Ground Improvement (2000) 4, 65±71
Finite-element modelling of rock anchors
B. TANG, H. S. MITRI and M. BOUTELDJA
Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, McGill University, 3450 University
Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2A7
This paper describes a generalized modelling technique
for the simulation of rock anchors, including mechanically
anchored rock bolts, grouted rebars and cable bolts. The
proposed technique is implemented in a two-dimensional,
®nite-element method. A rock anchor system is modelled
by a series of bar elements, representing the anchor, which
are connected along their length to the rock mass by
continuous shear springs, representing the shear bond
stiffness of the grout and the rock±anchor interface.
Surface anchorage, anchor tensioning and full or partial-
length grouting can be modelled. The versatility of the
proposed model is illustrated by a simple example of a
rectangular excavation, and the application of the model is
demonstrated by a case study of an underground mine
stope in hard rock, supported by cable bolts.
Introduction
Rock anchors have been in use for several decades for the
support of underground and surface excavations in both
mining and civil engineering projects. Various different
types of rock anchor are currently used worldwide: mech-
anically anchored rock bolts, grouted rock bolts, resin
anchors, friction stabilizers and cable bolts. The expansion
shell anchor rock bolt is perhaps still the most popular of all
rock bolts today. It can be tensioned immediately after
installation and grouted at a later stage when short-term
movements have ceased (Hoek and Brown, 1980). It gives
very reliable results and high bolt loads can be achieved.
Expansion shell rock bolts are widely used in permanent
support applications in civil engineering and without grout
in mining engineering. When the rock is heavily jointed,
fully grouted rock bolts can be used. They have proved to
provided good anchorage in poor-quality rock masses,
where mechanical bolts were found to be ineffective.
Grouted rock bolts are used mainly in the mining industry
in short-term applications. Their main disadvantage is that
they cannot be tensioned. When tensioning is a support
requirement and the rock mass is of poor quality, resin
anchors provide an excellent solution. They are made of
high-strength threaded bars and can be tensioned by using
fast-setting resin to provide immediate anchorage. Resin
(GI 086) Paper received 19 August 1999; revised 29 October 1999;
accepted 23 November 1999
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65
Cet article preÂsente une technique geÂneÂraliseÂe de modeÂli-
sation numeÂrique pour la simulation des boulons d'anc-
rage, incluant des boulons meÂcaniques, des armatures
cimenteÂs et des caÃbles d'ancrage. La technique proposeÂe
est effectueÂe par la meÂthode des eÂleÂments ®nis. Le systeÁme
d'ancrage est modeÂlise par une seÂrie d'eÂleÂments lineÂaires,
qui repreÂsentent l'ancrage, et qui est connecteÂe au massif
rocheux par des ressorts de cisaillement aÁ l'interface roche-
boulon. On peut modeÂliser l'effet d'ancrage de teÃte du
boulon, et les boulons qui sont partiellement ou compleÁte-
ment cimenteÂs. La polyvalence du modeÁle proposeÂe est
illustreÂe par un exemple simple d'une excavation rectangu-
laire. Une application pratique du modeÁle est preÂsenteÂe
dans le cas d'un chantier d'abattage souterrain supporteÂ
par des caÃbles d'ancrage dans une mine de roche dure.
anchors are, however, expensive. Friction rock stabiliser
rockbolts (or Split Sets) were developed by Scott (1976) in
conjunction with the Ingersoll-Rand Company in the USA.
Proven to be quick and easy to install, Split-Sets quickly
became very popular in the mining industry (Scott, 1983). At
the same time, Atlas Copco developed the Swellex bolt,
which gained enormous popularity within the ®rst few years
of its introduction (Stillborg, 1994). Grouted cable bolts were
introduced in underground hard-rock mines in the mid-
1970s and subsequently found applications in open-pit
mines and underground coal mines. Some of the factors that
contributed to the success of cable bolt support systems in
mining are (a) they are ¯exible and therefore can be stored
and transported underground on a spool, (b) they can be cut
to any required length, (c) they have high tensile strength
and (d) they can be tensioned. During the last decade, cable-
bolting technology has advanced by a leap and innovations
in cable bolt surface geometry, grout mixes and installation
techniques have been developed and proved successful
(Hutchinson and Diederichs, 1996; Mitri et al., 1999).
The design of rock anchors can be carried out using
analytical, empirical or numerical methods. Analytical meth-
ods are primarily based on the limit equilibrium approach,
whereby the number of bolts is determined from the total
weight of loose or potentially unstable rock and the ultimate
strength of a single bolt. Some analytical methods will
consider the frictional resistance against sliding of the rock
faces, and the effect of bolt tensioning to enhance such
resistance. Empirical methods are based on rock mass
classi®cation. The rock mass rating (RMR) method devel-
oped by Bieniawski (1973) and the Q method developed by
1365-781X # 2000 Thomas Telford Ltd
 Tang et al.

Barton (1974) are the two most common empirical methods

for underground-excavation design today. In hard-rock
mining, the stability graph method developed by Mathews
et al. (1981) and later modi®ed by Potvin (1988) is actually
based on the Q method of classi®cation. It is used to
evaluate the stability of mine stope walls and help determine
the need for ground support.
With the rapid advancement of computer hardware tech-
nology in the last two decades, the use of numerical modell-
ing software as a design tool in geotechnical engineering has
become both affordable and popular. Methods such as ®nite
elements, boundary elements and distinct elements have all
been used extensively in the design and analysis of geotech-
nical structures. Numerical methods have certain advantages
over other methods; notably, they can account for the
complex geometry of an excavation, the deformation proper-
ties of the rock and the presence of in situ (virgin) stresses.
A number of numerical models were developed especially
for the simulation of rock bolts and cable bolts, such as those
reported by Mitri and Rajaie (1990), Wang and Garga (1992),
Peng and Guo (1992) and Tan et al. (1993). This paper
presents a generalized ®nite-element modelling technique
developed to simulate the mechanical behaviour of the
performance of rock anchors. The technique is implemented
in a ®nite-element code (e-z tools) developed at McGill
University by the authors.
Finite-element formulation
The rock anchor formulation presented here employs the
following assumptions.
(a) A rock anchor can be represented by any number of
two-node bar elements. The cross-sectional area and
modulus of elasticity of the bar element are those of the
rock anchor material (Fig. 1).
(b) If the rock anchor is partially or fully grouted, the
bonding effect of the grout, as well as the shear slip
occurring at the rock±grout and grout±anchor inter-
faces, can be represented by continuous shear springs
acting along the anchor length. The stiffness of those
springs, k, represents the shear bond stiffness per unit
length of the grouted rock anchor (Fig. 2).
(c) The bar element representing the rock anchor is con-
Load
P
Grouted ∆L
anchor
S Slip Slip S
k = P /S /∆L: kN/m3
Load P
Fig. 2. De®nition of shear bond stiffness k of a grouted rock anchor of
short length ÄL
nected to quadrilateral isoparametric elements repre-
senting the host rock via the shear springs; see Fig. 1.
(d) When the rock bolt is anchored at its head, for example
with a plate and a nut, or with a grip as in the case of
cable bolts, the two nodes representing the anchor head
and the adjacent rock are forced to move together, to
simulate such an anchorage effect.
(e) On the basis of this formulation, only the axial load
exerted on the rock anchor is considered. Bending load
that may develop along a fully grouted anchor is not
accounted for.
( f ) The formulation is based on small-deformation theory.
Large-deformation effects such as cable stretch due to
lateral loads are not accounted for.
A four-node quadrilateral, isoparametric element is used
to represent the rock domain. The stiffness matrix K is given
by
…
K ˆ BT DB dV (1)
V
where B is the strain±displacement matrix and D is the
stress±strain elasticity matrix. In rock mechanics problems,
the load vector P is generally de®ned as follows:
… …
P ˆ ÿ BT ó 0 dV ‡ ãN T dV (2)
V V
0
where V is the element volume, ó is the initial stress vector,
N is the shape function matrix and ã is the unit weight of
the rock. Details of the above-mentioned equations can be
found in any textbook on ®nite elements (e.g. Cook, 1995).
For the new anchor elements, the total stiffness matrix Ka
is obtained by adding up the stiffness contributions from the
bar element Kb and the shear springs Ks . Thus,
Ka ˆ Kb ‡ Ks (3)

where
2 3
Ea Aa Ea Aa
6 ÿ
Kb ˆ 6 l l 77 (4)
4 Ea Aa Ea Aa 5
ÿ
l l
In the above, Ea is the modulus of elasticity of the anchor,
Aa is its cross-sectional area and l is the element length.
The shear spring stiffness, ks , is assumed to vary linearly
along the anchor element. This variation can be expressed in
terms of the nodal values ki and kj as follows:

Fig. 1. The rock anchor ®nite element ks ˆ (1 ÿ æ)ki ‡ kj (5)

66
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 Finite-element modelling of rock anchors

where 0 < æ ˆ x=l < 1: Likewise, the spring displacement, Rock bolts
1 2 3 4 5 6
us , can be expressed in terms of the nodal values as Competent
rock 0·6 m
us ˆ (1 ÿ æ)usi ‡ us j (6)
The shear spring stiffness matrix is calculated from the Weak roof
0·9 m
strain energy stored in the shear springs of stiffness ks over 1·8 m
the element length l, as follows.
…
l l
Us ˆ ks u2s dæ (7)
2 0

The shear spring stiffness ks is measured as the shear force

Rectangular
per unit length of the bolt causing unit displacement. The 3·6 m
excavation
rock anchor element stiffness matrix in the global coordinate
system, K G , is obtained by using the following transforma- 200 m
below
tion: surface
K G ˆ T T Ka T (8)
Here, the transformation matrix T is de®ned by 5m
2 3
1 0 0 0 0 0
60 c s Fig. 3. De®nition of numerical example analysed
6 0 0 07 7
Tˆ4 (9)
0 0 0 c s 05
0 0 0 0 0 1 Table 1. Geomechanical data for the numerical example
where Material property Host rock Roof
xj ÿ xi ã: MN=m3 0´027 0´025
cˆ (10) E: MPa 25000 4000
l
í 0´2 0´25
and
yj ÿ yi
sˆ (11) the mechanical rock bolt), kb ˆ 105 MN=m2 (for the resin-
l
anchored portion of the bolt), kb ˆ 20 MN=m2 (for the
When anchor tensioning is required at the time of installa- cement-grouted portion of the bolt) and t 0 ˆ 2:5 t (where
tion, an initial load vector F 0a should be included in the applicable).
formulation as
…
F 0a ˆ ÿ BTb t 0 dV (12) Mechanical bolts
V
The simulation of expansion-shell-anchored rock bolts
where Bb is the strain±displacement matrix of the bar was achieved with two assumptions. First, the two nodes on
element and t 0 is the tension force at the time of bolt the bolt head and the rock surface were forced to move
installation. When a passive rock bolt is installed, the load together, thus simulating complete anchorage. Secondly, the
vector from the rock anchor element is F 0a ˆ 0. expansion shell was assumed to undergo some slip as the
bolt works, thus, a shear bond stiffness value of 300 MN=m2
was assigned at the bolt end (toe). The magnitude of the
Numerical example pretension load was 2´5 t. The results for this case are shown
in Fig. 4 (case 1). As expected, the load distribution along
In order to demonstrate the capability of the proposed the rock anchors is uniform. The maximum mobilized load
modelling technique for simulating rock anchors, a simple is 5´32 t and is in bolt 3 near the excavation midspan.
example of a rectangular, underground excavation is pre-
sented. The dimensions of the excavation are 5 m wide by
3´6 m high, as shown in Fig. 3, and it is situated 200 m below Resin anchors
the ground surface. The vertical in situ stress is given by the In this case, the rock bolt was resin-anchored for a length
depth times the unit weight of the rock, while the horizon- of 0´60 m, and was tensioned to 2´5 t at the time of instal-
tal-to-vertical in situ stress ratio is 0´8. It is assumed that the lation (case 2). The simulation of the bolt head was similar
immediate roof rock layer is of poor-quality rock and hence
requires support. The geomechanical properties of the host
8
rock and the roof are listed in Table 1.
A row of six rock anchors 2´4 m long with 0´9 m spacing 6
is assumed. Difference types of rock anchors were simulated
Load: t

to illustrate the effects of anchorage type, length of ancho- 4

rage and pretensioning on the load distribution along the Bolt 1
anchor and the maximum axial load attained. The simulated 2 Bolt 2
anchor models were assigned the same modulus of elasticity Bolt 3
0
and cross-sectional area to permit a fair comparison, 0 0·3 0·6 0·9 1·2 1·5 1·8 2·1 2·4
although this may not be the case in practice. The bolts were Distance: m
simulated with the following parameters: Eb ˆ 200 GPa,
Ab ˆ 0:00028 m2 , kb ˆ 300 MN=m2 (for the shell anchor of Fig. 4. Axial-load distribution along mechanically anchored bolts (case 1)

67
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 Tang et al.

to case 1, and the shear bond stiffness along the ungrouted this case, the maximum load on bolt 3 is only 1´1 t, as shown
length was zero. The results are shown in Fig. 5. As can be in Fig. 6(c).
seen, the axial load distribution is uniform along the free
length of the bolt, with a value of 6´02 t for bolt 3. The axial
load decays to zero over the resin-grouted portion. Discussion
The axial-load distributions along bolt 3 for all ®ve cases
simulated are shown in Fig. 7 and the numerical results are
Fully grouted rock bolts given in Table 2. Some remarks can be made in the light of
When the anchor is cement-grouted over the entire length these results. It is evident that the proposed numerical
of the bolt, the load distribution exhibits a consistent modelling technique is sensitive to variations of load and
increase in axial load to a maximum value at the bolt head; boundary conditions. More speci®cally, it can noted that
see Fig. 6(a). Bolt 3 attained a maximum load of 3´25 t.
(a) head and toe anchorage causes an increase in the bolt
Tensioning of fully grouted bolts can be made possible with
load
the help of a fast-setting resin grout. Figure 6(b) shows the
(b) bolt tensioning increases the bolt load
results of such a simulation (case 4), where resin grout was
(c) resin grout results in higher bolt load than cement grout
applied over a length of 0´6 m and cement grout over the
(d) when the bolt is not anchored at either end, the
remaining length of 1´8 m, and a tension load of 2´5 t was
maximum axial load develops somewhere in the mid-
applied. The maximum bolt load is found at its head and is
dle.
6´5 t, for bolt 3. The third simulation (case 5) was one in
which the bolt was not anchored at either end. This situation
is found in some applications of cable bolts in mining. In
Case study
8 Figure 8 shows a cross-section of a mine stope in an
underground, hard-rock mine made using a sublevel stoping
6
Load: t

4
Bolt 1 8
2 Bolt 2
Bolt 3
6
0
Case 5
Load: t

0 0·3 0·6 0·9 1·2 1·5 1·8 2·1 2·4

4 Case 4
Distance: m Case 3
Case 2
Case 1
Fig. 5. Axial-load distribution along resin-anchored bolts (case 2) 2

0
8 0 0·3 0·6 0·9 1·2 1·5 1·8 2·1 2·4
Bolt 1 Distance: m
6 Bolt 2
Fig. 7. Axial-load distribution along bolt 3 for all cases analysed
Load: t

Bolt 3
4

2
Ore body
0 4·2 m 17 m
(a)
Cable 1
8
3·6 m
2
6
3
Load: t

4 4
Bolt 1 5
2 Bolt 2 6
7
Bolt 3
8
0
(b) Mine
8 stope

Footwall
6 Bolt 1 hanging wall
Load: t

Bolt 2
4 Bolt 3

2 80˚

0
0 0·3 0·6 0·9 1·2 1·5 1·8 2·1 2·4
Distance: m 1170 m below surface
(c)

Fig. 6. Axial-load distribution along grouted rebars: (a) cement-grouted

(case 3); (b) resin-anchored (0´6 m) and cement-grouted (1´8 m) (case 4);
(c) cement-grouted without anchorage (case 5) Fig. 8. Layout of case study problemÐmine stope supported by cable bolts

68
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 Finite-element modelling of rock anchors

Table 2. Summary of results of the numerical example Table 3. Geomechanical data for the case study
Case Anchor Tension: t Maximum load: t Sulphide ore
1 Mechanical rock bolt 2´5 5´32 Material property Hanging wall Footwall body
2 Resin anchor (0´6 m) 2´5 6´02 ã: MN=m3 0´027 0´027 0´027
3 Fully cement-grouted 0 3´25 E: MPa 54000 75000 125000
4 Resin-anchored (0´6 m) ‡ 2´5 6´5 RMR 50 55 75
cement-grouted ERM : MPa 31000 49000 115000
5 Fully cement-grouted 0 1´15 í 0´21 0´15 0´1

method. The stope, located 1170 m below the surface, was
30 m high and 7 m wide. The ore body was a stiff, massive
sulphide, sandwiched between softer schistose host walls.
As a result, in such a case, ore extraction causes signi®cant
stress relief in the walls, which can result in signi®cant
caving-in of walls into the stope (or ore dilution) when the
walls are not supported. To remedy the situation, cable bolts
were installed, prior to stope mining, from a hanging-wall
drift in a fanning pattern, as shown in Fig. 9. This pattern
was repeated every 1´5 m in the strike direction of the ore
body. The geomechanical data are listed in Table 3. The in
situ stresses are given (in MPa) by ó 0y ˆ ã H (vertical stress),
ó 0x ˆ 2:26ã H (horizontal stress perpendicular to the strike)
and ó 0z ˆ 1:52ã H (horizontal stress parallel to the strike),
where H is the depth below the surface (1170 m) and ã is
the average unit weight of the rock mass (0:027 MN=m3 ).
The deformation modulus of the rock mass ERM , reported
in Table 3, was calculated in terms of the Young's modulus
of elasticity of the intact rock material and the rock mass
rating RMR as follows (Mitri et al., 1996):
 
E ð(RMR)
ERM ˆ 1 ÿ cos (13)
2 100
Preliminary analysis and delineation of hanging-
wall weak rock
A ®nite-element model was constructed with a dense,
graded mesh in the hanging wall to examine the stress levels
around the mine stope (refer to Fig. 10). The results of the
preliminary analysis showed high stress concentration,
reaching up to 183 MPa in the top and bottom corners of the
stope. It also showed a signi®cant stress relief zone both in
the hanging wall and the footwall, with relief or tensile
stresses reaching up to 41 MPa. Before a cable bolt analysis
was carried out, it was important to delineate the area in the
hanging wall requiring support. To do so, the elements
having tensile stresses in the hanging wall were identi®ed as
the weak rock zone (see Fig. 11). These were modelled in the
®nal analysis with lower mechanical properties than the
hanging-wall rock. The treatment of the hanging-wall rock

Bolt

0 33·20 m
x fixed y fixed

Fig. 9. Finite-element mesh and cable bolts simulated

69
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 Tang et al.

Fig. 10. Principal-stress levels around the mine stope

following input parameters were used in the modelling of

cable bolts: Aa ˆ 139 mm2 (cross-sectional area), Ea ˆ
200 GPa (modulus of elasticity) and Ka ˆ 20 MN=m2 (for
standard cables with grout of water-to-cement ratio 0´35).
The deformation modulus of the weak rock mass was
determined from a sensitivity analysis and comparison of
model results with ®eld observations (DiakiteÂ, 1998). The
Tension
zone selected deformation modulus for the cable bolt analysis
was equal to 17% of that of the hanging-wall rock mass, that
is, 5270 MPa. The cable bolt analysis was then carried out
and the axial-load distribution in each of the cables was
computed. The load distribution results are plotted in
Fig. 12. As can be seen, the axial load is zero at both ends of
all cables. This is because the cables were not anchored,
neither at the drift nor at the stope face. The cables which
appear to take more load are cables 1, 2 and 3, with peak
Mine
stope axial loads of 22´34, 24´75 and 22´16 t, respectively; see Table
4. This may be attributed to the effect of the angle between
the cable and the stope face. When this angle is near 908, the
cable support appears to be more effective.
The mine stope considered in this case study has been the
Fig. 11. Delineation of tension zones in the hanging wall

as a no-tension material was shown to give better results

30
than other rock failure critiera; it appears to give more Bolt 1 Bolt 2 Bolt 3
realistic results and conforms more closely to the cavity- 25
Bolt 4 Bolt 5 Bolt 6
monitoring system measurements of the mined stope 20 Bolt 7 Bolt 8
Load: t

(DiakiteÂ, 1998). It was therefore adopted for the case study

15
presented herein.
10

5
Analysis with cable bolts and model validation
0
The analysis with cable bolts was conducted with the 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15
cable-bolting pattern shown in Fig. 8. A total of eight Nodes along the cable bolt
standard seven-wire, 5=8 in dia. cable bolts were used. These
cables had a tensile strength capacity of 26 t each. The Fig. 12. Axial-load distribution along cable bolts

70
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Table 4. Peak axial loads in cable bolts
Cable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Peak load: t 22´34 24´75 22´16 17´39 16´21 14´14 17´76 12´87
subject of a ®eld investigation by Bawden et al. (1997). In
that study, the axial displacements in selected cables were
monitored at six anchor points along the cable from the time
of their installation, prior to mining, to the time when stope
blasts were completed and the stope was completely mined
out (as shown in Fig. 8). Knowing the axial stretch between
two anchor points along the cable, the strains were calcu-
lated and hence the average axial load of the cable for that
segment. The results and observations reported by Bawden
et al. serve to validate the present model. First, it was
reported that the cable loads were negligible in the lower
holes, an observation which substantiates the numerical
results obtained here, for example for cables 7 and 8.
Secondly, the cables in the upper holes attained maximum
loads of nearly 250 kN (or 25 t), which correlates very well
with the computed maximum loads in cables 1, 2 and 3
(22´16 to 24´75 t).
Conclusion
A generalized ®nite-element modelling technique for the
simulation of rock anchors has been presented. The formula-
tion is based on the assumption that only the axial load is
transmitted to the anchor, by shear springs acting along its
length. Such springs represent the shear bonding effect
between the bolt and the host rock. The versatility of the
new method for modelling rock bolts has been demonstrated
through a simple excavation example. It has been shown
that the proposed modelling technique is capable of repre-
senting a wide range of load and boundary conditions, such
as the effect of an expansion shell, bolt tensioning, grouting
(fully or partially) and head anchorage. A mining engineer-
ing case study of an underground stope in hard rock has
been presented. The stope was supported by fully grouted,
non-tensioned, non-anchored cable bolts from a hanging-
wall drift. It has been shown that the cable bolts that were
nearly perpendicular to the stope face were more effective.
The proposed modelling technique can equally well be used
in design and back analysis.
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Discussion contributions on this paper should reach the
editor by 31 August 2000
71