The 2003 Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium: Mechanistic interpretation and practical application of damage and spalling prediction criteria for deep tunnelling

Spalling and strain bursting has long been recognized as a mechanism of failure in deep underground mines in hard rock and in deep infrastructure tunnels. The latter is a significant growth industry, particularly in Europe where subalpine base tunnels in excess of 10 m wide and dozens of kilometres long are being driven by tunnel boring machine (TBM) through alpine terrain at depths greater than 2 km. In more massive granitoid or gneissic ground, these tunnels have experienced significant spalling damage. En route to a practical predictive technique for this condition, the author utilizes a number of analytical and micromechanical tools to validate a simple empirical predictive model for tunnel spall initiation. The true nature of damage and of yield, as the result of extensile damage accumulation, in hard rocks is examined using these tools. Based on the resultant conceptual model, the author expands on the empirical damage threshold, using a spalling limit to differentiate stress paths that lead to crac...

[1]  W. D. Ortlepp,et al.  Support Methods in Tunnels , 1976 .

[2]  Emmanuel Detournay,et al.  Design charts for a deep circular tunnel under non-uniform loading , 1988 .

[3]  Peter K. Kaiser,et al.  Brittleness of rock and stability assessment in hard rock tunneling , 2003 .

[4]  J. Gramberg,et al.  A non-conventional view on rock mechanics and fracture mechanics , 1988 .

[5]  P. A. Cundall,et al.  Modeling notch-formation mechanisms in the URL Mine-by Test Tunnel using bonded assemblies of circular particles , 1998 .

[6]  C. D. Martin.  Failure Observations And In Situ Stress Domains At the Underground Research Laboratory , 1989 .

[7]  John H. Schmertmann,et al.  An Experimental Study of the Development of Cohesion and Friction with Axial Strain in Saturated Cohesive Soils , 1960 .

[8]  Evert Hoek,et al.  Practical estimates of rock mass strength , 1997 .

[9]  C. H. Page,et al.  Practical Handbook for Underground Rock Mechanics , 1986 .

[10]  E. Grimstad,et al.  ROCK SUPPORT IN HARD ROCK TUNNELS UNDER HIGH STRESS , 1999 .

[11]  E. Hoek,et al.  The geological strength index: applications and limitations , 2005 .

[12]  S. D. Hallam,et al.  The failure of brittle solids containing small cracks under compressive stress states , 1986 .

[13]  P. K. Kaiser,et al.  An interpretation of ground movements recorded during construction of the Donkin-Morien tunnel , 1991 .

[14]  P. Cundall,et al.  A bonded-particle model for rock , 2004 .

[15]  B. E. Hobbs,et al.  Instability, softening and localization of deformation , 1990, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[16]  C. Scholz,et al.  Dilatancy in the fracture of crystalline rocks , 1966 .

[17]  Seisuke Okubo,et al.  Complete stress-strain curves for various rock types in uniaxial tension , 1996 .

[18]  Wai-Fah Chen.  Plasticity in reinforced concrete , 1982 .

[19]  C. Derek Martin,et al.  The effect of sample disturbance on laboratory properties of Lac du Bonnet granite , 1994 .

[20]  C. Fairhurst,et al.  The elasto-plastic response of underground excavations in rock masses that satisfy the Hoek-Brown failure criterion , 1999 .

[21]  P. K. Kaiser,et al.  Hoek-Brown parameters for predicting the depth of brittle failure around tunnels , 1999 .

[22]  R. Bathurst,et al.  Micromechanical Aspects of Isotropic Granular Assemblies With Linear Contact Interactions , 1988 .

[23]  C. Martin,et al.  The strength of massive Lac du Bonnet granite around underground openings , 1993 .

[24]  Jeannie Herbert.  Invited Keynote Paper , 2005 .

[25]  P. K. Kaiser,et al.  Support of underground excavations in hard rock , 1995 .

[26]  S. M. Lee,et al.  Analysis of rockbursts that have occurred in a waterway tunnel in Korea , 2004 .

[27]  D. Deere,et al.  Frictional Characteristics of Minerals , 1962 .

[28]  Z. Bieniawski.  Engineering rock mass classifications , 1989 .

[29]  B L Wiid.  THE INFLUENCE OF MOISTURE ON THE PRE-RUPTURE FRACTURING OF TWO ROCK TYPES , 1970 .

[30]  Mark S. Diederichs,et al.  Instability of hard rockmasses, the role of tensile damage and relaxation , 2000 .

[31]  E. Villaescusa,et al.  Stress measurements from oriented core , 2002 .

[32]  P. K. Kaiser,et al.  ROCK MECHANICS CONSIDERATIONS FOR DRILLED OR BORED EXCAVATIONS IN HARD ROCK , 1994 .

[33]  G. Fonseka,et al.  SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE AND ACOUSTIC EMISSION STUDIES OF CRACK DEVELOPMENT IN ROCKS , 1985 .

[34]  C. Fairhurst,et al.  The of Maximum Phenomenon of Rock Splitting Parallel to the Direction Compression In the Neighbourhood of a Surface , 1966 .

[35]  Mark S. Diederichs,et al.  Manuel Rocha Medal Recipient Rock Fracture and Collapse Under Low Confinement Conditions , 2003 .

[36]  E. Z. Lajtai,et al.  The effect of water on the time-dependent deformation and fracture of a granite , 1987 .

[37]  A. A. Griffith.  The Phenomena of Rupture and Flow in Solids , 1921 .

[38]  David J. Holcomb,et al.  General theory of the Kaiser effect , 1993 .

[39]  V. Hajiabdolmajid,et al.  Modelling brittle failure of rock , 2002 .

[40]  A. K. S. Jardine,et al.  Maintenance, Replacement, and Reliability , 2021 .

[41]  Mark S. Diederichs,et al.  Damage initiation and propagation in hard rock during tunnelling and the influence of near-face stress rotation , 2004 .

[42]  Larry R. Myer,et al.  Extensile Cracking in Porous Rock Under Differential Compressive Stress , 1992 .

[43]  David R. Owen,et al.  Finite Elements in Plasticity , 1980 .

[44]  Nick Barton,et al.  Engineering classification of rock masses for the design of tunnel support , 1974 .

[45]  E. Z. Lajtai,et al.  The long-term strength of lac du bonnet granite , 1985 .

[46]  John M Kemeny,et al.  Effective moduli, non-linear deformation and strength of a cracked elastic solid , 1986 .

[47]  B. Stimpson,et al.  Identifying crack initiation and propagation thresholds in brittle rock , 1998 .

[48]  W. F. Bawden,et al.  A geomechanical study for a shaft wall rehabilitation program. , 1998 .

[49]  P. Cundall.  A computer model for simulating progressive, large-scale movements in blocky rock systems , 1971 .

[50]  E. Eberhardt.  Brittle rock fracture and progressive damage in uniaxial compression , 1998 .

[51]  P Cundall,et al.  A MICROCOMPUTER PROGRAM FOR MODELLING LARGE-STRAIN PLASTICITY PROBLEMS. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NUMERICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, 11-15 APRIL 1988, INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA. VOLUMES 1 - 3 , 1988 .

[52]  O. Zienkiewicz,et al.  Rock mechanics in engineering practice , 1968 .

[53]  P. K. Kaiser,et al.  Rockmass Strength Determination From Breakouts In Tunnels And Boreholes , 1995 .

[54]  R. Borst,et al.  Non-Associated Plasticity for Soils, Concrete and Rock , 1984 .

[55]  A. Rousseau,et al.  Crack propagation under mode I and II loading in slate schist , 1986 .

[56]  P. A. Cundall,et al.  NUMERICAL MODELLING OF DISCONTINUA , 1992 .

[57]  J. W. Klokow,et al.  Control Of Fracturing In Mine Rock Passes , 1979 .

[58]  Du Lihui,et al.  The Brittle Failure of Rock Around Underground Openings , 1989 .

[59]  A. A. Smith,et al.  Concrete, timber, and metals: The nature and behaviour of structural materials , 1979 .

[60]  S. Wiederhorn,et al.  Stress Corrosion and Static Fatigue of Glass , 1970 .

[61]  Evert Hoek,et al.  The Hoek-Brown failure criterion-a 1988 update , 1988 .

[62]  R. S. Read,et al.  20 years of excavation response studies at AECL's Underground Research Laboratory , 2004 .

[63]  P. Cundall,et al.  A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies , 1979 .

[64]  Paul Tapponnier,et al.  Development of stress-induced microcracks in Westerly Granite , 1976 .

[65]  E. Hoek,et al.  Empirical estimation of rock mass modulus , 2006 .

[66]  V. Hajiabdolmajid,et al.  Mobilised strength components in brittle failure of rock , 2003 .

[67]  E. T. Brown,et al.  Underground excavations in rock , 1980 .

[68]  A. Cividini.  CONSTITUTIVE BEHAVIOUR AND NUMERICAL MODELLING , 1993 .

[69]  Bezalel C. Haimson,et al.  Laboratory study of borehole breakouts in Lac du Bonnet granite: a case of extensile failure mechanism , 1993 .

[70]  T. R. Stacey.  A simple extension strain criterion for fracture of brittle rock , 1981 .

[71]  John A. Hudson,et al.  Comprehensive rock engineering : principles, practice, and projects , 1993 .

[72]  W. Weibull.  A statistical theory of the strength of materials , 1939 .

[73]  W. Weibull.  A Statistical Distribution Function of Wide Applicability , 1951 .

[74]  B. J. Pestman,et al.  An acoustic emission study of damage development and stress-memory effects in sandstone , 1996 .

[75]  J. B. Martino,et al.  Observations of brittle failure around a circular test tunnel , 1997 .

[76]  E. Wainwright,et al.  Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines , 1984 .