Series Preface to the

First Edition

The objective of the Elsevier Geo-Engineering Book Series is to provide

high-quality books on subjects within the broad geo-engineering subject
area—eg, on engineering geology, soil mechanics, rock mechanics, civil/
mining/environmental/petroleum engineering, etc. The first three books in
the series have already been published:
l “Stability Analysis and Modelling of Underground Excavations in Fractured
Rocks” by Weishen Zhu and Jian Zhao.
l “Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical Processes in Geo-Systems”
edited by Ove Stephansson, John A. Hudson and Lanru Jing.
l “Ground Improvement—Case Histories” edited by Buddhima Indraratna
and Jian Chu.
These three books already represent an admirable, high-quality start to the
series.
Now, I am delighted to introduce the fourth book in the series:
l “Engineering Properties of Rocks” by Lianyang Zhang.
This book provides expert, up-to-date information on rock mechanics and rock
engineering for both the engineering and academic communities. It is a partic-
ularly logical and helpful book because it sequentially outlines the key aspects
of the rock mechanics problem: the rock stress, and then the intact rock, the dis-
continuities and rock masses, followed by the deformability, strength and per-
meability of these components.
The author, in his own preface, states that “The typical values of and cor-
relations between rock properties come in many forms and are scattered in dif-
ferent textbooks, reference manuals, reports, and articles published in technical
journals and conference proceedings. It is often difficult, time-consuming, or
even impossible for a practitioner to find appropriate information to determine
the rock properties required for a particular project.” Not only is this true, but
the rock property values are the key to rock engineering design, whether it be by
an empirical approach or by numerical modeling—as is evident from the con-
tent of the first two books in the Geo-Engineering Series.

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xiv Series Preface to the First Edition

The rock engineer must be able to predict the consequences of a particular

excavation design. This can only be done via an adequate model, and the model
can only be adequate if it is supported by the appropriate rock property values.
Thus, the content of this book has a value which transcends the direct explana-
tions of the rock mechanics and the rock properties: it represents one of the fun-
damental and essential keys to good rock engineering design. I am more than
pleased to recommend that you read the book from cover to cover.
We hope that you enjoy the book and we welcome proposals for new books.
Please send these to me at the email address as follows.

Professor John A. Hudson FREng

Geo-Engineering Series Editor
jah@rockeng.co.uk