Introduction to Rock Mechanics

CE - 425

Lecture 1
Introduction and Course Outline

Dr. Rana Muhammad Asad Khan

masadkhan87@gmail.com
03314438163
 Special Instructions

• No mercy on low attendance

• No Cross Talking
among students during lecture

• No Mobile Phone during Class

2
Lec No
Sections Covered/Reading Assignment
1 Introduction to Rock Mechanics CE-425, Objectives, Outcomes and
Assessment Method.
Geological Exploration: Methods of Coring
2 Geological Exploration: Core logging, and indexing

3 Index test, compressive strength, Tensile strength, Density and Porosity, HW 1

Durability, and Hardness and rebound
4 Intact Rock Classification: Hardness Classification, Deere and Miller, ISRM QUIZ 1
5 Planes of Weakness in Rock: Effect on strength, compressibility, and Hydraulic
conductivity
6 Planes of Weakness in Rock: Effect on strength, compressibility, and HW 2
Hydraulic conductivity
7 MID TERM EXAM (OHT-1) QUIZ 2
8 Rock mass Classification, Terzaghi, and Lauffer-pacher

9 Rock mass Classification, RQD, RSR QUIZ 3

10 Rock mass Classification, RMR, Q-system HW 3
11 Stress Strain - Strength Properties, Failure theories, Triaxial properties

12 Stress Strain - Strength Properties, Three dimension state of stress HW4

13 (OHT-2)

14 Properties of soft rock-creep QUIZ 4

15-16 ESE
Introduction and Course
Outline
CE-222 Soil Mechanics-I
4
 Rock
• Rocks is mineral geological term
which comprehends any naturally
occurring aggregate of minerals or
mass of mineral matter, whether or
not coherent, constituting an essential
part of the earth crust.
• To Mining Engineer and Geologist:
Rock applies to all constituents of the
earths crust.
• To Civil Engineer: especially
Geotechnical Engineer: Rock is
understood to apply to the hard and
solid formation of the earth’s crust.
• To the Engineer who builds on
Rock: Rock signifies a firm and
coherent or consolidated substances
that can not normally excavated by
manual methods alone.
Subdivisions of Geotechnics
1. Soil Mechanics: It is defined as the study of the physical
properties of soil that will have a direct impact on the design of
structures to be built on it.
2. Rock Mechanics: It is characterized by the fact that rock is
not a continuum but a regulated discontinuum;
• It deals with the theoretical & applied behavior of rocks –
• the branch of mechanics concerned with the response of
rock to the loads applied into it;
• It deals primarily of the changes in mechanical behavior in
rock such as stress, strain and motion of rocks brought by
engineering activities.
 Rock Mechanics
• In the practice of construction engineering, the construction of
structures like buildings, tunnels and slopes is greatly affected by
an interaction between the “Ground” and “Engineering
Structures”.
• The influence of the “ground” on the engineering structures and
vice versa are often critical for the economic and safe design of
an engineering structure.
• This analysis leads to the
evolution of soil & rock
mechanics to know the
mechanical responses of
the term “ground” when
certain engineering
structures are built on it.
 Rock Mechanics
• Ground is any natural material present
at the site where engineering structures
are laid. It is divided to “soil” and “rock”.
Soils – consists of loose particles not
cemented together Rocks – consist of
consolidated particles cemented
together resulting in a tensile strength.
• Since most rocks are not continuous but
contain fractures, faults, bedding planes
or more general “discontinuity” planes
that divide the rocks into blocks of rock
bounded by discontinuities. The whole
array of blocks of rock and the
discontinuity planes are called “ROCK
MASS”. This leads to the study of
ROCK MECHANICS.
Types of Rocks
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic
 Igneous rocks
• Igneous rocks are created when
molten material such as magma
(within the Earth) or lava (on the
surface) cools and hardens. The hot
materials crystallize into different
minerals.

• The properties and sizes of various

crystals depend on the magma’s
composition and its rate of cooling.

• Examples: Granite, Obsidian,

Basalat, Pumice, Andesite, Diorite,
Rhyolite.

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Igneous rocks

(Aphanitic Texture
Very small crystals)

(Phanetric Texture
Large Crystals)
Igneous rocks
 Sedimentary rocks
• Sedimentary rocks are made up of
sediments eroded from igneous,
metamorphic, other sedimentary
rocks, and even the remains of dead
plants and animals. Cementing
agents are like iron oxide, calcite,
dolomite, Quartz etc.
• These materials are deposited in
layers, or strata, and then squeezed
and compressed into rock.
• Most fossils are found in
sedimentary rocks.
• Examples: sandstone, shale,
conglomerate, limestone, chert,
coal, gypsum.
Sedimentary rocks
Sedimentary rocks
Layered limestone at Trenton Falls, New York
Sedimentary rocks
A sandstone formation shows the bedding planes.
Metamorphic rocks
• Metamorphic rocks are much less common at the
earth’s surface than are sedimentary rocks.
• They are produced when sedimentary or igneous
rocks literally change their texture and structure as
well as mineral and chemical composition, as a
result of heat, pressure, and shear.
• Examples: Marble, slate, quartzite, schist, gneiss
Metamorphic rocks
Gneiss is formed from granite, gabbros and diorite
Metamorphic rocks
Marble is the melting and cooling of a limestone. The color is a
function of the impurities of the parent limestone (pink for iron, etc.)
Metamorphic rocks
Rock cycle
• Basic types of rock :
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic

• ROCK CYCLE : is the formation cycle of

different types of rock and the processes
associated with them
Rock cycle
 1. INTRODUCTION

Rock and Geologic Structures

Rock cycle

Weathering of rock

Discontinuous
2
 1. INTRODUCTION

Stress and Stain

Stress Strain

Fundamentals of stress and strain

3
 1. INTRODUCTION

Initial Stress

Initial stress condition

Horizontal stress

Hydraulic fracturing mehod Flat jack method

Vertical stress
Overcoring method
4
 1. INTRODUCTION

Strength and Failure Criteria

Compression tests (Point load test (left),

Uniaxial compression test (right))

Shear test 𝜎1 = 𝜎3 + 𝑚𝜎3𝜎𝑐𝑖 + 𝑠𝜎𝑐𝑖2

Tension tests (Direct tensile test (left),

Brazilian test (right))
Heok-Brown failure criterion
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 1. INTRODUCTION

Discontinuity

Joint spacing Roughness

Charateristics of discontinuity

Fault gouge Seepage

Joint orientation
Aperture Persistence
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 1. INTRODUCTION

Rock Mass Classification

Geological rock classification

Engineering rock classification (Rock Mass Rating)

Engineering rock classification (Q system)
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 1. INTRODUCTION

Rock Slope Stability (1, 2)

Caculation of factor of safety (limit equilibrium analysis)

Rock slope failure Slope stabilization method

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 1. INTRODUCTION

Foundations on Rock

Bearing capacity failure modes (Sowers, 1979)

Drilled shafts (FHWA, 2010)

Allowable bearing stresses on rock mass (Peck et al., 1974)

 1. INTRODUCTION

Tunnel and Underground Space in Rock (1, 2)

Tunnel design based on Rock Mass Classification

Excavation method

Open TBM and disc cutter for rock excavation

Support for rock tunnel