A Comparative Study on the Assessment of Mechanical Properties of Porous and Heterogeneous Rocks by Various Averaging Methods

There are various approaches available in literature to asses mechanical properties of porous and/or heterogeneous rocks. However, engineers are always confused which one to use for designing structures in rock masses since these approaches do not always provide unique values. In this article, we first review the fundamental concepts of various approaches for modelling porous and/or heterogeneous rocks as equivalent continua. Then, the applications of these approaches to rocks having various types of pores or inclusions are compared and their validity is discussed.