Rock bolt

A rock bolt is a long anchor bolt, for stabilizing rock excavations, which may be
used in tunnels or rock cuts. It transfers load from the unstable exterior to the
confined (and much stronger) interior of the rock mass.

Rock bolts were first used in mining in the 1890s, with systematic use documented
at the St Joseph Lead Mine in the U.S. in the 1920s. Rock bolts were applied to civil
tunneling support in the U.S. and in Australia starting in the late 1940s. Rock bolts
were used and further developed starting in 1947 by Australian engineers who began
experimenting with four-meter-long expanding anchor rock bolts while working on
the Snowy Mountains Scheme.[1] Play media
A video on mining safely using rock
As shown in the figure, rock bolts are almost always installed in a pattern, the design bolts.
of which depends on therock quality designationand the type of excavation.[2] Rock
bolts are an essential component of the New Austrian Tunneling method. As
with anchor bolts, there are many proprietary rock bolt designs, with either a
mechanical or epoxy means of establishing the set. There are also fiberglass
bolts which can be cut through again by subsequent excavation. Many papers
have been written on methods of rock bolt design.[3]

Rock bolts work by 'knitting' the

rock mass together sufficiently
before it can move enough to
loosen and fail by unraveling
(piece by piece). As shown in the Typical rock bolting pattern for a tunnel
photo, rock bolts may be used to
support wire mesh, but this is
usually a small part of their function. Unlike common anchor bolts, rock bolts can
become 'seized' throughout their length by small shears in the rock mass, so they are not
fully dependent on their pull-out strength.This has become an item of controversy in the
Big Dig project, which used the much lighter pull-out tests for rock bolts rather than the
proper tests for concrete anchor bolts.

Rock bolts can also be used to preventrockfall.

Rock bolt holding chain link fabric

References
1. Meacham, Steve. Nifty idea made a whole lot of difference (http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nifty-idea-made-a-
whole-lot-of-difference/2007/06/03/1180809340777.html). The Sydney Morning Herald. June 4, 2007.
2. Gale-WJ, Mark-C, Oyler-DC, Chen-J.Computer Simulation of Ground Behaviour and Rock Bolt Interaction at
Emerald Mine 2004 (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/pubs/pubreference/outputid142.htm). Proc 23rd Intl Conf on
Ground Control in Mining, Morgantown, WV , August 3–5, 2004. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University; :27-34.
 3. Department of Mining Engineering(http://www.mine.queensu.ca/). Queen's University. Accessed March 26, 2009.

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This page was last edited on 28 May 2018, at 01:31(UTC).

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