sedimentary rocks. These stresses
mated to range between 2000–3000 m thick near Hud- have been locked in due to tectonic activity during
son Bay, and during the Wisconsin reduced thicknesses the Appalachian mountain building, from sedimentary
of 500–1300 m have been reported by Menzies (2001). basin effects, and from glacial loading and erosion.

1025
Horizontal to vertical stress ratios (Ko) in the order of
3 to 5 have been measured in the Niagara Region for
the Queenston Formation, with greater ratios existing
in the Formations above (OPG 2005). There can also
be sharp differences in the stress state from formation
to formation due to differences in elastic properties
(Haimson 1983). The principle stress, trending ENE
near the buried St. David’s Gorge, in the Queenston
Formation is in the order of 10 to 24 MPa (OPG 2005).

3.3 Structural features

Three major physiographic features, the Niagara
Escarpment, the Niagara River Gorge and the buried St
David’s Gorge control the structural style within their
immediate vicinity.
Bedding plane fractures are predominant in the Nia-
gara Region. Nearing the physiographic features men-
tioned above vertical and horizontal jointing increases
due to a zone of tensile stress relief (Novakowski &
Lapcevic 1988). In the Queenston Formation slick-
ensided shears are a ubiquitous feature (Russell &
Harman 1985). Horizontal shears also exist having
a spacing of 8–10 m (OPG 2005) and are sometimes
filled with silt (Rigbey et al. 1992). The silt filled dis-
continuities are close to the Whirlpool contact and
decrease with depth (Rigbey et al. 1992). A report
by Novakowski & Lapcevic (1988) suggests another
lineament, at the base of the Rochester Formation,
as determined by isopac mapping and Sanford et al. Figure 3. (Top) Test adit for the Niagara Tunnel Project
(1985) reports a fault network. (courtesy OPG), in the Queenston Formation. Note shear
planes 2/3 up the excavation face. (Bottom) The Niagara
TBM in the Decew Formation at the start of construction
3.4 Excavation in heterogeneous sedimentary (OPG 2006).
strata
The geological setting and structural features of the
Niagara Region pose a challenge for the construction under the stress concentration and self weight. At the
of underground openings although early pilot excava- Heart Lake sewer tunnel, near Toronto Ontario, exces-
tions have been undertaken in support of the Niagara sive overbreak in a highly fissile rock was encountered
Tunnel project (Fig. 3), (OPG 2005). Careful consider- (Lo 1979). Such overbreak can cause delays in con-
ation must be taken for the stability of the excavation struction and incur extra costs for the project when
in both the short and long term. not adequately controlled by ground support.
Short term considerations are related to the imme- Long term or time dependant considerations
diate stability of the rock mass and include the orien- include creep of the rock mass and swelling of argilla-
tation of bedding planes and other discontinuities, the ceous rock units (Pan & Dong 1991). Creep of the rock
infilling material and ground water. While the more mass is dependant on its rheological properties, and the
massive formations pose fewer challenges (Fig. 3, magnitude and orientation of the stress field. Argilla-
bottom). In the latter case, vertical or inclined discon- ceous rocks, as well as rocks containing anhydrite are
tinuities intersect bedding planes to create blocks of susceptible to swelling. The process is a result of oxida-
intact rock. These blocks when exposed in the crown tion of pyrite or the hydration of clay and/or anhydrite
of an underground excavation require immediate sup- particles (Lieszkowszky et al. 1994), resulting in a vol-
port as apparently large elastic deflections in the roof ume increase. Duncan et al. (1968) determined that
serve to delaminate and fracture the bedding planes. not all shales have a high swell potential and those
With closely spaced bedding planes and vertical joint- with a lower swell potential are usually cemented with
ing thin slabs (OPG 2005), will form in the crown. calcareous material.
In high horizontal stress conditions the closely spaced These processes control deformation and affect the
bedding planes create “beams” and if the bedding is initial and final support and careful timing of their
horizontal to sub horizontal these beams can buckle installation is required for effective results.

1026
4 NUMERICAL MODELING
In this paper numerical modelling is used as a tool
to look at how the past has affected the current rock
conditions in the Niagara Region. Through the use of
forensic numerical modelling, the stress history and
structural deformation in the Niagara Region due to
tectonic, glacial and erosional events has been simu-
lated to determine possible origin and lateral extent of
structural features which need careful consideration in
geotechnical design.
4.1 Model stages and assumptions
The complex history of the Niagara Region, including
continental glaciations and gorge erosion, was mod-
elled using 35 stages in the software package Phase2,
a RocScience program. As full non-linear 3D mod-
elling could not practically provide the constitutive or
geometric detail required for this study, four different
sections have been modelled, two along the Niagara
River Gorge and two along the St. David’s Buried
Gorge to determine the affect gorge depth has on lateral
extent of deformation.
The modelling starts with Pleistocene glaciation.
The major glacial stages, the Nebraskan, the Kansan
and the Illinoian have been grouped together as one
glacial advance and retreat for the purposes of the
modelling. A distributed load was used to simulate
the weight of the ice sheet as it advanced over the land
mass. A slight angle of 5◦ from vertical was used to
represent the traction of the ice load on the ground
surface as it advanced.
The ice thickness, distributed load, was increased in
four equal steps, for a maximum ice load of 2000 m and
sequentially advanced across the modelled section in
four stages. At the peak of the ice thickness, the Salina
Formation was excavated and the load immediately
re-established on the surface of the Guelph Formation
and glacial retreat followed.
In the Sangamon interglacial period the St. David’s
Gorge was eroded in 5 stages to imitate progressive
river erosion. Sediment infilling was completed in 1
stage as the sediment had little affect on the surround
rock mass. In the Niagara River Gorge sections the
Wisconsin ice sheet advance follows directly after the
earlier Pleisocene glacial retreat.
The Wisconsin ice sheet, thinner then the earlier
glacial stages, was simulated in the same manner, with
four equal increases in thickness of 250 m and advanc-
ing across the section in four stages. Again at the peak
of the ice thickness across the model section the rock
surface was eroded to the present day topography,
including the thickness of overburden sediments as
rock. The overburden is assumed to be relatively thin
in the Niagara Region and as such have little effect
on the model results. Following the Wisconsin retreat,
1027
the Niagara River Gorge was eroded progressively in
5 steps to simulate river erosion.
The present day rock mass properties have been
used in the numerical modelling (Table 1) and with
the exception of the Neagha Formation, all Forma-
tions are stable at the start of modelling. The Neagha
Formation, being a fissile shale could potentially
have been slightly stronger in the past, but through
the glacial loading and unloading, erosion and stress
development, the strength may have been reduced.
Pore pressure has been ignored in the current
modelling. The pore pressure will have an affect on
extending the deformation zones beyond the current
dry conditions modelled, especially during glacial
loading and should be incorporated into future mod-
els. The results of this model should be viewed as a
lower bound for overall deformations and lateral dis-
turbance extent away from the gorges. Pore pressures
will enhance and extend the plastic deformations and
the interbed localization of shear illustrated in these
scoping models.
The assumptions in modelling the geological his-
tory of the Niagara Region do have influences on the
model results. Future work should include a sensitivity
analysis on the various inputs, such as glacial loading
increments, pore pressure, lateral thrust tractions due
to advancing ice and erosion style.
4.2 Model stress field and deformation results
The stress field was initially set at a maximum Ko
ratio 3.5 perpendicular to the Appalachian front and
2.5 parallel, with locked in stresses of 2 MPa in both
directions. Target model stresses, after erosion, of 17–
24 MPa, based on the GDR (OPG 2005), were used at
elevation 0 (masl) to determine the above mentioned
initial stresses. In the 2D models erosion effects of
one gorge on the other gorge are not represented. Sev-
eral combinations of stress ratio and locked in stresses
are possible and the model results are correspondingly
non-unique, although they are a best fit at elevation 0.
4.3 Vertical stresses
Haimson (1984) reported that the vertical stress calcu-
lated from hydrofracturing was 0.7 MPa greater then
the assumed vertical stress based on the weight of the
overlying rock. The model results show that there is
a zone between 100 and 400 m from the edge of the
gorge in which the vertical stress is greater then the
weight of the rock mass, in the order of 0.25–0.5 MPa
(Fig. 4). Beyond 400 m from the gorge edge the model
vertical stress and unit weight calculation are similar.
4.4 Horizontal stresses and tensile failure
The Niagara Region is characterized by high horizontal
stresses. This stress field locally adjusts to topographic
features, such as the Niagara River Gorge, causing
 2.5 A A’

2
Vertical Stress (MPa)

1.5
196 m 197 m

0.5

700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250
1000 1400
700 800 900 1100 1200 1300
Horizontal scale (m)
1500 1600 1700
Horizontal scale (m)
0 B B’
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Distance from Edge of Gorge (m)

Figure 4. Comparison of model results (points) and rock

mass weight calculations (line). The models results have
been taken 65 m below surface in the Grimsby Formation.
Inset showing anomalous deviatoric stress around the gorge
illustrating that plastic settling increases vertical stress.
stress concentrations at the base and relaxation on
the sides. The model results indicate that the horizon- 700 750 800 850 900 950
Horizontal scale (m)
1000 1050 1100 1150 1200

tal stress field begins to adjust on average 350 m (at C C’

surface) from the edge of the gorge.
As expected a relaxed (tensile yield in the model)
zone around the gorges resulted during the erosion of
the gorge, as indicated in the model results in Figure 5.
In this zone shear failure has also occurred.
The relaxed/tensile zone around the gorges is most
laterally extensive in the Neagha Formation, extending
700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250
out from the gorge face 350 m (Fig. 5). Excluding the Horizontal scale (m)
Neagha Formation, the tensile zone is more extensive D D

in the formations directly above a shale layer, which

is to be expected based on the contrasting rock mass
stiffness. Modelled tensile failure in the Queenston
is isolated to within 50 m of the gorge face, for all
sections except the deep section at St. David’s gorge
where the tensile zone extends 100 m away, suggesting
that there is a relationship between the depth of gorge
erosion and the lateral extent of tensile failure struc- 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200
tures. However the elements which failed in tension Horizontal scale (m)

do not extend far vertically below the gorge bottom.

The effect of glacial pore pressures and lateral glacial Figure 5. Model sections A to D showing shear strain con-
thrusting could affect the depth and should be further tours. Section A-Niagara Glen, B-St. David’s Shallow, C-St.
David’s Deep and D-Upper Niagara. All model external
investigated. boundaries are 4 km wide and 1 km deep, close ups are shown.
The tensile zone is somewhat related to the geom-
etry of the gorge itself. When the gorge base exists in
a more competent rock formation, the tensile failure gorges then vertical movement. There is some varia-
zones is less laterally extensive then when the flat is tion in the contour pattern between the model sections
located in a less competent rock formation, as seen which most likely is controlled by the geometry and
when comparing sections B and C (Fig. 5). The ten- depth of gorge erosion.
sile zone around the edge of the gorge creates loose Cross section A (Fig. 5), representing a narrow
material and block movement above the affected zones gorge, shows a very small zone of shear strain, suggest-
which contributes to erosion and can be difficult when ing that the lateral extent of deformation is controlled
constructing near the edge of the gorge. by the width of gorge erosion. In sections B, C and D
(Fig. 5), the zone of shear strain is much different. Sec-
4.5 Maximum shear strain tion B (Fig. 5), the zone of shear strain suggests that
The maximum shear strain contours in Figure 5 indi- existing shear planes would be flat lying and slightly
cate that there is more lateral movement below the inclined close to the ground surface. In Figure 5 section

1028
C and D, the shallow and wide gorges form a zone of
sub-horizontal bulbous shear strain which is inclined
towards the gorge. This suggests that any shear planes
that exist are inclined at a sub-horizontal angle up
towards the gorge. The lateral extent of the zone in
all model sections, (except B), is contained within the
width of the gorge at surface.
In section B (Fig. 5), the zone of shear strain is
wider then the gorge, suggesting that with increased
depth of erosion, the zone of shear strain is larger. Also
considering the other sections the zone of shear strain
becomes less inclined with increased erosion into the
Queenston.
The shear strain can be relieved by the development
of shear planes. In the exploratory drilling and exca-
vation for the Niagara Tunnel Project horizontal shear
planes were found to exist in the Queenston away from
the gorge (Fig. 3) and inclined shear planes under-
neath the buried St. David’s Gorge (OPG 2005). The
model results suggest the lateral extent and the inclina-
tion of shear planes in the Niagara Region are closely
related to the depth and width of gorge erosion into the
Queenston Formation.
5 DISCUSSION
5.1 Practicalities of model results
The tensile failure zone and the shear strain zone are
typical features associated with gorge erosion in high
horizontally stressed environments. The tensile failure
of the more competent rock mass units directly above
the shale units is a common occurrence and results due
to the stiffness contrast. If the two units are cemented
together, the stiffer unit will not be able to deform to the
same extent as the softer unit without failing. Essen-
tially the softer unit rips the stiff unit apart, causing
tensile failure.
The deeper the erosion into the Queenston Forma-
tion the more laterally extensive the tensile failure zone
is in the Whirlpool Formation. The St David’s deep
section, where the Queenston has been eroded over
100 m, indicates that the tensile zone extends up to
1000 m from the gorge face, where as in the shallower
section the distance 150–200 m. This is a substantial
variation suggesting a relationship between the deep
and shallow sections in terms of the lateral extent
parallel to the gorge.
Novakowski & Lapevic (1988) indicate a weather
fractured network on the bedrock surface in the Nia-
gara Region. There is only limited surface tensile or
shear failure in the model results at the surface due to
the smooth nature of the topography used in the model.
This is assumed to have little affect on the deeper
failure mechanisms in the Queenston Formation. If
a undulating rock surface was modelled, increased
surface deformation would develop.
1029
Russell & Harman (1985) indicate that within the
Queenston Formation curved microfractures and slick-
ensided curved shears exist as a ubiquitous feature.
The model results indicate that extensive shear failure
has occurred in the Queenston Formation following
glacial unloading. Another observation made in a test
adit for the new Niagara Tunnel Project, were laterally
extensive shear planes with a spacing of 8–10 m (OPG
2005). The shear strain indicates that sub-horizontal
to horizontal shear planes may develop during gorge
erosion.
Modelling of the swelling phenomenon has not been
included in this paper. Within the Queenston Forma-
tion with the addition of fresh water, the swelling can
adversely affect engineering projects. The swelling
zone would be controlled by the amount of fracturing
due to excavation and the joint spacing.
The current de-coupled models do indicate that
there is relationship between depth of erosion and the
lateral and vertical extent of deformation. Future work
with 3D modelling would result in a better understand-
ing of the lateral extent, parallel to the gorges, of such
features as the depth of gorge erosion changes.
5.2 Implications for underground excavations
The model results indicate that extensive failure in the
vicinity of the Niagara River Gorge and the St. David’s
Buried Gorge exists. During the construction of
large scale excavation near these topographic features
blocky ground, as indicated by the tensile zone, must be
considered, even in the most competent units like the
Whirlpool sandstone. The tensile failure indicated in
the model would most likely result in vertical jointing
in nature. These vertical joints could develop wedges
in the crown of large scale excavations.
A relationship exists between the lateral extent of
the tensile zone and the depth of gorge erosion. The
deeper gorge sections have a more laterally exten-
sive tensile zone. When determining the location of a
large scale excavation, careful consideration should be
taken as to the depth of gorge erosion in the immediate
vicinity.
The limestone and sandstone formations of the
Niagara Region are the most competent units for exca-
vation. The failure zone around the gorges is limited
to less then 1000 m in all formations and on aver-
age is 350 m. Such formations would make excellent
material to have in the roof of an underground excava-
tion and structures in the rock mass can be adequately
supported.
The main concern is the placement and orientation
of an underground structure in relation to the gorges of
the Niagara Region. Careful consideration should be
taken with respect to the failure zone around the gorge
and adequate measures taken to support the rock mass
for long term stability in a high horizontally stressed
environment.
6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
By modelling the complex geological history of the
Niagara Region the possibility of laterally extensive
failure zones related to gorge erosion has been deter-
mined. Considering the high horizontal stresses, the
geological heterogeneity, and the contrasting rock
mass properties, glacial loading and unloading, and
erosion by glacial and fluvial action, the model demon-
strates that the failure zone is on average 350 m from
the gorge face and can be up to 1000 m. A relation-
ship between the depth of gorge erosion and the lateral
extent of the failure zone was found to exist. Future
work should be conducted to construct a 3D geologi-
cal model of the Niagara River gorge, particularly the
block bounded by the Niagara River gorge, the buried
St. David’s gorge and the Niagara Escarpment and to
incorporate glacial pore pressures and lateral glacial
thrusting.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to express their appreciation
to Ontario Power Generation and members of Hatch
Mott MacDonald and Hatch Acres for the permission
to publish the information used in this paper and for
their input in reviewing the content.
REFERENCES
Abidi, Y.A., Huang, J.H.S. et al. 1992. Investigations in the
buried St. Davids Gorge, Niagara Falls, Ontario. In Pro-
ceedings of the 45th Canadian Geotechnical Conference,
Toronto. Richmond: BiTech Publishers, Paper No. 100A.
Currice, A.L. & Mackasey, W.O. 1978. Geological Asso-
ciation of Canada Field Trips Guidebook Silurian
Stratigraphy of the Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Falls,
to the Bruce Peninsula by P.G Telford. Toronto.
OPG 2005. GDR: Niagara Tunnel Facility Project Geotech-
nical Data Report. Ontario Power Generation, Report:
R-NAW130-10120-0041.
Haimson, B.C. 1983. SAB – Niagara GS No.3 Hydrofractur-
ing Stress Measurements and Permeability Tests in Holes
NF-3 and NF-4. Ontario Hydro Report: 85357.
Hawlader, B.C., Lo, K.Y. & Moore, I.D. 2005. Analysis of
tunnels in shaly rock considering three-dimensional stress
effects on swelling. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 42:
1–12.
Hoek, E., & Brown, E.T. 1998. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mineral Sciences 34(8): 1165–1186.
Hough, J.L. 1958. Geology of the Great Lakes. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press.
Karrow, P.F. & Terasmae, J. 1970. Pollen bearing sediments of
the St. David’s buried valley fill at the Whirlpool, Niagara
River gorge, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
7: 539–542.
1030
Lieszkowszky, I.P., Ng, J. & Dullerud, E. 1994. Simcoe
street sewer tunnel in ‘squeezing’ shale rock in Toronto.
Canadian Tunnelling: 221–231.
Lo, K.Y., Devata, M. & Yuen, C.M.K. 1979. Performance
of a shallow tunnel in a shaly rock with high horizontal
stresses. In Tunnelling Proceedings of the Second Interna-
tional Symposium. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2000. GSI – A geologically friendly
tool for rock mass strength estimation. In Proc. Geo-
Eng2000 Conference, Melbourne, pp. 1422–1442.
Mazurek, M. 2004. Long term used nuclear fuel waste
management – geoscientific review of the sedimentary
sequence in Southern Ontario. Technical Report TR 04-
01, Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern,
Switzerland.
Menzies, J. 2001. The Quaternary sedimentology and stratig-
raphy of small ice-proximal moraines in the central Nia-
gara Peninsula, Southern Ontario. Geographie Physique
et Quaternaire 55(1): 75–86.
Novakowski, K.S. & Lapcevic, P.A. 1988. Regional hydro-
geology of the Silurian and Ordovician sedimentary rock
underlying Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Journal of
Hydrology 104: 211–236.
OPG 2006. Ontario Power Generation website. www.opg.com.
Pan Y.W. & Dong, J.J. 1991. Time-dependent tunnel conver-
gence I. Formulation of the model. International Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanic
Abstracts 28(6): 469–475.
Pengelly, J.W., Tinkler, K.J., Parkins, W.G. & McCarthy, F.M.
1997. 12600 years of lake level changes, changing sills,
ephemeral lakes and Niagara Gorge erosion in the Nia-
gara Peninsula and Eastern Lake Erie basin. Journal of
Paleolimology 17: 377–402.
Rigbey, S.J., Powell, D.B. & Solymar, Z.V. 1992. Design
of underground powerhouse complex Niagara River
Hydroelectric Development. In Proceedings of the 45th
Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Toronto. Richmond:
BiTech Publishers, Paper No 102A.
Russell D.J. & Harman, J. 1985. Fracture frequency in
mudrocks: an example from the Queenston Formation
of Southern Ontario. Canadian Geotechnical Journal
22: 1–5.
Sanford, B.V. 1968. Oil and gas in Southern Ontario. In Amer-
ican Association of Petroleum Geologists, “Natural Gases
of North America”, Memoir 69(2): 1798–1818.
Spencer, J.W.W. 1907. The Falls of Niagara. Canada Depart-
ment of Mines, Geological Surveys Branch, pp. 125–139.
Stearn, C.W., Carroll, R.L. & Clark, T.H. 1979. Geologi-
cal Evolution of North America. Toronto: John Wiley and
Sons.
Tesmer, I.H. 1981. Colossal Cataract – The Geological His-
tory of Niagara Falls. Albany: State University of New
York Press.
Winder, C.G. & Sanford, B.V. 1972. Stratigraphy and paleon-
tology of the Paleozoic rocks of Southern Ontario. In XXIV
International Geological Congress, Montreal, Quebec.
Excursion A45–C45.
Yuen, M.K., Erzinclioglu, A., Huang, H.S. & Somerville, N.
1992. Design of diversion tunnels: Niagara River
hydraulic development. In Proceedings of the 45th
Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Toronto. Richmond:
BiTech Publishers, Paper 106A.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Geomechanics overview of large-scale hydropower station

development in China

H.C. Zhu
Itasca Consulting China Ltd. Wuhan, China

N.C. Qi
Ertan Hydropower Development Co. Ltd. Chengdu, China

H.B. Wu
Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Cor., Yichang, China

ABSTRACT: China has started developing a number of large-scale hydropower stations in the mountainous
south-west area along large rivers such as the Yangtze River and the Yalong River. Some of them are currently
under construction, but most are in the planning stages. Three of these projects, Jinping I and Jinping II on the
Yalong River and Baihetan on theYangtze River, are presented as examples to introduce the general geomechanics
challenges associated with the development of these large-scale hydropower -facilities on sites with steep and
high river bank slopes. Stability of high slopes at Jinping I, ground support in the deeply-seated tunnels at Jinping
II, and the design of a large size cavern at Baihetan in poor ground conditions, are discussed in this paper.

1 INTRODUCTION

China has been putting efforts into the development of

hydropower stations in the past several years in order
to meet the increasing demand of electricity result-
ing from rapid growth of the economy. A number of
project sites are currently being assessed at their pre-
feasibility and/or feasibility stages, and a few are under
construction or nearing completion, such as Three
Gorges, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, Jinping I, Jinping II, and
Xiao Wan. These plants are mostly located in Sichuan
and Yunnan Provinces - the mountainous south-west
area of China (Fig. 1).
Three projects, Jinping I, Jinping II, and Baihetan,
have been selected for discussion in this paper as
examples to introduce the geomechanics challenges
encountered during their stages of planning and con- Figure 1. Locations of some large-scale hydropower station
struction. Currently both Jinping I and Jinping II are sites on the Yangtze River and theYalong River in south-west
under construction at their early stages. Baihetan is in China.
the planning stage.
Three types of geomechanics problems are The geomechanics challenges for developing these
described in this paper to provide a general overview plants are closely associated with project scale and
of the challenges faced in developing large-scale river valley geology as the two dominant factors. Most
hydropower stations in China. These include: slope of these hydropower projects have been proposed or
stability of dam abutments over 1200 m at Jinping I, designed to be equipped with facilities at extraordinar-
ground support for large-diameter tunnels at depths of ily large sizes, for instance, dams over 200 m in height,
2,525 m below surface at Jinping II, and cavern design underground caverns spanning over 30 m, and hydro-
in relatively poor ground conditions at Baihetan. electric tunnels exceeding 13 m diameter at depths

1031
of 1500 m below surface. Because these large-sized
projects are usually sited in deep river valleys, complex
geological conditions are usually encountered, often
associated with the geological formations.
The narrow deep river valleys in west-east China
were created in the recent geological history during
the rapid lift-up of the Tibetan Plateau. Such geologi-
cal change has created river bank slopes over 1000 m
in height at many locations and caused high stress
regimes at shallow depths in the valley-bottom – the
domain of interest for project development. In addition
to the presence of critical through-going geological
structures, stress-induced fractures and high stresses
are often the two additional factors that need to be
considered for slope stability assessment and rein-
forcement. In reality, historic high stresses have been
observed at most sites, apparent as existing stress-
induced fractures and material yielding in the steep
high bank slopes. The historic stress damage can lead
to a significant impact on the project design and con-
Figure 2. Isometric view showing the geological conditions
struction due to the difficulty in improving the quality of the left dam abutment of Jinping I. The topographic sur-
of damaged ground. Retaining and improving the sta- face extends to an elevation exceeding 4000 m and creates an
bility of high slopes become a common geomechanics entire left bank slope height close to 3000 m.
task and challenge for most of these projects.
Current high stresses have been also revealed dur- A number of faults such as F2 , F5 , F8 , F9 and F42−9
ing on-site explorations, observed as borehole core as well as a highly weathered intrusion run through
discing and exploration drift spalling. Stress issues the abutment, among which both F5 and the intru-
have become a concern for the design of these civil sion are characterised by heavily fractured zones with
engineering projects. thicknesses over a few meters.

2 DAM ABUTMENT SLOPE AND STRESS AT 2.2 Geomechanics concerns

JINPING I
2.1 Geological conditions
The dam site at Jinping I is located within a narrow
section of theYalong River with the steep left bank
over 1200 m in height and a 60◦ slope angle. The slope
will be acting as the left abutment of the double-curved
concrete dam structure. With its crest height of 305 m,
this dam has been called as the highest one ever built
in the world.
As shown in Figure 2, the left abutment consists
of massive marble in the bottom part and slate and
sandstone in the upper part over the elevation around
1900 m on surface. The slate within 180 m horizontally
from the ground surface shows significant yielding
and damage as suggested by well-developed fissures
inside otherwise intact rock blocks and smooth undu-
lating profiles on joint and bedding surfaces. Stress-
induced fractures can also be seen in the marble as an
indication of high stresses that has been naturally built
up in the valley bottom after the bank slope reached a
certain height. Measurements indicate current in-situ
stress levels of over 40 MPa inside the slope and over
80 MPa in the valley-bottom where core discing was
commonly-encountered in boreholes.
One of the geomechanics concerns is the stability of
the natural slope above the Jinping I PowerStation. The
left river bank slope extends to a height of over 1200 m
as the lower part of the entire left bank mountain slope
with a total height of around 3000 m. Large fractures
opening up to tens of centimeters and rock toppling are
commonly seen in the slate as evidence of slope defor-
mation during recent geological history while bedrock
was eroded to form the present valley topography.
One of tasks for this project is to investigate the
stability of left bank slope using the Itasca distinct-
element code UDEC. The model suggested a factor
of safety of 1.2 for the natural slope and revealed the
potential failure mechanism governed by fault F9 and
joints as shown in the section in Figure 3. The collapse
of this slope would occur by following the plane of F9
in the upper part but would require to be initialized by
failure of the rock mass along joints in the lower area.
The calculated factor of safety of 1.2 is not deemed to
be acceptable in terms of domestic codes for this civil
engineering project. Effectively increasing the stabil-
ity of such a high slope was challenging to all of the
project designers and consultants.
Because of the highly-developed fractures, stability
and deformability became concerns for the abutment

1032

Figure 3. Cross-section showing potential unstable area
suggested by an Itasca UDEC model. The inset shows the
bedding and joint patterns simulated in the model.
rock mass to provide adequate load resistance for the
high double-arched dam. As a result, it is required to
enhance the fractured abutment rock mass. A number
of approaches have been proposed to improve the stiff-
ness of the entire left abutment, for instance, grouting,
cabling, and casting concrete grids.
Grouting techniques have been widely used in
hydropower projects in China to improve the qual-
ity and permeability of rock masses. A series of field
tests were done to investigate the applicability of this
approach in the case of the Jinping I abutment. It
seems that more effort is required to solve the potential
adverse effects associated with grouting, for instance,
possible hydro-fracture effects when high pressures
are applied to infill long fractures extending to the
into the valley-bottom, where high stresses may exist.
Systematic cabling with large pre-tension (usually
over 1500 kN) has been routinely used to stabilize
large volumes of potentially unstable rock masses in
many hydroelectric projects such as Lijiaxiao, Long-
tan, Three Gorges and Xiao Wang. This approach has
been also proposed to help stabilize the abutment by
keying it into the slope. It is still questionable whether
this can be done successfully given the presence of an
over 100 m thick fracture zone.
Concrete grids consisting of sub-horizontal and
sub-vertical posts (mined-out drifts filled with con-
crete) were designed to reinforce weak zones and to
transfer the load from the dam into the deeper regions
where the rock mass appears more competent. The
span of these drifts is typical around 10 m. Driving
the required number of drifts is expected to have sta-
bility issues for the drifts themselves and to impact
the stability of potentially instable blocks within the
abutment slope. Sophisticated assessment and careful
implementation are required to successfully remedy
stability problems associated with the abutment.
1033
In order to successfully transfer load to competent
rock masses at greater depth, the posts have to be com-
petently grouted with the fractured surrounding rock,
which is a challenge in terms of the size of post and
the magnitude of load to be transferred.
Dam abutment slope stability and rock mass
deformability are the most challenging of the geome-
chanics issues for the Jinping I project. Some questions
remain unanswered.
During the early stage of construction of this
project, driving the water-diversion tunnel below the
the left bank slope induced a dynamic failure/ rock
burst which impacted the slope. Dynamic waves prop-
agated into the surrounding rock mass and caused
existing fractures to move/open within the region
around 200 m from the tunnel opening. Since the in-
situ stress levels are much higher in the valley-bottom,
the foundation excavation is expected to result in floor
heave and associated fracturing in a strongly dynamic
manner. Pre-reinforcement may have to be applied
in order to avoid the bedrock from becoming more
fractured and damaged. Dynamic fracturing during
foundation excavation did unexpectedly occur at Xiao
Wang, a dam site with similar geological conditions.
The dynamic response that occurred when driving
the diversion tunnel points to foreseeable reservoir-
induced seismicity when the dam is in operation,
due to the presence of high in-situ stresses, existing
fractures, and significant groundwater level changes.
The current groundwater level is very low, being
only slightly higher than the river water level, and
reflects the presence of a well-connected fracture net-
work. Rising reservoir water level will consequently
increase the groundwater pressure and saturate the
existing fractures, which will likely induce seismic-
ity. The seisimicity could occur within and around
the dam abutment area and may have some impact on
the dam.
3 DEEP SEATED TUNNELS AT JINPING II
3.1 Project description
The dam site at Jinping II is located a few kilometers
downstream of Jinping I. in contrast to the high dam
at Jinping I, Jinping II takes the advantage of a loop
in the Yalong River by driving tunnels through Jinping
Mountain producings over 300 m water head as shown
in Figure 4. With a small dam to raise the water level,
water will be conducted through four parallel head-
race tunnels to the powerhouse on the other side of
the Mountain. Each tunnel is about 16 km long 13 m
in diameter at a maximum depth of 2525 m below the
surface.
There are a total of 7 tunnels to be completed.
Two of them are to connect the Jinping I and Jin-
ping II projects providing transportation accesses; four

Yalong River
4199m
Jinping Mountain
Jinping II
4458m
1630m
Location of the
Jinping I
Jinping II tunnels
4309m
Jinping II Powerhouse
Yalong River
Figure 4. Sketch of the layout of Jinping I and Jinping II
hydroelectric stations (not scaled) on the Yalong River. Tun-
nels will be driven below Jinping Mountain at a maximum
depth of 2525 m below the surface.
hydroelectric tunnels, and one drainage tunnel to aid
the development of the power tunnels.
Each of the two transportation tunnels have been
completed to 11 of the total 17 km, driven from both
north-west and south-east portals (by the time of
preparing this paper). The cross section of the trans-
portation tunnel is horseshoe-shaped with a 6 m span
width and 7 m in height. Accesses are also under devel-
opment to aid the driving of the drainage tunnel and
the power tunnels.
3.2 Ground conditions and problems
The two transportation tunnels are mostly parallel to
the power tunnels. Driving these two tunnels allows
a preview of the ground conditions for all 7 tun-
nels. From the north-west portals to south-east portals,
the tunnels run through a sequence of marble, schist,
inter-bedded slate and sandstone, massive marble, and
limestone interbedded with marble. The marbles are
generally good quality with RMR usually in the range
of 50 to 80. The schist is relatively weak with an
estimated UCS of around 25 MPa.
The most concerning issue encountered was that
of groundwater inflow while driving the transporta-
tion tunnels, with recorded water pressures exceeding
8 MPa and maximum inflows exceeding 5 m3 /s at a
depth of around 1,700 m below the surface. The esti-
mated water pressure can be as high as 10 MPa or more
when advancing to the deeper tunnel sections.
At the time of preparing this paper, the combined
water inflow inside these two transportation tunnels
is around 7 m3 /s. The project is suffering due to the
1034
resources needed to manage such large water inflows.
The water-conducting fractures need to be grouted
for use of the tunnels as permanent access between
Jinping I and Jinping II, and for the purpose of envi-
ronmental protection. A number of groundwater and
grouting experts have been invited to work on the
project. More efforts are still required to completely
solve this problem.
Stress-induced damage does not appear to be as
severe as was estimated in most locations, suggest-
ing more favorable virgin stress regimes. Based on the
observed occurrences of stress-induced damage, the
horizontal stress component is close to, but somewhat
higher than the vertical stress. Spalling is the most
commonly-seen damage effect and mostly appears in
the roof, with a 25 degree offset from horizon on
the right hand side of the tunnel when facing north-
west. Spalling is also sometimes observed between the
sidewall and roof, and occasionally on the sidewalls.
Three types of stress-induced failures were seen in
the transportation tunnels. They are associated with
dominant throughgoing geological structures (such as
shears), the regional stress regime, and joints, respec-
tively. Severe rock bursts with failure depths of over
0.5 m and even up to 1.5 m are believed to be linked to
a set of geological structures. Most rock bursts were
induced while driving the tunnels against the structures
below depths of 2000 m below the surface. Spalling
near the roof appears to be a result of rock mass fail-
ure induced through the sub-horizontally dominated
regional in-situ stress regime. The depth of spalling
is usually about, or less than, 20 cm. The presence of
steeply-dipping joints with a small offset angle less
than 25◦ from the tunnel axis has resulted in significant
sidewall deformation and buckling due to joint open-
ing or/and shearing when the joint spacing is relatively
small and the rock is weak.
Even though the in-situ stresses do not seem to
result in severe failures in brittle rock units, a large
yielding zone can still be expected in the marble after
excavation because the magnitude of stress remains at
high levels at great depth. Drilling from the sidewall of
an access tunnel connecting the two transportation tun-
nels revealed core discing at a depth of 2.2 m, and 5.6 m
from the opening at the overburden depth of 640 m and
1050 m, respectively. Core discing is believed to cor-
respond to the locations of stress concentration and
can be used to calibrate numerical models. The cali-
brated model will be used to reliably predict ground
conditions for other scenarios.
As shown in Figure 5, the drill hole FZK3-3 drilled
inside tunnel access E3 (at an overburden depth of
1050 m) and 1.3 m above the tunnel invert clearly
shows core discing section starting at a distance of
5.6 m from the collar. Most discings appear in the
range between 5.6 m and 8 m (the length of core box
is 0.8 m), which indicate high stresses extend this far
5.6m 120
σ MPa
In-situ stress level
100
σ1 Supported
Stress-relaxed
80
σ1 Unsupported

60 σ3 Supported

40

σ3 Unsupported
20

Distance from opening, m

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

Tunnel B σ1 MPa
Bedding Strength envelope
140
Access
Hole FZK3-3 tunnel
N42W 120
9M

Tunnel A Supported
100 Unsupported

Figure 5. Core discing starts at a distance of 5.6 m from the

borehole collar and indicates the location of stress concentra- σ3 MPa
tion surrounding the opening. Plan view shows the location 80
of the drill hole from which the core was obtained. 20 25 30 25

into the tunnel wall. The thickness of the yielding zone Figure 6. Stress distributions in the radial direction away
at this location is thus estimated around 5.6 m from the from the opening show a narrower stress relaxed zone after
perimeter of the opening. applying support (upper). The rock subjected to a peak stress
regime is relatively further away from yielding when a support
3.3 Ground support design approach system has been applied (lower).

An Itasca FLAC3D model was built to replicate the

above observations and to validate the geomechani-
cal setting by considering the development of the two
transportation tunnels (A and B), as well as the access
tunnel #E3. The calibrated geomechanical setting was
then used to predict ground conditions after excavat-
ing the power tunnels. It is suggested that the thickness
of yielding rock can be as much as 10 m in the marble
at overburden depths below 2,000 m after driving the
13 m diameter power tunnel.
One of the requirements to determine the bolt length
in the support design is that the bolt should be long
enough to penetrate the yielding zone surrounding an
opening. The required length would be around 12 m
in this case, which is close to one times the tunnel
diameter. This bolt length does not seem practical
when compared to empirical estimates. A procedure
has thus been established and numerically validated
to select the bolt length for ground support for the
Jinping II tunnel project. The suggested bolt length is
determined by referring to the thickness of the stress
relaxed zone, rather than the thickness of the entire
yielding rock mass. As shown in Figure 6, the stress
relaxed zone is defined as the zone where stress has
been reduced below the in-situ level around the open-
ing. Such stress reduction results from rock yielding
under high stresses.
The basis for establishing such a procedure is based
on: 1) yielded rock at depth with a certain confinement
retains high strengths and may not need be supported;
and 2) the applied ground support can significantly
reduce the thickness of the yielding zone by restricting
the loss of confinement near the opening.
The upper diagram in Figure 6 shows the modeled
changes in both the major and minor principal stress
components as a function of distance from the opening
of the power tunnel, for the supported and unsupported
scenarios. The modeling results suggest that the thick-
ness of the stress relaxed zone would be expected to be
at least 10 m when no support is applied. After apply-
ing a support system of a 1.5 m spaced pattern of 8 m
long bolts, with a 15 cm thick shotcrete, the stress con-
centration area moves closer to the opening by about

1035
2.5 m. In other words, the yielding zone is effectively
reduced by applying the support system even though
the bolts may not have been penetrated through the
yielding zone.
The lower diagram in Figure 6 shows the effect
of applying a support system on the improvement of
ground conditions by comparing the stress states in the
regions subjected to peak stresses with the two scenar-
ios studied (supported and unsupported). The applied
support system is expected to significantly increase the
confinement and thus to strengthen the rock mass sub-
jected to high stresses. The supported rock is relatively
further away from yielding, as desired.

Figure 7. Sketches (not scaled) showing a plan view (left) of

4 CAVITY AT BAIHETAN the layout of the Baihetan Project and the cross-section profile
(right). PD61 and PD62 are two exploration drifts for inves-
4.1 Site conditions tigating the geological conditions at the two powerhouses.
Baihetan hydroelectric station is located on the upper
reach of the Yangtze River and planned to be equipped
with two underground powerhouses in the left and right
banks, respectively. The proposed dimensions for each
cavern is around 34 m span and over 80 m in sidewall
height. The powerhouse in the left bank may have to be
partially excavated in columnar basalt with the column
size in cross section averaging 10 cm.
As shown in Figure 7, two exploration drifts (1.8 m
by 1.8 m in cross-section), PD61 and PD62, were
sub-horizontally driven to investigate the geologi-
cal conditions at the powerhouses areas along the
axes of the power tunnels in the left and right bank,
respectively.
High stresses were evident in the massive rock unit
along the PD62 drift. As shown in Figure 8, severe
spalling occurred in the roof of the drift where the
rock appears to bemostly competent massive basalt. Figure 8. Photo of the PD62 exploration drift showing
The failure depth measures up to 40 cm in the roof in spalling in the otherwise competent roof rock.
this small diameter drift. Considering that the thick-
ness of overburden is only a few hundred meters, constructiion of the powerhouse caverns in the left and
spalling in such a small opening suggests a relatively right banks.
high horizontal/vertical stress ratio. In general, stress-induced brittle failure may be a
A very low Young’s modulus (average 6 GPa) was concern for tunnel and cavern excavations in the right
measured in the columnar basalt along the PD61 drift. bank because of the in-situ stress regime with a high
The in-situ measurements were made on sidewalls and horizontal/vertical stress ratio. The exploration obser-
invert by traditional plate bearing tests. The low modu- vations indicated much less spalling along the PD62
lus is believed to be a result of significant relaxation of sub-drift parallel to the powerhouse in the right bank,
the surrounding rock mass, due to the presence of high comparing to that occurred in the main PD62 drift.
horizontal/vertical stress ratio and the jointed nature of This observation suggested that the orientation of the
columnar basalt. Proper testing is required to under- dominated horizontal stress is more or less parallel to
stand the behavior of the columnar basalt for the cavern the powerhouse axis.
design. From the tunnel and cavern design point view, it is
necessary to well understand the geomechanical con-
ditions resulting in such severe stress-induced failure
4.2 Predicted geomechanics issues for the cavities
in the small drift at a depth only a few hundred meters
As revealed by the exploration drifts, two geomechan- below the surface.
ical issues related to the in-situ stress regime and Excavating tunnels and caverns in the columnar
the nature of columnar basalt are expected during basalt in the left bank is expected to result in sidewall

1036
deformation and instability problems. Understanding
the in-situ deformation properties of the columnar
basalt becomes a necessity. Comprehensive on-site
tests and/or measurements are currently in planning,
including a Mine-by experiment in the PD61 tun-
nel, within the columnar basalt. This experiment will
be implemented by driving an instrumentation drift
and then a test tunnel at an appropriate dimension
that enables significant deformation to develop. Rock
mass deformations in the columnar basalt resulting
from driving the test tunnel will be measured from
the instrumentation drift and the data will be used to
back-calculate the deformation modulus expected for
the larger volume excavations.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a description of geomechanics
challenges for developing large-scale hydroelectric
power stations in China by taking three sites, Jinping
I, Jinping II, and Baihetan, as examples. The chal-
lenges are derived from two major aspects: the scale
of the facilities and the complexity of the rock mass
conditions.
The complexity of rock mass conditions is asso-
ciated with the unique geological characteristics of
the deep river valleys where the stations will be con-
structed. The instability of high slopes is another major
concern, especially when the slope will be serving to
support part of the project facilities, such as the dam
abutment at Jinping I.
1037
Besides the geological structures or weak rock units
that are usually considered in civil engineering prac-
tice, stress-induced damage or high stress has been
highlighted as a factor that may result in ground control
issues for the project development in these deep valley
areas. Stress-induced stability problems have already
been observed at relatively shallow depths when devel-
oping the water diversion tunnel inside the river banks
at Jinping I and during driving of the exploration drift
PD62 at Baihetan. Such occurrences are believed to
be the result of the topographical shape and formation
of the narrow and deep valley during recent geological
history.
In the practice of developing these large-scale
hydropower projects in China, more efforts are
required to achieve comprehensive understanding of
the complex geological conditions in these valleys
and to complete the project design and construction
accordingly.
REFERENCES
Board, M. & Zhu, H.C. 2006. Site investigation report on
Baihetan hydroelectric power station. Itasca Consulting
Group Inc. and Itasca Consulting China Ltd.
Zhu, H.C. 2006. Report on the stability analysis and support
design for the development of hydroelectric tunnels for
Jinping II hydropower station. Itasca Consulting China
Ltd.
Zhu, H.C. & Li, H. 2005. Report on numerical analysis of
Jinping I left bank slope. Itasca Consulting China Ltd.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Accounting for time-dependent deformation in the Niagara

Diversion Tunnel design

S.J. Rigbey
Hatch Energy, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

M. Hughes
Hatch Energy, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: A 14.4 m diameter water conveyance tunnel is currently being excavated byTBM through a highly
saline and highly stressed bedrock regime near Niagara Falls, Canada. Time-dependent deformations occur in
certain rock units when exposed to fresh water and upon release of the high horizontal stresses. Historical data
show that these deformations continue for decades. Consideration of the deformations has influenced all aspects
of the planning for the excavation of the tunnel and design of the TBM and tunnel liner. The mechanics of the
time-dependent phenomenon are reviewed, along with the various laboratory and field investigations undertaken
for the project. Numerical modeling in the concept design phase led to various approaches being proposed to
account for the time-dependent deformations. The approach adopted will incorporate a plastic membrane to
prevent both fresh water from within the tunnel from contacting the rock, and ionic diffusion of salts from the
rock into the tunnel, thus avoiding the potential for swelling.

1 INTRODUCTION appropriate tunnel design methods have been under-

The Niagara Tunnel Facility Project, currently being
implemented by Ontario Power Generation Inc.
(OPG), comprises the design and construction of an
approximately 10.4-km long water conveyance tun-
nel, and associated intake and outlet structures. The
intake is located upstream from the Niagara Falls and
the outlet is near the existing Sir Adam Beck (SAB)
hydroelectric plant. The project is being constructed
following the Design/Build delivery method, with
Strabag AG as the main Contractor, and ILF Beratende
Ing. as the designer. Hatch Mott MacDonald/Hatch
Energy are acting as Owners Engineer. Tunnel con-
struction is now underway, utilizing a Robbins Tunnel
Boring Machine with a diameter of 14.44 m, making
it at this time the largest hard-rock tunnel bore in the
world. The project is described in Delmar et al. (2006).
The intake and outlet structures are excavated
in limestones and dolostones. The tunnel will pass
through these and other upper units, and the majority
of its length will be excavated through the underlying
Queenston formation, which is comprised mainly of
silty mudstone. This rock is subject to high in-situ
stresses and time-dependent deformations, and tunnel
liner designs have been driven by these considerations.
Significant research into both the time-dependent
deformation phenomenon and development of
taken over the past 20 years, and published by a number
of authors. Much of this work was in anticipation of
the Niagara Tunnel Facility Project. The current paper
summarizes how the tunnel designs have accounted
for both the time-dependent deformation phenomenon
and the rock mass deformations that are expected.
2 GENERAL GEOLOGY
The Niagara Region is underlain by Cambrian,
Ordovician and Silurian sedimentary rocks having a
total thickness of approximately 800 to 900 m. The
project area has generally well-defined bedding with a
southerly dip of about 6 m/km and an east-west strike.
The strata include dolostones, dolomitic limestones,
sandstones, and shales. The Queenston formation is at
a depth of about 100–120 m.
Although the Queenston formation is mainly a
muddy siltstone, a significant percentage of mudstone
occurs in the upper sections, and siltstones/sandstones
have been encountered in deep boreholes below the
elevation of the tunnel.The formation is generally mas-
sive, with generally indistinct bedding and few joints.
However, major discontinuities occur along primary
bedding planes at spacings of about 5 m to somewhat
greater than 20 m, and locally affect the rock mass

1039
quality. These planes often exhibit features such as
gouge or breccia (a few millimetres to 2 to 3 cm) and
slickensides that are consistent with lateral structural
dislocation.
Laboratory strength testing of intact Queenston
samples has shown a wide range of strength val-
ues, ranging from 8 to 118 MPa due to variations in
lithotypes. Average strengths are in the range of 38
to 45 MPa. The tensile strength ranges from 0.8 to
13.6 MPa. The rock exhibits an anisotropic stiffness,
with a fairly consistent vertical modulus in the order
of 19 to 25 GPa. There is an apparent increase in stiff-
ness in the horizontal plane with depth, resulting in
increasing anisotropy with depth.
The sedimentary rock strata in the Niagara Region
are known to possess relatively high horizontal in-situ
stresses, with a maximum horizontal/vertical stress
ratio varying from 3 to 5. Measurements show that
maximum horizontal stress in the Queenston forma-
tion range from 10 to 24 MPA.
Rock mass strength estimates for the Queenston,
following the Hoek-Brown criterion, were based on
‘mi ’(intact) values from triaxial testing and Rock Mass
Rating (RMR) values derived from both borehole and
adit investigations. Resultant rock mass values (m/s)
range from 1.3/0.007 to 4.5/0.026 near the contact with
overlying sedimentary units and in the deepest tunnel
sections respectively.
Groundwater from the primary bedding planes in
the Queenston formation is generally of connate ori-
gin. This connate water is supersaturated with salts,
with chloride contents up to 296 000 mg/L and sul-
phate contents up to 1860 mg/L having been measured.
3 TIME DEPENDENT DEFORMATIONS
The phenomenon of time dependent deformation
in surface excavations (often referred to as ‘rock
squeeze’) was first recognized in the early 1900’s dur-
ing the construction of the wheel pits of the Canadian
Niagara and Toronto Power Plants in Niagara Falls.
Rock ‘squeeze’ has been recognized in a number
of construction projects since, most notably in the
1970’s, when extensive concrete cracking occurred in
the Thorold Tunnel west bulkhead wall shortly after
construction associated with the squeezing of shaly
limestone beds.
Squeeze is associated with the long-term creep
behaviour of rock, initiated by the relief of high
in-situ horizontal stresses. This squeeze, however, may
include the effects of swelling of the shale interbeds
in the rock units. Swelling of the shale units in the
Niagara Area is also well documented, and is reported
in terms of “swell potential”, or the strain rate
per log cycle of time in days. Based on labora-
tory measurements of time-dependent deformation by
1040
Dr. K.Y. Lo and others, the following conclusions have
been drawn:
• the horizontal swelling potential of the Queenston
formation is isotropic and is the highest among the
shales for Southern Ontario
• the vertical swelling potential is up to 1.6 times the
horizontal swelling potential
• the swelling deformation response is stress-
dependent, and can be represented by a linear
relationship between swelling potential and applied
stress in a semi-log plot
• for a specimen under applied stress, the applica-
tion of stress in one direction not only suppresses
the swelling in that direction but also reduces the
swelling in the orthogonal directions. Swelling can
be completely suppressed under 4–5 MPa stress
• The swelling potential is affected by the calcite
content of the rock
• The following conditions are necessary for swelling
to occur :
– the relief of initial stresses to below the swell
suppression pressure, which serves as an initiat-
ing mechanism
– the accessibility to fresh water
– an outward salt concentration gradient from the
pore fluid of the rock to the ambient fluid.
It is generally accepted that the processes of rock
“squeeze” and “swell” in the Niagara area are inter-
related, and the individual effects of each are difficult
to distinguish. Both effects can continue for many
years. Rock excavation at surface and underground
relieves the initial state of high horizontal stresses
that are prevalent in the area, providing an initiating
mechanism for time-dependent deformation to occur.
However, swelling also requires the presence of fresh
water or high humidity. The process is associated with
ionic diffusion of salts from the connate pore water in
the rock, and a corresponding reduction in capillary
and surface tension and water uptake within the rock.
This process is of significant concern to the
Niagara Tunnel design, as tunnel excavation, followed
by the introduction of a fresh water source through
the Queenston formation would initiate long-term
swelling. This would result in significant additional
and increasing load acting on the concrete liner over
the life of the project.
4 CHARACTERIZATION OF LONG-TERM
DEFORMATION POTENTIAL
Since the Queenston formation is composed of com-
plex layering of mudstone, shale, siltstone and sand-
stone, a test specimen is a composite material.
For a specimen containing predominantly shale and
mudstone, high swelling will occur. In contrast, lit-
tle or no swelling occurs in a specimen composed
of siltstone and sandstone. On a macroscopic scale,
the shale (mudstone) content governs the amount and
rate of swelling. On a microscopic scale within the
shale (mudstone) layers, swelling will be influenced
by the calcite content which acts as a cementing agent
inhibiting swelling.
Dr. K.Y. Lo first established that, as applied pres-
sure is increased, the swelling potential decreases until
a critical pressure is reached at which the swelling is
entirely suppressed. Various types of tests as shown
in Figure 1 were performed over the years by both
Dr. Lo and Hatch Energy (formerly Acres Interna-
tional) to measure the time dependent phenomenon.
Based on a review of all results from the various tests,
a “Swelling Law” was developed for design purposes,
as discussed below (Fig. 2).
4.1 Effect of confinement
The amount of swelling is dependent on the degree
of confinement: i.e. the more overall confinement,
the less swelling. Most tests are semi-confined, that
is, confined along one axis only. The ‘confined’ tests
attempt to recreate radial confinement by placing
the sample in a confining steel ring, however this
does not fully re-create the actual situation. Triaxial
testing provides the closest re-creation of actual con-
ditions, however there was only one triaxial test that
Figure 1. Laboratory test methods.
1041
defined the maximum swelling pressure (2.7 MPa). It
is probable, based on confined testing results, that this
could range as high as 4 MPa, however other consider-
ations discussed below could result in even higher
pressures.
4.2 Effective vs. total pressure
It is believed that in-situ swelling is controlled by the
effective pressure, i.e. pore pressure within the rock
mass acts to reduce the total pressure acting on the
rock mass. Thus, the total pressure (i.e. the in-situ
stress level) needs to be reduced when calculating the
amount of swelling, and this results in a higher amount
of swelling than would be experienced on the basis of
in-situ stresses alone. If in-situ pore pressures could be
replicated in the laboratory then the laboratory results
would be directly applicable for design. However, it
is likely that pore pressure is lost to some degree (or
even entirely) when the core sample is retrieved and
taken to the laboratory. Pore pressure measurements
in mudstones in the laboratory are extremely difficult,
if not impossible within the testing timeframe, so the
pore pressure condition during swell testing remains
unknown.
Numerous tests were performed that involved
replacing the sample in the in-situ stress field prior
to swell testing in an attempt to re-create the pore

Figure 2. Swelling law for design.
pressure conditions; however, because of stress-path
dependency, results from these tests were deemed to be
not representative. Thus, the relationship of effective
stress on swelling has not been established.
The definition of maximum swelling pressure
becomes less conservative with greater reductions in
pore pressure prior to testing. For example, if labora-
tory pore pressure were zero, the actual maximum
swelling pressure would be about 1.5 MPa higher than
defined in the laboratory testing. To account for this
possibility, the swell design line was defined with a
maximum swelling pressure of 5 MPa.
Although there is an appreciable difference in
swelling potential between the horizontal and verti-
cal samples, the overall range of data for total swell
suppression is essentially the same for horizontal and
vertical samples. As such, a single enveloping design
line was defined for both the horizontal and vertical
directions. A ‘cut-off’ of 0.3% swelling potential is
considered as the average of all free-swell test results
(i.e. under no confinement conditions). Although data
shows that higher swell potentials, upwards of 0.5%,
have been measured, a review of sample locations
shows that variation in results is significant between
samples taken even less than 1 m apart from the
same borehole. Thus, since the excavated tunnel will
1042
be 14.4 m in diameter, use of an averaged result is
considered appropriate for design purposes.
5 SITE INVESTIGATIONS AND OBSERVED
ROCK PERFORMANCE
The geotechnical investigations for the Project were
carried out in a number of stages. The earliest concept
phase investigations were carried out by Ontario Hydro
in 1983, and continued through 1993.
The 1992/1993 investigations included the excav-
ation of an adit and a 12-m diameter trial enlargement
in the Queenston formation. Observations indicated
that temporary support measures are problematic due
to rock mass behaviour. Numerous instances of stress-
induced and excavation geometry controlled sidewall
spalling developed soon after excavation, in the range
of 0.1 to 0.5 m deep. Rock bolts at 1.5 m spacing were
not successful in controlling the sidewall spalling. In
the crown, the rock broke back 0.5 m to an overly-
ing bedding plane within a few hours after excav-
ation. Excavation related, stress controlled slabbing
of the rock also occurred in the invert. Degradation
of the Queenston formation developed within days,
and eventually resulted in significant spall behind the
protective wire mesh.
In those areas where spalling and slabbing did not
take place, the zone of active movement was limited
to the first 1 to 2 m from the surface of the excavation.
Very small ‘creep’ movements in the order of 5 mm
or less were measured from 7 to 70 days following
excavation.
6 CONCEPT DESIGN
“Best-practice” construction in Southern Ontario has
generally adopted a 90 to 100 day waiting period
after initial rock excavation to allow for a signifi-
cant amount of time-dependent deformation to occur
prior to any concrete placement. In the case of surface
excavations, compressible material is often installed
to absorb rock deformations and reduce or eliminate
loading on concrete. This practice has been adopted for
the surface excavations of the Niagara Tunnel Facility
Project. However for the tunnel, based on the observed
rock behaviour, it was evident that the excavation
would require full and immediate support, either by
shotcrete and ribs, or by the installation of pre-cast
concrete segments as part of a single-pass TBM excav-
ation methodology. As such, a waiting period could
not be instituted, and a large component of the time-
dependent deformation could not be eliminated prior
to installation of the liner.
Empirical relationships to define swelling as a func-
tion of excavation diameter have been proposed for
the design of tunnels excavated in Southern Ontario
swelling shales. A number of closed-form solutions
have also been proposed for tunnel design in swelling
rock conditions. However, it was decided that in order
to investigate the complex interaction between the liner
and the swelling rock after the introduction of fresh
water into the completed tunnel, numerical modelling
was required.
Analytical models were developed in the 1990’s
using the two-dimensional finite difference program
FLAC, and assuming a precast segmented concrete
lining of various thicknesses. Initial results showed
that very high concrete compressive strengths were
required to resist the long-term swelling loads. As an
alternative, compressible grouts within the annulus
between the segments and the rock were considered, to
allow for additional deformation with less load transfer
to the concrete liner. In this fashion, more reasonable
concrete compressive strengths could be used in the
model.
Swelling is only induced if there is both stress relief
and a reduction in the salinity of the pore fluid. Stress
relief arises from the redistribution of stress around
the tunnel as it is excavated. Pore water salinity will
be reduced by a complex interaction between fresh
water advection away from the tunnel and diffusion
of chloride ions towards the advancing fresh water
front. For simplification, advection and diffusion were Figure 3. Diffusion/advection model.
considered as separate, concurrent processes. It was
assumed that the primary bedding planes and any plas- • incorporation of an impermeable liner so that long-
tic zone of rock are sufficiently permeable that fresh term swelling does not develop.
water penetrates to the back of the plastic zone within
a relatively short period of time. Thus diffusion will
commence from the back of the plastic zone or from
7 SELECTED DESIGN
the bedding plane into the intact rock.
The model incorporated the effects of bedding
Three Proponent submissions were received. Two of
planes, fractured zones and pore pressures and sim-
the three Proponents selected a single pass TBM liner
ulated the changing stress and salinity conditions
alternative, using very high strength, relatively thick
during tunnel excavation, installation of concrete lin-
pre-cast tunnel segments. The third proponent, Strabag
ing, watering up of the tunnel and associated swelling
AG, opted for a two-pass TBM system, utilizing tem-
of the rock over the 90 year project life, as well as
porary rock support based on ribs/shotcrete and rock-
potential future dewatering of the tunnel. Figure 3
bolts, followed by a waterproofed un-reinforced cast-
illustrates the model conditions.
in-place concrete liner. After a detailed selection pro-
Based on the predicted lining loads it became appar-
cess, Strabag AG was chosen as the Design/Contractor
ent that a 450 mm thick lining using conventional grout
for the project.
was not viable without the use of exceptionally high
The tunnel lining system is shown in Figure 4. The
strength concrete. Use of a compressible grout resulted
tunnel lining system prevents both fresh water from
in acceptable lining loads, although concern regard-
within the tunnel contacting the rock as well as pre-
ing the manufacture and installation of such a grout
venting ionic diffusion from the rock to the water
remained.
passage of the tunnel. Thus, two of the three necessary
On the basis of these analyses, three concept design
mechanisms for initiating swelling are eliminated by
approaches were identified:
the design.
• design of a liner (either pre-cast or cast-in-place) The tunnel lining system consists of an imper-
capable of accepting all loads, using conventional meable Flexible Polyolythene (FPO) waterproofing
grouts membrane placed against the first pass shotcrete sup-
• use of a compressible grout to reduce liner loads port and a 600 mm thick un-reinforced cast-in-place
(and thus, thickness) concrete lining. High pressure (22 bar) “interface”

1043
Figure 4. Selected liner design.
grout is injected between the shotcrete and the mem-
brane though grout hoses embedded in the liner. The
interface grout applies a locked in pre-stressing load in
the concrete liner that is greater than the load within
the liner caused by internal water pressure and thus
eliminates tensile stresses in the liner and the need
for reinforcement to control cracking. Such reinforce-
ment has been found to be a leading cause of damage to
waterproof membranes during construction. The pre-
stress also eliminates formation of longitudinal tension
cracks during tunnel pressurization that could cause
sever strain and potential damage of the waterproof-
ing membrane should this type of cracking occur. Thus
the combination of the impermeable membrane and
the pre-stressed concrete liner provides for a water-
tight tunnel lining system that will prevent migration
of fresh water to the rock and ions from the rock to the
tunnel.
Experience in Europe with waterproofing of tun-
nels shows that a high degree of quality can be achieved
with relatively simple quality control measures dur-
ing installation of such systems. However, due to the
consequences of swelling on the tunnel in this case,
additional measures in design, detailing, and construc-
tion are required to ensure that a verifiable watertight
tunnel lining system is achieved. To this end a dou-
ble layer FPO membrane is being deployed in the
1044
swelling formations. This system includes for a 2 mm
thick external membrane and a 1.5 mm thick internal
membrane which form a series of 2-m long cham-
bers along the tunnel. Each of these chambers will
be vacuum tested and repaired or replaced as required
to ensure complete water tightness. The internal mem-
brane layer includes dimples to ensure that the vacuum
can be applied without the layers collapsing together.
Additionally, each joint between these membrane
chambers is formed with a double heat-welded seam
that will be pressure tested for leaks. In this fash-
ion, it can be ensured that the membrane will be
installed with no leaks. Furthermore, application of
the interface grout will prevent longitudinal cracks
from developing when the liner is pressured and will
seal the surrounding rock as well as fill any poten-
tial voids surrounding the tunnel providing additional
security. Therefore, with these measures, it is expected
that the tunnel will meet the design requirements and
thus eliminating rock.
8 CURRENT PROGRESS
Construction started in September 2005 with the
preparatory site works and manufacture of the
tunnel boring machine. Preparatory work included
construction of access roads, camps and a 300 m long
outlet canal. The TBM was supplied by The Robbins
Company of Ohio, USA and the backup by Rowa Tun-
nelling Logistics AG of Switzerland. The TBM and
backup were not pre-assembled prior to deliver to site
which sped up the procurement process. Delivery of
the TBM and backup to site started in May 2006 with
assembly taking place within the outlet canal. Tun-
nelling started September 1, 2006 concurrent with
final adjustments and commissioning of the machine.
The tunnel is currently some 200 m into the mixed for-
mations overlying the Queenston formation. The TBM
is expected to enter the Queenston formation early in
2007.
REFERENCES
Acres International Ltd. 1997. Niagara River Hydroelec-
tric Development. Additional Laboratory Testing, Final
Report.
1045
Delmar, R., Charalambu, H., Gschnizter, E. & Everdell, R.
2006. The Niagara Tunnel project – An overview”. In Tun-
neling Association of Canada, 19th Nat. Conf.,Vancouver,
pp. 120–130.
Itasca 2005. Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua – FLAC
Version 5.0. Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting group, Inc.
Lee Y.N. & Lo, K.Y. 1990. Time dependent deformation
behaviour of Queenston Shale. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal 27(4): 537–547.
Lo. K.Y., Wai, R., Palmer, J. & Quigley, R.M. 1978.
Time-dependent deformation of shaly rocks in Southern
Ontario. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 15: 461–471.
Ontario Power Generation 2005. Niagara Tunnel Facility
Project. Invitation to Submit Design/Build Proposals,
Appendix 1.1 (pp), Owners Mandatory Requirements.
Appendix 5.4 Geotechnical Baseline Report.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Hydraulic fracturing stress measurements in Iceland and

the design of two hydroelectric power projects

B. Haimson
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

A.K. Ingimarsson
Hõnnun Consulting Engineers, Reykjavik, Iceland

ABSTRACT: We report on two sites in Iceland, Blanda and Kárahnjúkar, where hydraulic fracturing stress
measurements were performed in the initial stages of pre-excavation design of two underground hydroelectric
projects. The dominant rock is young basalt, naturally fractured and blocky. The measured stresses were used in
both cases to define the boundary conditions in the modeling of the stability conditions around the powerhouse
caverns. Both caverns have been successfully constructed.

1 INTRODUCTION of construction and should be operational in 2007–8

(Fig. 2).
The advent of the hydraulic fracturing (HF) method of This paper describes the in situ stress measurements
deep in situ stress measurements some 35 years ago at the two sites, and attempts to show how they were
has been of particular importance to the hydro-electric used in the design of the two projects.
power (HEP) industry. Until then the state of stress at
the site and depth of the major underground compo-
2 STRESS MEASUREMENT METHOD
nents of a planned project was typically unknown in
advance of excavation. In the absence of that unique
At both locations in situ stress measurements by
parameter the design of cavern stability, orientation,
hydraulic fracturing (HF) were conducted in the early
and support, among others, had to be mostly guessed
stages of site investigation, well ahead of the pre-
until excavation, at which time any needed correc-
excavation final design of the hydroelectric plant
tions would be very expensive. The ability to use HF
underground components. At each site the exploratory
at any depth that a borehole could reach enabled the
boreholes selected for these measurements were those
measurement of in situ stress early in the site investi-
thought to be at the time the closest to the planned
gation stage, and thus provided crucial information for
underground powerhouse. Test intervals were selected
the pre-excavation design of the underground works.
from depths within and immediately above and below
The first projects that took advantage of the new
the expected depth of the future powerhouse, after
stress determination technique were the Helms and
visually inspecting the extracted core at the site. These
Bad Creek hydroelectric schemes in California and
intervals were picked so as to span segments free
South Carolina, respectively (Haimson 1977). Since
of natural fractures, joints, or other visible weakness
then, the use of HF ahead of excavation has become
planes.
routine all over the world.
In Iceland, starting in the late 1970’s, HF stress
2.1 Hydraulic fracturing equipment and
measurements were conducted at several potential
procedure
hydroelectric sites. This paper reports on two case his-
tories, Blanda and Kárahnjúkar, where HEP projects The downhole HF equipment consisted of a straddle
were constructed. The Blanda Hydroelectric Project is packer system containing two 90 cm long inflatable
located in northern Iceland, some 340 km from the cap- rubber packer elements rigidly connected so as to
ital city of Reykjavik (Fig. 1). It is a 150 MW facility straddle a 60 or 90 cm interval. A central internal hol-
completed in 1992. The Kárahnjúkar HEP is located low steel tubing extended through the entire length
in the northeastern part of Iceland, some 40 km west of of the straddle packer separating two hydraulic lines,
Reydarfjordur, where it will supply the needed energy one for the inflation of the packers (through the annu-
for an aluminum smelter. This plant is in the process lus between packers and tubing) and the other for the

1047
Figure 1. General overview of the Blanda hydroelectric plant and its location in Iceland (see insert).

Figure 2. General overview of the Kárahnjúkar hydroelectric plant and its location in Iceland (see insert).

1048
pressurization of the interval (through the central hole
inside the tubing). The straddle packer was lowered
into the test hole using drilling rod. A high-pressure
flexible slim hose was strapped to the outside of the
drill rod and connected hydraulically to the top of the
straddle packer, providing the inflation line for the two
packers. The drill rod itself was used for the pressur-
ization of the test zone. Surface equipment consisted
of two high-pressure hydraulic pumps, one for packer
inflation, and the other for test interval pressurization.
A strip-chart recorder provided real-time plotting of
packer pressure, test-interval pressure, and flowrate
(monitored by in-line pressure transducers and turbine
flow meters).
Testing procedure was identical in all tests. The
hydraulic fracturing tool was first assembled and
tested on the surface. The tool was lowered into the
hole to the predetermined depth for test no. 1. The
inflatable packers were set by applying a hydraulic
pressure of roughly 5 MPa. Once the packers were set,
hydraulic pressure was applied rapidly but at a con-
stant flowrate to the interval. Care was taken that at all
times the pressure in the packers was higher than that
in the interval by at least 2 MPa, to prevent leaks past
the packers.
The pressure in the test interval was increased
steadily until a critical (breakdown) pressure Pc was
reached, at which a hydraulic tensile fracture was
induced in the rock. Pumping was stopped and the
pressure was allowed to decay rapidly until an inflec-
tion point occurred in the pressure-time record, beyond
which pressure decline slowed considerably. The
inflection point is known as the shut-in pressure Ps , the
pressure required to just keep the fracture from closing
completely.The entire pressure cycle was repeated sev-
eral times, recording the fracture reopening pressure
Pr , and additional readings of Ps . At the completion of
all the pressurization cycles, the packers were deflated
and the straddle packer was moved to the next test
zone. The procedure was repeated for each test.
2.2 Fracture-delineation equipment and
procedure
Knowledge of hydraulic fracture orientation is crucial
to establishing the directions of the principal stresses.
We used an impression packer – orienting tool to obtain
an oriented trace of the induced hydraulic fracture on
the test-hole wall. The impression packer consisted
of a 90 cm long inflatable packer element covered
with a thin layer of semi-cured rubber (impression
sleeve) which could be easily dented permanently by
a sharp protrusion or gap in the hole wall. A gyro-
scopic orienting tool was rigidly attached to the top
of the impression packer. The impression packer was
lowered into the test hole to the depth of an already
hydraulically fractured interval. The packer was then
pressurized to a level slightly higher than the estimated
1049
shut-in pressure of the interval, to allow the impression
sleeve to protrude into the slightly opened hydraulic
fracture and take a permanent imprint. After retrieval
of the packer, hydraulic fracture traces were oriented
with respect to North based on the gyroscopic tool
readings.
2.3 Stress calculations
The vertical stress σv was calculated from the average
density of the overburden multiplied by depth below
surface. The smallest horizontal principal stress σh was
derived directly from the shut-in pressures Ps obtained
in tests resulting in vertical hydraulic fractures. Thus:
The calculation of the largest horizontal principal
stress σH was based on the Kirsch solution for stresses
around circular holes in linear elastic materials, lead-
ing to the expression:
where Thf is the ‘hydraulic fracturing tensile strength’
of the rock which is to be overcome before fracturing
occurs, and P0 is the pore pressure in the rock at the
depth of testing. Thf was estimated in two ways: as
equal to the difference between the breakdown and
reopening pressures (Thf = Pc − Pr ), or as equal to the
tensile strength as measured in the laboratory.
The directions of the horizontal stresses were
derived directly from the orientation of the vertical
hydraulic fractures (see Table 3):
3 THE BLANDA HYDROELECTRIC
PROJECT
Blanda Hydroelectric Project is a 150 MW facility
in northern Iceland that has been in operation since
1991 (Fig. 3). The powerhouse is an underground
cavern, some 800 m inside a valley mountain, 220 m
below the ground surface. Its main dimensions are
66 × 12.5 × 30 m (length × width × height). There is
one access tunnel, 810 m long by 25 m2 , one tailrace
tunnel, 1700 m by 36 m2 , and two vertical shafts, each
210 m × 10.7 m2 .
The cavern is located in 6–7 million year old heav-
ily fractured basaltic rock mass of several 5 m–7 m
thick basalt flows with scoriaceous contacts. In the site
investigation stage of the project several exploratory
boreholes were drilled in the general area of the
future plant. Core logging yielded an average rock
mass quality Q of 4 (Orkustofnun 1983, Landsvirkjun
1990).
Figure 3. Topographic map of the Blanda site, showing HF test hole BV-12, underground plant components, and directions
of tectonic lineaments. Scale is in meters; contour interval is 5 m.
3.1 Hydraulic fracturing stress measurements
During the summer of 1979, five HF stress measure-
ments were carried out in borehole BV-12, adjacent to
the planned Blanda HEP powerhouse. The measure-
ments were hampered by the intense natural fracturing
of the rock, which necessitated abandoning several
planned test depths because leakage past the packers
prevented pressure buildup in the test interval. How-
ever, a total of five tests were successfully conducted
between the depths of 100–170 m, equivalent to the
elevation (el.) a.s.l. of 95–165 m. Figure 4 summarizes
measurement results with respect to both magnitudes
and directions as a function of elevation. Outside
of the uppermost test, the remaining stress data dis-
played a nearly linear increase with depth (decreasing
elevation), as follows:
Final powerhouse location was eventually moved
approximately 1100 m to NNE (Fig. 3). Nevertheless,
its elevation (126–129 m) was maintained within the
range covered by our tests (Fig. 4).
Test results indicated that the two horizontal prin-
cipal stresses between el. 130 and 165 m were practi-
cally equal, with only moderate differentials at lower
1050
elevations. Moreover, the ratio between the average
horizontal and vertical stresses, although 1:2 in the
upper ranges of elevation, tended to 1:1 below 120 m.
Another intriguing result was that despite the near
equality of the two horizontal principal stresses in the
upper elevations, the direction of the major horizon-
tal principal stress σH was consistent throughout at
N16◦W (±10◦ ) (Fig. 4). This direction was definitely
not aligned with, and hence not affected by, the local
tectonic lineaments (Fig. 3), signifying that it was the
true σH direction.
3.2 Implementation in the final design
of cavern
Prior to excavation a simple 2D finite element model
was used to evaluate cavern stability and support
requirement. Boundary conditions were based on a
combination of HF stress measurement results, the
new location of the powerhouse, and experience from
other sites. Thus, the ratio of the average horizontal
stress to the overburden was estimated as 1:1, and since
the powerhouse depth below the surface was 250 m,
the magnitude of the stress used (based on a basalt
weight gradient of 0.027–0.028 MPa/m) was 6–7 MPa
(Thorgrimsson et al. 1991). The fact that the differ-
ence between measured σh and σH , was small, meant
that the σH measured direction was not a significant
factor in designing the optimum stable orientation of
the underground cavern.
 170
160
150
140
Elevation (m)
130
σh
120
110
100
90
1 2
Stress (MPa)
Figure 4. Variation of the vertical and the two principal horizontal stress magnitudes and of the major horizontal stress
direction, with respect to elevation, based on the hydraulic fracturing measurements at the Blanda site.
During excavation, extensive monitoring using a
variety of extensometers was conducted. After the
excavation of the top heading of the powerhouse, suf-
ficient data was collected to re-evaluate the original
assumptions, and the ratio between the average hor-
izontal stress and the vertical stress was adjusted to
1.25:1, equivalent to HF stresses at el. of 95 m (Fig. 4).
Overall, despite the intense natural fracturing of the
rock, the excavated caverns were even more stable
than anticipated by the existing classification meth-
ods (Thorgrimsson et al. 1991). The Blanda HEP has
been in operation since 1991.
4 THE KÁHRANJÚKAR HYDROELECTRIC
PROJECT
The Kárahnjúkar 690 MW hydroelectric project is
currently under construction in Iceland. The pow-
erhouse is located underground in Fljótsdalur val-
ley, about 1 km inside a valley mountain at some
500 m depth below the ground surface (el. 22–
38 m). As shown in Figure 2 the location of the
project is only about 40 km from the Reydarfjordur
deep HF tests conducted earlier as part of a scien-
tific project (Haimson & Rummel 1982). The main
underground structures are the powerhouse cavern
(128 × 14 × 34 m), access tunnel (1040 m × 45 m2 ),
tailrace tunnel (1460 m × 69 m2 ), and two vertical
pressure shafts, (each 420 m × 12.5 m2 ).
σv
Powerhouse el.
N16˚W
σH (±10˚)
3 4 5 6 7 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
σHdirection (o)
As in Blanda, the geology is complicated, consisting
of fractured and scoriaceous tholeiite basalt and scoria
in the top of the powerhouse, and blocky porphyritic
basalt in the lower half of the cavern. A large fault
zone crosses the cavern along with other minor faults,
fractures and volcanic dikes. Rock mass classifica-
tion on rock cores from exploration holes, for the rock
units corresponding to those of the powerhouse, gave
Q-values between 1 and 15. The in-situ classification
yielded lower values, often between 0.1 and 6.
In 1980 we carried out 7 HF stress measurements
in borehole FV-01, near the main underground compo-
nents of the planned Fljótsdalur HEP, which was since
abandoned. A new hydroelectric plant, Kárahnjúkar,
approx. 700 m northeast of FV-01, was later designed
and is currently being built (Fig. 5).
4.1 Hydraulic fracturing stress measurements
As in Blanda, hydraulic fracture stress measurements
in the 640 m (el. +572 m to −70 m) borehole FV-01
were meant to be conducted in the proximity of the
future powerhouse. However, the location of the cav-
ern was eventually moved away some 700 m. The core
extracted from FV-01 was intensely fractured, but we
were able to select 10 test zones of seemingly intact
rock in rocks that varied from gray basalt to reddish
basalt to tuffaceous sandstone. A major problem with
this hole was that the water table was some 230 m
below the surface. To avoid packer jamming upon
1051
Figure 5. Topographic map of the Kárahnjúkar site, showing HF test hole FV-01 and FV-40, underground plant components,
and directions of tectonic lineaments. Contour interval is 5 m.
depressurization at the end of a test, due to the differ-
ential between the pressure in the packers (the entire
water column to the surface) and the head pressure,
nitrogen was used for packer inflation instead of water.
A total of seven successful HF tests were carried
out between el. 547 and 68 m. the measured princi-
pal stresses showed remarkable consistency for such
a naturally fractured and blocky rock (Fig. 6). Lin-
ear regression of stress magnitude results shows the
following stress-elevation (el.) relationships:
Even more than at Blanda, the two horizontal princi-
pal stresses throughout the range of depths/elevations
tested reveal only small differential, tending to become
smaller at lower elevations. The stress measurement
results were later confirmed by an independent set
of HF measurements in a different borehole (FV40,
Fig. 5) some 500 m to the west (Loftsson et al. 2006).
The direction of σH (excluding the near-surface
uppermost test) is predominantly to the northwest
(N56◦W), as shown in Figure 6, but carries a large
standard deviation (±30◦ ), probably owing to the near
uniformity of the horizontal stress magnitudes. Stress
1052
directions seem to be unrelated to that of local tectonic
lineaments (Fig. 5), but have probably been affected
by the slope of the mountain in which the hole was
drilled.
4.2 Implementation in the final design
of cavern
The final location of the powerhouse, 700 m away from
borehole FV-01, but at elevations between 4 and 38 m,
meant that at least with respect to height it was close
the deepest stress measurement at 68 m a.s.l. (Fig. 6).
In the design of cavern orientation the principal hor-
izontal stress directions were not considered a factor,
because at the depth of the powerhouse in particular
σh and σH were nearly equal.
The calculated principal stresses at the elevation
of the powerhouse by extrapolating from equations (5)
were:
These magnitudes were indeed the ones used, together
with other measured rock properties, in the subse-
quent modeling. For numerical simulations, a three
 600
500
400
σv
Elevation (m)
300 σh
σH
200
100
Powerhouse el.
0
0 2 4 6
Stress (MPa)
Figure 6. Variation of the vertical and the two principal horizontal stress magnitudes and of the major horizontal stress
direction, with respect to elevation, based on the hydraulic fracturing measurements at the Kárahnjúkar site.
dimensional boundary element code and the two
dimensional finite element code were used. The for-
mer was primarily employed to identify the potential
stress-induced problems at areas of concern. The lat-
ter was utilized to optimize the cavern’s shape and
to analyze the effectiveness of different rock sup-
port measures (Loftsson et al. 2005). Furthermore, the
2D model was also used for assessing the effect of
cavern excavation sequence on the reduction of stress-
induced problems. Stress-induced instabilities proved
worse than anticipated, and required additional sup-
port and other corrections. However, the excavation of
the powerhouse and adjacent tunnels was successfully
completed ahead of schedule (Loftsson et al. 2005).
Knowledge of the in situ stresses was essential in
identifying location and extent of zones to be mon-
itored during and after excavation with multiple point
rod extensometers and convergence measurements.
Stress related movements of the rock were consid-
erably higher than expected, partly due to poor rock
conditions, and are still ongoing (Loftsson et al. 2006).
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper two case histories were briefly described
in which modern design techniques were utilized in
N56°W
(±30°)
8 10 12 14 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
σH direction (°)
the excavation of the underground components of
hydroelectric power plants in Iceland. These included
the measurement of the in situ stresses using the
hydraulic fracturing method prior to excavation. Mea-
sured stresses were used to define the boundary condi-
tions in the modeling of the caverns, and that enabled
the engineers to be aware in advance of potential
stress-induced problems.
REFERENCES
Haimson, B.C. 1977. Design of underground powerhouses
and the importance of preexcavation stress measurements.
In Fairhurst & Crouch (eds.), Design Methods in Rock
Mechanics. ASCE, pp. 197–204.
Haimson, B.C. & Rummel, F. 1982. Hydrofracturing stress
measurements in the IRDP drill hole at Reydarfjordur,
Iceland. J. Geophys. Res. 87(B8): 6631–6649.
Landsvirkjun (National Power Company) 1990. Blöndu-
virkjun jarðgangagerð. Framkvæmdarskýrsla.
Loftsson, M., Jóhannsson, Æ. & Erlingsson, E. 2005. Kárah-
njúkar Hydroelectric Project – Powerhouse Cavern. Suc-
cessful excavation despite complex geology and stress
induced stability problems. In Proceedings Fjellspreng-
ningsteteknikk, Bergmekanikk/Geoteknikk, pp. 26.1–25.
Loftsson, M., Ingimarsson, A.K. & Jóhannsson, Æ. 2006.
In situ rock mass stresses in Iceland and rock mass defor-
mation of underground caverns in the Kárahnjúkar and
1053
 Blanda Hydroelectric Projects. In Lu et al. (eds.), In Situ
Rock Stress Measurement, Interpretation and Application.
Taylor & Francis/Balkema, pp. 289–296.
Orkustofnun (National Energy Authority) 1982. Blöndu-
virkjun jarðfræðirannsóknir. I Almenn jarðfræði og man-
nvirkjajarðfræði. OS-82090/VOD14.
Orkustofnun (National Energy Authority) 1983. Blanda
Hydroelectric Project. Engineering geology of the
area of proposed underground works, Summary. OS-
83033/VOD16.
1054
Pálmason, P.R. 1991. On the selection of rock support system
in the powerhouse area of the Fljótsdalur Hydroelec-
tric Project. VST Ltd, Consulting Engineers, Iceland,
pp. 1–22.
Thorgrimsson, S., Loftsson, M. & Jensson, Ó. 1991. Iceland’s
Blanda Hydroelectric Project: Monitoring of Deforma-
tions, rock support and testing of rock anchors in the
Powerhouse cavern. Tunneling and Underground Space
Technology 6: 235–239.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Upgrading the rock foundation stability of Hamidieh Dam

with relief wells

H.R. Zarei & S. Khalesi

Dept. of Engineering Geology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran &
Geotechnical Section-MAHAB GHODSS Consulting Engineers, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the geomechanics of the upper Miocene rock foundation, which included
estimating the rock mass properties and evaluating rock foundation behavior for the rehabilitation of the 50 year
old Hamidieh dam. The geomechanical data were used as input parameters for the analysis of the foundation
stability and the design of the remedial programs and In addition, a seepage analysis of the foundation rock
was carried out. The stability analysis of the dam against sliding and uplift pressure was assessed using the
equilibrium analysis for the proposed compound remedial programs. After careful analysis of several design
alternatives, a solution involving 96 relief wells in two rows, rip rap protection was selected for implementation,
whereby the dam would be safe for future operation.

1 INTRODUCTION some 20,000 ha of downstream land by way of two

The Hamidieh Dam was constructed about 50 years
ago (1957) on the Karkheh River in southwest Iran
(Fig. 1). The dam is 192 m in length and has 19 spill-
ways, 10 gates and one fishway and is one of the oldest
dams in Iran (Fig. 2). This concrete gravity dam has
a maximum head of 9 m (in NWL condition the max-
imum head is 4.5 m) and supplies irrigation water to
Figure 1. Sketch map showing the Hamidieh dam location
and tectonic setting.
side channels. In 2002, with construction of the main
Karkheh Dam upstream, 149,000 ha of land should be
irrigated gravitationally by the Hamidieh Dam. Due to
the important role of this dam, it has been deemed nec-
essary to perform a stability analysis and determine a
remediation plan for the dam.
The Hamidieh Dam was constructed on the north-
east flank of the Zeinolabbas anticline on the Aghajari
geological formation which consists of a sequence
of sandstone, siltstone and marlstone. A geotechnical
evaluation of the Aghajari formation was carried out,
site investigations, insitu water pressure tests and lab-
oratory tests. The rock mass strength parameters were
determined using the Hoek-Brown failure criterion
(Hoek et al. 2002). Seepage analysis of the founda-
tion rock and stability analysis of the dam against
sliding and uplift pressure were analyzed using equi-
librium methods for the proposed compound remedial
programs.
The results of geotechnical investigations show
that the foundation rocks have low permeability, high
porosity, low to moderate strength, and low elastic
modulus and are sensitive to fracturing due to desic-
cation. Except for the scouring of sandstone and marl-
stone layers downstream of the stilling basin, the dam
has performed favourably since its first impoundment.
The absence of uplift pressure in the dam foundation
was assumed in the original design. This assumption
however cannot be upheld based on new installed

1055
piezometers and stability of the dam is in critical
condition and unacceptable for future operation.
Achieving stability of the dam was therefore only pos-
sible through either restricting the reservoir level or
using other measures to improve stability. Because the
original design reservoir level has to be maintained
for gravitational irrigation of the 149,000 ha of down-
stream land, extensive remedial measures became
necessary.
Generally, foundation stability could be assessed
by either empirical or numerical approaches. Both
approaches require geomechanical data and the rock
mass properties of the foundation. The objective of
geotechnical investigations is to quantify the rock mass
properties using site investigation, insitu and labora-
tory tests, and then investigate how external loading
affects the behavior of the dam. To assess the rock
mass properties and stability of sandstone, siltstone
and marlstone of the foundation, rock engineering
studies were carried out.
Figure 2. Photo of downstream view of the Hamidieh Dam.
1056
2 GEOLOGY
The Aghajari formation consists of a sequence of limy
sandstone, red marlstone and siltstone (Table 1). This
formation is about 2000 m thick in the region based on
published geological maps.
The rock masses under investigation in this study
belong to the upper Miocene Aghajari geological for-
mation. This formation crops out on the northeast
flank of the Zeinolabbas anticline, where the Hami-
dieh Dam is founded directly on sandstone, which
comprises more than 75% of the foundation rock. The
sandstone forms a layer (about 6–7 m thick) dipping at
20–25 ◦ upstream and is underlain by weak siltstone
and marlstone.
Geologically, the region is part of great Khuzestan
plain in the south margin of the high Zagros, with a
slight dip to the Persian Gulf. The Khuzestan plain
is completely covered with Karkheh alluvial deposits
composed of silt, sand and gravel. These deposits
belong to the Holocene and have varying thicknesses, The physical characteristics of these rocks showed
which decrease along the tectonic features (such as the that their dry density varies from 1.99 to 2.28 g/cm3.
Zeinolabbas anticline). Water absorption ranges from 10.9 to 11.9% for sand-
stone (other samples were disturbed during water
absorption) and their porosity is between 13.7 and
3 FOUNDATION ROCK CHARACTERISTICS 25.3% (Table 2). The sandstone, siltstone and marl-
stone of theAghajari geologic formation can be classed
The physical and mechanical characteristics of the as being of moderate density and high porosity (Anon
Aghajari rocks were determined on borehole core sam- 1979). The value of UCS is less than 25 MPa for
ples. The specific gravity, porosity and water absorp- the sandstones, about 15 MPa for the siltstone, and is
tion, durability, triaxial compressive strength, uniaxial slightly less than 12 MPa for the marlstone. The tensile
compressive strength (UCS), modulus of elasticity, strength of the foundation rocks calculated indirectly
Poisson’s ratio, indirect tension strength and seismic using Brazilian test (Table 2).
wave velocities (Vp and Vs) were measured (Table 2). According to ISRM (1981), the foundation rocks
are of low to moderate strength. However, when sub-
Table 1. Geology of the Aghajari formation. merged in water, they slaked and lost their strength.
Based on Deere & Miller (1966), using both the UCS
Rock type Distribution1 Description and the Young modulus (Et50 ), very low strength and
low modulus ratio are suggested for the foundation
Sandstone 75% Medium to coarse grained, rocks.
sub-rounded to sub-angular, Similarly, the results of triaxial compressive
slightly weathered, light brown, strength tests for each sandstone, siltstone and marl-
grains cemented by clay stone are plotted in a series of Mohr diagrams. The
minerals and calcite. mean values of failure stress (σ1 ) corresponding to
Siltstone 15% Moderately weathered,
laminated, weak, light brown
each confining stress (σ3 ) are also given in Table 3. The
to light red, fine silt size. empirical failure criterion (Goodman 1980) has been
Marlstone 10% Moderately weathered, determined for each rock type by fitting envelopes to
laminated, weak, light green, the Mohr circles. Based on the Mohr–Coulomb rela-
fine silt and clay size. tionship, the values of apparent cohesion (c) and angle
of the internal friction () for each rock type were
1
Rock type distribution under the Dam foundation. determined (Table 3).

Table 2. Range and (mean) values of material properties of foundation rock.

Sandstone Siltstone Marlstone

DRY DENSITY (GR/CM3 ) 2.03–2.28 1.99–2.2 2.04–2.2

mean 2.2 2.1 2.1
Porosity (%) 13.7–25.3 16.8–20.1 14.9–20.6
Mean 19.5 18.5 17.8
Water absorption (%) 10.9–11.9 –1 –1
Mean 11.4 – –
Durability index (%) 84–90 78–84 66–74
Mean 86 81 69
Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa) 16.9–23.6 13.9–18.4 7.12–16.6
Mean (natural condition1 ) 20 16 12
Young’s modulus (Et50 ) (GPa) 3.23–5.29 1.45–2.69 1.55–2.79
Mean 4 2 2
Poisson’s ratio 0.31–0.39 0.32–0.38 0.29–0.38
Mean 0.35 0.35 0.34
Indirect tension strength (MPa) 0.47–0.86 0.65–0.91 0.44–0.88
Mean 0.67 0.78 0.66
Compression Wave velocity (Vp) (km/s) 1.87–2.86 1.69–2.16 1.69–2.01
Mean 2.37 1.92 1.85
Shear Wave velocity (Vs) (km/s) 0.95–1.45 0.87–1.1 0.86–1.02
Mean 1.2 0.99 0

1
Sample disturbed under water absorption and saturation condition.

1057
Table 3. Mean σ1 and σ3 values and strength parameters
determined from three axial compressive strength tests.
σ1 σ3 c
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (0 ) mi
Sandstone 32.45 3 3.18 39.7 17.7
Siltstone 33.3 3 5.81 34.2 7.4
Marlstone 33.7 3 5.9 34.1 7.02
Direct shear testing of the rock–concrete inter-
face indicate that the shear strength parameters are as
follow: Cohesion 0–400 KPa, Friction angle 28–38◦ .
Furthermore, the average values for the rock
material constant, mi (assuming the constant, s = 1)
was determined using the Hoek and Brown failure
criterion – 2002 Edition (Hoek et al. 2002). The val-
ues of mi for the sandstone (17.7), siltstone (7.4) and
marlstone (7.02) correspond favorably with the values
quoted by Hoek (1994) for sandstone (mi = 17 ± 4),
siltstone and marlstone (mi = 7 ± 2) (Table 3).
Overall, based on elastic modulus, strength, and
material constants, the foundation rocks are classified
into two classes. The sandstone, with low to moderate
strength and the higher value of material constant, and
the siltstone and marlstone, with the lower strength and
the value of material constant.
4 ROCK MASS CHARACTERISTICS
The foundation rock mass characteristics were deter-
mined on a number of outcrops near the dam abutment
and on the core logs of several borehole drillings. Due
to the restriction of outcrops, these investigations were
implemented by the borehole surveying to enable an
assessment of discontinuity features, as well as pro-
viding information on the rock structure, weathering,
and groundwater conditions.
The occurrences of the principle faults and major
discontinuities are described in terms of their location,
extent, and relation to the dam axis. The nature of these
features will be used on the rock mass classification as
indices. The rock mass characteristics were obtained
using the rock mass rating (RMR) (Bieniawski 1989),
A detailed study of the core logs showed that Rock
Quality Designation (RQD) values in the sandstone
vary from 79 to 90% with an average of 84%. In the
siltstone and marlstone, however, the average value is
about 63%.
The foundation rock mass was classified into
two groups. The sandstone which is located directly
beneath the dam body and the siltstone and marlstone,
which comprises less than 25% of the foundation rock
mass (Fig. 3). This categorization has been used for
1058
the rock mass classification system and provides mea-
sures to evaluate the rock mass properties, in the next
sections.
4.1 Rock mass classification
The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) System (Bieniawski
1989) classifies rock masses using the following
six parameters: uniaxial compressive strength (UCS),
Rock Quality Designation (RQD), spacing of frac-
tures, condition of fractures, groundwater conditions,
and orientation of fractures. Rating numbers for the
parameters were applied to each rock mass group
(Table 4) based on the chart published in Bieniawski
(1989). Ratings for the first five parameters were
summed to yield the basic RMR and adjustments
were subsequently made for the influence of fracture
orientations to give adjusted RMR values.
4.2 Mechanical properties of the rock mass
To predict rock mass behavior and conditions in rock
foundations, it is important to characterize the rock
mass strength and deformation modulus. Since it is
almost impossible to determine the rock mass prop-
erties directly, applications of the RMR system with
the Hoek & Brown (1988) failure criterion provide a
reasonable estimation of the mass properties.
Consequently, the rock mass constants, mb and s,
were estimated using the Geological Strength Index
(GSI) (Hoek et al. 1997). Mean RMR values (Table 4)
and outcrop condition accompanied by core logs were
used to estimate the GSI index for each of the two foun-
dation rock mass groups. The rock mass properties
were then calculated in accordance with the Rock-
Lab program created by Hoek et al. (2002). Equivalent
Mohr–Coulomb parameters (c and  ) together with
the rock mass strength (σcm ) (Hoek & Brown 1997)
and, the rock mass deformation modulus (Em ) were
estimated for each rock mass group (Table 5).
5 ANALYSIS OF ROCK FOUNDATION
STABILITY
The general requirements for the satisfactory design
and stability of dam foundations are stability against
sliding, uplift pressure, control of seepage and erosion.
5.1 Scour analysis
In order to quantify the susceptibility of the rock
masses to scour at the Hamidieh Dam, the erodabil-
ity index, Kr, was determined (Table 6) as defined by
Annandale (1995):
Figure 3. Seepage analysis and relief well system design parameters for the Hamidieh Dam foundation.

Table 4. RMR classification of the Hamidieh Dam foundation rocks.

Rating Adjustment
UCS RQD Spacing of Condition of Ground Water for Fracture
Rock Type (MPa) (%) Fractures (cm) Fractures Condition Orientation RMR RMC

Sandstone Values 17–23 79–89 60–200

Rating 2 15 12 15 2 −8 38 IV
Siltstone & Values 8–13 50–73 80–100
Marlstone Rating 1 10 9 10 4 −8 26 IV

Table 5. Geomechanical properties of the Hamidieh Dam foundation rocks.

Rock type RMR GSI σci (MPa) mi D mb s c (MPa)  σcm (MPa) Em (GPa)

Sandstone 38 33 20 17.7 0 1.62 5.85 0.91 30.3 3.12 1.69

Siltstone & 26 21 14 7.2 0 0.43 1.54 0.35 19.3 0.987 0.70
Marlstone

1059
This equation is a modification of the Q-system for
assessing rock support requirements (Barton et al.
1974). The following is a discussion of each of the
four parameters:
1. Ms is the rock mass strength number without regard
to geologic heterogeneity of the intact rock:
The value of Ms is the product of the uniaxial com-
pressive strength of the rock (units MPa) and its
unit weight relative to a standard of 27 KN/m3 .
2. Kb is the particle–block size number as determined
by joint spacing:
The RQD is the rock quality designation and Jn is
the joint set number.
3. Kd is the discontinuity shear strength number as
calculated from the ratio
Where Jr is the join roughness number related to
the condition of discontinuity surface, and Ja is the
joint alteration number related to the strength of the
material forming the surface of discontinuities.
4. Js is the relative ground structure with respect to the
effective dip of the least favorable discontinuity set
with respect to the direction of flow (Duncan 1999).
These equations can be used as a guideline in
assessing the susceptibility to scour. Where there is a
risk of scour, preventive measures can be considered,
Such as, modifying the designs to reduce turbulent
flows to acceptable levels, or protecting the rock with
reinforced concrete aprons or rip rap. Based on this
analysis the Hamidieh foundation rock mass is sus-
ceptible to scouring, especially with more intensity in
siltstone and marlstone (see Fig. 3).
5.2 Seepage analysis
Whenever a structure underlain by pervious rocks
is subjected to a differential hydrostatic head, water
enters the pervious rocks, creating an uplift pressure
beneath the elements of the structure and the down-
stream areas, which could provide a failure mecha-
nism. Relief wells are often installed to relieve these
pressures which might endanger the stability of the
structure.
Determination of whether relief wells are needed
is based on a seepage analysis, which also provides
the basis for the design of the relief well system. The
1060
seepage analysis also provides an estimate of uplift
pressures which may exist under the dam. The seep-
age analysis of the Hamidieh Dam foundation was
estimated by drawing a flow net. The uplift pressure
distribution beneath the Dam without wells varies lin-
early from full reservoir head (9 m) at the upstream
end of the foundation to the tailwater head (1.2 m) (or
0 percent of reservoir head) at the downstream end of
the stilling basin (Fig. 3).
The design of a relief well system should be pre-
ceded by thorough field and geologic studies. Suf-
ficient borings should be made to define the depth,
thickness, physical and hydraulic characteristics of the
foundation rock. Estimation of foundation permeabil-
ity can be made from field pumping tests.The pumping
test should fully penetrate the pervious foundation and
determine the variation in horizontal permeability with
depth.
Pressure relief wells are designed to prevent excess
uplift pressure and provide an adequate factor of safety,
FS, with respect to uplift pressure. For this purpose,
reduce the net head to an allowable value, “ha”. The
equation for FS is:
In this equation γ and z are the density and thick-
ness of concrete respectively at any point along the
stilling basin. The factor of safety with respect to
uplift pressure should be at least 1.5. The allowable
net head under the dam for this condition is given by
the equation:
Therefore, the allowable net head, “ha ” under the
Hamidieh Dam stilling basin was estimated as 0.82 m
(For FS = 1.5). However seepage analysis and the
uplift pressure distribution diagram shows that mean
uplift pressure under the stilling basin varies from
0.82 m to 2.3 m. So to reduce uplift pressure under this
condition a multiple relief well system was designed.
5.3 Analysis of multiple well systems
In most applications, a system of pressure relief wells
in various arrays is required for the relief of pressures
or reduction of groundwater levels. In such cases, anal-
yses must be made to determine the number, depth and
spacing of wells to meet these requirements. The head
at any point produced by a system of fully penetrat-
ing artesian wells was first determined by Forcheimer
(1914); as reported in EM 1110-1-2908. His general
equation was later modified by Dachler (1936); also
Table 6. Scour resistance of foundation rock masses.

Rock mass strength Block size Discontinuity shear Relative ground Erodability index
Rock type number, Ms number, Kb strength number, Kd structure number, Js Kr

Sandstone 16.27 28 1/6 0.6 45.6

Siltstone & Marlstone 9.44 20.7 1/6 0.6 19.5

Table 7. Relief well design parameters.

Net head Distance Distance Allowable Average Net head

on well from well from well to net uplift Midwell uplift Average between Well
systems to line sink line source head factor* factor* net head* wells* discharge
Row H (m) Le (m) S (m) ha (m) θa θm Hav (m) Hm (m) Qw (l/min)

1 7.2 12 13.5 1.55 1.175 1.024 1.52 1.4 1.46

2 4.25 8 17.5 0.82 1.175 1.024 0.79 0.69 0.76

* These values are based on:

– Distance between wells (a) = 4 m in each row. – Well loss = 0.80 m, based on piezometric data.
– Well penetration factor (W/D) = 50 percent. – Foundation permeability (K) = 2.34*10−7 m/s.

reported in EM 1110-1-2908. The well system analy-
ses for the Hamidieh Dam foundation were carried
out based on equations for an impervious confin-
ing stratum of finite length (EM 1110-1-2908). These
equations are applicable to both fully penetrating and
partially penetrating well systems and apply to the case
of no well losses. If well losses are considered, h is
substituted for H, where
H1 is the head on well systems and hw is the well loss.
5.4 Sliding stability analysis
The ability of the rock in the foundation to resist slid-
ing failure depends on the orientation and continuity of
joints and bedding planes in the foundation, the shear
strength of these discontinuities and the rock-concrete
surface, as well as the uplift pressure generated by
the head of water in the reservoir. The geological
condition in the Hamidieh Dam foundation that can
result in sliding failure is jointed sandstone containing
beds of siltstone and marlstone dipping upstream and
daylighting beyond the toe of the Dam (Fig. 3).
The sliding stability analysis of the Hamidieh Dam
foundation was based on conventional geotechnical
principles of limit equilibrium. Mathematically, the
basic principle of this method is expressed as:

Where τ is the limiting (applied) shear stress required

All symbols are described in Table 7 and Figure 3.
Based on these equations, the average net head in
the plane of the wells (Hav ), net head midway between
wells (Hm ) and well discharge (Qw ) for each dis-
tance between wells (a) were determined (Table 7).
To achieve the designed factor of safety, the allowable
net head (ha ) must be equal or less than the average
net head in the plane of the wells (Hav ).
Accordingly, as shown in Table 7, in order to reduce
uplift pressure under the stilling basin to an allowable
net head (of 0.82 m) a relief well system consisting of
two rows with a well spacing of 4 m is required.
for equilibrium and τf is the maximum available shear
strength that can be developed. According to this
method, the foundation is stable with respect to slid-
ing when, for any potential slip surface, the resultant
of the applied shear stresses required for equilibrium
is smaller than the maximum shear strength that can
be developed.
Figure 4 is the free body diagram of the resulting
forces. Summing the forces normal and tangential to
the potential failure surface and solving results in the
following equation for factor of safety against sliding
of combined surface in the Hamidieh Dam foundation:

1061
Figure 4. Free body diagram of the resulting forces.
Where, Ci = rock mass or rock-concrete cohesion,
φi = Friction angle of ith rock wedge or rock-concrete
surface, Vi = any vertical force applied to the ith
wedge, Hi = horizontal residual forces acting on the ith
wedge, Pp = passive force, uI = resultant uplift force
acting on the ith wedge, BI = width of the ith wedge
and angle of potential failure plane with respect to the
horizontal (−α denotes downstream slope, +α denotes
upstream slope).
Stability analyses of the dams were carried out
and in some cases it was found that the factor of
safety against sliding was less than 1.0 if cohesion
was assumed zero (Lo et al. 1991, Duncan 1999). In
the Hamidieh Dam foundation analysis the factor of
safety against sliding in is 4.6 which would be reduced
to 1.4 if cohesion was assumed to be zero. All val-
ues used in analysis are described in Figure 4. So the
factor of safety against sliding is in relatively critical
condition and dangerous for future operation.
The presence of the relief well system designed in
the pervious section, was increased the factor of safety
against sliding to 1.94 by decrease the uplift pressure
as a factor of 2.5.
6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This study describes a general approach to the geome-
chanical evaluation of the Aghajari rock mass for the
Hamidieh Dam foundation. This evaluation enabled an
assessment of foundation stability. This study provides
an estimation of the rock mass properties that were
used as input data for the design and rehabilitation of
the dam foundation. On the whole, the Aghajari rock
1062
mass are found to be favorable for the Hamidieh Dam
foundation. But presence of clay minerals as cement
and fracturing systems in foundation rocks, indeed
uplift pressure causes instability problems for the dam
foundation rocks especially during future operation.
In this context, the following conclusions are
drawn:
(1) Determination of physical and mechanical char-
acteristics of the Aghajari rocks showed that there
were no significant variations in density. The rocks
proved to be of low to moderate strength. However,
when submerged in water, they slaked and lost
their strength. Overall, based on rock mass char-
acteristics, the foundation rocks are classified into
two classes: The sandstone, with low to moderate
strength, and the siltstone and marlstone, with the
lower strength.
(2) According to present conditions and scouring
analysis the Hamidieh foundation rock mass are
susceptible to scouring, especially with more
intensity for siltstone and marlstone and there is a
risk of scour in these rocks. These rocks must be
protected from potential scour, by reducing turbu-
lent flows to acceptable levels, or protecting the
rock mass by covering them.
(3) The allowable net head under the Hamidieh
Dam stilling basin was estimated as 0.82 m (For
FS = 1.5). However seepage analysis and new
installed piezometers shows that mean uplift pres-
sure under the stilling basin is more than 0.82 m
(from 0.82 m to 2.3 m).
(4) The uplift pressure beneath the structure is esti-
mated to be relatively high, especially below the
 stilling basin. Measures are required to relieve
these pressures which might endanger the dam
stability.
(5) Empirical solutions proved that sliding stability in
the Hamidieh Dam is in relatively critical condi-
tion and dangerous for future operation. The relief
well system increased the factor of safety against
sliding by decrease the uplift pressure.
7 RECOMMENDATIONS
x The results of this study recommend expeditious
rehabilitation of the dam. To avoid the effects of scour-
ing of rock masses, it is recommended to protect these
rocks by concrete aprons extending immediately after
the end of stilling basin and rip rap protection for other
downstream parts. To avoid the effects of uplift pres-
sure on the foundation instability, a relief well system
is recommended, consisting of two rows with a well
spacing of 4 m.These measures would also increase the
stability of the dam against sliding failure (FS = 1.94).
These results which are presented in this paper are
valid for the sandstone, siltstone and marlstone under
the investigated conditions. Taking into account the
uncertainty in rock mass behaviors during past opera-
tion and time depended properties of foundation rocks,
the monitoring of the dam behavior to control displace-
ments and compare the results with the mechanical
characteristics obtained in this study required.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank Mahab Ghodss consulting
engineers for their permission to use test data. We also
wish to thank Mr. Behzad and Mr. Negintaji for their
critical reviews.
1063
REFERENCES
Annandale, G.W. 1995. Erodability. J. Hydraulic Research
33(4): 471–493.
Anon 1979. Classification of rocks and soils for engineering
geological mapping, Part1- Rock and soil material. Bul-
letin International Association Engineering Geology 19:
364–371.
Barton, N.R., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of rock masses for the design of tunnel support.
Rock Mechanics 6(4): 189–236.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass Classifica-
tion. New York: Wiley, 251 pp.
Dachler, I.R. 1936.Grundwaserströmung. Wien: J. Springer.
Deere, D.U. & Miller, R.P. 1966. Engineering classifica-
tion and index properties of intact rock. Tech. Rept., No,
AFWL-TR-65-116, Air Force Weapons Lab., Kirtland Air
Force Base, New Mexico, 308 pp.
EM 1110-1-2908, 1994. Rock foundations. U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers Manual, Washington, DC, 20314-1000.
Forchheimer, P. 1930. Hydraulik. Berlin.
Hoek, E. 1994. Strength of rock, rock names. ISRM News J.
2(2): 4–16.
Hoek, E. & Brown, T. 1988. The Hoek–Brown failure
criteria – a 1988 update. In Proc. 15th Canadian Rock
Mech. Symp., pp. 31–38.
Hoek, E. & Brown, T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock mass
strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(8): 1165–1186.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek–
Brown Failure criterion—2002 edition. In Proc. NARMS-
TAC Conference, Toronto, vol. 1, pp. 267–273.
ISRM 1981. Rock Characterization Testing and Monitoring-
ISRM Suggested Methods. Brown (ed.), Oxford: Perga-
mon, 211 pp.
Lo, K.Y., Ho, H.S. & Inculet, I.I. 1991. Field test of elctroos-
motic strengthening of soft sensitive clay. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 28: 74–83.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Rock mass characterization at the proposed Khorram-Roud dam

site in Western Iran

A. Shafiei
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

M. Heidari
Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran

M.B. Dusseault
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: Western Iran is a semi-arid region which suffers from periodic water shortages. To address water
needs, a number of sites that may be suitable for the construction of storage dams have been identified. This paper
highlights the geological-geomechanical characterization of the rock masses exposed in the dam abutments and
foundation area at the Khorram-Roud Dam in Hamadan, Western Iran. A comprehensive engineering geology
and rock mechanics study was executed at the dam site. Different rock mass classification systems including
RMR, Q, RQD, GSI, RMi and DMR were applied to characterize and provide a basis for estimating deformation
and strength properties of the rock masses for preliminary design calculations. Based on results from this study,
a set of geotechnical suggestions were proposed for a further more detailed investigation of potential stability
problems, as well as a program for impermeation and consolidation grouting. In conclusion, the studied dam
site has been proposed as an appropriate site for construction of a rock-fill dam.

1 INTRODUCTION uniaxial tensile strength (BUTS), point load index and

Western Iran is a semi-arid region with a limited water
supply and suffers from periodic water shortages. In
the last few years, water demands have increased
because of a high rate of population growth, together
with greater demands from industrialization. To sat-
isfy future water needs, Ministry of Energy personnel
have selected a number of sites that could be suitable
for construction of storage dams to be used primarily
for domestic recharge of groundwater and irrigation.
This article presents the geological-geomechanical
characterization of the rock masses exposed at the
dam abutments and foundation area at the proposed
Khorram-Roud Dam in Hamadan, Western Iran. The
geological-geomechanical characterization of the rock
masses comprises comprehensive engineering geol-
ogy and rock mechanics studies conducted in the study
area including surface geology, jointing fabric study,
borehole drilling and logging, and field and laboratory
geotechnical testing.
For the different rock units exposed in the study
area, physical and geomechanical properties such
as dry density, saturated density, porosity, durability
index, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), Brazilian
water absorption ratio, were determined in the labora-
tory based on ASTM standards and ISRM suggested
methods. Results from these laboratory tests form the
quantitative content of this article.
The on-site rock mass characterization was based
on rock mass classification systems such as rock
mass rating (RMR), Q-tunneling index, rock quality
designation (RQD), dam mass rating (DMR), geo-
logical strength index (GSI) and rock mass index
(RMi). This approach to classify and characterize the
rock masses provided a basis for estimating deforma-
tion and strength properties, supplied quantitative data
for engineering design, and provided a platform for
communication between exploration, design and con-
struction groups. Results obtained from different rock
mass classification systems for various rock units in
different parts of the dam site are presented, compared
and interpreted.
2 GEOLOGICAL SETTING
The proposed Khorram-Roud dam site is part of the
well-known Zagros Mountains in Iran. It is situated

1065
about 30 km southeast of Hamadan city in western
Iran (Fig. 1). Based on geological field studies and
petrographical studies of thin sections taken from
core samples, there are three rock units that com-
prise the geological strata exposed in the dam site. The
three rock units are defined as a grey meta-sandstone
(GMS), a weathered reddish meta-sandstone (RMS),
and slate (SLT). We will use the abbreviated forms to
refer to the main rock units in this article.
A geological cross-section along the axis of the pro-
posed dam is presented in Figure 2. On this cross-
section, different rock masses, surficial deposits, the
dam axis and borehole locations are shown.
Rock outcrops are rare at the proposed dam site,
therefore a combination of borehole data and out-
crop analysis was used to generate the cross-section.
From core sample thin-sections, the GMS is classi-
fied as a lithic arkose composed of mainly rounded
Figure 1. The study area: the Zagros Mountains, Western
Iran.
Figure 2. Geological cross-section along the axis of the proposed Khorram-Roud water retention structure.
1066
quartz grains and slightly altered feldspars with some
biotite, muscovite and chlorite. The mineral composi-
tion of the RMS is same as the GMS but because of a
high degree of oxidation of iron-rich minerals such as
biotite, the rock has a reddish color.
In samples from both of the above-mentioned rock
units, the biotite shows modest preferred orientation
that is evidence of the very low-grade metamorphism
that occurred in these sedimentary rocks. Lithic frag-
ments of sandstone, chert and polycrystalline quartz
exist within the samples from the GMS and RMS
lithotypes.
The SLT rock unit outcrops in the left abutment
of the proposed dam site and also occurs as interlay-
ers within the other lithotypes in the right abutment
and reservoir area. The SLT lithotype is composed of
quartz, feldspar, sericite, biotite, graphite, calcite and
some opaque minerals.
The rock masses along the axis are for the most part
covered by alluvial soil deposits. No major fault struc-
tures were delineated during the site investigation, only
a few small-throw faults and crushed zones. There is
a recumbent fold near the left bank of the proposed
dam reservoir. The dip direction of limbs in this fold
is toward the north (N0◦ E).
3 ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL
INVESTIGATIONS
3.1 Discontinuity surveying
Quantitative description of discontinuities including
orientation, spacing, persistence, roughness, aperture
and filling were determined at the site by exposure
logging in accordance to ISRM standards (1978). A
total of 380 discontinuities were measured, 250 on the
left bank and 130 on the right bank. A high percent-
age of alluvial cover restricted discontinuity visibility,
particularly on the right bank. The RMS and SLT rock
units outcrop near the left bank of the proposed dam.
Discontinuity orientations are processed utilizing a
computer program based on equal-area stereographic
projection, namely DIPS 2.2 (Diederichs & Hoek
1989). Dominant discontinuity sets on left and right
banks are shown in Figure 3.
Four dominant discontinuity sets are determined
both on the left and right bank of the proposed dam.
The first dominant discontinuity in the right bank and
the left bank is the layering of the RMS rock unit (D1)
and the SLT rock unit (D1). The other three domi-
nant discontinuities are joints (D2, D3 and D4). In
the SLT rock unit, the direction of cleavage is paral-
lel with the bedding plane. Drilling reports were also
used in the discontinuity characterization, summarized
in Figure 3.

3.2 Drilling
Boreholes were sunk at the Khorram-Roud dam site
to verify foundation conditions and to obtain samples
for laboratory testing. A total of eight boreholes, with
520 m total length, were drilled along the dam axis
(Fig. 2) using rotary drilling equipment. Rock quality
designation (RQD) values for the GMS, RMS and SLT
rock units were determined; the ranges and average
values are summarized and presented in Table 2.

3.3 Permeability testing

During drilling, water injectability tests (Lugeon tests)
were carried out and the permeability of the rocks
expressed in terms of Lugeon values. A total of 84
pumping tests were performed in the different rock
units in eight boreholes. The average Lugeon values
of the rocks at Khorram-Roud dam site are shown
in Table 3. In the right bank, foundation and left
bank of the dam, Lugeon values are 16–22, 4–11 and
2–6, respectively. The rock mass on the right bank
of Khorram-Roud dam is permeable, and drilling
data analysis shows that permeability rises as rock
quality decreases. Impermeation grouting will appar-
ently be necessary for most of the right bank, some of
the left bank, and in a few foundation points to limit
seepage under the foundation of the dam upstream
concrete slab.

3.4 Laboratory test results

Laboratory experiments were carried out to deter-
mine physical and geomechanical properties of rock
samples from the GMS, RMS and SLT rock units,
including dry density, porosity, water absorption ratio,
uniaxial compressive strength, the Brazilian tensile
strength, point load index, slake durability test, and
deformation parameters. Test results are summarized Figure 3. Dominant discontinuity sets on the left and right
and presented in Table 4. bank of Khorram-Roud dam site.

1067
 Table 1. Quantitative descriptions and statistical distributions of the discontinuities in the
GMS, RMS and SLT rock units at the Khorram-Roud dam site (ISRM 1978).

Distribution(%)

Range Description GMS RMS SLT

Spacing (mm) 200–600 Moderate 2 15 10

600–2000 Wide 8 65 80
2000–6000 Very Wide 90 20 10
Persistence (m) 1–3 Low 0 4 5
3–10 Medium 5 96 15
10–20 High 95 0 80
Aperture a (mm) 0.25–0.5 Partly open 40 10 20
0.5–2.5 Open 40 60 50
2.5–10 Moderately 20 30 30
wide
Roughness b 0–2c 5 20 25
2–4 18 19 16
4–6 21 16 25
6–8 26 25 24
8–10 30 20 10
a
Discontinuity apertures are mostly void; a few of them contain limonite, hematite, quartz and
clay infilling materials.
b
Roughness profile numbers.
c
Joint Roughness Coefficient (JRC) values.

Table 2. Range of RQD index values for different rock units These classifications systems provide systematic
at the Khorram-Roud dam site. semi-quantitative measures of rock mass character-
istics for design and hence minimize judgmental
Rock unit GMS RMS SLT
bias. The following classification systems are applied
RQD % 70–90 32–52 60–78 to the rock units of the dam site: rock mass rat-
ing (RMR – Bieniawski 1989), Q-system (Barton
et al. 1974), dam mass rating (DMR – Romana
Table 3. Average Lugeon values obtained from water injec- 2003) and rock mass index (RMi – Palmstrom
tivity tests at the Khorram-Roud dam site. 1996).
The RMR geomechanics classification was origi-
Test nally proposed by Bieniawski (1973) for use in tunnels,
Lugeon values ratio slopes and foundations and later modified and for-
(average) # of tests (%) Description malized (Bieniawski 1989). The collected data were
processed in accordance with his RMR classification
>25 0 0 Highly system (Table 5).
permeable
Barton et al. (1974) of the Norwegian Geotechnical
5–25 59 82 Permeable
1–5 15 18 Slightly Institute, based on an evaluation of a large number of
permeable case histories of underground excavations, proposed a
<1 0 0 Impermeable Tunneling Quality Index (Q) for the determination of
Total 84 100 rock mass characteristics and tunnel support require-
ments.To characterize the rock units at the dam site, the
collected data were processed in accordance with the
Q classification system, and the results are presented
4 ROCK MASS CHARACTERIZATION in Table 6.
Several authors have referred to the use of RMR
Various rock mass classifications have been used to as a useful tool for the description of rock masses for
further synthesize and summarize the geological and foundation engineering (Di Salvo 1982, Marcello et al.
geotechnical data for the different rock units in the 1991), but there are some difficulties in using RMR
proposed Khorram-Roud dam. for dam foundations. These difficulties mainly derive

1068
Table 4. Laboratory test results of rocks at the Khorram-Roud dam site.

Uniaxial Brazilian Point Slake

Dry compressive tensile load durability Modulus
Rock density Porosity strength strength index index of elasticity
unit (g/cm3 ) (%) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (%) (GPa)

GMS 2.671–2.80 0.21–2.00 48–152 16.49 5 99.45 40.0

RMS 2.55–2.56 4.83–5.22 8–36 2.17 1.60 98.70 11.6
SLT 2.66–2.87 0.12–1.84 9–61 6.1 1.98 a 99.23 41.9
a
This is average value of Is50 in different loading states. Is50 for SLT, with testing normal and parallel with the rock schistosity
is 2.75 and 1.21 MPa, respectively.

Table 5. RMR values of rock masses at Khorram-Roud dam.

GMS RMS SLT

Parameters value Rating value Rating value Rating

Uniaxial compressive 95 7 20 2 44 4
strength (MPa)
RQD 80 17 42 8 59 13
Discontinuity spacing >2 m 20 200–600 mm 10 200–600 mm 10
Discontinuity persistence (m) >20 0 3–10 2 10–20 1
Discontinuity conditions:
Aperture (mm) 1–5 1 1–5 1 1–5 1
Roughness Slightly rough 3 Slickensided 0 Smooth 1
Filling Hard 4 Soft <5 mm 2 Soft<5 mm 2
Weathering Slightly 5 Moderately 3 Slightly 5
Groundwater Wet 7 Dropping 4 Wet 7
Discontinuity Drive against dip, 5 Drive against dip, 5 Drive against dip, 5
orientation joint dip 45–90j joint dip 45–90j joint dip 45 – 90j
Rating adjustment −7 −7 −7
RMR 55 30 42

Table 6. Q values of rock masses at Khorram-Roud dam.

GMS RMS SLT

Parameters value Rating value Rating value Rating

RQD 80 80 42 42 59 59
Joint set number (Jn ) Four or more joint 15 Four or more joint 15 Three joint sets 12
sets plus random sets plus random plus random
Joint roughness number (Jr ) Rough or irregular, 1.0 Slickensided, planar 1.0 Rough and irregular, 2.0
planar undulating
Joint alteration number (Ja ) Tightly healed, hard, 1.0 Softening or low-friction, 4.0 Slightly altered joint 3.0
non-softening, clay mineral walls, non-softening
impermeable filling coatings
Joint water reduction Dry excavation or 1.0 Dry excavation or 1.0 Dry excavation or 1.0
factor (Jw ) minor inflow minor inflow minor inflow
Stress reduction factor (SRF) Medium stress 1.0 High stress 1.70 High stress 1.70
Q 5.34 0.41 1.93

from several points such as poor consideration of the
water injectivity, inappropriate rules for quantifying
the adjusting factor for joint orientation, and inade-
quate incorporation of changes in properties of the
rock, the rock mass as well as the joints induced by
weathering.
In order to address some of these issues for the
description of rock mass foundations, a new geome-
chanics classification system, DMR (Dam Mass
Rating), is proposed by Romana (2003), giving ten-
tative guidelines for several practical aspects in dam
engineering and appraisal of dam foundations. The

1069
Table 7. DMRSTA values of rock masses at Khorram- Table 8. RMi values of rock masses at Khorram-Roud dam.
Roud dam.
Rock unit
Parameters GMS RMS SLT Parameters GMS RMS SLT

RMRaBD 59 37 43 qc50 95 20 44
RbSTA 0 0 0 RQD 80 42 59
c
CF 0.0327 0.0327 0.0327 JL 3 1 3.50
DMRdSTA 59 37 43 JR 2 2 1.50
JA 1.25 3.20 3
a
RMRBD is “basic dry RMR” defined by Romana (2003) as JC 4.80 0.625 1.75
the addition of the first four parameters of RMR plus 15: JP 0.22 0.046 0.075
b
RSAT is the adjusting factor for dam stability obtained from RMi 21.26 0.954 3.47
Table 3 of Romana (2003).
c
CF is the geometric correction factor calculated based on RMi = Rock Mass index (MPa).
the formula proposed by Romana (2003) as below: qc50 = Intact rock uniaxial compressive strength (MPa).
CF = (1 − sin (αd − αj ))2 (αd > αj ) (1) JL = joint size factor (parameter in RMi).
JR = joint roughness number (parameter in RMi).
CF = (1 − sin (αj − αd ))2 (αj > αd ) (2) JA = joint alteration number (parameter in RMi).
where αd is the upstream-downstream direction of the dam JC = joint condition factor (parameter in RMi).
axis and αj is the dip direction of the dominant joint. In this JP = jointing parameter (parameter in RMi).
study αj = 340◦ and αd = 245◦ .
d
DMRSTA is the Dam Mass Rating value, related to the dam Table 9. Rock mass constants, GSI values, uniaxial com-
stability against sliding, proposed by Romana (2004) as fol- pressive and tensile strength, cohesion, internal friction angle,
lowing: global strength and the Young’s modulus of each rock mass
DMRSTA = RMRBD + (CF ×RSTA ) (3) at Khorram-Roud dam.

Parameters GMS RMS SLT

collected data were processed in accordance with the Intact rock strength (MPa) 95 20 44
DMR classification system and presented in Table 7. Geological strength 66 45 53
Herein, the strength of rock units at the Khorram- index (GSI)
Roud dam site was expressed using Hoek–Brown Hoek–Brown intact 18 18 9
empirical failure criteria (Hoek et al. 2002). Also, the rock constant (mi)
geological strength index has been determined. Hoek–Brown rock 4.67 2.03 1.39
Palmstrom (1996) proposed the Rock Mass Index par mass constant (mb)
Hoek–Brown rock 0.017 0.001 0.0038
(RMi) classification system in order to characterize the mass constant (s)
strength of the rock mass for construction purposes. Rock mass constant (a) 0.502 0.508 0.505
The input parameters are based on earlier research Cohesion of rock 6.80 1.053 2.078
in the area of rock mass classification and of course mass (MPa)
Palmstrom’s own experience in that field. Friction angle of 39.22 32.19 28.96
The main focus of the RMi was on the effects of rock mass (degree)
the defects in a rock mass that reduce the strength of Rock mass compressive 12.46 0.73 2.61
the intact rock. RMi is essentially the “reduced rock strength (MPa)
strength” because of jointing. The collected data were Tensile strength of 0.355 0.014 0.003
rock mass (MPa)
processed in accordance with the RMi classification Global strength of 28.65 3.81 7.05
system is presented in Table 8. rock mass (MPa)
The Hoek–Brown rock mass constants mb, s and a, Deformation modulus 22.03 3.05 7.09
uniaxial compressive and tensile strength, cohesion, (Em) (GPa)
internal friction angle, global strength and the Young’s
modulus of each rock unit at Khorram-Roud dam were
determined from GSI values using RocLab freeware
(Hoek et al. 2002) and are presented in Table 9. The rock masses, based on the GIS classification system
intact rock constant (mi) was found from Table 8.3 of proposed by Hoek et al. 1995.
Hoek et al. (1995).
The GSI value is determined for each rock mass
at the Khorram-Roud dam site (Table 9). The differ- 5 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
ent rock units, GMS, RMS and SLT, are classified as
Very Blocky and Very Good (VB/VG), Very Blocky The Khorram-Roud dam will be constructed on differ-
and Fair (VB/F) and Very Blocky and Good (VB/G) ent rocks masses which consist of the GMS, RMS and

1070
Table 10. Results from application of various rock mass classification systems for evaluation of rock masses at Khorram-
Roud dam.
Rock mass GMS
classification system value Description
RQD 80 Good
RMR 55 Fair
Q 5.34 Fair
RMi 21.26 Very Strong
GSI 66 Very Blocky and
Very Good
DMRSTA 59 No primary concern a
a
This shows degree of dam safety against sliding.
SLT rock units. Quantitative descriptions of disconti-
nuities were performed at the site by exposure logging
in accordance with ISRM guidelines (1978). In each
examined rock unit there are three joint sets with an
additional bedding plane discontinuity set.
The RQD index for each rock mass at Khorram-
Roud dam is determined based on Deere et al. (1967).
From the RQD index thus obtained, the GMS, RMS
and SLT rock masses classified as of Good, Poor and
Fair rock mass quality, respectively.
According to the injectivity test results, the rock
units on the right bank of the proposed Khorram-
Roud dam, namely the GMS and RMS, are permeable.
Impermeation grouting is recommended to minimize
seepage under the dam foundation from these perme-
able zones, and some grouting is also recommended at
a few points in the foundation and left bank of the site.
Laboratory tests on core samples were carried out to
find the physical and geomechanical properties of the
intact rock at Khorram-Roud dam. Based on results
from uniaxial compression tests, the GMS, RMS and
SLT rock units are classified as of Medium-, Low- and
Very-Low-strength rock groups respectively, accord-
ing to the classification for rock material strength
proposed by Deere & Miller (1966).
Different rock mass classification systems such as
RQD, RMR, Q, RMi, GSI and DMR are applied to
the rock unit data at the Khorram-Roud dam site. The
results from application of various rock mass clas-
sification systems are summarized and presented in
Table 10.
RQD index for each rock mass is determined based
on Deere et al. (1967). From the RQD index data, the
GMS, RMS and SLT rock units at Khorram-Roud dam
are classified as having Good, Poor and Fair rock mass
quality, respectively.
Evaluation of rock units for rock mass classification
systems indicated that in the RMR classification sys-
tem the GMS, RMS and SLT units should be classified
as Fair, Poor and Fair rock masses, respectively.
Based on Q index classification of the rock units at
the Khorram-Roud dam site, the GMS, RMS and SLT
1071
RMS SLT
value Description value Description
42 Poor 59 Fair
30 Poor 42 Fair
0.41 Very Poor 1.93 Poor
0.954 Medium 3.47 Strong
45 Very Blocky 53 Very Blocky
and Fair and Good
37 Concern 43 Concern
units are classified as Fair, Very Poor and Poor quality
rock masses, respectively.
Based on RMi values for the GMS, RMS and SLT
rock units, they are classified as Very Strong, Medium
and Strong rock masses, respectively.
From GSI values for each rock unit, the GMS, RMS
and SLT units are classified as Very Blocky and Very
Good (VB/VG), Very Blocky and Fair (VB/F) and Very
Block and Good (VB/G) rock masses, respectively.
It seems that in general results obtained from
the Q-system are more conservative, as compared to
other rock mass classification systems, but there is
considerable scatter among them.
The resulting final DMRSTA values (Table 10) are
used to examine overall stability of the Khorram-
Roud dam against sliding, for determining the required
excavation depth for the foundation and to assess con-
solidation grouting treatment needs (Romana 2004).
As shown in Table 10, there is some concern for the
level of dam safety against sliding on the RMS and SLT
rock units, based on tentative guidelines proposed by
(Romana 2003). It is recommended that considerable
attention be paid to the probable distribution of water
pore pressure across the dam foundation and of the
mobilized shear strength of the dominant joint sets
in both the RMS and SLT rock units during the dam
design process.
Based on the tentative guidelines proposed by
Romana (2003), the minimum desirable excavation
depth for a rock-fill dam should be until rock mass
classes with DMRSTA > 30 are reached. In the case
of the Khorram-Roud dam, such excavations will be
minimal considering the DMRSTA values obtained
(Table 7), but in any case, removal of the alluvial
materials that cover the rock masses at the dam is
recommended.
Romana (2003) recommended systematic and
local consolidation grouting in rock-fill dams with
DMRSTA between 20–30 and 30–40, respectively. In
any point at dam foundation with DMRSTA > 50, con-
solidation grouting is not recommended. Hence, in
the foundation of Khorram-Roud dam, systematic
consolidation grouting is not recommended. Local
consolidation grouting is recommended only where
the dam will be constructed on the RMS and SLT rock
units.
The in-situ deformation moduli of rock units at the
Khorram-Roud dam site were estimated by using GSI
values from Hoek et al. (1995). In-situ deformation
moduli for the GMS, RMS and SLT units are 22, 3
and 7 GPa, respectively.
The rock mass strength of the rock units at the
Khorram-Roud dam site were expressed using the
Hoek–Brown empirical failure criteria (Hoek et al.
2002). Uniaxial compressive strengths of the rock
units GMS, RMS and SLT are 12.5, 0.73 and 2.61 MPa,
respectively.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The Khorram-Roud dam, a rock-fill dam with
upstream concrete slab, will be constructed on dif-
ferent rocks units (lithotypes) described as grey meta-
sandstone (GMS), weathered reddish meta-sandstone
(RMS) and slate (SLT). These rock units are classified
using RQD, RMR, Q, RMi and GSI rock mass classi-
fication systems and results interpreted and discussed.
Results obtained from the Q-system are more conser-
vative compared to the other rock mass classification
systems.
Physical and geomechanical tests were carried out
on core samples obtained from boreholes drilled in
the Khorram-Roud dam site foundation. Based on
results from uniaxial compression tests, the GMS,
RMS and SLT rock units are classified as medium-,
low- and very-low strength rock groups according to
the classification for rock material strength proposed
by Deere & Miller (1966).
In summary, the results are listed here.
• Four dominant discontinuity sets exist both on the
left and right banks of the proposed dam.
• Water injectivity tests show that the right bank rock
mass is permeable, and permeability is larger in
lower quality rock. Impermeation grouting is nec-
essary to control foundation and sub-slab seepage
on the right bank, and also at a few points in the
foundation and left bank.
• Application of the DMR rock mass classification
system indicates that rock excavation needs in the
dam foundation will be minimal, based on calcu-
lated DMRSTA values. Removal of alluvial materials
is considered necessary.
• Based on DMR values, there is some concern for
dam safety against sliding on RMS and SLT rock
units. The engineering design phase must focus on
the foundation and sub-slab pore pressures and the
mobilized shear strength of the dominant joint sets
1072
in both RMS and SLT rock units in order to re-assess
dam safety against sliding.
• According to the tentative guidelines recommended
by the DMR rock mass classification system, sys-
tematic consolidation grouting is not required, and
only local consolidation grouting is recommended
where the dam will be constructed on the RMS and
SLT rock units.
• In-situ rock mass deformation moduli are 22, 3 and
7 GPa for the GMS, RMS and SLT rock units, based
on Hoek et al. 1995.
• Rock mass uniaxial compression strengths of 12.5,
0.73 and 2.61 MPa are calculated for the GMS,
RMS and SLT rock units, using the Hoek–Brown
empirical failure criteria.
Engineering geological investigations, field and
laboratory test results and computations indicate that
Khorram-Roud rock-fill dam can be safely con-
structed on the proposed site with some consolida-
tion and impermeation grouting, and a minimum of
rock excavation. Additional geotechnical investiga-
tions will be required for supplementary structures
such as the spillway.
This paper is an example of systematic application
of Engineering Geology principles to the pre-design
phase of an important proposed dam site. The use
of all well-known classification systems shows that
there are substantial differences among them, and we
recommend that in such cases, all rock mass classi-
fication systems be computed for comparative pur-
poses. Furthermore, during the design phase, a more
detailed Engineering Geology investigation focusing
on particular details of foundations and abutments
is recommended to support the conclusions drawn
herein for the quality and treatment of the proposed
Khorram-Roud dam foundation and abutments.
REFERENCES
Barton, N.R. Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering classi-
fication of rock masses for the design of tunnel support.
Rock Mechanics 6: 189–239.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1973. Engineering classification of jointed
rock masses. Transactions of the South African Institution
of Civil Engineers 15: 335–344.
Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering rock mass classifica-
tions. New York: Wiley.
Deere, D.U. & Miller, R.P. 1966. Engineering classification
and index properties of rock. Technical Report No. AFNL-
TR-65-116. Albuquerque, NM: Air Force Weapons.
Deere, D.U. Hendron, A.J. Patton, F.D. & Cording, E.J. 1967.
Design of surface and near surface construction in rock.
In Proceedings, 8th US Symposium on Rock Mechanics:
Failure and breakage of rock.
Di Salvo, C.A. 1982. Geomechanics classification of the rock
mass at Segunda Angostura dam. In Proceedings, 14th
International Committee on Large Dams, Rio de Janeiro.
Paper No. Q53 R30.
Diederichs, M.S. & Hoek, E. 1989. DIPS 2.2. Advanced
Version Computer Programme, Rock Engineering Group,
Department of Civil Engineering. University of Toronto.
Hoek, E. Kaiser, P.K. & Bawden, W.F. 1995. Support
of Underground Excavations in Hard Rock. Roterdam:
Balkema.
Hoek, E. Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. Hoek-Brown
Failure Criterion – 2002 Edition. In Hammah et al.
(ed.), Mining and Tunnelling Innovation and Opportunity:
Proc. NARMS-TAC 2002. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press.
ISRM, 1978. Suggested methods for the quantitative descrip-
tion of discontinuities in rock masses. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Science & Geome-
chanics Abstracts 15(6): 319–368.
Marcello, A. Eusepi, G. Olivero, S. & Di Bacco, R. 1991.
Ravanasella dam on difficult foundation. In Proc, 17th Int.
Committee on Large Dams, Vienna. Paper No. Q 66 R.
1073
Palmstrøm, A. 1996. Characterizing rock masses by the RMi
for use in practical rock engineering, Part 1: The devel-
opment of the Rock Mass index (RMi). Tunneling and
Underground Space Technology 11(2): 175–188.
Palmstrøm, A. 1996. Characterizing rock masses by the RMi
for use in practical rock engineering, Part 2: Some practi-
cal applications of the rock mass index (RMi). Tunneling
and Underground Space Technology 11(3) 287–303.
RocLab, 2002. Rock mass strength analysis using the Hoek–
Brown failure criterion. Toronto, Canada: Rocscience Inc.
Romana, M. 2003. DMR, a new geomechanics classifica-
tion for use in dams foundations, adapted from RMR.
In Proceedings 4th International Symposium on Roller
Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dams, Madrid.
Romana, M. 2004. DMR (an adaptation of RMR), a new
geomechanics classification for use in dams foundations.
In Proceedings 9th Congresso Luso de Geotecnia. Aveiro,
Lisboa, Portugal.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

The effects of jet grouting on slope stability at Shahriar dam, Iran

B. Nikbakhtan, Y. Pourrahimian & H. Aghababaei

Faculty of Mining Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

ABSTRACT: Shahriar dam is a double-curvature concrete arch dam which is under construction near the town
of Mianeh in northwest of Iran. The alluvial sediments in the riverbed of the dam are underlain by low-strength
clay and therefore are likely to cause slope stability failures. In this paper, effort has been made to focus on the
effect of jet grouting to avoid slope failure during excavation and construction of a retaining structure. Finally,
the paper concludes with presenting the differences between strength properties of the riverbed’s clay before and
after jet grouting and operation of jet grouting on slope stability.

1 INTRODUCTION Often a combination of these two approaches is used

The foundation of the Main Dam requires excavation
of the alluvial deposits down to competent bedrock.
The average ground elevation of the alluvial plain is
about 975 masl. The elevation of the bedrock at its
deepest point is about Elev. 920 masl. Hence, about
55 m of alluvium have to be excavated at the deep-
est section of the valley. Excavation of approximately
55 m deep alluvium is not possible without some
strengthening and support measures (Fig. 1). The rea-
sons for these measures are the presence of a basal clay
layer with relatively low shear strength and the limited
space between the upstream cofferdam and the Main
Dam requiring relatively steep excavation slopes.
There are two approaches to ensure the stability of
an excavation pit, namely:
1. Strengthening the soil either by mixing it with
some material (lime, cement) to increase its shear
strength (mainly its cohesion component) or rein-
force it with some mechanical device (e.g. net, grid,
strips, etc.), mainly to increase the friction angle.
2. Supporting the potentially unstable mass of earth
materials by engineered structures, such as retain-
ing walls with or without anchoring.
to reach the most economic solution.
A value engineering approach was performed on
the upstream slope of the Main Dam excavation to
compare various alternatives. These were:
1. Constructing a multi-arch diaphragm wall.
2. Reinforcing the soil (both clay and coarse-grained
alluvium) by jet grout columns and construction of
a low gravity retaining wall.
3. Construction of a buttress-type retaining wall.
Value engineering revealed that soil reinforcement
by jet grouting together with a retaining wall at the
toe of the excavation slope yields the most economic
solution and would also pose the least uncertainties in
execution.
Jet grouting is a new method of soil improvement
in Iran and there are no data from local construction. It
is therefore important that field trials are performed at
the Shahriar site before the excavation design is final-
ized. For the design of the excavation, it is necessary to
know the characteristics of the grout columns, mainly
their diameter and the strength of the soilcrete. If these
data are not known and have to be estimated based on
information found in the literature, the design will be

Figure 1. The site stratigraphy.

1075
conservative. If the jet grout columns can be checked
and tested the data obtained will allow an optimiza- (A) (B) (C) (D)
tion of the layout of the grid and considerable savings
in construction cost are possible. Therefore the jetting
parameters and the results achieved from a trial test
are described and commented. Design parameters for
stability analyses are then derived.
In this paper, several principles relating to jet grout-
ing are described, followed by the stages of excavation.
These stages are the result of optimizing the stabiliza-
tion needs while ensuring sufficient safety of the slope
during the entire excavation process.
Stabilization of the excavation slopes is by strength- Figure 2. Sequence of jet grouting method: (A) Drilling,
ening the clay stratum by a grid of soilcrete columns (B) jetting test, (C) jetting, forming a column, and (D)
completion.
and by providing a gravity retaining structure at the
foot of the excavation slope. Some strengthening of
the coarse-grained alluvium by soilcrete columns is
also required.
The methods of analysis used for investigating
the stability of the excavation slopes are presented
together with the most significant results. Analyses
were performed for both a two-dimensional and a
three-dimensional configuration of instability. This
was necessary because of the topographical conditions
at the dam site. The narrow gorge has a strong restrain-
ing effect on potential sliding bodies. This effect can
be modeled realistically only in a three-dimensional
configuration. Two-dimensional models yield factors
of safety which are too pessimistic.

2 PRINCIPLES OF JET GROUTING

The jet grouting method is frequently used as a mean

for ground improvement, especially in shield tun-
neling, and also in all sorts of foundation treatment
in recent years (Yoshitake et al. 2004). Jet grouting
involves the injection of grout at high pressures into
the ground. The high velocity jet erodes the soil and
replaces some or all of it with grout.
Jet grouting starts with drilling a borehole, usu-
ally 100 to 150 mm in diameter to the required lower
end of the section to be treated. After completion of
drilling, the jetting pipes (or monitor) are inserted into
this hole. The next step consists of applying a jet emit-
ted from a nozzle under very high pressure to erode the
soil adjacent to the borehole wall. This process enables
the slurry to penetrate the soil adjacent to borehole and
mix with it (Fig. 2).
Jet grouting systems are classified into three types
depending on the delivery mechanism (Fig. 3). In a
single-rod system, the fluid injected is grout. This
system is used mainly for horizontal jet-grouting, for
example, in tunnel support systems. In a double-rod
system, grout and compressed air are injected. The
combined effect of the high-pressure grout and air
results in a greater percentage of soil being removed
Figure 3. Three basic systems of jet grouting: (A) single
fluid, (B: double fluid, and (C) triple fluid.
and replaced with grout, and the remaining soil-grout
mixture is called soilcrete. In a triple-rod system,
grout, air, and water are jetted. This triple combi-
nation enables an even higher percentage of soil to
be removed, and the system can be used for almost
complete replacement of the soil with grout.The triple-
rod system offers better control over injection rates
and results in better quality of soilcrete. Although
the single- and double-rod systems can be used in
loose sandy soils, the triple-rod system can be used in
most types of soil (Nonveiller 1989, Kaushinger et al.
1992a,b, Covil & Skinner 1992, Bell 1993, Xanthakos
et al. 1994, Bergado 1996, Schalfer 1997, Poh & Wong
2001, Warner 2004).

1076
Figure 4. Arrangement of soilcrete.
3 EXCAVATION STAGES
The excavation stages at Shahriar dam have been
divided into five stages. These stages are as follows:
Stage 1. Excavation to elevation 955.00 masl. Con-
struction of a soilcrete curtain consisting of two rows
of jet-grouted columns. Column spacing is 1.25 m and
row spacing 0.50 m. This curtain is constructed from
elevation 955.00 masl by drilling first to the top of the
clay stratum and then inserting the jet grouting mon-
itor and drill down to bedrock. This second section is
then jet grouted by lifting the monitor at the selected
withdrawal rate. Grouting is continued beyond the top
of the clay to about elevation 938.00 masl, i.e. about
3 m into the coarse-grained alluvium. In the absence
of an artesian pressure a penetration of about 1 m into
the coarse-grained alluvium is sufficient.
Subsequently, the clay is jet-grouted as far as row G
with column spacing of 2.5 m (Fig. 4). Starting from
row G jet grouting starts from elevation 952.5 masl in
the coarse-grained alluvium. This elevation is reduced
continuously to elevation 947 masl when row j has
been reached.
Stage 2. Excavation to elevation 947.00 masl. Jet-
grouting of coarse grained alluvium and clay continues
starting from elevation 947.00 masl and reducing to
elevation 942.00 masl when row P has been reached
with column spacing 2.5 m. Within a 25 m wide and
8.75 m long area in the central part of the grout-treated
field the clay is reinforced with a spacing of 1.25 m. at
1077
row P a second curtain is constructed with a column
spacing of 1.25 m and a row spacing of 0.5 m. The tow
curtains are designed to reduce the water flow into the
excavation and to lower the piezometric head elevation
in the toe area of the excavation where stability is most
critical. They are designed to withstand the hydrostatic
pressure. This pressure could be substantial if the cut-
off wall is not tight. If along the lateral periphery of the
area with 1.25 m spacing no clay can be found between
the coarse-grained alluvium and the rock, a spacing of
the soilcrete columns of 2.5 m is considered sufficient.
Stage 3. Excavation to elevation 942.00 masl. Con-
struction of the first approx. 5 m wide lamella of a
curved retaining wall. First, a trench is excavated in
the coarse-grained alluvium to about elevation 934.00
masl (about 1 m below the top of the clay layer) and
filled with conventional concrete. Embedded in this
concrete are tubes of sufficient diameter with spac-
ing of 1.25 m. After hardening of the concrete, the jet
grouting monitor is inserted into these tubes and the
clay below the concrete is grouted.
Stage 4. Excavation to elevation 936.00 masl.
Construction of the second 5 m wide lamella of the
retaining wall. First a trench adjacent to the first
lamella is excavated in the coarse-grained alluvium
to about elevation 928.00 masl and filled with con-
crete. Again tubes with spacing 1.25 m are embedded
in this concrete wall that will allow the insertion. In the
next step the clay is grouted from the bedrock to eleva-
tion 928.00 masl. Finally, in a fourth step formwork is
installed for pouring another layer of concrete blocks
between elevation 936 to 942 masl.
Stage 5. Excavation to elevation 930.00 masl.
Construction of lamellas 3, 4 and 5, each one about
5 m wide. First, lamella 3 is cast in two steps, namely
first from elev. 920 to 930 masl and then from elev.
930 to 938 masl. Lamella 4 is produced in the same
way as lamella 3. Finally, lamella 5 concludes the build
up of the gravity retaining wall. It is placed between
elevations 920 and 930 masl. The retaining wall is an
essential element in the stabilizing system to ensure
stability of the slope. Its stabilizing effect is based
purely on weight. The design of this wall was governed
by the equipment available and the constructability in
general.
4 ANALYSIS
4.1 Assessment of design parameters
As pointed out in trial jet-grouting, the assumptions
made for the strength of soilcrete were too opti-
mistic and new parameters have to be estimated
based on the values obtained from the field trial and
from an extended literature search. The parameters of
the materials not affected by jet grouting treatment
are assumed to remain unchanged. For estimating the
average strength parameters of the treated basal clay,
the following procedure was adopted (Barksdale &
Bachus 1983).
Consider a triangular pattern of soilcrete columns
with spacing S. The diameter of the columns is D. For
a triangular unit cell, the area replacement ratio, as , is
defined as Figure 5 and it s calculated from equation 1:
Based on the data obtained at the test site and from
the review of published data of jet grouting in soft
to stiff clay, the column diameter was assumed as
D = 1.0 m. Then for columns with spacing 1.25 and
2.5 the area replacement ratio were 0.58 and 0.15. The
average cohesion, Cav , is calculated as:
In addition, the average friction angle can be
obtained from:
For the analysis the following values were used for
the soil parameters, based on a weighted average of
the meager test data:
1078
D S
S S
Figure 5. Triangular pattern for soilcrete columns.
Table 1. The values of average friction angle and average
cohesion for columns with different spacing.
Spacing Cav (KPa) av (deg.)
1.25 307 15.0
2.5 80.8 4.0
The untreated clay is assumed to have cohesion of
40 kPa and zero friction angle as assumed in previ-
ous stability analyses. It is, however, possible that jet
grouting may disturb the clay to some extent. Because
the clay is somewhat sensitive, the average strength
of the untreated but disturbed clay area may be less
than 40 kPa. Table 1 shows the results of calculations
for columns with different spacing based on equations
2 & 3.
The geological model used for the stability analy-
sis comprised 11 material zones. These are defined in
Figure 6. The parameters of the geomaterials of the
11 zones are listed in Table 2. The basal crushed layer
below the basal clay is not presents everywhere. The
clay can be in direct contact with the fissured rock.
For the stability calculations it has been assumed that
with high artesian pressures the strength of this mate-
rial would not be higher than that of the clay. Hence
Zone 5 was given the same values as the clay although
the crushed layer is not likely to have any cohesion.
The influence of Zone 5 on the stability of the slope
is, however, insignificant. The groundwater table in
the sections analyzed was assumed to be at an eleva-
tion of 980 masl upstream of the cutoff wall. It was
then postulated that the cut off wall would be suffi-
ciently efficient to lower the water table to elevation
945 masl. From that elevation, on the downstream side
of the cutoff wall, a linear decrease of the phreatic line
to the current elevation of the excavation was assumed.
4.2 Method of analysis
The computer code CLARA-W was used to analyze
the stability of the various stages of excavation (Hungr
et al. 1989, Lam & Fredlund 1993). It is particularly
suited for cases involving narrow and irregular slope
 980 1 2

945 Piezo Surface

Detail “A”
Grouted curtain 2
952.5
3
942.0
8 938.0
4 6 9 11 930.0

7 10
5 Grouted curtain 1

Figure 6. Material zones in treatment area used in the stability analysis (the numbers refer to Table 2).

Table 2. Material properties assumed in analyses.

Material Unit Weight Cohesion Friction angle Jet grouting with triangular
no. Material type (KN/m3 ) (KN/m2 ) (deg.) pattern, spacing

1 Clay core of cofferdam 18 25 25 –

2 Rock fill of cofferdam shell 22 0 45 –
3 Coarse-grained alluvium 21 0 35 –
4 Basal clay 17 40 0 –
5 Basal crushed layer 17 40 0 –
6 Treated basal clay 1 16 80 4 S = 2.5 m
7 Treated basal crushed layer 1 16 80 4 S = 2.5 m
8 Treated coarse-grained alluvium 22 200 35 S = 2.5 m
9 Treated basal clay 2 22 300 15 S = 1.25 m in central part &
S = 2.5 m in peripheral parts
10 Treated basal crushed layer 2 22 300 15 S = 1.25 m in central part &
S = 2.5 m in peripheral parts
11 Retaining wall 24 100 40 –

surfaces, spoon-shaped slides, and failures situated
between lateral constraints. The sliding body is divided
into columnar elements, similar to the slices in the 2-
D configuration. The solution algorithm for Spencer
and Morgenstern-Price assumes that the resultant of
the interslice forces on the vertical faces of the colum-
nar elements is parallel to the base of the column. The
relationship between the vertical shear forces and the
horizontal normal forces is expressed by an interslice
force function. When the program operates at its 2-D
mode, the equations revert to the well-known Bishop,
Janbu, Spencer and Morgenstern-Price methods. In
fact, when the axis perpendicular to the movement is
extended the factor of safety approaches that of the
2-D failure mode.
For the analysis of the excavation slope of the
Shahriar project ellipsoidal surface (this type of
surface gave the lowest factor of safety) and simplified
Bishop Limit analysis model were selected.
4.3 Results of stability analyses
The results of the stability analyses are summarized in
Tables 2 and 3 for the five construction stages. For each
stage two failure scenarios were investigated, namely:
1. Failure through the cofferdam
2. Failure through the excavation slope below the
cofferdam.
Each failure scenario was then analyzed for the
2-D configuration and for the 3-D case once under
static conditions (no earthquake) and once pseudo-
statically with seismic coefficients of 0.05 and 0.10
(corresponding to the construction level earthquake).

1079
 Hence, altogether 45 different factors of safety 5 CONCLUSION
(FOS) were calculated. The column second to the last
illustrates the range of failure surfaces considered in From the stability analysis, the following results can
the most critical (usually the maximum) section. be inferred:
Table 3 shows some of the safety factors calcu-
1. The criterion for acceptable stability for the 2-D
lated for the 21 sections used for the 3-D analysis
case was a factor of safety of at least 1.05 for static
with CLARA-W corresponding to the operating stage.
conditions and 0.90 for pseudo-static conditions.
However, these FOS were obtained from a 2-D analysis
The reasons for these criteria are as follow:
along each of the 21 sections. These calculations were
performed to illustrate the variation of the FOS with • In the usual 2-D stability analysis the factor of
the position of the section considered. It can be seen safety for static conditions is usually taken as
that only the central sections are critical, i.e. Sections 1.50. For temporary construction states it may
11 to 15 with FOSmin = 1.19 (1.18 in Table 4). In the also be lower, for example 1.30. The FOS for
remaining sections sliding is kinematically impeded pseudo-static conditions should not be less than
by topographical obstructions or constraints. In fact, 0.90.
for some sections at the periphery of the sliding mass • Extending the analysis to a 3-D configuration
considered the program does not even calculate a FOS, increases the FOS substantially. This is because
e.g. Sections 1 to 5 and 19 to 21. This means that these the FOS varies for the different sections used in
sections are beyond the limits of any potential sliding the 3-D model, as demonstrated in Figure 6 and
body that could develop on the slope. The second and Table 3. The lowest values occur in the central part
sixth columns of Table 3 give the distance of the sec- whereas in the wing parts of the sliding mass con-
tion from Section 1. Sections 9 and 10 almost coincide sidered the FOS is much higher. Consequently,
and only one calculation was performed. the overall 3-D FOS is higher than the 2-D value.
The difference between the two values depends
on the configuration of the footprint of the slid-
Table 3. 2-D safety factor of each section along the 21 ing mass and on the shape of the sliding surface
section considered in 3-D analysis with CLARA-W. along a particular section. A hunch in the slid-
ing surface will act as a barrier which the slide
Distance Distance
has to surpass which is met by increased resisting
from from
Section section Safety Section section Safety forces. Also, in the wing parts of the slide the clay
no. 1 (m) factor no. 1 (m) factor layer may no longer be present.
• Like all mathematical model, the 3-D model used
1 0.0 – 12 101.16 1.19 by the CLARA-W will have some deficiencies,
2 10.0 – 13 110.0 1.19 i.e. it cannot model all the factors affecting the
3 25.0 – 14 114.0 1.21 stability of the potential sliding mass. It will
4 35.0 – 15 120.5 1.48 therefore not yield an answer completely in agree-
5 47.5 – 16 127.75 1.73 ment with what is going on in the actual case.
6 60.0 1.56 17 135.0 2.18 Engineering judgment may not consider it wise
7 67.5 2.26 18 147.5 2.09
to rely fully on the values obtained from the 3-D
8 75.0 2.35 19 160.0 –
9 & 10 85.0 2.41 20 172.5 – model. However, the high values obtained with
11 97.0 1.19 21 185.0 – the 3-D model indicate that the FOS calculated
by the 2-D model can safely be increased by a

Table 4. 3-D failure surfaces and factors of safety obtained for the four construction stages using the CLARA-W program.

Factor of safety with Factor of safety with

Factor of safety earthquake loading of Factor of safety earthquake loading of
not considering not considering
earthquake loading 0.05 g 0.1 g 0.05 g earthquake loading 0.05 g 0.1 g 0.05 g
Stage Stage
no. 3D 2D 3D 2D no. 3D 2D 3D 2D

1 2.59 1.12 2.18 1.87 1.32 4 2.33 1.39 1.99 1.74 1.18
2 2.44 1.37 2.03 1.75 1.14 O.S 2.31 1.18 2.00 1.76 0.98
3 2.11 1.33 1.79 1.54 1.12 O.S: Operation Stage

1080
 certain percentage, say by about 30 to 40 per-
cent. In doing so, the values obtained from the
2-D analysis reach the range of acceptable fac-
tors of safety, both for static and pseudo-static
conditions.
2. The stages shown in Table 3 always present the most
critical situation at that particular stage, i.e. the con-
dition after excavation to that particular elevation
but without considering the effect of the treatment
given from that elevation.
Stage 1 represents the stability when the excava-
tion has reached elevation 955 masl prior to
treatment of the clay layer.
Stage 2 represents the stability after excavation
has proceeded to elevation 947 masl with the
treatment received from elevation 955.
Stage 3 represents the stability after excavation to
elevation 942 masl but before constructing the
first lamella of retaining wall.
Stage 4 represents the stability after having exca-
vated to elevation 936 masl but before con-
struction of the second lamella.
Stage 5 represents the stability after having exca-
vated to elevation 930 masl but before
installing lamellae 3, 4 and 5.
The operation stage, finally, gives the factor of
safety after the retaining wall has been completed
and the excavation has reached the bedrock at about
elevation 920 masl.
It can be seen from Table 3 that the require-
ments regarding stability in the 2-D configuration are
essentially satisfied. The proposed procedure for the
excavation of the coarse-grained alluvium and the clay
should therefore provide sufficient safety.
REFERENCES
Barksdale, R.D. & Bachus, R.C. 1983. Design and Construc-
tion of Stone Columns. Report No. FHWA/RD-83/026,
Natl.Technical Information Service, Springfield,Virginia.
1081
Bell, F.G. 1993. Engineering Treatment of Soil. E & FN Spon.
Bergado, D.T.,Anderson, L.K., Miura, N. & Balasubramaniam,
A.S. 1996. Soft Ground Improvement in Lowland and
Other Environments. ASCE Pub.
Covil, C.S. & Skinner A.E. 1992. Jet Grouting-a review of
some of the operating parameters that form the basis
of the jet grouting process. In Grouting in the Ground,
Proc. of Conference Organized by the Institution of Civil
Engineering, London, pp. 605–628.
Hungr, O., Salgado, F.M. & Byrne, P.M. 1989. Evaluation
of a three-dimensional method of slope stability analysis.
Canadian Geotechnical Journal 26: 679–686.
Kaushinger, J.L., Hankour, R. & Perry, E.B. 1992. Method to
estimate composition of jet grout bodies. In Proc. ASCE
Conf., Grouting, Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics,
New Orleans, vol. 1, pp. 194–205.
Kaushinger, J.L., Perry, E.B. & Hankour, R. 1992. Jet grout-
ing:state of the practice. In Proc. ASCE Conf., Grouting,
Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics, New Orleans, vol.
1, pp. 169–181.
Lam, L. & Fredlund, D.G. 1993. A general limit equilib-
rium model for 3-D slope stability analysis. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 30: 905–919.
Nonveiller, E. 1989. Grouting in Theory and Practice. Else-
vier.
Poh, T.Y. & Wong, I.H. 2001. A field trial of jet grouting in
marine clay. Can. Geotech. J. 38: 338–348.
Schalfer, V.R. 1997. Ground improvement, ground rein-
forcement, ground treatment development 1987-1997.
Geotechnical Special Pub. 69: 113–129.
Warner, J.P.E. 2004. Practical Handbook of Grouting. New
York: John Wiley & Sons.
Xanthakos, P.P., Abramson, L.W. & Bruce, D.A. 1994. New
York: Ground Control and Improvement.
Yoshitake, I., Nakagawa, K., Mitsui, T., Yoshikawa, T. &
Ikeda, A. 2004. An evaluation method of ground improve-
ment by jet grouting. Tunnelling and Underground Space
Technology 19: 496–497.
Tunnels & Deep Underground Excavations
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

INVITED PAPER
Some opportunities for science and engineering at DUSEL

D. Elsworth
Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

C. Fairhurst
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

ABSTRACT: The potential development of a deep underground science laboratory offers unusual opportu-
nities for inquiry and experimentation in the geosciences and in geoengineering. The completed facility will
extend to ∼2000 m deep, and be available for multi-decade occupancy. Experiments will investigate methods of
in situ characterization using geophysical methods, extend our understanding of complex interactions of coupled
processes which control the evolution of the dynamic Earth, and which extend methods of excavation and con-
struction, especially at extreme depths. These general categories of enquiry accommodate suites of experiments
related to: rock mass characterization, examining the role of scale effects on mechanical and transport properties,
evaluating the evolution of mechanical and transport properties prompted by physical and chemical perturbations,
and in examining methods of excavating deep boreholes and constructing habitable cavities at depth.

1 INTRODUCTION dynamic Earth, and of improving the effectiveness and

Cosmology, the study of the origins of the universe, is
undergoing a golden age of discovery. The basic fea-
tures of the universe are now apparent (Turner 2007):
the universe is 13.7 billion years old, spatially flat,
and expanding at an accelerating rate, while it is com-
prised of atoms (4%), exotic dark matter (20%) and
dark energy (76%). Despite this broad understanding
of age, form, and composition, much less is understood
about the elementary particles which comprise these
broad groups, and the laws which in turn govern their
interaction. The search for the missing dark matter is
one of the main drivers in seeking quiet environments
where the presence of neutrinos interacting with other
particles may be detected. These environments may be
deep within the oceans, deep within ice (Halzen 2007),
or deep within the terrestrial underground (Sadoulet
2007). This latter option is central to the potential
for the development for a deep underground science
and engineering laboratory (DUSEL), where advances
in particle physics (Waxman 2007) may develop
in concert with the search for deep life, and con-
comitantly spur advances in geo-engineering and in
geo-science.
This infrastructure will support important exper-
iments in the subsurface capable of improving the
fidelity of imaging methods, of improving our
understanding of important processes controlling the
safety of geo-engineering. This potential is summa-
rized here, from prior reports addressing opportunities
in the subsurface, afforded by DUSEL (Elsworth &
Fairhurst 2006).
2 NEEDS AND CHALLENGES IN THE
SUBSURFACE
Important societal benefits will accrue from improved
techniques and technologies to recover minerals and
energy, to provide safe disposal and containment of
wastes, to afford the effective restoration of con-
taminated sites, and to contribute to safe use of the
subsurface for civil infrastructure.
Just as issues of resource recovery and waste dis-
posal in the energy sector are closely aligned, so are
the needs in other sectors – all rely on accurate charac-
terization of the subsurface and in the understanding
critical physical processes. The carbon-based econ-
omy of the past century has relied heavily on the
utilization of fossil resources, both as fuels and as
feed-stocks for the production of industrial chemicals,
especially plastics. Regardless of whether contempo-
rary views regard this as sustainable, all visions for
the future require more effective use of subsurface
resources. This includes the production of hydrocar-
bons for energy supply and energy security, and the

1085
related downstream disposal of energy byproducts.
Important challenges encompass the need to more
easily detect and access subsurface hydrocarbon and
energy resources in progressively deeper and more
hostile environments. But additionally, these also
address fundamental scientific challenges in support-
ing the national (DOE) and increasingly interna-
tional vision for Hydrogen Energy, FutureGen, and
Advanced Nuclear Energy proposals – all of which
rely upon safe sequestration of energy byproducts.
The scientific challenges in these areas of upstream
energy supply, and of downstream byproduct dis-
posal are common. They relate to remote, inexpensive,
and high-fidelity characterization of the subsurface to
determine meaningful physical and chemical charac-
teristics, and in using these data for predictions of
performance of the engineered or natural structures
introduced within them.
Similar challenges are apparent in other sectors:
in resource characterization for geothermal energy
and in the recovery of potable water, in the safe and
long-term disposal of long-lived radioactive wastes,
and in the development of underground cavities for
human use in the development of infrastructure and
of secure structures. All applications have important
challenges in the characterization of the in situ envi-
ronment, and in the prediction of performance. In most
cases, these challenges are exacerbated by the extreme
scale dependency of behavior of rock masses, preclud-
ing the simple extrapolation of laboratory behavior to
prototype scale.
Although some of these needs have begun to
be addressed by underground research laboratories
related to the deep geologic disposal of radioactive
wastes, much work remains.
3 OPPORTUNITIES AFFORDED BY DUSEL
The drive to improve the recovery and utilization of
necessary resources, and to complete this while pro-
viding appropriate stewardship to the environment,
requires that we address the crucial technological
needs identified previously. A ubiquitous issue that
affects all activities of construction, of utilization, and
of resource recovery in and on rock is that behavior
changes, sometimes drastically, with the scale of the
structure or applied disturbance. Rock mass strengths
and fluid transmission characteristics change both with
the size of the affected sample and with the anticipated
design lifetime of the embedded structure. This scale
effect is a fundamental motivation in our attempt to
understand rock behavior at multiple lengths and time
scales, and provides a compelling incentive for the
establishment of an underground science laboratory.
Transparent Earth – Reducing the opacity of
rock masses to allow direct observation of impor-
tant features, to directly quantify the variability of
1086
intrinsic properties, such as the mechanical, trans-
port and reactive characteristics, and to observe the
processes controlling its behavior more directly and
in greater detail, is a goal of fundamental impor-
tance. This transparency may be divided into two
components; Physical Transparency and Conceptual
Transparency; each is an important component in
enabling an improved utilization of the subsurface.
Physical Transparency – Seeing into the Earth –
Significant advances are being made in geophysical
imaging techniques, but the opaque nature of rock
remains a serious barrier to observation and investiga-
tion of its behavior. DUSEL offers major opportunities
to address this barrier, one that arises in virtually all
of the geoscience and engineering experiments that
are planned. In many cases, the volume of rock to be
made ‘transparent’ is of the order of 10∼20 m in linear
extent, sometimes less.
Conceptual Transparency – Understanding the
Dynamic Earth – Understanding the transmission
of reactive hot fluids in fractured rock masses is an
important contemporary challenge that speaks to our
ability to effectively recover energy resources and to
safely sequester corrosive wastes. The same is true
for the case of unstable dynamic slip along a rough
joint surface, and other problems important to under-
standing rock mass behavior. Experiments conducted
at DUSEL offer the first potential to observe these
important behaviors in progress under the appropriate
ambient conditions of scale, stress, and temperature
in the earth’s crust that are present in reality. Related
modeling studies can shed considerable ‘light’ on the
behavior of the actual system, and allow the response
on related systems to be predicted with increased
reliability.
Improved Utilization of the Subsurface –
Engineering the Earth – Seeing into the rock (for
example, to locate fractures or other defects) is useful
only if we understand what to do with those new data.
In “seeing” a fracture ahead of a tunneling face, it is
important to determine if that makes advance less haz-
ardous or more hazardous. This assessment requires
that the presence of such a feature (physical trans-
parency) be married with an analysis of the effect of
that feature (conceptual transparency). This improved
understanding, and the modeling of this response is
the essential method of predicting behavior of related
structures in rock. This is akin to the conversion of
data into information, with this new information nec-
essary for the improved design for structures in the
subsurface. Only if we are able to reduce the opacity
of the Earth, and to more fully view and understand
the Earth’s dynamic processes, will we better be able
to harness the benefits of the subsurface.
A conceptual layout of a DUSEL to examine such
questions is identified in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Schematic layout of a DUSEL providing dedicated areas for experiments at a variety of depths.

3.1 Seeing into the Earth – Geophysical imaging (physical, chemical and biological – for example
mechanical, electrical, electromagnetic and seismic)
Imaging using both active and passive, seismic, elec-
and high-resolution reflection and transmission imag-
trical, and electromagnetic signals offer the potential
ing methods. Access to voluminous rock masses at
to image defects within rock masses. Resolution is
depth, at elevated mechanical stresses, fluid pressures,
inherently limited by the wavelength of the radia-
and temperatures are critical to understanding how
tion, prescribing physical limits to the size of features
to scale coupled processes for fractured rock from
which may be accurately defined. Despite these limits,
laboratory-scale to the field-scale of importance in
remote imaging using seismic methods provide high
engineering and in nature.
resolution of targets at depth, as illustrated n Figure 2.
DUSEL would provide the large-scale 3D access to the
3.2 The dynamic Earth
earth to develop and ‘ground- truth’ new geophysical
techniques to look into rock and visualize and mea- Many processes within the Earth progress so slowly
sure details of rock fractures. The laboratory would that the evolution of the controlling parameters are
integrate large-scale physical observation of the rock considered static. In other cases, engineering perturba-
with direct measurements of in situ fracture properties tions push the system so far from physical or chemical

1087
Figure 2. Detailed resolution of structure to a depth of
1500 m, to resolve the presence of natural faulting (courtesy
NAGRA).
Figure 3. Coupled process interactions between thermal,
hydraulic, mechanical, and chemical (THMC(B)) inter-
actions.
equilibrium that parameters such as rock mass stiff-
ness, strength, or permeability are observed to evolve
over the period of observation. This is especially appar-
ent where thermal, chemical, or mechanical conditions
change and control the transmission of stress and the
motion of fluids, as noted in Figure 3.
Although significant advances have been made in
understanding these interactions in the past several
decades, stimulated largely by research on geological
isolation of nuclear waste, important questions remain.
These relate both to the understanding of fundamental
process interactions that control the response of the
natural system, and how these systems may be har-
nessed for the recovery of minerals and energy, used
for civil infrastructure and the safe disposal and con-
tainment of wastes, and with minimized impact on the
natural environment.
Fluid-activated coupled processes within a network
of interconnected rock fractures are especially com-
plex. Rock stresses are induced, for example, by heat-
ing or by changes in tectonic stress, and can change the
permeability of fractures or produce slip on the frac-
tures – two important influences. It is not unusual in
such networks for small local perturbations to produce
1088
Figure 4. Schematic of the Drift-Scale Test at Yucca
Mountain.
effects at substantial distances from the local event.
Increases in fluid pressure acting along a fault reduce
the shear resistance on the fault and can trigger an
earthquake. Water passing through a temperature gra-
dient can dissolve chemicals in one region and interact
with the rock in a cooler or warmer region to precip-
itate chemical compounds there. Biological changes
also may occur in response to changes in the rock
environment. In sum, while we know much about cou-
pled processes in theory, important questions remain.
Observing and confirming these complex interactions
is impossible without in situ studies such as what
DUSEL will offer, similar in form to other long-term
experiments as the Drift-Scale Test at Yucca Mountain
(Fig. 4).
3.3 Engineering the Earth
The desire to construct large-span caverns at extreme
depth, in support of neutrino detection experiments,
severely stretches the current state-of-the-art in under-
ground construction. The largest free-span cavity con-
structed in rock today is the 62-meter Olympic Ice
Hockey Stadium in Gjøvik in Norway (Fig. 5). It is
very shallow, excavated into a hillside in competent
granite. The crown of the roof is just a few meters
below the ground surface. Most mining excavations
(except for shafts) are not intended to be perma-
nent, and are designed as economically as possible –
consistent with safety.
It is seen that the few large ‘permanent’ cavities are
those designed for physics experiments. The proposal
to develop a cavity such as UNO (indicated in pink on
the diagram) would be ‘stretching the state of the art.’
The specific design would depend on the rock type,
in situ stress state, and the span. Design, excavation,
construction and monitoring of the long-term stability
of the cavity would provide a wealth of fundamental
data that could also serve for design of subsequent cav-
ities. Figure 1 shows a design layout in which auxiliary
drifts parallel to the large cavity (long axis oriented

Figure 5. Current distribution of large-span underground
excavations worldwide (showing the possible depth-span
range of DUSEL excavations).
parallel to the maximum horizontal stress direction
in order to minimize stress concentrations around the
periphery of the cavity) are driven to allow placement
of reinforcement cables, anchored in the small drifts,
to ensure long-term stability of the cavern.
4 POTENTIAL EXPERIMENTS AT A DUSEL
A broad range of experiments are possible at a DUSEL.
An initial but non-exhaustive list of experiments
include those to: characterize large blocks of rock
mass, and examine the progress of coupled process
experiments; examine the variability of in situ stresses
in space, including the role of structure; block motion
experiments in loaded pillars; examine mechanisms
of fracture growth; and to examine the excavation
and stability of very deep boreholes and of civil-scale
excavations at depth.
4.1 Characterization experiments
In low permeability rocks, fractures and the net-
works they form, exert a critical influence on strength,
deformation, and fluid transmission characteristics.
Detecting these features, defining their structure, and
evaluating their component and ensemble properties
are important needs in predicting their response – for
example to the transmission of fluids as reservoir rocks
for hydrocarbons or geothermal working fluids, or
repository rocks containing CO2 or other sequestered
components.
The close-in access to a large (10 × 10 × 10 m)
block of rock, at stresses and temperatures relevant
to deep reservoirs affords the possibility of character-
izing response in fine detail. This includes developing
and testing geophysical methods to both ‘see’ into the
rock, and to better define the physical characteristics of
the block, and to then use these evaluations to predict
1089
the response to applied changes in the ambient condi-
tions. These ‘changes’ would include the injection and
recovery of single and multi-component fluids, includ-
ing conservative, reactive and particulate tracers, with
perturbations applied by heaters to modify stresses and
adjust fluid flow paths.
Importantly, the DUSEL allows close access at
depth to a large block which contains a statistically
representative sampling of fractures, anticipated to
mimic the response of usually inaccessible reser-
voirs at-depth. Such a facility would allow multiple
contemporary questions to be answered in an envi-
ronment which approaches the controlled boundary
conditions of a laboratory experiment, but accessing
materials close to their natural state. These ques-
tions include: To what resolution can we detect the
presence and location of fractures? What geophysical
signatures best denote their mechanical and transport
properties? Can these signatures infer initial stress
states and connectivity of fractures and fracture net-
works? What improvements in characterization are
available from dense networks of sensors, and how
dense may this coverage develop, for example using
MEMS? What improvements in characterization are
feasible by linking geophysics with fluid transmission
and tracer tests? What improvements in characteri-
zation are available through methods of data fusion?
How will mechanical and fluid transmission behavior
change with exposure to reactive fluids and at elevated
temperatures? Are these responses broadly predictable
from geophysical characterizations? How do natural
radiogenic and biological tracers enhance the abil-
ity to characterize the transport, reactive, and heat
transfer characteristics of rock masses?
4.2 Block failure and motion experiments
The failure of rock bears importantly on the potential
success of a Deep Underground Science and Engineer-
ing Laboratory. The construction of large cavities that
may span 60 m at a depth of 2000 m pose unprece-
dented engineering challenges and will require care-
ful site investigation, design, and extensive stability
monitoring – issues of stress-control and the protection
from rock bursting will be important considerations,
as will the strength of the rock mass at the scale of
the proposed excavation. The hazard of rock bursts is
a ubiquitous problem in deep mining, worldwide. For
example, the Creighton Mine (Ontario), that houses
the SNO lab and now reaches to ∼2400 m, sustains
a few M > 3 events annually with the largest event
recording M = 4 (1984). These events pose a signifi-
cant safety hazard, but offer scientific challenges in the
improved understanding of rupture mechanisms that
relate to length scales from nanometers to kilometers,
and timescales that span milliseconds to thousands of
years. This is the principal focus of this proposed study.
 A DUSEL offers the potential to complete funda-
mental engineering and scientific studies of rupture
mechanics via the physical (seismic, stress, fluid pres-
sure, deformation) and chemical (reactant fluxes and
compositions) monitoring of a test that will isolate and
fail a large deep block of rock, in situ. Loading of the
block would be applied by excavation induced stresses,
and applied thermal and fluid stresses. And include
the potential to control external and confining loads
by actuators and through pressurized membranes. This
heavily instrumented test would both complement, and
be complemented by, the process understanding of
rock failure gained by the monitoring of the obser-
vatory site by geophones and other instrumentation,
and concentrated around critical caverns.
The observations provided by the failing of a large
block of rock, at depth, under controlled stresses and
geometry, and triggered by energetic and reactive flu-
ids would illuminate important contemporary issues
in earthquake mechanics and seismicity. The physics
of earthquake nucleation and rupture is not yet well-
described because of the impossibility of near-field
access to fault zones. For example, understanding
shear zone formation (i.e. how a zone of freshly-
fractured rock accumulates displacement and eventu-
ally forms a friction-controlled fault) would contribute
critical knowledge toward understanding earthquake
processes. A natural laboratory would also lend itself
to other studies that would contribute to the knowl-
edge of earthquake failure mechanics, such as under-
standing the mechanisms of triggering across short
distances and timescales, mechanisms of strength-gain
and fault-healing promoted by reactive fluids and other
agents, and the respective roles of velocity weakening
and energy surplus effects in defining the transition
between quiescent rupture and energetic failure.
The observations would contribute to the con-
straint of rate and state friction constitutive laws that
have emerged as powerful tools for investigating
the mechanics of earthquakes and faulting. Although
these laws are capable of reproducing virtually the
entire range of observed seismic and interseismic fault
behaviors, ranging from preseismic slip and earth-
quake nucleation to coseismic rupture and earthquake
afterslip, our understanding of key parameters in these
laws remains poor. A major limitation in developing
process-based models of these parameters is the scal-
ing problem associated with applying laboratory-sized
samples. Numerical models are available to apply
laboratory-based friction laws to problems such as
earthquake triggering and fault interaction. However,
the natural scale laboratory data necessary to carry
out such studies do not exist. These data are needed
to understand the role of fault roughness and gouge
on frictional properties and stability. The proposed
underground laboratory will allow detailed studies
of frictional strength and stability, including resonant
1090
behavior and shear destabilization. The observations
will constrain theoretical models based on friction
constitutive laws.
Importantly DUSEL offers this unique opportunity
for long-occupancy of a site with a prescribed dense
coverage of observations, access to an unusually large
block of rock, and the application of high stresses at
depth. Consequently the proposed underground lab-
oratory will provide an important link between the
laboratory and natural tectonic events, which has so
far only been possible by studying mining-induced
seismicity and by borehole recordings.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The potential development of a deep underground sci-
ence and engineering laboratory in support of particle
physics, geobiology, geosciences, and geoengineering
is a developing possibility. Such a facility will enable
a broad and evolving suite of experiments in the geo-
sciences and geoengineering to be conducted at depth
and with long occupancy. Key experiments would
examine important contemporary issues in the engi-
neering geosciences, including high-fidelity in situ
characterization using geophysical methods, examin-
ing the role of scale effects on the mechanical and
transport properties of rocks, their control on coupled
processes, together with their influence on the stability
of structures at depth.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The observations noted in this paper have been inte-
grated from the views developed from community-
based discourse on research opportunities in deep
science and engineering in the geosciences and geo-
engineering communities – although any misinterpre-
tation of these directions rests with the authors alone.
This work was supported by the US National Science
Foundation under the S1 review process. This support
is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Elsworth, D. & Fairhurst, C. 2006. Geo-science and geo-
engineering research at DUSEL. Report to NSF, based on
material provided by L. Costin, F. Heuze, B.J. McPherson,
J.-C. Roegiers, E. Sonnenthal & R.P. Young, 56 pp.
Halzen, F. 2007. Neutrino astrophysics experiments beneath
the sea and ice. Science 315: 66–68.
Sadoulet, B. 2007. Particle dark matter in the universe: at the
brink of discovery? Science 315: 61–63.
Turner, M.S. 2007. Quarks and the cosmos. Science
315: 59–61.
Waxman, E. 2007. Neutrino astrophysics: a new tool for
exploring the universe. Science 315: 63–65.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Construction of a large-deep permanent cavern for physics research at the

Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL)

C. Laughton
Fermi Research Alliance, USA

ABSTRACT: The international physics community is developing plans for a major particle physics experiment,
The Long Baseline Experiment. The experiment will probe the fundamental behaviours and properties of sub-
nucleic particles, neutrinos. The Long Baseline experiment will be long-term and data will be collected over a
multi-year period. The particle detector associated with this experiment will need to be built at depth underground
within a very large cavern. Experimental options currently under consideration call for the excavation of rock
spans in excess of 50 m, mined at depths of up to 1500 m with excavation of bank rock volumes in excess of a
half a million cubic metres. Such dimensions are at or beyond the limit of conventional rock engineering practice
and construction will be a major undertaking. In the US, the Long Baseline cavern would be one of a number
of large underground sites housed within the boundaries of the US Deep Underground Science and Engineering
Laboratory (DUSEL). The final DUSEL site is yet to be determined. In July 2005, the US National Science
Foundation (NSF), the principal funding agency spearheading this new initiative, short-listed two candidate sites
for funded conceptual design work. The two sites are the Henderson Mine, Empire, Colorado and the Homestake
Mine, Lead, South Dakota. Both sites take advantage of existing mine excavations (shafts, winzes and decline
tunnels) and installed infrastructure to support access to depth and provide the requisite operational services.
The NSF will select the DUSEL site in 2007, based on the findings and recommendations of a design review
panel. The designs for the Henderson and Homestake Mines and other prospective sites will be submitted early
2007. It is anticipated that construction at the selected site will start by the end of the decade. This paper outlines
key spatial requirements for the Long Baseline experiment, describes likely in situ rock conditions at the known
candidate sites, and discusses the need for upfront geotechnical planning to support the design and construction
of large, deep caverns. The paper proposes that the large, multiphase construction scope of DUSEL justifies an
early emphasis on state-of-the-industry technologies and the identification of possible research opportunities.
An initial focus on the optimization of engineering practices and integration of research tasking could be of
particular benefit to the later phases of construction could potentially enhance the viability of the larger physics
experiments, including the Long Baseline Project.

1 INTRODUCTION add largely unprecedented demands for “wider and

In many respects design criteria for physics caverns are
similar to those demanded by other large-scale users
of permanent underground space (e.g. transit, infras-
tructure, hydro-electric, fluid or dry storage, etc.).
Shared criteria include long-term stability, space for
installation, operations and servicing of permanent
equipment and infrastructure and the provisions of
services. However, physics experiments often pose
additional demands on the engineered solution, most
notably experiment-specific requirements for atmo-
spheric cleanliness, water tightness, humidity-control
and foundation stability.
To these criteria, large experimental facilities such
as that required for the Long Baseline Experiment
deeper” and may also include provisions for the safe
containment of cryogenic fluids. These combinations
of requirements lie outside of engineering precedent.
This paper proposes that the engineering challenges
and additional risks posed in by the large-deep require-
ment sets may be, at least partially, offset by early
optimization of rock engineering design. In partic-
ular, research developments undertaken during the
initial phases of the construction program may afford
subsequent phased expansions to be better optimized
relative to cost, time and risk. Research targeted specif-
ically at improving the large-deep cavern designs and
construction processes, evaluated within a risk:reward
framework, could enhance the viability of a number of
key physics projects.

1091

Figure 1. Scenario for a set of early laboratory cavern and
chamber cross-sections.
2 THE LABORATORY FACILITIES
DUSEL is a multidisciplinary endeavor and it is likely
that a large number of permanent excavations, varying
in size and outfitted complexity, will be constructed
over the lifetime of the facility to support experiments
in physics, biology, geo-science, and engineering. To
provide an idea of the initial scope of the facilities, an
array of mined cross-section requirements for multi-
purpose and purpose-built underground excavations
is shown in Figure 1. Different depths are required for
several key experiments in the physical sciences and
campuses will be established at a number of elevations
within the DUSEL volume (near-surface, potentially
with drive-in access, upper, intermediate, and lower
levels).These campuses represent clusters of dedicated
laboratory space where infrastructure and services are
shared.
A schematic plan of an underground campus con-
sisting of “ladder” laboratories is shown in Figure 2.
This ladder arrangement allows for simple ventila-
tion flow paths, easy access for installation loads and
two-ways out in case of emergency. The layout is not
site-specific, with first order stability optimization
achieved relative to the assumed regional rock struc-
ture and in situ stress regime (Broch).The major cavern
excavations are aligned near-perpendicular to the dom-
inant discontinuity set and near-parallel to the major
horizontal principal stress. The siting, orientation,
spacing, shaping and final dimensioning of the exca-
vation suite and the alignment of connecting tunnels
and shafts will be reevaluated based on site-specific
investigation and will also satisfy both site-wide (e.g.
environment, safety, health) and experiment-specific
(e.g. space, electrical, mechanical) requirements.
1092
Figure 2. Potential ladder laboratory layout for experimen-
tal space.
Laboratory outposts are also envisaged for some
geo-science and engineering experiments. At these
sites, requirements call for access to virgin ground
and water volumes and stringent environmental con-
trol over the ambient air and in situ conditions. Some
smaller experimental rooms (span 3∼5 m) may also be
built adjacent to the campus areas but are not shown
in the Figure for reasons of clarity.
As new experiments are funded, it is likely that
follow-on phases of DUSEL will be constructed. In
fact, it is entirely possible that DUSEL could be in
a permanent state of construction as experiments are
launched in a wide range of disciplines at different
locations and times across the site. Follow-on phases
could potentially include both the conversion of exist-
ing facilities and the excavation of new ones, including
the construction of large-span, deep cavern.
3 LARGE DEEP CAVERN REQUIREMENTS
Proposals for the Long Baseline Experiment and
other experiments call for the construction of very
large-span, deep permanent caverns at the US Deep
Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory
(DUSEL). The size and depth of these caverns present
new engineering challenges. Various Long Baseline
proposals, based on the use of Water Cherenkov detec-
tor technology, require rock spans in excess of 50 m,
at depths of approximately 1500 m.
Although perhaps sited at shallower depth, propos-
als based using Liquid Argon detector technology are
no less challenging. These proposals add requirements
for the underground containment of large volumes of
cryogenic fluid and provisions for the safe evacuation
of personnel and Argon gas in the event of leakage or
a catastrophic release.
Such spatial requirements push the envelope of
what has previously been achieved in permanent cav-
ern engineering practice and their construction will be
a major undertaking.
 ~1.2 to 1.5 km
60 m
180 m
60 m
Figure 3. Spatial requirements for one possible option for a
large-deep cavern (Jung 1999).
4 PRECEDENT IN PHYSICS CAVERN DESIGN
Many of the larger caverns schematically depicted in
Figures 2–4 will house physics detectors. A number
of such facilities have already been built worldwide.
Figure 4 plots-out in span:depth space some existing
physics facilities including the following:
• Super Positron Synchrotron (SPS) and Large Elec-
tron Positron, LEP (Laughton 1990);
• Large Hadron Collider, LHC (Wallis 2001);
• Gran Sasso (Ianni 2005);
• Kamland (??)
• Super-Kamiokande, Super-K (Yamatomi et al.
1995); and
• Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, SNO (Zsaki &
Curran 2002).
All the caverns listed above were purpose-built.
A number (eight) of relatively shallow (<150 m),
large-span caverns (>20 m) have been constructed to
house accelerator-based detector facilities at the Euro-
pean Particle Physics Laboratory, located outside of
Geneva, Switzerland. These caverns were excavated
in a relatively weak set of inter-bedded sedimentary
strata (sandstones, siltstones, and marls).
Two of the large-span, deep cavern facilities iden-
tified in the plot were mined at the Kamioka and
Creighton mines. Here 40 and 20 m domed span were
excavated at depths of approximately one and two
kilometers respectively in hard blocky rock conditions.
To place the physics caverns shown in Figure 4
in a broader perspective, “reference caverns” have
been added on to the plot to indicate an approximate
envelope for the state-of-the-art in permanent cavern
construction. The largest span excavation in the figure
is the 60 m-span Gjovik Hall, Norway. This cavern was
mined at relatively shallow depth (25–50 m), in hard
1093
Span, approx. m
20 40 60
0
LEP LHC Gjovik
1
Kamland Super-K
Gran Sasso
Long Baseline
Span:Depth
2 SNO “Target Domain”
Western Deep
3
Depth, approx.km
Figure 4. Physics caverns – span depth scatter plot.
metamorphic rock, under favorable stress-field condi-
tions (Meland & Broch 1994). The deeper excavation
plotted has a span of roughly 17 m. It houses a hoist
system at a depth approaching three kilometres in the
Western Deep mine of South Africa (Hoek & Brown
1980).
5 CANDIDATE SITES
The construction scope, cost and schedule of any
underground excavation is strongly influenced by the
nature of the host rock mass. In particular, the viability
of the large, deep excavations envisaged for DUSEL
will be intimately tied to the in situ conditions of the
geologic material, tectonic stress regime water condi-
tions, and the appropriateness of the selected excava-
tion and support techniques. An accurate definition of
the site and the judicious selection of cost-effective
construction techniques will contribute significantly
to the overall optimization of the design and construc-
tion process. Optimization in design and construction
requires knowledge of the site conditions. A brief
description of the known DUSEL candidate sites is
provided below.
Due to the competive nature of the site selec-
tion process, the Conceptual Design Reports (CDR’s)
for the known candidate sites are currently unavail-
able. The following discussion is based on early site
investigation in the public domain.
 In July 2005, NSF short-listed two candidate sites
for funded conceptual design work. The two sites
are the Henderson Mine, Empire, Colorado and the
Homestake Mine, Lead, South Dakota. Both sites take
advantage of existing mine excavations (shafts, winzes
and decline tunnels) and infrastructure to provide
access to depth and supply services.
The Henderson Mine is located west of Denver,
in the front range of the Rocky Mountains. By car
the mine is some 75 miles from Denver Airport. The
DUSEL facilities would occupy a remote site well-
removed from current and future mining activities.
Experiments would be housed in purpose-mined exca-
vations accessed from the existing mine by decline
tunnels and winzes. At Henderson, the DUSEL site
would be hosted in a granite host rock mass.
The recently-closed Homestake Mine is located to
the northwest of Rapid City in the Black Hills of
South Dakota. By car the mine is some 55 miles
from Rapid City Airport. DUSEL would be located
within the boundaries of the underground mine with
the experiments housed in rehabilitated, enlarged and
purpose-mined excavations. At the Homestake Mine,
DUSEL would be sited in folded meta-sedimentary
and meta-volcanic rock units.
Based on the general descriptions of the sites pre-
sented by the design teams at DUSEL Workshops
(Kutcha & Golden 2005, Roggenthen 2005), it is sur-
mised that both proposed DUSEL host rock masses
can be characterized, in basic rock engineering terms,
as “hard and blocky.” As emphasized by site propo-
nents, either of these rock masses would offer excel-
lent host rock conditions for the types of laboratory
facilities described above.
However, as with most natural materials, engineer-
ing properties and loading are likely to vary spatially
within the volume of the DUSEL sites. An initial focus
on identifying the “stay-away” and “best-suited” rock
mass volumes may be key to the success of the con-
struction program. In particular, in these hard rock
masses, significant spatial variations in fracture, stress
and water conditions can all be anticipated. Any of
these conditions acting individually, or in combination,
can have major impacts on the stability and ambient
conditions of the mined excavation. Before siting the
DUSEL facilities it will be critical to perform an inves-
tigation of the DUSEL rock mass volume that permits
the engineers to develop an accurate 3-D definition of
the site for engineering purposes. This investigation
will not only be needed to delineate mechanically-
distinct rock units and geologic structures contain-
ing atypical materials and/or water-bearing features
(faults, fracture zones, contacts, intrusions etc.), but
investigations will also be needed to characterize
potential sites and provide input into the design of the
individual campuses and caverns, including the iden-
tification and scoping of potential research tasking.
1094
6 RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
6.1 Cavern research
Within the context of the typical “low-bid” con-
tract adopted for underground projects undertaken
for municipalities or government agencies, there is
rarely any legitimate justification for the inclusion of
research tasks. The development of research products
in-parallel with the performance of “hard dollar” con-
tracts is generally not an attractive proposition for a
project manager to contemplate. Not only may there
be a potential for research activities to slow-down or
otherwise interfere with the efficient execution of crit-
ical work, but researcj may also entail implementation
problems and a long learning curve either of which
could partially or completely offset any projected in-
contract savings. However, for DUSEL the benefits of
research are likely to be much greater than would be
the case for such “one-off” projects. DUSEL will have
a long life span and include multiple underground con-
struction phases.The construction scope of some of the
latter phases may be very large, such as the Long Base-
line experiment. The short-term risks of conducting
research in-parallel with early design and construction
work may be warranted given the greater potential for
long-term gains that technical advances can bring over
the full life cycle of the facility. The risks and rewards
of engineering research should be evaluated over the
full construction life of the DUSEL facility not just
within the context of the individual phases.
6.2 Research in site investigation and design
As can be surmised from the discussion above, a good
design process for underground work necessarily starts
with a good definition of the mass material properties,
the in situ stress regime and water conditions. This step
can be under-valued by those with limited experience
with underground work. To quote an economist dis-
cussing the nature of financial markets “Risk is fine,
provided you know you are taking it.” The very same
statement is applicable to the management of under-
ground work. Site investigation and modeling data is
needed to inform design and management decisions.
In this regard, forewarned is forearmed, as it is eas-
ier to mitigate problems on a drawing board than at
the heading. Adequate accurate site investigation data
is the essential basis for a good, reliable design and
construction process.
Although the scope of the site investigation and
design work will only be fully defined as part of the
final scope-of-work, Figure 5 provides an overview
of some of the key areas where research tasking may
be effectively implemented into the baseline facility
engineering program.
A comprehensive investigative program that
includes the use of combination state of the art in
 Boreholes Strain

Sampling Stress

In Situ Probes Field Testing Instrumentation Water

Lab Testing Ground Motion
Etc... Etc...

Down-Hole
Drainage
Geophysics Cross-Hole
Grouting
Surface
Treatment Freezing
Rock Mass Fracturing
Groundwater Etc...
Geo-Modeling Excavations
Mechanical
Experiments
Excavation Drill & Blast
Etc...
Etc...
Research Sites

Lab Sites Reinforment

Sites Selection Design Detail Rock Support Surface Liners

Design Work
Review Etc...

Etc...
Figure 6. Research areas in cavern construction.

Figure 5. Potential research tasking for DUSEL during site
investigation and design.
situ probes and geophysics technologies and provides
for their cross-correlation and compilation within a
flexible 3-D data base is a clear first goal of both
facility engineers and geo-science researchers. Cur-
rent borehole-based investigations reveal little direct
evidence of the rock mass complexity. Applying bet-
ter probing and remote sensing techniques that can
provide more accurate images of the full rock mass vol-
ume to depth “between the boreholes” is a basic shared
goal of the DUSEL research team (“Transparent
Earth”).
DUSEL represents a superb opportunity for geo-
scientists and engineers to work together to develop
new ideas or introduce and combine the use of exist-
ing technologies to enable a better characterization of
the rock in its natural complexity. The characteriza-
tion and modeling of rock variables, such as intact
strength, fracture, fluid flow and forces, which are so
poorly captured by current technologies, could be rev-
olutionized by even minor investments in emerging,
remote imaging technologies.
The site investigation data collected by this process
will not only be needed to provide a rationale for site
selection and engineering optimization, but it will also
serve to support the work of partner researchers in the
DUSEL sciences and engineering – biologists, geo-
scientists and rock mechanics.
6.3 Research in cavern construction and
operation
Although it is expected that the engineering feasibility
of the large-deep caverns will be confirmed once “best
sites” are identified at the DUSEL site, it must be kept
in mind that these proposed cavern structures are very
large and “push the precedent envelope” for cavern
construction. Designers may want to study the effects
of new or modified treatments, excavation and support
systems through the use of in situ instrumentation.
These studies may involve a innovation in measure-
ments, methods and means, as shown schematically in
Figure 6.
Potentially, there are several areas where cavern-
targeted research could yield significant payback for
the large cavern projects such as the Long Baseline,
in terms of providing for a safer, faster, cheaper more
reliable construction process (Laughton 1990).
The reliability of site investigation data, geologic
and engineering models can also be improved by

1095
the instrumentation and long-term monitoring of the
rock. Design-predicted values could be calibrated, or
“ground-truthed”, against excavation realities, with
differences studied and model improvements made in
real-time. The study of the DUSEL facilities will allow
for improved design practices and greater insight into
the behavioral response of the host rock under the
action of earth and gravitation forces and fluids.
6.4 Other engineering research opportunities
In addition to permitting research directly related to
the design and construction of the DUSEL facilities,
DUSEL will also provide engineers with opportu-
nities to conduct purpose-built experiments. These
experiments would address fundamental questions in
rock behavior and fluid flow in rocks. Under moder-
ate stress, excavation stability is largely determined
by rock fracture. Under conditions of high stress
the types of hazardous ground behaviors increases.
Not only is the fall-out of fracture-bound blocks a
possibility, but “rockburst” conditions may also be
encountered. Overstress conditions are increasingly
being encountered at depth in the mining industry.
Seminal safety and health research can also be
carried-out within this deep, remote underground set-
ting. Particular attention can be paid to key mining
topics such as communication, ventilation, access,
emergency egress and refuge design. With the temper-
ature of rock increasing with depth, and experimental
requirements for clean-rooms, mechanical systems
research in the areas of air conditioning and filtration
may also be undertaken.
DUSEL will also be an ideal site within which
to study groundwater system behaviors to depth. An
improved understanding of fracture flow would aid
reservoir engineers to protect drinking water sup-
plies, facilitate the bio-remediation of contaminated
aquifers and enhance energy recovery from geother-
mal systems.
DUSEL would provide academics and industry with
low-cost, long-term access to underground test sites.
In this large facility, new equipment and material trials
can take place under a wide range of in situ conditions.
Field tests can be performed without the production
constraints imposed by a for-profit operation. DUSEL
can allow for the long-learning curves that the proving-
out of emerging technologies often require.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Some of the physics experiment proposed for DUSEL
will present the rock engineers with interesting tech-
nical challenges, notably relative to the construction
of large-deep permanent caverns. Although, from
an engineering perspective, there appears to be no
1096
intrinsic reason why large-span caverns cannot be
constructed at depth there will be significant costs and
risks associated with their excavation and long-term
support.
To enhance the viability of these cavern-based
experiments, an early focus on the development and
application of emerging and new technologies is mer-
ited. The research testing of promising new methods
and means in the initial phases of DUSEL construction
would provide for a field demonstration of the engi-
neering value of the new practices. Once proven in the
field, these new practices could be more reliably inte-
grated into the design of some of the more challenging
large-deep structures, planned for subsequent DUSEL
construction phases.
REFERENCES
Callahan, M.F., Keskimaki, K.W. & Rech, W.D. 2000. A case
history of the crusher development level at Henderson. In
Proceedings of MassMin 2000, Brisbane, Australia.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Ianni, A. 2005. Status and future prospects of Gran Sasso. In
Next Generation of Nucleon Decay & Neutrino Detectors,
Aussois, France.
Jung, C.K. 1999. Feasibility of a next generation underground
water Cherenkov detector: UNO. In Next Generation
Nucleon Decay & Neutrino Detector Workshop, Stony
Brook.
Kuchta, M. & Golden, R. 2004. Summary of Candidate Site
Geology etc. – Henderson. Blacksburg.
Laughton, C. 1990. Support of the L3 experimental hall. In
Int. Symp. on Unique Underground Structures, Denver.
Meland, O. & Broch, E. 1994. Underground openings for
public use – Some results from the research program for
the Gjovik Olympic Mountain Hall. In Abdel Salam (ed),
ITA Conference Tunnelling and Ground Conditions, pp.
49–57.
Roggenthen, W. 2004 Summary of Candidate Site Geology
etc. – Homestake. Blacksburg.
Sadoulet, B. 2005. The Deep Underground Science and Engi-
neering Laboratory. DEEP Seminar, Berkeley, California.
Tesarik, D., Johnson, J., Zipf, K. & Lande, K. 2002. Initial
stability study of large openings for the national under-
ground science laboratory at the Homestake Mine, Lead,
SD. In Proc., North American Rock Mech. Symp., Toronto.
UNO Collaboration 2003. Expression of Interest for the Study
of a Nucleon Decay and Neutrino Physics Using a Large
Underground Water Cherenkov Detector.
Wallis, S. 2001. Great excavations. Civil Engineering Maga-
zine, August: 34–41.
Yamatomi, J. 1995. Waste-less mining – the Super-
KAMIOKANDE and subsurface space utilization at
Kamioka Mine, Japan. In Proceedings of the Interna-
tional Society of Rock Mechanics Congress, Tokyo, pp.
1649–1656.
Zsaki, M. & Curran, J.H. 2002. Parallel computation of field
quantities in an underground excavation analysis code. In
Hammah et al. (eds.), NARMS-TAC, Toronto, pp. 671–677.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Towards a transparent Earth

S.D. Glaser
University of California, Berkeley, USA

W. Roggenthen
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, USA

L.R. Johnson & E.L. Majer

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA

ABSTRACT: We plan to install and operate a permanent seismic observatory illuminating the volume of the
Homestake Mine from all six possible directions. We have chosen the Homestake DUSEL site because it offers a
unique opportunity – the large volume of mine working of the deepest mine in North America is surrounded and
underlain by literally hundreds of open bore holes, which can affordably be instrumented with accelerometers.
We envision a seismic array that allows the community to image rapid dynamic changes in the rock mass. For
instance, we will be able to estimate seismic parameters of events associated with de-watering, excavation, and
various rock mechanics experiments, and estimate source kinematics caused by activity within or near the mine.
Given the damage location of the event determined by the array, the rock mass can be back-excavated to find
the source damage in the rocks. When found, a direct connection can be made between the damage process
and seismic waves generated. This fundamental knowledge would be applicable to all sites, and help answer
important questions concerning the energy budget of fracture growth and dynamics, local frictional behavior
within a rock mass, seismic scaling laws, and interpretation of seismic moment tensors.

1 OUR IDEA
1.1 Transparent Earth at Homestake DUSEL
We are developing a deep in situ seismic observatory
that will move us closer to the realization of rapid
imaging of dynamical geo-processes at depth. The
project is comprised of the installation of a unique
three-dimensional seismic array, further research and
development of unique MEMS-based downhole seis-
mic instrumentation, and implementation of software
to locate and characterize underground seismic events
associated with various rock damage mechanisms
within the Homestake Mine. Extensive mining pro-
vides access to large volumes of rock, and large blocks
of virtually pristine rock are readily accessible for
experiments requiring these conditions. It turns out
that this mine volume is surrounded by literally thou-
sands of deep, open, bore holes – a number of which
horizontally deviate beneath the mine workings – pre-
senting the opportunity for our proposed observatory.
The project will be a large step towards fulfilling some
of the important promises of geophysical monitoring
of the earth (e.g. National Research Council 2000).
This work will take place at the Homestake mine
in Lead, South Dakota, a candidate site for the Deep
Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory
(DUSEL) in response to solicitation number NSF-05-
506. The Homestake plan provides a safe, accessible,
existing mine with experiments down to a depth
of 3438 m (8000 ft) below the surface, reached by
existing shafts and drifts. The DUSEL at Homestake
addresses the underground needs of all major scientific
fields included in the NSF solicitation – particle and
nuclear physics, geology, hydrology, geo-engineering,
biology, and biochemistry. An excellent presentation
of the science, engineering, and design regarding the
site and the DUSEL project can be found at Lesko
(2005). The project will leverage the tens of millions
of dollars the State of South Dakota, and philanthropist
Sanford are presently investing to reopen the Homes-
take Mine for research and education. Actions by the
State of South Dakota will result in actual implemen-
tation of the first set of experiments at 1478 m deep
(4850 ft.) level as early as 2007.
Many attractions of Homestake, the deepest mine
in North America, were cited in the findings of the
National Academy 2003 EarthLab report to NSF.
Homestake is the deepest mine in North America with
rooms at 2438 m. The laboratory sits in the Yates for-
mation which has well characterized strong rock that

1097
will support deep large cavities for very large multi-
purpose detectors for proton decay and neutrinos from
many different natural sources. The large number of
tunnels, shafts, boreholes, dedicated access and well
known patterns of water flow allows studies of the
dynamics of the earth’s crust and critical issues of car-
bon sequestration and rock mechanics over long time
scales and many length scales.
1.2 Who we are
The project will be undertaken by a team of four:
William Roggenthen, Department of Geology and
Geological Engineering Department, South Dakota
School of Mines and Technology; Steven Glaser,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineer-
ing, University of California, Berkeley; Lane Johnson,
Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab-
oratory (LBNL), and Ernie Majer, Research Scientist,
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Each brings
a special skill to the project and each will have princi-
ple responsibility for a given aspect of the proposal.
Prof. Roggenthen has extensive experience involv-
ing local and regional geology of the Black Hills. He
will have primary responsibility for the integration of
the vast amount of site data into a GIS product in
support of this project, and have an important role in
interpreting the recorded data and putting it in geolog-
ical context. He will also lead the educational outreach
and underrepresented minority outreach.
Prof. Steven Glaser works in the area of monitor-
ing geo and structural systems. He has performed
extensive fundamental and applied research in the
areas of microseismic/acoustic emission analysis and
sensor development, seismic imaging, integration of
microsensors and embedded systems, and wireless
sensor nodes. He will have responsibility for instru-
mentation and interpreting the recorded data and to
put it in a rock mechanics context.
Prof. Lane Johnson’s current research interests
include elastic wave propagation in complex media,
computation of wave fields in three-dimensional
media, tomographic studies of earth structure, char-
acterization of seismic sources, and modeling of
earthquake and explosion processes.
Dr. Ernie Majer’s current projects include devel-
opment of seismic instrumentation for deployment in
ultra slim (25 mm diameter) to be used in Vertical
Seismic Imaging and also several projects monitor-
ing microearthquake activity in enhanced geothermal
systems. He will have responsibility for instrumenta-
tion and interpreting the recorded data and to put it in
seismological context.
2 WHAT WE WILL DO
(1) Characterize all pertinent physical parameters for
the Homestake DUSEL site volume: We will
1098
integrate the existing but fragmented Homestake
data repositories for geology, rock mechanics, geo-
hydraulogy, tectonics, etc. into a master GIS sys-
tem. With this information we can calculate opti-
mal locations for placement of seismic stations.
(2) Install and operate a permanent seismic observa-
tory illuminating the volume of the Homestake
Mine: The observatory will be unique in that the
mine volume is surrounded (sides and bottom) and
penetrated by hundreds of deep bore holes. The
observatory will operate on a local (internal and
external to the mine volume), regional, and global
scale.
(3) Image rapid dynamic changes in the rock mass:
There will be many local and distant sources
of seismic dislocations. Among them are micro-
seisms from stress realignment during the current
dewatering process, from excavation and con-
struction activity present and future, from various
other forms of rock mass damage, and from local,
regional and global tectonics.
(4) Research and develop new high-fidelity seismic
instrumentation: We have developed an initial pro-
totype of the TerraScope (down-hole seismic pod
using MEMS-based accelerometers and embed-
ded system; CMS-0301797), and would turn this
device into a rugged, freely available, tool. We will
adapt and implement slim-hole accelerometer-
based logging tools developed by Majer at LBNL.
(5) Implement processing and interpretation schemes
for the seismic data: Our primary goal is the visu-
alization of dislocation kinematics. This would
allow a significantly richer understanding of rock
mechanics processes than traditional measure-
ment or monitoring. We will be able to quantify
time-varying parameters such as of volume of
dislocation and energy release rate.
(6) Provide a real-time warning and hazard prediction
system for underground workings: We will be able
to assess the rock mechanics health of the facil-
ity in the laboratory areas as well as in areas of
the underground that are closed off for extended
periods of time without active visual monitoring.
These skills can be immediately spun off to signif-
icantly help with mining and tunneling safety.
(7) Improve Homeland Security of Underground
facilities: Use reciprocity to study seismic meth-
ods of detecting and characterizing underground
structures and activity.
(8) Provide a lifelong learning experience for all
stakeholders – e.g. for K-12 students and teachers,
and the hundreds of thousands of visitors pass-
ing through the Black Hills. The Sanford Science
and Education Center will be funded by a pri-
vate donation of $20 million and will provide a
showcase for the science projects that are being
undertaken in the area. We see this center as being
an excellent vehicle to provide interaction with
 the general public as the array begins to produce
results.
3 HOW WE WILL DO IT
3.1 Scenario
Homestake is a two-level facility: the upper levels from
the surface to 4850 level are serviced by one set of
utilities and the 4850 to 8000 levels by a second set.
Following closure in 2003, pumps were turned off and
water has started accumulating in the mine. Its cur-
rent level is at 2000 m (6700 ft.). Homestake’s water
flows have been characterized; the estimated 30∼50 l/s
inflow is believed to be composed of 2/3 originating
from above 1615 (5300 ft.) level and the remaining
from deeper sources. Since about 2/3 of the water
inflow is above 5300 level (www.homestake.sdsmt.
edu/Protected/Maps/601W006-Model.pdf), it can be
pumped out by existing unaffected equipment in
the upper levels. SDSTA has started a comprehensive
dewatering plan to make the mine available for science
down to the 8000 L.
The geology in Homestake is well known and char-
acterized (e.g. Rogers 1990, Noble et al. 1949, Caddey
et al. 1991). Metamorphosed clastic, carbonate units,
iron formation, and mafic volcanics (2 billion year
old) with lesser amounts of more recent intrusive
rocks (∼50 million year old) dominate the Home-
stake geology. These rocks provide a diverse and
varied environment for geologic investigations. Stud-
ies might involve variations in stress, fracturing and
other geomechanical properties. These geomechan-
ical insights can be integrated with investigations
of low and high temperature large-scale fluid-rock
interactions to better understand this gold deposit.
Establishing the geotechnical behavior of the Home-
stake rock types, including the Yates metavolcanic
unit, will allow design and excavation of experimental
chambers with long-term stability. The extensive and
deep underground workings at the Homestake have
been thoroughly investigated and documented over
the course of its 125-year history by many capable
scientists and engineers.
Besides the thirty cubic kilometers of underground
works, which extend to depths of over 2438 m, literally
thousands of deep bore holes were drilled to evaluate
the location and extent of the producing ore body as
well as to explore the surrounding area. The geodetic
geometry of these holes is known through surveys, and
many of the holes are available for reentry. Some of the
more modern holes drilled in the 1990’s were drilled
from the surface to depths exceeding 1.5 km. Although
these deep holes often have a “casing” of drill steel in
the upper, straight portion of the hole to reduce wear on
the formation during their directional drilling activi-
ties, the lower portions of these deep holes are typically
not vertical but rather were directionally drilled to
1099
investigate distributed targets in the subsurface. Con-
sequently, these holes not only provide depth but also
areal coverage at these depths. The wide areal distribu-
tion of other, uncased, surface holes provides abundant
opportunities to site the surface array as well. Between
the vertical bores, the directionally drilled holes at
depth, and surface access, this site allows full three-
dimensional seismic surround of the mine workings.
A subset of these bores will be instrumented with
three-axis seismic accelerometer instruments, allow-
ing any internal motions or dislocations within the
mine workings to be characterized as to location,
source kinematics, active volume, and energy release.
There have been many underground seismic arrays
installed in the past, but their purpose and arrangement
were far different than what we propose for Home-
stake. Seismologists have long used surface arrays,
as we are all familiar with, but in recent years have
tried to move towards subsurface arrays. One use of
such arrays is for verification and detection of under-
ground nuclear explosions, the same application that
drove widespread use of moment tensor inversion (e.g.
Stump & Johnson 1977, Johnson 1988). An example
is the two arrays operated by SMU, one in Lajitas,
Texas, and the other in Mina, Nevada. Both are ver-
tical arrays and are Designated US Atomic Energy
Detection System and International Monitoring Sys-
tem Primary Seismic Arrays. They are optimized for
detecting and characterizing small teleseismic events.
Another common application is vertical seismic
arrays for teleseismic earthquake detection and char-
acterization. Examples are the KSRS seismic Arrays,
one with seven KS54000 BB seismometers with 10 km
element spacing, and another with nineteen 23900 SP
seismometers with 2 km element spacing (e.g. Stump
et al. 2000). There are significant arrays in Park-
field, CA, (e.g. Malin 2004), and Japan (e.g. Aoi
et al. 2004). Other researchers such as De Luca et al.
(1998) have used a combination of vertical arrays
and temporary arrays located in drifts of the Grand
Sasso Underground Physics Laboratory (Abrilla et al.
2004) to monitor earthquakes. These arrays are not
necessarily optimized to monitor and interpret nearby
microseisms due to local rock mechanics behavior.
Exploratory geophysicists have made substantial
use of vertical seismic profiling, where an array of
geophones are suspended in a water-filled bore hole
(e.g. Hardage 2000). The method records an array of
reflections from surface sources that allows a migrated
image of subsurface reflectors. More recently, the
method has been used with the well drilling bit as the
active source. The other common use of vertical seis-
mic arrays has been in the geotechnical earthquake
engineering world where the arrays record the soil
response to earthquake signals as they propagate up
and down through the soil profile. Probably the best
overview and technical roundup of the large amount
of work performed in the area is Elgamal et al. (2003).
Details of the various installations around the world
can be found at COSMOS (2004). These arrays are
purposely placed in near-surficial soils in order to
capture seismic site response for earthquake resistant
structural design (the Garner Valley Array being an
exception, with several geophones in underlying rock,
Archuleta et al. 1992). Geotechnical seismic arrays
give engineers and scientists a unique view of the
site response and have resulted in a large amount of
important work (see Elgamal et al. 2003); hence these
facilities exist in many countries around the world,
such as China, Taiwan, and Japan.
On a smaller scale, sparse arrays have been used
to try to determine kinematics of rock damage events.
There has been many excellent papers on such work,
so we will only reference a few to give the reader a
place to start their further research; e.g. ESG 2004, Cai
et al. 2001, Gale et al. 2001,Young 2001, Spottiswoode
1989. In general this approach has been successful to
the degree that the limitations of sensor placement and
large background noise from active mining allow. We
feel that the mine monitoring approach sets the stage
for the Homestake transparent earth array. In recent
years there have been efforts to install instruments
in shallow bore holes, typically at depths of 100 to
200 meters, and this has led to major improvements
in signal quality in many cases. However, the cost and
restrictions of working in small boreholes has signifi-
cantly limited this type of installation. Thus it is clear
that the opportunity to carefully install seismometers
at a depth of over 2 km below the surface has enormous
potential for recording seismic signals with a fidelity
that has not been achieved in the past.
3.2 The Homestake Seismic Observatory
The Homestake Seismic Observatory has two primary
foci. First of all, the area within the instrumented mine
volume will allow monitoring ground motions caused
by various activities within the mine such as rock
mass restressing due to the lowering of the water table
by hundreds of meters, drilling, rock bursts, excava-
tions, or daily operations. Furthermore, the seismic
observatory provides a facility for performing a wide
variety of seismic experiments, such as array mea-
surements of high-frequency phases from monitoring
activities in the underground structure, or fundamen-
tal studies of stresses and energies associated with any
seismic events that may occur within the mine. The
array can be aimed, much like a telescope, to look
in a particular direction. Furthermore, the availability
of data from an array makes possible a wide variety
of signal processing and signal enhancement methods
that are not options with data from a single station.
These array-processing methods can greatly increase
the signal-to-noise ratio of the seismic data, and allow
much improved source location and identification (e.g.
Große et al. 2004).
1100
Secondly, the facility will be able to record both very
long and very short period waves from teleseismic,
regional, and local events, and capable of determining
both the distance and direction of these events. The
Homestake site in the center of a continental shield
provides a quiet and stable environment from which
to “view” source waveforms from the Earth’s mantle,
which are rich in high frequencies. The stiff rock of
the continental shield has significantly less attenua-
tion and dispersion of these signals than near-surface
sites, and sites in other geological regimes. This addi-
tional high frequency content translates into improved
precision for a wide variety of seismological studies,
such as detection of weak signals, location of seismic
events, determination of source processes, decipher-
ing triplications in travel time curves, and measuring
polarization anomalies of S waves.
3.3 Site characterization and sensor location
Siting of the monitoring instrumentation will require
that the geometry of the candidate boreholes and their
relation to the structural geology of the area be estab-
lished and entered into an easily accessible database.
The Homestake mine records fall into three general
categories: rock core, paper files, and information dig-
ital databases. About 215 km of core were donated
to the South Dakota Science and Technology Author-
ity (SDSTA) by the operating company as part of the
transfer agreement. Many more boreholes were drilled
without salvage of core and could be available for the
purposes of this project. The approximately 20,000
boxes of core, owned by SDSTA, have been inven-
toried by the South Dakota Geological Survey and
the information is being entered into an electronic
database. This represents a great asset that can be used
for direct examination of rock types and their dis-
tribution in the subsurface. The paper files from the
operation and investigations conducted as part of the
Homestake work are also available. Over 10,000 ft3 of
paper files and materials from the Homestake Mining
Company archives was donated to the Adams Museum
(Homestake Archival Research Center) in Deadwood,
South Dakota, and are freely available to the project.
The digital information resources include both Vul-
can and AutoCad databases that show the geology,
infrastructure, and boreholes at many levels through-
out the mine and the area surrounding the facility. The
Vulcan programming environment is a widely used
tool in the mining industry to record, display, and ana-
lyzes information in three dimensions (e.g. Mote et al.
2001, Odins & Hanson 1998). The operating company
undertook an ambitious project to transfer informa-
tion from mine maps and other paper files over to a
database that is comprehensive in terms of the under-
ground workings. Although it was known that copies
of the Vulcan database were available to the project
previously, recent inquiries have lead to the realization
that newer exploration boreholes may not have been
included in that database but are included in a series
of AutoCad databases that significantly expand the
number and availability of boreholes suitable for this
proposed project.
Care must be taken during instrument installation
to insure knowledge of the absolute location of the
devices in the earth and surveying information from
the databases will be invaluable. The instrument loca-
tions and orientation will have to be validated to ensure
proper placement. Access to various locations and lev-
els of the mine allows a known source to be input at
well known locations within the mine. The resulting
signals from the various sensors allow the actual sen-
sor locations to be determined by a back calculation
scheme.
3.4 Instrumentation
We are currently developing down-hole seismic arrays
that use a powerful yet inexpensive and easy to install
down-hole seismic tool called TerraScope (Chen et al.
2006), work funded by grant CSM-0301797. Each
station of the array consists of three-component
accelerometer units, tilt sensors, magnetometer (com-
pass), and pore pressure sensor. The sensors will be
incorporated into an intelligent networked sensor Pod
that includes upwards of 4 Mbytes of non-volatile
memory, a 16-bit micro-controller, 62 channels of
digital interfaces, 8 analog channels, an Ethernet
client, power controller, and backup batteries. Three-
dimensional acceleration is measured by digital force-
balance MEMS-based accelerometers which have a
dynamic range of more than 115 dB and a frequency
response from DC to 1000 Hz. The accelerometer chip
uses a 5th order delta-sigma feedback√loop to yield
a noise floor of less than 70 ng(rms)/ Hz. Acceler-
ations above 0.2 g are measured by a second set of
MEMS-based accelerometers, giving a full 160 dB
dynamic range.
The system uses a simple software solution based
on a custom event-driven scheduler to multiplex the
concurrent flows of information across each gate-
way, which is connected to a transceiver, a secondary
storage device, a sensor oriented I/O system, and a
power management subsystem. Compared with tradi-
tional data logging systems, networked sensors offer
two major advantages: they can be retasked in the
field and they can easily communicate with the rest
of the system. Since each station is a digital entity, all
communications along the array can take place on a
bi-directional backbone. The terminus of the array, at
the top of each bore hole, is a powerful Local Gateway
that will serve as data aggregator, GPS-based timer
and locator, power source, Web server, and wireless
data link.
Assembly of the pertinent information about bore
location and geometry, geology, rock mechanics, and
1101
seismology into an interactive system within the
GIS will allow the optimal locations of the sen-
sor pods determined through simulations. We expect
the initial sensor array to consist of about a dozen
three-component instruments, growing with time to
about 50.
The first installation of the prototype system has
just been accomplished at the Masada World Her-
itage Site in Israel (Hatzor et al. 2002), part of a joint
research project with Prof. Y. Hatzor of Ben-Gurion
University. The array is a simple one with a sensor
pod embedded beneath the visitor’s center at the base
of the mountain, and another beneath the watchtower at
the top of the mountain. The prototype installation has
already exposed parts of the system that need further
work and development – reliability and robust pack-
aging are important issues still needing work. There
are also extensions to present capabilities and expan-
sions to new capabilities that will take place during
this project. In particular the timing and data move-
ment within the real-time software must be improved
to allow sampling at 1000 Hz from the current 100 Hz.
The addition of pore pressure and pH sensors would
provide important new data about the downhole con-
ditions. The data from the array can be accessed at:
www.ce.berkeley.edu/∼glaser/masada.
As part of the LBNL contribution, we have access to
a collection of slim-hole three-component accelerom-
eter pods developed and built by Majer. This will give
us a set of instruments that can be installed immedi-
ately so that seismic events during dewatering will be
captured.
3.5 Rock mechanics
The state of stress within a given volume of rock
is often of concern during the construction of large
underground cavities, such as will be required for the
physics experiments at the Homestake DUSEL. Rock
deformation is a dynamic process that transfers stress
from one portion of the rock to another. The resulting
strains often cause microseismic activity that can be
detected by accelerometers distributed throughout the
rock mass. In this manner, the volumes of the rock with
greater strains might be expected to produce larger
number of microseisms as the rock deforms under
the transferred stress. Even before internal work and
excavation takes place, there will be motion and crush-
ing at rock block boundaries as the site is dewatered.
The depth dependence of fracture networks and associ-
ated rock mechanics measurements are of fundamental
interest to determine if fractures displaying enhanced
permeability for flow are also critically stressed (the
critical stress hypothesis).
From previous monitoring experiments in mines
(e.g. Young et al. 2000), seismic events larger than
the Mm of −3 to 1 needed to form local frictional
melting – pseudotachylites (Wenk et al. 2000), occur
relatively frequently during rock damage. The bore
hole seismic array should be able to provide ground
truth by linking particular waveforms to known dam-
age mechanisms, and to provide evidence of the
validity of linking small pseudotachylites to historical
earthquakes large and small. Given the damage loca-
tion of a seismic event determined by the array, the rock
mass could be back-excavated to search for evidence
of that particular event. If such evidence is found, we
would now have a direct connection between the pro-
cess of rock damage and the seismic waves generated.
This knowledge would be applicable to all seismic
arrays, and provide strong evidence to answering some
important questions concerning the energy budget of
fracture growth and dynamics, local frictional behav-
ior within a rock mass, seismic scaling laws, and the
interpretation of seismic moment tensors.
A unique opportunity exists to investigate the
mechanics of rock mass deformation in the Yates
formation exposed on the 4850 L between the Ross
and Yates shaft. The Yates formation is massive and
strong and thus a candidate for the 100-kiloton, water-
filled neutrino detector caverns (ten proposed) that
are strongly supported by the physics community. Site
characterization studies linked with laboratory scale
(several centimeters), intermediate scale (large block,
several meters), excavation scale (tens of meters), and
the far field scale (hundreds of meters) would be enor-
mously productive towards better understanding the
fundamentals of rock mass mechanics when linked
to laboratory testing, followed by large block testing,
excavation of a pilot scale cavern, and construction
of full scale detector caverns. Under stationary stress
fields there is no rock mass motion, but fluctuating
fluid flow or changing stress fields will induce cou-
pling between fluid flows and solid deformation that
is of great interest.
3.6 Interpretation of seismic data
The seismic observatory provides broad-band three-
component seismic data recorded at sample points
distributed throughout a volume that includes much of
the underground workings of the mine. This presents
an opportunity of using the mine workings to access
numerous points within the array volume for the
purposes of directly sampling material properties or
employing active sources to calibrate the array. Active
sources in uninstrumented bores can also be used to
determine rock properties and for calibration.
The frequency bandwidth of 1 Hz to 10 KHz that
will be recorded by the array will allow a wide variety
of monitoring and characterization studies. This pro-
posal is primarily concerned with the use of the array
to monitor events within or very near the Homestake
mine using the high frequency end of the recorded
1102
spectrum. At these frequencies it may be possible to
locate seismic events with a precision of one meter or
better.
Most of the methods needed to analyze and inter-
pret the seismic data from events within the mine have
already been developed and applied to a wide variety
of situations. There exists an extensive literature on the
use of seismic data to characterize fractures associated
with underground excavations in rock in regions such
as the South African gold fields (McGarr 1976, 1992,
Wong & McGarr 1990) or the Canadian Underground
Research Laboratory (Young & Maxwell 1992, Young
et al. 2000).
The first step in the interpretation of the array data
is the location of individual seismic events, which
consists of a straightforward nonlinear optimization
of an objective function that measures the difference
between observed arrival times and predicted arrival
times for various phases on the seismograms (see for
example Vasco et al. 1994). The critical ingredient in
this process is an accurate model of the velocity struc-
ture and an appropriate algorithm for calculating travel
times or waveforms in this structure. At present such
algorithms are available for homogeneous, layered,
or three-dimensional visco-elastic media and there
are plans to extend these to anisotropic media. It is
also possible to combine the location of the seismic
events with the estimation of the velocity structure
(O’Connell & Johnson 1991).
Having located a seismic event, the next step is to
characterize it, and the second-order moment tensor
provides a convenient and theoretically based method
of doing this (Stump & Johnson 1977). Given an esti-
mate of this moment tensor, it is possible to make
various judgments about the properties of the seismic
source, such as the presence of a spall in an explo-
sion (Johnson 1988), the presence of an implosive
component in a mining-induced event (McGarr 1992),
or the relation to excavation-induced stresses (Young
et al. 2000). It is also possible to make general source-
type plots that allow discrimination between source
processes such as shear cracks or tensile cracks and
estimation of the amount of volume change (Hudson
et al. 1989). Depending upon the quantity and qual-
ity of the waveform data, it may also be possible to
estimate moment tensors with orders higher than the
second and in this way obtain even more informa-
tion about the details of the seismic source (Stump &
Johnson 1982).
It is possible to make some preliminary estimates
of the size of the seismic events that will be recorded
by the bore hole array. At the Underground Research
Laboratory in Manitoba, Canada, seismic events with
moment magnitudes in the range of −6 to −1 have
been generated as a result of various activities related
to underground excavations (Young et al. 2000). These
can be compared to events in the moment magnitude
range of −1 to 2 that are routinely recorded by the
High Resolution Seismic Network (HRSN), which is
a 10 station bore hole network located along the San
Andreas fault near Parkfield, California (Nadeau &
Johnson 1998). They can also be compared to moment
magnitudes in the range of −3 to 1 that have been esti-
mated for the causative events for pseudotachylites.
This suggestion of a connection between a seismic
event and a pseudotachylite helps to point out a very
important role that could be played by a bore hole array
at the Homestake mine. Given the location of a seismic
event determined by the array, the mine workings could
be entered to search for evidence of that particular
event in the rocks. If such evidence could be found, one
would have a direct connection between the process of
rock failure and the seismic waves that it generates,
and this could go a long way toward answering some
important questions concerning seismic scaling laws,
the interpretation of seismic moment tensors, and the
energy budget of fracture mechanics.
At the low frequency end of the recorded spec-
trum, near 1 Hz, there are reasons to believe that the
bore hole array could be quite effective in record-
ing high-frequency (relatively speaking) arrivals from
regional and teleseismic events. With its location in
crystalline rock in the stable interior of the continent
far from the usual sources of seismic noise, the array
has the potential for providing high fidelity record-
ings of short period seismic phases emerging from the
mantle. A limited amount of information available on
this matter appears to support this conjecture. In the
1980’s a seismic instrument (RSSD) was operated in
the Black Hills about 25 km southwest of the Homes-
take mine as part of a Regional Seismic Test Network
(RSTN). The instrument, which was in a bore hole at
a depth of 110 meters in limestone, had noise levels
that were significantly less than other RSTN stations
at most frequencies (Taylor & Qualheim 1983). High
quality short-period data recorded at this station from
moderate sized earthquakes in the southwest Pacific
Ocean were used to help constrain material properties
in the transition zone between the outer core and inner
core of the earth (Cummins & Johnson 1988). Given
these valuable results from a single shallow bore hole
instrument, it is reasonable to expect even better results
from an array of bore hole instruments at considerably
greater depths.
4 CONCLUSIONS
We will install and operate a permanent seismic obser-
vatory illuminating the volume of the Homestake
Mine from all six possible directions. The Homestake
DUSEL site was chosen because it offers a unique
opportunity – the large volume of mine working of
the deepest mine in North America is surrounded
1103
and underlain by literally hundreds of open bore
holes, which can affordably be instrumented with
accelerometers.
The Homestake seismic array will allow the com-
munity to image rapid dynamic changes in the rock
mass. For instance, we will be able to estimate seis-
mic parameters of events associated with de-watering,
excavation, and various rock mechanics experiments,
and estimate source kinematics caused by activity
within or near the mine. Given the damage location of
the event determined by the array, the rock mass can be
back-excavated to find the source damage in the rocks.
When found, a direct connection can be made between
the damage process and seismic waves generated. This
fundamental knowledge would be applicable to all
sites, and help answer important questions concerning
the energy budget of fracture growth and dynamics,
local frictional behavior within a rock mass, seismic
scaling laws, and interpretation of seismic moment
tensors.
REFERENCES
Abrila, M., Alguacila, G., De Cesareb, W., Fischionec, C.,
Martinib, M., Muscented, R., Rotellac, P., Scarpae, R. &
Troncad, F. 2004. UNDERSEIS – Underground Seismic
Array, The 2004 Annual Report. Laboratori Nazion-
ali del Gran Sasso (INFN), Italy. http://wwwunderseis.
lngs.infn.it/pubblicazioni/report_04_lngs.zip.
Aoi, S., Kunugi, T. & Fujiwara, H. 2004. Strong-
Motion Seismograph Network Operated by NIED:
K-Net AND KIK-Net. In Workshop 1, Inventory
of Current and Planned Arrays, International Work-
shop for Site Selection, Installation and Operation of
Geotechnical Strong-Motion Arrays. http://www.cosmos-
eq.org/Projects/GSMA/Paper/ 2.6_Aoi_et_al.pdf.
Archuleta, R.J., Seale, S.H., Sangas, P.V., Baker, L.M. &
Swain, S.T. 1992. Garner Valley downhole array of
accelerometers: instrumentation and preliminary data
analysis. Bulletin Seismological Society of America 82(4):
1592–1621.
Caddey, S.W., Bachman, R.L., Campbell, T.J., Reid, R.R. &
Otto, R.P. 1991. The Homestake Gold Mine, an early Pro-
terozoic iron-formation-hosted gold deposit, Lawrence
County, South Dakota. U.SG.S. Bulletin 1857-J, Geology
and Resources of Gold in the United States, 67 pp.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K. & Martin, C.D. 2001. Quantification
of rock mass damage in underground excavations from
microseismic event monitoring. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics 38(8): 1135–1145.
Chen, M., Glaser, S.D. & Oberheim, T. 2006. Terra-Scope – A
MEMS-based vertical seismic array. Smart Structures &
Systems 2(2): 115–126.
COSMOS 2004. International Workshop for Site Selec-
tion, Installation and Operation of Geotechnical Strong-
Motion Arrays. http://www.cosmos-eq.org/gsma.html.
Cummins, P. & Johnson, L.R. 2000. Short-period body
wave constraints on properties of the earth’s inner
core boundary. Journal Geophysical Research 93:
9058–9074.
Große, C., Finck, F., Kurz, J. & Reinhardt, H.-W. 2004.
Improvements of the acoustic emission technique using
wavelet algorithms, coherence functions and automatic
data analysis techniques. Journal of Construction and
Building Material 18(3): 203–213.
De Luca, G., Del Pezzo, E., Di Luccio F., Margheriti L.,
Milana G. & Carpa R. 1998. Site response study in
Abruzzo (Central Italy): underground array versus surface
stations. Journal of Seismology 2: 223–226.
Elgamal, A., Yang, Z. & Stepp, J.C. 2004. Seismic down-
hole arrays and applications in practice. In Workshop 1,
Inventory of Current and Planned Arrays, International
Workshop for Site Selection, Installation and Operation of
Geotechnical Strong-Motion Arrays. http://www.cosmos-
eq.org/Projects/GSMA/Paper/3.4_Elgamal_et_al.pdf.ESG
2004. http://www.esg.ca/.
Gale, W.J., Heasley, K.A., Iannacchione, A.T., Swanson, P.L.,
Hatherly, P. & King, A. 2001. A rock damage charac-
terization from microseismic monitoring. In Proceedings
of the 38th U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium, vol. 1, pp.
313–320.
Garnero, E.J., Fouch, M.J. & Leon, E. 2000. Challenges
in waveform studies for large dense seismic arrays. Eos
Transactions, AGU Supplement 81: F894.
Hardage, B.A. 2000. Vertical Seismic Profiling: Principles,
3rd Edn. Elsevier Science, 570 pp.
Hatzor, Y.H., Zaslavsky, Y., Arzi, A.A. & Shapira, A. 2004.
Dynamic stability analysis of jointed rock slopes using
the DDA method: King Herod’s palace, Masada. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics 41(5); 813–832.
Hudson, J. A., Pearce, R.G. & Rogers, R.M. 1989. Source
type plot for inversion of the moment tensor. Journal of
Geophysical Research 94: 765–774.
Johnson, L.R. 1988. Source characteristics of two under-
ground nuclear explosions. Geophysics Journal of the
Royal Astronomical Society 96: 15–30.
Lesko, K. 2005. http://www.lbl.gov/nsd/homestake/PDFs/
LeskoApril152005.pdf.
Malin, P.E. 2004. Approaching seismology at the source-
earthquake source studies at LVEW and SAFOD. Annual
Report, USGS FY2004 NEHRP Award 04HQGR0092.
McGarr, A. 1992. An implosive component in the seismic
moment tensor of a mining-induced tremor. Geophysical
Research Letters 19: 1579–1582.
Mote, T.I., Brimhall, G.H., Tidy-Finch, E., Muller, G. &
Carrasco, P. 2001. Application of mass-balance modeling
of sources, pathways, and sinks of supergene enrichment
to exploration and discovery of the Quebrada Turquesa
exotic copper orebody, El Salvador District, Chile. Eco-
nomic Geology and the Bulletin of the Society of Economic
Geologists 96(2): 367–386.
Nadeau, R.M. & Johnson, L.R. 1988. Seismological studies at
Parkfield VI: moment release rates and estimates of source
parameters from small repeating earthquakes. Bulletin of
Seismological Society of America 88: 790–814.
National Research Council 2000. Seeing into the earth – Non-
invasive characterization of the shallow subsurface for
environmental and engineering application. Washington,
DC: National Academy Press.
Noble, J A., Harder, J.O. & Slaughter, A.L. 1949. Structure of
a part of the northern Black Hills and the Homestake mine,
1104
Lead, South Dakota. Bulletin of the Geological Society of
America 60: 321–352.
O’Connell, D.R.H. & Johnson, L.R. 1991. Progressive inver-
sion for hypocenters and P wave and S wave velocity struc-
ture: Application to the Geysers, California, geothermal
field. Journal of Geophysical Research 99(6): 6223–6236.
Odins, P. & Hanson, N. 1998. Don’t close your pit, optimize it!
In Proceedings, 32nd Newcastle Symposium on Advances
in the Study of the Sydney Basin, pp. 21–28.
Rogers, H. 1990. Geology of Precambrian Rocks in the Poor-
man Anticlinorium and Homestake Mine, Black Hills,
South Dakota. In Metallogeny of the Geology in the Black
Hills, South Dakota, pp. 103–111.
Roggethen, W. 2002. Geophysics at the national under-
ground science laboratory (NUSL). In International
Workshop on Neutrinos and Subterranean Science,
Washington D.C. http://www.physics.umd.edu/events/
spevents/NeSS02/groups / NUSLgeophysicsForMeeting.
pdf # search = %22underground %20seismic % 20array %
20%22
Spottiswoode, S.M. 1989. Perspectives on seismic and rock-
burst research in the South African gold mining industry.
Pure and Applied Geophysics 129(3–4): 673–680.
Stump, B.W., Hayward, C., House, S.M., Jun, M.-S. &
Jeon, J.-S. 2000. A Small aperture seismo-acoustic array
– Signal Assessment. In Proceedings of the 22nd Annual
Seismic Research Symposium: Planning for Verification
of and Compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-
Ban Treaty (CTBT), vol. 3, pp. 281–290.
Stump, B.W. & Johnson, L.R. 1977. The determination of
source properties by the linear inversion of seismograms.
Bulletin of Seismological Society of America 67(6): 1489–
1502.
Stump, B.W. & Johnson, L.R. 1982. Higher-degree moment
tensors – the importance of source finiteness and rupture
propagation on seismograms. Geophysics Journal of the
Royal Astronomical Society 69: 721–743.
Taylor, S.R. & Qualheim, B.J. 1983. Regional Seismic
Test Network site descriptions. Report UCID-19769,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 79 pp.
Vasco, D.W., Johnson, L.R., Pulliam, R.J. & Earle, P.S. 1994.
Robust inversion of IASP91 travel time residuals for man-
tle P and S velocity structure, earthquake mislocations,
and station corrections. Journal of Geophysical Research
99: 13,727–13,755.
Wenk, H.-R., Johnson, L.R. & Ratschbacher, L. 2000.
Pseudotachylites in the eastern Peninsular Ranges of
California. Tectonophysics 321: 253–277.
Wong, I. & McGarr, A. 1990. Implosional failure in mining-
induced seismicity: A critical review. In Rockbursts and
Seismicity in Mines. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 45–51.
Young, R.P. 2001. Seismic studies of rock fracture at the
Underground Research Laboratory, Canada. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics 38(6): 787–799.
Young, R. P., Hazzard, J.F. & Pettitt, W.S. 2000. Seismic and
micromechanical studies of rock fracture. Geophysical
Research Letters 27: 1767–1770.
Young, R. P. & Maxwell, S.C. 1992. Seismic characterization
of a highly stressed rock mass using tomographic imaging
and induced seismicity. Journal of Geophysical Research
97: 12,361–12,373.
 Rock Mechanics: Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands – Eberhardt, Stead & Morrison (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-44401-9

Earth science collaborations for Deep Underground Science and

Engineering Laboratory

J.S.Y. Wang
Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA

ABSTRACT: Work on the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) has made great
progress in 2006, with the release of a Deep Science report by a site-independent study (Solicitation-1, or S-1)
and the submittals of two S-2 conceptual design reports – one from the active Henderson mine in Colorado and
the other from the abandoned (now State-owned) Homestake mine in South Dakota – towards the final DUSEL
site selection scheduled for 2007. The earth-science collaborations in hydrology, geochemistry, geophysics,
rock mechanics, ecology/geomicrobiology, and coupled processes have evolved since 2000 to include recent
community-wide deliberations in six S-1 working groups, and extensive interest expressed through over 60
Letters of Interest to the Homestake Authority and Collaboration. The proposed initial suite of experiments
at Homestake can start with establishing a seismic network by using boreholes and along multiple levels,
sampling fluid for in situ hydrogeochemical/biological states, and improving site models using information
about localized distributions of low-rate and slightly basic inflows into underground workings. The siting of
niches and blocks for long-term coupled process testing and the design of large caverns can proceed with
DUSEL entries. There is also interest in designing energy-related studies, for example, using a ventilation shaft
or dead-end drift for carbon dioxide injection experiments. As another example, earth-science investigators
are collaborating with physicists on geoneutrino and other radiation studies to quantify the distributions of
geothermal sources in the earth’s crust and at its core. Given the expected high stress at great depths, large
excavations for physics detectors, and elevated temperatures anticipated in deep boreholes, the Homestake offers
ample opportunities for DUSEL collaborations to design field-testing programs for solving critical earth-science
problems.

1 INTRODUCTION outreach, and physics researches of dark matter, low-

New fields of science could emerge as earth scientists,
engineers, and physicists collaborate on the Deep
Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory
(DUSEL). The prospect of establishing DUSEL in
the first decade of the 21th century has been greatly
enhanced with the completion of the National Sci-
ence Foundation (NSF) sponsored Solicitation-1 (S-1)
site-independent study (Sadoulet et al. 2006). Repre-
senting input from astrophysics, biology, engineering,
geoscience, high energy physics, and nuclear science
working in groups as a team, the Deep Science report
articulates the common desire of these communities
to unite and support the DUSEL initiative. The scien-
tific objectives and technical requirements for DUSEL
are further documented in working group reports,
e.g. the geo-science and geo-engineering research
from three working groups (Elsworth & Fairhurst
2006). Other groups are working on geomicrobil-
ogy, microbial evolution, infrastructure, education &
energy neutrinos, long baseline neutrino experiments,
neutrino-less double-beta decay, nuclear astrophysics
underground accelerators, nucleon decay, and low-
background counting facilities.
Multidisciplinary collaboration is already evident
from the preparation for submittal in June 2006 of
two conceptual design reports – one from the active
Henderson Mine in Colorado and the other from the
abandoned (now State-owned) Homestake Mine in
South Dakota – in response to the NSF S-2 call. The
proposals for S-3 technical design preparations have
been submitted in January 2007. Community support
for DUSEL can be expected to grow during these
friendly competition phases, as excitement over its
prospects grows. In Section 2 of this paper, we review
the development of earth science collaborations since
2000. In Section 3, the status of development of Home-
stake earth science collaborations is summarized. In
Section 4, the synergy among DUSEL communities is
discussed.

1105
2 UNDERGROUND SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT
2.1 2000 to 2003 and early history
In September 2000, the Homestake Mining Co.
announced the planned closure of the Homestake
Mine after continuing operations since the discov-
ery of gold in 1876 at Lead, South Dakota. The
physics community held the first townhall meeting of
the Bahcall/Lesko Underground Science committee in
Washington DC, December 2001, with representatives
from earth science, defense, manufacture, and other
nonphysics disciplines invited to contribute to estab-
lishing a National Underground Science Laboratory
(NUSL). For earth science, the potential formulation
of collaborations was mentioned in the committee
report (Bahcall et al. 2001). In addition to Home-
stake SD, a technical subcommittee evaluated three
other US sites – the San Jacinto Mt., CA, Soudan
Mine, MN, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), NM;
two foreign sites – the National Laboratory of Gran
Sasso in Italy, and Kamioka Laboratory in Japan; and
four additional green-field sites in Nevada and Cali-
fornia – Boundary Peak at the northern end of White
Mountains, Charleston Peak outside Las Vegas, Tele-
scope Peak between Panamint and Death Valleys, and
Mount Tom across the Pine Creek Mine (Calaprice
et al. 2001, Wang & Lesko 2001). San Jacinto is a
green-field site (i.e. undeveloped site without exten-
sive existing tunnels and deep mines) proposed in
1980s. Most of the current sites being proposed are
existing mine or tunnel sites with limited or extensive
additional excavations planned.
The Homestake Mine has a long history supporting
underground physics, with a large cavern excavated in
1965 at the 4850 Level (i.e. 1478 m or 4850 ft below
the surface) to house the chlorine neutrino detector
developed by Ray Davis – co-winner of the 2002
Noble Price in physics for the measurement of solar
neutrino flux – with the 1968 finding initiated the mys-
tery of missing neutrinos (NUSL History 2001). The
solar neutrino mystery lasted over three decades until
the announcement of results in 2001 by the Sudbury
Neutrino Observatory (SNO in Canada) heavy water
detector collaboration (Bahcall 2004).
In association with an Underground Science (US)
conference, earth scientists met in Lead SD, October
2001, to discuss the NUSL research potential (US
Workshop 2001). The earth science workshop was
followed by a geomicrobiology workshop in Novem-
ber 2001 and a workshop follow-up meeting in May
2002, when the NUSL was suggested to be renamed as
NUSEL (for National Underground Science and Engi-
neering Laboratory). In 2002, there were also visits to
NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE) in March,
a presentation to an American Underground Con-
struction Association meeting in May, participation in
an American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA)
1106
meeting and a presentation to the National Research
Council Committee on Geological and Geotechni-
cal Engineering in June. The International Workshop
on Neutrino and Subterranean Science (NeSS) con-
ference in September 2003 was attended by many
additional earth scientists and engineers, including
researchers for the EarthScope initiative. The Earth-
Lab report to NSF (McPherson et al. 2003) established
a benchmark for earth experiments envisioned at
NUSEL.
Year 2003 was a transition year for the Underground
Science initiative, with an endorsement of the Home-
stake site in May followed by sealing of the mine in
June. It was felt that stoppage of ventilation at the
site could slow down the corrosion of infrastructure
associated with fluctuating air flows, while water accu-
mulation from inflows into the mine would require
additional pumping for reentry to the deep levels. (See
further discussions in Section 3).
2.2 2004 to present solicitation progress
In March 2004, NSF announced a three-step solic-
itation process for DUSEL, with S-1 for a site-
independent study, S-2 for site-specific conceptual
designs, and S-3 for technical design (NSF 2004–
2006). The DUSEL initiative will then be presented
to the NSF Science Board for evaluation and recom-
mendation to Congress for funding under the NSF
Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construc-
tion (MREFC) account, scheduled for 2010.
For earth sciences, the MREFC currently supports
the EarthScope and the NEON projects. (Links are
listed below in References.) The DUSEL collabora-
tions interact with these and many other projects to
develop, expand, and articulate the scope, themes,
and approaches for DUSEL. The DUSEL community
continued to grow through S-1 deliberations at four
working group workshops – August 2004 at Berkeley,
CA; November 2004 at Blacksburg, VA; January 2005
at Boulder, CO; and July 2005 at Minneapolis, MN.
The Blacksburg workshop focused on biosciences,
geosciences, and engineering.
In response to the S-2 call, collaboration teams from
eight sites submitted proposals in February 2005:
Cascades, WA; Henderson Mine, Empire, CO; Homes-
take Mine, Lead, SD; Kimballton Mine, Giles Co., VA;
San Jacinto, CA; Soudan Mine, MN; SNOLAB,
Sudbury, Canada; and WIPP, Carlsbad, NM. Some
of the principal site characteristics were presented
in a UC Berkeley DEEP Seminar Series in Spring
2005. The S-1 workshop presentations, S-2 lectures,
and other links are listed in http://www.dusel.org (also
video streams on http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_
details. php?seriesid=145).
With the selection of two sites in July 2005 for
site-specific conceptual designs (NSF 2005), the
Homestake (http://www.lbl.gov/nsd/homestake/) and
Henderson (http://nngroup.physics.sunysb.edu/) col-
laboration teams conducted intensive studies and
reached out to various communities to further
strengthen and organize their collaborations, with
series of workshops and activities described in the site
links. The collaboration effort described in the follow-
ing section is based on the Homestake earth science
effort, largely from the conceptual design report and
proposal submitted in June 2006 and in January 2007.
There were also other DUSEL-related activities in the
past two years, including an ARMA panel discussion
in June 2005 at Anchorage, Alaska, a SECUREarth
session in September 2005 at Golden, Colorado, and
an AGU Townhall meeting in December 2005 at San
Francisco, California. Both sites and the S-1 repre-
sentatives attended these community-wide efforts to
articulate DUSEL objectives, exchange insights and
ideas, and gather new inputs.
3 HOMESTAKE EARTH SCIENCE
COLLABORATIONS
Multidisciplinary research teams are poised to inves-
tigate the central scientific questions concerning geo-
logic processes and life, and how they interact in the
deep subsurface environment. These studies include
those inspired by the economic implications of a site
with a long history of mineral extraction, the prospect
of finding extreme and exotic life forms, and studies
of the fully coupled earth system – mechanical, hydro-
logical, chemical, biological and thermal – which are
relevant to the nation’s energy and environment prob-
lems. The ability to go deep into the earth provides
potential ground truth for testing hypotheses, and for
developing new methods of geophysical imaging to
make earth “transparent.”
3.1 Attributes of Homestake for earth sciences and
engineering
Homestake offers golden opportunities for meeting
the science objectives described by the S-1 docu-
ment Deep Science. There, many earth sciences and
engineering disciplines can attack the wide range of
questions open to study. The overall DUSEL plan for
the geosciences and geoengineering capitalizes on the
unmatchable opportunities for access to the volume
(more than 30 cubic kilometers) and types of rock
present at the Homestake site.
The dedicated Homestake DUSEL is well suited
for isolating long-term experiments from mission-
oriented or active-mining-related requirements and
considerations. The absence of production activities
at a site whose sole purpose is scientific and engineer-
ing research ensures that experiments are installed and
1107
maintained without compromise for future interfer-
ence or lack of access. The infrastructure associated
with the Homestake Laboratory is unparalleled in
terms of both vertical and horizontal dimensions. Hav-
ing unfettered access ensures that suitable sites are
available to a particular project – a tremendous asset.
Finally, in many instances, the geosciences require a
highly specialized situation in which a particular type
of environment is found; Homestake DUSEL offers a
variety of rock types, degrees of isolation, and depths.
The multiple existing levels, separated by ∼50 m
(150 ft), are connected by shafts, winzes, and exten-
sive ramps, so access is excellent. The lateral extent
of many levels is over 5 km. Earth science studies
can start in the upper levels and ramps accessible dur-
ing the reentry, then proceed to deeper levels during
and after the rehabilitation and construction phases
for DUSEL. The phased approach is perfectly suited
for the depth-dependent interests and anticipated early
results in earth studies. Also note that Homestake is
located in a seismically quiet zone ideally suited for a
deep observatory.
Homestake penetrates a geology that has been
folded and locally altered by intrusion of much
younger igneous rocks, making it an ideal site for
frontier research into the basic factors controlling all
subsurface processes in heterogeneous media over a
wide range of scales.Although the Homestake DUSEL
site is dominated by metasedimentary rocks, a vari-
ety of rock mechanical properties can be found within
the sequence. This variety allows experimental pro-
grams that require either more ductile rock properties,
e.g. the Homestake Formation, or stiffer units, such
as at the Yates Member of the Poorman Formation. In
addition, some portions of the facility were intruded
by rhyolite dikes during the Tertiary period, approxi-
mately 55 million years ago. The rocks extend from
the surface through the 8000 Level (2.4 km depth) and
offer additional options for studies in geochemistry,
mineralization, and rock mechanics. The extensive
infrastructure in the subsurface ensures that exper-
iments requiring three-dimensional access are not
restricted to a simple tunnel configuration. From the
standpoint of access to the rock volume, the Home-
stake Laboratory may be the only economically and
physically viable option for some of DUSEL’s more
ambitious and compelling rock mechanics and heating
experiments.
The Homestake hydrological system offers the
opportunity to study fracture flow ranging from
the surface to the deepest parts of the underground.The
hydrological system has made its importance known
by the small, but significant, inflow of water, of mag-
nitude over 100 gallons/minute into the 8000 Level
(Homestake Mining Co. 1990), through upwelling
along boreholes that were drilled downwards from
that level. Although the inflows of water into the
underground total only 700 gallons/minute, and much
of that is from surface sources (e.g. the open cut), the
connection to deep water reservoirs and proximity to
larger fracture systems at the intermediate levels opens
possibilities for the study of fracture flow, paleohydrol-
ogy, water geochemistry, and fluid flow in the upper
crystalline crust of the earth.
The hydraulic conductivity of the Homestake
igneous and metamorphic rocks is low, approximately
10−7 cm/s, based upon pumping and recovery testing
of the Precambrian rocks (equivalent to a perme-
ability value of 10−16 m2 ) (Zahn 2002). This value
lies between the range for non-fractured metamor-
phic and plutonic rock, 10−17 –10−20 m2 , and fractured
metamorphic and plutonic rocks, 10−12 –10−15 m2
(Freeze & Cherry 1979). This low value suggests that
the average density of active flowing fractures may be
low, and flow paths may be localized.
The water samples and field measurements col-
lected during three underground inspections in May– Figure 1. Dark Life found at depth without sunlight-
June 2003 indicated that the water quality is relatively generated food for nourishment. The rod-shaped bacteria of
good, with a median pH value of 7.8 (Nelson 2003), ∼4 µm in length were discovered at a South Africa gold
consistent with early water quality data from seeps mine, in water of several millions of years old, surviving on
and outflows from sand-fill stopes (e.g. EPA 1999). chemical food sources derived from the radioactive decay of
minerals in the surrounding rock. Adapted from Lin et al.
The stope data may be useful for carbon sequestra- (2006) and McPherson et al. (2003).
tion study in sand-filled boreholes or tubes of length
of hundreds of meter, along abandoned sand holes or
ventilation winzes, as well as in dead-end drifts. African gold mine in