Rock Mechanics

and Rock
Engineering

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 Overview

Rock mechanics is the theoretical and

applied science of the mechanical behaviour
of rock and rock masses. Rock mechanics
deals with the mechanical properties of
rock and the related methodologies required
for engineering design.

The subject of rock mechanics has evolved

from different disciplines of applied
mechanics. It is a truly interdisciplinary
subject, with applications in geology and
geophysics, mining, petroleum and geotechnical
engineering.

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 Outline – Part 1 “Principles”
Introduction
– role of rock mechanics in engineering design; rock as an engineering
material; the influence of geological factors on rock masses.

Stress
– stress tensors; normal and shear components; principle stresses.

In Situ Stress
– estimating in situ stress, methods of stress measurement; factors
influencing stress measurements; world stress map.

Strain
– finite strain; infinitesimal strain; strain tensors;
elastic compliance matrix.

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 Outline – Part 2 “Rock Behaviour”

Intact Rock
– complete stress-strain curve; failure criterion; linear elastic
fracture mechanics.

Discontinuities
– geometrical properties of discontinuities, mechanical behaviour.

Rock Masses
– deformability; strength; post-peak strength behaviour.

Rock Mass Classification Tools

– rock mass rating system (RMR); Q-system; applications.

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 Outline – Part 3 “Interactions”

Stabilization Principles
– stabilization strategies; rock reinforcement; rock support.

Permeability and Poroelasticity

– effective stress; poroelasticity; primary and secondary
permeability; flow through discontinuities.

Excavation Principles
– excavation processes; rock blasting; mechanical excavation.

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 Outline – Part 4 “Design”

Design of Underground Excavations

– structurally-controlled instability mechanisms; stress-controlled
instability mechanisms; empirical analysis; numerical analysis.

Design of Surface Excavations

– instability mechanisms; kinematic analysis; empirical analysis; numerical
analysis.

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 General Information

Course -
Location -
Time -

Lecturer – G. V. Ramana

Time Allotment – 42 Lectures

Students will be responsible for background reading and

review.

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 General Information

Grades –

Text Book –

“Introduction to Rock Mechanics” by R. E.

Goodman, John Wiley and Sons, 1988.

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 Rock Mechanics and
Rock Engineering

Rock mechanics involves

characterizing the intact strength
and the geometry and mechanical
properties of the natural
fractures of the rock mass.

Rock engineering is concerned with

specific engineering
circumstances, for example, how
much load will the rock support
and whether reinforcement is
necessary.

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 Q & A

Q. How does ‘rock mechanics’ differ from ‘rock engineering’?

A. Rock mechanics involves characterizing the

mechanical properties and behaviour of intact
rock and natural fractures in a rock mass.
These studies, together with other aspects of
the rock mass properties such as rock stiffness
and permeability, can be studied without
reference to a specific engineering function.

When the studies take on a generic engineering

direction, such as the structural analysis of
tunnel support, we are in the realm of
engineering rock mechanics.

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 Lecture 1

Introduction – Rock as an
Engineering Material

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 Nature of Rock
A common assumption when dealing with
the mechanical behaviour of solids is
that they are:
· homogeneous
· continuous
· isotropic

However, rocks are much more complex

than this and their physical and
mechanical properties vary according to
scale. As a solid material, rock is often:
· heterogeneous
· discontinuous
· anisotropic

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 Nature of Rock
Homogeneous Continuous Isotropic

sandstone strength
equal in
all directions

Heterogeneous Discontinuous Anisotropic

shale fault high
strength
varies with
direction
low

sandstone joints

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 Nature of Rock

The nature of the rock

mass, i.e. both the intact
rock constituent and the
discontinuities dividing it,
must be taken into account
not only in terms of the
basic mechanics but also
the applied engineering.

… a closer view of the breaks in the

mechanical continuum, generically
termed discontinuities.

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 Rock Mechanics Design - Applications

In essence, rock mechanics is used to design structures built on or

in rock masses. These structures include:

· building foundations
· dams
· rock slopes
· tunnels
· caverns
· hydroelectric schemes
· mines
· oil wells
· nuclear waste storage facilities
... and even ice hockey arenas!

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 Rock Mechanics Design - Applications
Given the large scale of
many of these projects,
there is considerable
economic benefits in
designing these structures
in the optimal way.

In practice, it quickly
becomes evident that one
ignores rock mechanics
principles and rock
engineering experience at
considerable physical and
financial peril.

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 Rock Mechanics Design

All rock engineering projects can be summarized as involving

three primary aspects (after Hudson & Harrision, 1997):

the outer ring represents the whole

project with its specific objective

the middle ring represents the inter-

realtion between the various
components of the total project (e.g.
relations between rock stresses and
rock structure

the central ring represents the

individual aspects of each project,
such as a specific numerical analysis
or costing procedure

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 Objectives?

So, generalizing problems in rock mechanics

design, one should ask:

“What exactly is it that we wish to know for

the design of engineering projects?”

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 Rock as an Engineering Material
One of the most important, and frequently neglected, aspects
of rock mechanics and rock engineering is that we are utilizing
an existing material which is usually highly variable.

intact ‘layered’ intact highly fractured

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 Rock as an Engineering Material

Rock as an engineering material will be used either:

… as a building material so the structure will be made
of rock
… or a structure will be built on the rock
… or a structure will be built in the rock

In the context of the mechanics, we must establish:

… the properties of the material
… the pre-existing stress state in the ground (which will be
disturbed by the structure)
… and how these factors relate to the engineering objective

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 Rock as an Engineering Material

A primary information base is a

knowledge of the geological
strata, any alteration to the
rock material, the presence of
large- and small-scale faulting
and jointing.

There are many other aspects of

the geological setting which could
be of major, if not dominant,
significance in the engineering
design, construction and
subsequent performance.

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 Rock as an Engineering Material
Scale must also be taken into
consideration when judging the influence
of rock structure on the engineering.
The departure from an ‘ideal’ material
can occur on all scales from very large
faults to microfractures.

Similarly, engineering projects can

range in scale, from large open pit
mines like the Chuquicamata in Chile
(planned to be several kilometers long
and 1 km deep), to petroleum boreholes
which are a few tens of centimeters in
diameter yet several kilometers deep.

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 Influence of Geological Factors
In the context of the mechanics problem, we should consider the
material and the forces involved. As such, five primary geological
factors can be viewed as influencing a rock mass.

We have the intact rock which is

itself divided by discontinuities
to form the rock mass structure.

We find then the rock is already

subjected to an in situ stress.

Superimposed on this are the

influence of pore fluid/water
flow and time.

With all these factors, the geological history has played its part,
altering the rock and the applied forces.

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 Influence of Geological Factors –
Intact Rock
Intact rock is defined in
engineering terms as rock
containing no significant
fractures. However, on the
small scale it is composed of
grains, pore space and
microfractures with the form
of this microstructure being
governed by the basic rock
forming processes.

Subsequent geological events may affect its mechanical properties

and its susceptibility to water penetration and weathering
effects.

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 Intact Rock
Behaviour

Lockner et al. (1992)

The most useful description of
the mechanical behaviour of
intact rock is the complete
stress-strain curve in
compression.

From this curve, several features

of interest are derived:

Cumulative Damage, ωAE

Eberhardt et al. (1999)

cohesion

Relative Cohesion
· deformation moduli (E, ν)
· brittle fracture parameters
· peak strength criteria
· the post-peak behaviour damage

Normalized Stress (σ/σcd)

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 Influence of Geological Factors –
Intact Rock

high stiffness medium stiffness low stiffness low stiffness

high strength medium strength low strength low strength

very brittle medium brittle ductile

brittleness

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 Influence of Geological Factors –
Discontinuities and Rock Structure

When materials are truly elastic

they do not absorb energy; they
react to the loading instantaneously
and they can sustain any stress
level. However, rock is not ‘truly
elastic’ and does break.

The consequence of this is two-fold:

… through natural processes, the in situ rock may have already
failed and formed joints.
… these faults and joints form weak links in the rock structure.

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 Discontinuous Rock Behaviour
The result in terms of rock fracturing is to produce a geometrical
structure (often very complex) of fractures forming rock blocks.
The overall geometrical configuration of the discontinuities in the
rock mass is termed rock structure. It is often helpful to
understand the way in which discontinuities form. There are three
ways in which a fracture can be formed:

Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3

(tensile) (in-plane shear) (out-of-plane shear)

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 Influence of Geological Factors –
Discontinuities and Rock Structure
In practice, failure is most often associated with discontinuities
which act as pre-existing planes of weakness. Some examples of
the way in which the discontinuity genesis leads to differing
mechanical properties are:

… open joint which … stylolitic discontinuity … slickensided fault

will allow free flow with high shear surface with low
of water. resistance. shear resistance.

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Brittle Fault Zones and Tunnelling

Granitic Fault Rocks

Aar Massif
(σ3=5MPa)

Laws et al. (2003)

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 Influence of Geological Factors –
Pre-Existing In Situ Rock Stress
When considering the loading conditions imposed on the rock
structure, it must be recognized that an in situ pre-existing state
of stress already exists in the rock.

In some cases, such as a dam or

nuclear power station foundation,
the load is applied to this.

In other cases, such as the

excavation of a mine or tunnel, no
new loads are applied but the
pre-existing stresses are
redistributed.

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 Interaction
Between Structure
&
In Situ Rock
Stress

Hoek et al. (1995)

… types of failure which occur in
different rock masses under low
and high in situ stress levels.

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 Influence of Geological Factors –
Pore Fluids and Water Flow
Many rocks in their intact state have a very low
permeability compared to the duration of the
engineering construction, but the main water flow is
usually via secondary permeability, (i.e. pre-existing
fractures). Thus the study of flow in rock masses
will generally be a function of the discontinuities,
their connectivity and the hydrogeological
environment.

A primary concern is when the water is under

pressure, which in turn acts to reduce the
effective stress and/or induce instabilities.
Other aspects, such as groundwater
chemistry and the alteration of rock and
fracture surfaces by fluid movement may
also be of concern.

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 Influence of Geological Factors – Time
Rock as an engineering material may be
millions of years old, however our
engineering construction and subsequent
activities are generally only designed for
a century or less.
Thus we have two types of behaviour: the
geological processes in which equilibrium
will have been established, with current
geological activity superimposed; and the
rapid engineering process.
The influence of time is also important
given such factors as the decrease in rock
strength through time, and the effects of
creep and relaxation

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 Q & A
Q. The underground GjØvik Olympiske
Fjellhall spans 61 m, is 25 to 50 m deep,
and is located in Precambrian Gneiss in
Norway. What are some of the engineering
rock mechanics factors that would have to
be considered in the design and excavation
of such a cavern?

A. Some factors to be considered are:

· geological setting
· natural rock stress
· rock mass deformability
· rock mass strength
· geometry of discontinuities
· discontinuity properties
· groundwater
· variations in rock properties
· time-dependent effects
· excavation method
· support methods

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 Q & A
Q. The underground GjØvik Olympiske
Fjellhall spans 61 m, is 25 to 50 m deep,
and is located in Precambrian Gneiss in
Norway. What are some of the engineering
rock mechanics factors that would have to
be considered in the design and excavation
of such a cavern?

A. Some factors to be considered are:

The cavern is to be constructed in hard rock, but it has a large span
and is located close to the surface. Under these circumstances, we
would need to consider any instability that may arise from rock blocks
falling by gravity from the cavern roof.

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 Q & A
Q. The underground GjØvik Olympiske
Fjellhall spans 61 m, is 25 to 50 m deep,
and is located in Precambrian Gneiss in
Norway. What are some of the engineering
rock mechanics factors that would have to
be considered in the design and excavation
of such a cavern?

A. And the end result …

… after considerable site investigation, rock mass classification and
numerical modelling, the cavern was first excavated to a 36 m span
and then, after installation of 6 m rock bolts and 12 m long cable
bolts plus fibre-reinforced shotcrete, increased to the 61 m span.
The long axis of the cavern was orientated perpendicular to the
maximum horizontal stress of 3.5-4.0 MPa which helped to stabilize
the rock blocks in the roof.

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 Q & A
Q. The underground GjØvik Olympiske
Fjellhall spans 61 m, is 25 to 50 m deep,
and is located in Precambrian Gneiss in
Norway. What are some of the engineering
rock mechanics factors that would have to
be considered in the design and excavation
of such a cavern?

A. And the end result …

… after excavating 140,000 m3 of

rock and installing the internal
fittings, the GjØvik Olympiske
Fjellhall can seat 5300 people.

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 Q & A

Q. A highway road cut in Spain is

excavated through a limestone
rock mass. What geological
factors could influence rock slope
stability at this site?

A. The rock strata are folded and there is some evidence of

opening of the bedding planes. Generally, in limestones these will
be two sets of joints perpendicular to each other and the bedding
planes. Thus, it is possible that rock blocks could be formed and
these might be unstable because of the steepness of the slope.

Also, the folding is variable along the slope, meaning that some
regions of the slope will be potentially more unstable than other
regions.

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 Q & A
Q. A site investigation was conducted in
a granitic rock mass? What does the
fracture in the core shown indicate
about the rock mass history and of what
significance is this to the design of a
slope or tunnel in the rock mass?

A. The alteration ring around the

fracture indicates that some alteration
has occurred because of circulating
water on other fluids. The fracture
surface is also slickensided. Thus, fluid
has travelled through this fracture and
there has been shear movement on the
fracture.

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 Q & A
Q. A site investigation was conducted in
a granitic rock mass? What does the
fracture in the core shown indicate
about the rock mass history and of what
significance is this to the design of a
slope or tunnel in the rock mass?

A. These features indicate...

… a connected rock fracture system in

which the rock blocks have been moved
about. Thus, the rock blocks could be
well developed and hence more likely to
be unstable.

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 Q & A
Q. A cavern (165 m long, 22 m wide
and 15 m high) is to be excavated in
chalk strata 35 m below the seabed.
What is the main geological
information you would like to have
before proceeding with the
excavation?

A. The main danger is that water from the sea will enter the
cavern. Hence, much of the geological information should be
directed to establishing whether water inflow will be a problem. In
a chalk rock mass, the water will mainly travel through weathered
chalk and pre-existing fractures, so information on the degree of
weathering and on the fractures and their characteristics is
crucial.

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 Q & A
Q. This question was
stimulated by
construction of the
sub-sea crossover
cavern on the UK side
of the England-France
Channel Tunnel.

A. Given the geological information, difficulties in engineering the

cavern may be expected, but ...
… in fact, few problems were encountered during construction.
Water entering the cavern through fractures was limited to minor
seepage with a maximum local inflow of 5 l/min at the crown, and
a cavern inflow of 50 l/min.

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